patent information & patent analytics lesson learned from my students

PATENT INFORMATION & PATENT ANALYTICSLESSONS LEARNED FROM MY STUDENTS

Inbar YasurPatent Information Specialist

Hipusit.info

Heidelberg ICIC October 2017

AGENDA

INTRODUCTION

UNEXPECTED APPLICATIONSFOR PATENT INFORMATION

BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVESEARCHING

CONCLUSIONS

Inbar Yasur - Hipusit.info 2ICIC 2017

INTRODUCTION

About me

1

1999 – First exposure to

scientific online databases

2

2000 – First job as Info. Specialist

3

2001 –Started my

business

4

2002 –Started to

teach

5

2003 – IFISH 1300 member online forum

6

2013 –Representing

Minesoft


• Patent attorneys and researchers attending a workshop in patent searching and patent analysis.

• Employees of organizations attending an internal corporate workshop.

Inbar Yasur - Hipusit.info 4

INTRODUCTION

About my students:

ICIC 2017

• Attend a one-year postgraduate course for Information Specialists.

• Students are often sent by their place of work and bring their own needs and expectations.


INTRODUCTION

About my students:

ICIC 2017

• During the year, we work with two different entrepreneurs.

• The student teams provide answers to all the entrepreneurs’ information needs including:• competitor research • market research • literature reviews • prior art searches • patent analytics


INTRODUCTION

About my Information Specialist course:

ICIC 2017

• Working in teams of 5-6, each student is presented with identical search tasks and often gets surprisingly different outcomes.

• At this point, the teams combine the divergent results into a single data set to be analyzed.


INTRODUCTION

About my Information Specialist course:

ICIC 2017

• Staying up-to-date.

• Teaching a subject leads to greater understanding.


INTRODUCTION

The added value of teaching:

ICIC 2017

• Gives you a stage to promote your agenda.

• patent searching and analytics as useful tools

• Exposes you to different audiences who introduce you to different needs or uses for patent information.


INTRODUCTION


ICIC 2017

• By finding a balance between performing actual patent searches alongside teaching, you will find that you have an endless supply of up-to-date examples.

• In addition, you will find that you are constantly learning new tools yourself.


INTRODUCTION


ICIC 2017

• Diverse and sometimes unexpectedapplications of patent data.

• The limitations of a patent analytics specialist working alone and the benefits of collaboration.


INTRODUCTION

Teaching shows:

ICIC 2017

A student from the Tax Authority implemented a patent search as part of the process of declaring bankruptcy in order to estimate the company’s IP value.

• Patent search by Inventor/Assignee name

• Reassignment

• Licensing


UNEXPECTED APPLICATIONS: EXAMPLE 1

Bankruptcy

ICIC 2017



Headhunting

295

138120 114

103 100 100 100 100 96 96 93 93 90 86 83 83 83 7969

Inventors

Google – Top 20 inventors by patent families

ICIC 2017

A student who works in a placement firm which specializes in finding technology experts uses patent searching to identify relevant opportunities through patent analysis by inventor name in the field.



Headhunting

ICIC 2017

Filing patents to increase value on the matchmaking market…



Matchmaking

ICIC 2017

• Diverse and sometimes unexpectedapplications of patent data.

• The limitations of a patent analytics specialist working alone and the benefits of collaboration.


BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION IN PATENT ANALYTICS

Teaching shows:

ICIC 2017



“PATENT LANDSCAPE REPORTS (PLRs) provide a snap-shot of the patent situation of a specific technology, either within a given country or region, or globally “

ICIC 2017

ICIC 2017 Inbar Yasur - Hipusit.info 18


Requirements for a patent analytics specialist

DEEP UNDERSTANDING OF PATENT DATA

01

UNDERSTANDING OF THE SUBJECT MATTER

02

ACCESS TO COMMERCIAL PATENT DATABASES WITHANALYTICS TOOLS

03

PROFICIENCY IN EXCELOR LIKE

04

VISUALIZATION SKILLS05

COLLABORATION06



Methodology

I II III IV V VI

Search strategy,keywords & class

Claim analysis& tagging

Visualization

Data cleaning Matrix building Insights based on analyzed info

Source: T. Y.R.S.N. et al. / World Patent Information 48 (2017)

ICIC 2017



Search Strategy & Data Cleaning

I II III IV V VI



Visualization


ICIC 2017

Obviously:

• Every experienced patent searcher can do it…

• But a team is always better.




ICIC 2017

• No matter what the search strategy, coverage will be incomplete because “full" coverage of a search topic doesn't exist.

• If the underlying data is incomplete or flawed, the analytics are not meaningful.




ICIC 2017

• Example 1: Irrigation machines

• In 2012, I conducted a manufacturer search for irrigation machines for a customer

• ~30 different companies were found


BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION IN PATENT ANALYTICS: EXAMPLE 1

Web searching

ICIC 2017

• Later given as an exercise in the Information Specialist course to 50 students each year.

