Patent Analytics

Patent Analytics refers to an in depth statistical analysis of patent activity in your technology area. Looking at large sets of patent data provides a better understanding of the “big picture” to help you take informed decisions. From such an analysis it may be possible to discover relationships and trends, which would be difficult to see when working with individual patents.

There are a range of commercial products on the market for analyzing patent sets and presenting the results visually and in a meaningful way. We have employed many of these tools in conducting searches and reporting results.

Although some of these tools are no doubt useful, there is considerable hype surrounding many products. We believe that the quality of the patent searcher is paramount and is far more important than the bells and whistles being used in showcasing search results. A brief discussion of some common types of patent analytics follows:

Semantic Analysis

Clustering

Patent clustering creates groups of similar patents using fielded data. Various classification systems produce a standardized code that can be used as a means of organizing documents that share a similar coding structure. Patents which share a high percentage of codes in common are likely to be similar. Allows a large number of patents to be organized into clusters. The software may depict results visually.

Citation Analysis

Patent citation analysis is useful in locating prior art, and can also be used as an indicator of a patent's value (seminal vs. incremental) or for identifying potential licensing partners. The front page of a patent recites relevant prior art. The number of citations can be counted or followed as they link documents together. The software may depict results visually.

Natural Language

PatentSurf is an example of a natural language patent search engine.

Patent Mapping

Data Mining is the process of extracting hidden patterns from data. Patent mapping is a data mining procedure that uses patent data to create a graphical representation of the relevant art pertaining to a particular technology. Patent mapping can identify:

Patent Landscapes

Visualization – 2D and 3D charts/graphs

Timelines are useful to see how patent activity is trending

Similarity engines

These search engines group search results by similarity.

Objective scoring/ranking

BLOCK QUOTE “Frankly, it’s beyond me why any company in this day and age would even attempt to do R&D without the insights that patent mapping gives you. It’s like trying to navigate your company’s future blind, without a map.” Paul Germeraad, Former VP of Research, Avery Dennison, Rembrandts in the Attic, page 101

““Frankly, it’s beyond me why any company in this day and age would even attempt to do R&D without the insights that patent mapping gives you. It’s like trying to navigate your company’s future blind, without a map.” Paul Germeraad, Rembrandts in the Attic, page 101. ” 

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