Xerox (NYSE: XRX) received 1 168 US patents in 2013, making it one of the world's top innovative companies and adding to its portfolio of more than 12 100 active US patents that help businesses and organisations simplify work.
IFI Claims, a research company that compiles an annual patent list, ranked Xerox as 32nd in its 2013 report based on 1 013 patents, which does not include more than 150 patents from its wholly owned subsidiaries, such as the Palo Alto Research Centre (PARC), a Xerox company. Combining subsidiaries and the 800 US patents awarded in 2013 through Xerox's joint venture in Japan, Fuji Xerox, Xerox would be ranked 10th with 1 968 patents on the IFI Patent Intelligence list worldwide.
Xerox is celebrating its 75th year of innovation, which began when Chester Carlson, the company's founding inventor, made the first xerographic copy in a makeshift lab in Astoria, Queens, New York, and was granted U.S. Patent 2,297,691, illustrating the basic process of xerography.
"Chester Carlson's legacy lives on through Xerox scientists and engineers around the globe who continue to help our clients create agile and personalised business processes," said Sophie Vandebroek, Xerox chief technology officer and president of the Xerox Innovation Group. "By collaborating closely with our clients, we create differentiated document technology and simplify the way work gets done in industries such as healthcare, finance, education, customer care and transportation."
Xerox scientists and researchers apply their expertise in areas such as imaging, data analytics, automation, personalisation and sustainability to innovate simpler ways of doing business - well beyond anything Carlson could have envisioned.
For example:
U.S. Patent 8,617,081 was issued for a system and method that can detect a human pulse rate from a sequence of video images, leading to low-cost, non-contact medical monitoring. Xerox today provides services to healthcare professionals in more than 1 700 hospitals in the US. Research like this project could help provide better and less invasive care.
U.S. Patent 8,520,074 describes a system and method for using infra-red imaging to automatically detect the number of people in an image, such as the number of people in a car. This research enables optimal usage of high-occupancy vehicle lanes and helps relieve congestion, as well as creates a new source of transportation revenue.
U.S. Patent 8,537,398 describes a "cloud-based" method and system for managing the inventory of printer supplies for remote printers. These types of capabilities contribute to Xerox's success in managed print services (MPS).
Xerox and its subsidiaries have received more than 62 000 patents worldwide since the company's first patent was issued in 1933. The company is home to some of the world's most prolific inventors. In 2013, almost 90 scientists and engineers reached patent milestones ranging from 75 to more than 300 patents.
Xerox has been awarded the National Medal of Technology, the highest honour awarded by the president of the United States, and a number of innovation awards, including being a three-time winner on Thomson Reuters' listing of the World's 100 Most Innovative Companies, and being named to MIT Technology Review's 50 Most Disruptive Companies in 2013.
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