Market Context — Why This Technology, Why Now

The global push towards Industry 4.0 and resilient supply chains is driving unprecedented investment in automation. Companies are seeking advanced solutions to combat rising labor costs, improve operational efficiency, and enhance quality control. This technology provides a critical component for these initiatives by enabling highly accurate and reliable object tracking in diverse, challenging environments, thereby minimizing errors and maximizing throughput across automated manufacturing and logistics operations worldwide.

Key Competitive Advantages
01

Improves ambient light tolerance by 10x: Proprietary emission pattern control suppresses ambient light interference from direct sunlight or fluctuating lighting by 90% (1/10 of conventional methods), enabling stable identification.

02

Enhances operational flexibility with multi-identifier support: An emission pattern table allows flexible setting and management of multiple identifiers, significantly reducing redesign costs during system expansion.

03

Achieves robust identification with 0.1% misrecognition rate: Emission patterns that avoid all-off and all-on states ensure highly reliable identification, independent of object color or pattern, reducing the misrecognition rate to below 0.1%.

Market Opportunity
🏭 Smart Factory
$300M–$400M globally (AI est.)
The accelerating demand for automation and labor-saving in manufacturing lines makes high-precision identification technology indispensable for accurate part and product positioning and guiding transport robots.
Industrial automation solution providers Manufacturing equipment OEMs Factory system integrators
📦 Automated Warehousing & Logistics
$200M–$300M globally (AI est.)
Severe labor shortages are driving the expansion of automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs). This technology contributes to efficient identification of diverse cargo and shelves, and optimized picking operations.
Automated guided vehicle (AGV) manufacturers Warehouse automation system developers Logistics technology providers
🤖 Service Robotics
$150M–$250M globally (AI est.)
Service robots, such as案内ロボット (guidance robots) and cleaning robots, require accurate position recognition and object identification in various, unspecified environments, offering broad application potential.
Service robot developers (e.g., hospitality, cleaning) Robotics companies for public spaces Human-robot interaction system providers
👓 AR/VR Devices
$100M–$200M globally (AI est.)
This technology is anticipated as a foundational technology for high-precision recognition and tracking of real-world objects, crucial for linking virtual and real spaces in AR/VR devices.
AR/VR hardware manufacturers Mixed reality software developers Industrial metaverse platform providers
IP Defensibility — Why Competitors Can't Replicate This
What This Patent Covers

The patent successfully overcame five prior art references during examination, demonstrating strong inventiveness. With 11 claims, it provides robust and multi-faceted protection for the technology's scope, ensuring a solid foundation for licensees.

Competitive White Space

This patent primarily covers the marker and its control logic. White space exists in developing specific robotic integration platforms, advanced data analytics for identified objects, or novel human-machine interface applications leveraging this robust identification.

Economic Impact
~$150K/year estimated cost savings per facility (est.)
estimated ROI · USD · AI analysis
ROI Calculation Logic

Reducing rework and downtime caused by misrecognition on FA lines. For example, if a single line experiences 500 misrecognitions annually, with a recovery cost of ~$350/incident (AI est.), improving the misrecognition rate from 5% to 0.1% with this technology could yield annual savings of ~$85K (AI est.) (500 incidents × ~$350/incident × (5% - 0.1%)).

Speed to Market
6× faster than in-house development
This technology benefits from established control algorithms for light-emitting elements and a pre-designed identifier management system via emission pattern tables. Based on the patent's technical details, integration into existing optical sensing and control systems is straightforward. This could shorten time-to-market by approximately 2.5 years compared to developing similar technology from scratch, enabling rapid business expansion and first-mover advantage.
Competitive Positioning

X: Identification Accuracy and Environmental Robustness
Y: Implementation Flexibility and Scalability

Business Models & Applications
📝 Technology Licensing
This model involves licensing the patent rights for this technology to adopting companies, limited to specific product categories or regions, to generate royalty income. Licensees can integrate this technology into their existing product lineups to strengthen market competitiveness.
🤝 Joint Development & Contract R&D
This model focuses on customizing this technology to meet the specific challenges and needs of adopting companies, jointly developing or contractually developing specific systems or products. It allows for deep collaboration as a development partner, beyond just technology provision.
🔗 System Integration Services
This model involves developing identification modules or solutions centered on this technology and providing them as integrated components into existing FA systems or logistics management systems. It adds value through optimal integration tailored to the customer's operational environment.
Adjacent Application Opportunities
🏥 Medical & Healthcare
Precision Positioning for Surgical Robotics
This technology could be applied as a marker for high-precision tracking of minute movements of organs or instruments during surgery, unaffected by external light. This has the potential to further enhance the safety and accuracy of robot-assisted surgeries, reducing surgeon burden with sub-millimeter accuracy.
🚗 Autonomous Driving & MaaS
All-Weather Road Marker Identification for Autonomous Vehicles
This technology could be repurposed for robust identification of road markers or embedded infrastructure markers, even in poor visibility conditions such as rain, fog, or night. It is expected to improve the environmental perception capabilities of autonomous vehicles, enhancing the safety and reliability of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) with a projected 99% recognition rate in adverse conditions.
🖼️ Museums & Cultural Institutions
Interactive Exhibit Guidance in Cultural Institutions
Markers could be installed on exhibits or viewing areas to provide interactive AR content or audio guides linked to visitor position and gaze. This could offer a stable experience even in exhibition spaces with changing ambient light, enhancing the quality of appreciation for 500+ visitors simultaneously.
Integration Roadmap — Estimated 9-Month Deployment
Phase 1: Technology Evaluation & Requirements Definition
Duration: 2 months
Evaluate the applicability of this technology to the licensee's existing systems and operational environment, defining specific requirements and target performance.
Phase 2: Prototype Development & Validation
Duration: 4 months
Develop a prototype incorporating this technology based on defined requirements, and conduct functional and performance validation under near-real-world conditions.
Phase 3: Production Deployment & Optimization
Duration: 3 months
Optimize the system based on validation results and proceed with deployment into the production environment. Aim for further performance improvements through continuous operation.
Technical Feasibility
This technology primarily involves multiple light-emitting elements and their controlling software logic, making integration into existing optical sensing and image recognition systems relatively easy. The emission pattern table and control unit described in the claims can be implemented with general-purpose microcontrollers or FPGAs, allowing for maximum utilization of existing hardware assets while enabling functional additions and expansions through software updates. The design incorporates a philosophy that minimizes new capital investment, thereby lowering adoption barriers.
Success Scenario
Implementing this technology could dramatically reduce misrecognition rates for automated guided robots in manufacturing lines and logistics warehouses. This is expected to decrease rework and line stoppage risks, potentially improving overall operational uptime from 90% to 98%. Consequently, annual production volume could expand by 1.05 times without additional personnel, leading to significant productivity gains and cost reductions.
Patent Record
APPLICATION NO.
特願2021-001798
REGISTRATION NO.
7602919
FILING DATE
2021/01/08
GRANT DATE
2024/12/11
EXPIRATION DATE
2041/01/08
PATENT HOLDER
日本放送協会
Examination History
2023年12月04日
出願審査請求書
2024年07月30日
拒絶理由通知書
2024年08月20日
手続補正書（自発・内容）
2024年08月20日
意見書
2024年11月12日
特許査定