A patent intelligence system for strategic technology planning

Patent intelligence—the transformation of content found in multiple patents into technical, business, and legal insight—is considered a key factor in gaining a competitive advantage in technologically competitive business environments. Although keyword-based patent intelligence tools are widely used due to their simplicity and ease of use, they are limited in that they cannot represent key technological concepts and inventive knowledge by relying only on the frequency of occurrence of defined keywords. As a remedy, this paper proposes a Subject–Action–Object (SAO)-based patent intelligence system. SAO structures that can be extracted from textual patent information are known as the expertise and inventive findings of the relevant patent. On the basis of semantic analysis of patent SAO structures, our proposed intelligence system constructs patent maps and patent networks. Building on the maps and networks, the system provides specific functionalities including identification of technology trends and significant patents, detection of novel technologies, and identification of potential infringement. This paper describes the architecture of our proposed patent intelligence system in detail, and illustrates the system’s functionalities using case studies. We anticipate that our proposed system will be incorporated into the technology planning process to assist experts in the formulation of technology strategies. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.