Patent information & patent analytics lesson learned from my students

PATENT INFORMATION & PATENT ANALYTICS
LESSONS LEARNED FROM MY STUDENTS
Inbar Yasur
Patent Information Specialist
Hipusit.info
Heidelberg ICIC October 2017

AGENDA
INTRODUCTION
UNEXPECTED APPLICATIONS
FOR PATENT INFORMATION
BENEFITS OF COLLABORATIVE
SEARCHING
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 unexpected
applications 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
138
120 114
103 100 100 100 100 96 96 93 93 90 86 83 83 83 79
69
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 unexpected
applications 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 WITH
ANALYTICS TOOLS
03
PROFICIENCY IN EXCEL
OR LIKE
04
VISUALIZATION SKILLS
05
COLLABORATION
06

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
Search strategy,
keywords & class
Claim analysis
& tagging
Visualization
on analyzed info
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
EXAMPLE 1
Web searching
ICIC 2017

EXAMPLE 1
35 38
47
72
83
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
EXAMPLE 2
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.
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)
EXAMPLE 2
Patent landscaping research
ICIC 2017

• Some of the patents found were not classified
under these specific classifications but under more
general ones.
EXAMPLE 2
Classification limitations:
ICIC 2017

EXAMPLE 2
Keyword complexity:
ICIC 2017

EXAMPLE 2
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 Found
520
420
Found
Not Found 710
250 Found
Not Found
Number of patent families found by each team member out of a total of 960

EXAMPLE 2

III
Claim Analysis & Tagging
I II IV V VI
Search strategy,
keywords & class
Claim analysis
& tagging
Visualization
on analyzed info
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.
EXAMPLE 2
Subjectivity of claim analysis & tagging:
ICIC 2017

IVIII
Matrix building
I II V VI
Search Strategy
Keywords & 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.
EXAMPLE 2
Subjectivity of matrix building
ICIC 2017

IVIII
I II V VI
Search Strategy
Keywords & 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.
EXAMPLE 2
Claim analysis & tagging:
ICIC 2017

EXAMPLE 2
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
1966
1969
1972
1975
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
2008
2011
2014
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
1966
1969
1972
1975
1978
1981
1984
1987
1990
1993
1996
1999
2002
2005
2008
2011
2014ALL 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 Yasur
Patent Information Specialist
Hipusit.info

Patent information & patent analytics lesson learned from my students

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