• Every year new companies were found.

• These “new” companies all existed at the time the previous searches were performed, however were not found.

• Their existence was checked in the Internet Archive



Web searching

ICIC 2017

https://archive.org/


35 3847

7283

2013 2014 2015 2016 2017

TOTAL NUMBER OF IRRIGATION MACHINE MANUFACTURERS BY YEAR

Web searching


• Patent searching also gives incomplete coverage of the patents

• Example 2: Aerial Firefighting


Patent searching


• A patent landscaping project was created for students, who were not professional patent searchers.

• The exercise was to gather patent information on aerial firefighting to understand various approaches and to identify technology trends for future research.


BENEFITS OF COLLABORATION IN PATENT ANALYTICS:EXAMPLE 2

Patent landscaping research

ICIC 2017

• Patents related to aerial firefighting were extensively searched in Patbase.

• The patents were retrieved by using keywords & classifications (IPC and CPC)



Patent landscaping research

ICIC 2017

• Some of the patents found were not classified under these specific classifications but under more general ones.



Classification limitations:

ICIC 2017



Keyword complexity:

ICIC 2017


280

650

Found

Not Found

STUDENT 1 STUDENT 2

STUDENT 4 STUDENT 5

STUDENT 3

MYSELF

300

660

Found

Not Found

450

510

Found

Not Found

470

490

Found

Not Found520

420Found

Not Found 710

250 Found

Not Found

Number of patent families found by each team member out of a total of 960


III



Claim Analysis & Tagging

I II IV V VI



Visualization


ICIC 2017

• 960 Patent families were tagged manually by 5 students (~200 each)

• I reviewed and retagged the patent families. At this stage, I could recognize patterns and could identify each student by their tagging style.

• After standardization, it became clear that the tagging process is completely subjective.



Subjectivity of claim analysis & tagging:

ICIC 2017

IVIII


Matrix building

I II V VI

Search StrategyKeywords & Class

Claim Analysis& Tagging

Visualization

Data Cleaning Matrix Building Insights based on analyzed info


• Looks simple and obvious but it took 6 iterations to agree on it.

• Each of the team members had a different suggestion and point of view.



Subjectivity of matrix building

ICIC 2017

IVIII


I II V VI

Search StrategyKeywords & Class

Claim Analysis& Tagging

Visualization

Data Cleaning Matrix building Insights based on analyzed info

Insights based on analysis and visualization

37Inbar Yasur - Hipusit.infoICIC 2017

• Dividing the results by tags and comparing them to the whole set uncovers insights which cannot be achieved in any other way.



Claim analysis & tagging:

ICIC 2017


The entire firefighting field is expanding. This expansion seems to be tied to the dramatic increase in patents in detection over the past 5 years.

MISSION OVER TIME

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

19

66

19

69

19

72

19

75

19

78

19

81

19

84

19

87

19

90

19

93

19

96

19

99

20

02

20

05

20

08

20

11

20

14

Airplanes Helicopters UAV ALL

While innovation in airplane and helicopter platforms has declined, UAV innovation has increased and pulled the entire domain upward.

PLATFORM OVER TIME

0

40

80

120

160

200

19

66

19

69

19

72

19

75

19

78

19

81

19

84

19

87

19

90

19

93

19

96

19

99

20

02

20

05

20

08

20

11

20

14

ALL Detection Extingusing


• Require:

• Data visualization skills to understand the data.

• Better visualization tools than supplied by the vendors.

• Extensive knowledge in Excel & PowerPoint



Visualization and analysis

ICIC 2017

• Any insight to be gained from visualization and analysis is only as good as the data it is based upon.

• Collaborative work gives a more complete basis for the following stages.



Insights based on visualization and analysis

ICIC 2017

• Collaborative work will emphasize the different visual and analytical capabilities of the team members, leading to a more successful final result.

• Brainstorming at this stage will also improve the results.



Analysis and visualization

ICIC 2017

CONCLUSIONS


• Teaching is a great way to learn and to open your mind to new possibilities.

• Take patent analysis reports prepared by others “with a grain of salt”, as we have seen that no search is “complete” and this affects the analysis.


CONCLUSIONS

Keep in mind:

• Patent Analytics is complicated and should be done with a team of:

• Patent searchers

• Visualization experts

• People with other perspectives such as regulatory, legal, scientific, etc.


CONCLUSIONS

Keep in mind:

• Develop cross-sector relationships at the individual and organizational level.

• Ask questions.

• Share insights, expertise, and best practices.


CONCLUSIONS

Embrace collaborative business practices

ICIC 2017

At the very least, share your work with another person at each stage.


CONCLUSIONS

Don't be afraid to think small

ICIC 2017

THANK YOU!

Inbar YasurPatent Information Specialist

Hipusit.info

patent information & patent analytics lesson learned from my students

Data & Analytics