Hardware geometry can be a claim, and Waymo's grant US11762063B2, "Camera ring structure for autonomous vehicles" (issued September 19, 2023), is a clean example. The CPC is mounting-and-optics rather than algorithm: B60R 11/04 (camera mounting in vehicles), B60R 2300/102 and 2300/105 (surround and multi-view image processing), with G01S 7/4813 marking lidar integration. The independent claim's value is the physical arrangement — the ring — that achieves the coverage, not a perception method.
This is the kind of patent that rewards reading the claim as a structure. Where cameras sit, how their fields of view overlap, and how the ring integrates with lidar are concrete engineering choices, and a claim that recites a specific geometry is defensible precisely because it describes a buildable thing. Waymo has filed a family here — multiple publications and grants share this title — which is the signature of a builder protecting a real sensor pod across continuations.
The enabling read is strong. Unlike a software-policy claim, a camera-ring structure either reads on a competitor's hardware or it does not; there is no ambiguity about whether the method 'works.' The independent claim establishes the ring; the dependents that specify camera count, overlap, and lidar co-location are the moat, and they map to physical parts that are visible on a real vehicle. That visibility is an enforcement advantage hardware claims hold over functional ones.
Strategically, dated September 2023, this reflects Waymo's identity as a company that designs its own sensor hardware rather than buying off-the-shelf. A surround camera-ring is core to a robotaxi's perception, and owning the structural IP discourages copying of the physical layout. The verdict: enabling and well-anchored — the modality and the geometry are both in the claim, and the durable protection lives in the dimensional dependents.