Patent Technology Landscapes are the high-level visualization of large set of patent dataset specific to a particular technology. It provides over view of the various technological segments within the dataset and is very useful for the decision makers. These map further breaks into more specific detailed technological segments to visualize the technology co-relation, technology diversification and various technology trends. Mining of the huge dataset for specific technological detail is a laborious process. Presently various vendors such as Aureka from MicroPat provides automated generation of patent landscape maps for large datasets. The basis for the generation of these maps is the keyword frequency. Thus these maps require human intelligence to further refine it.

A patent landscape contains various other 2-D and 3-D technology graph to represent the various emerging, high-growth, mid-growth and low-growth areas in a particular technology, or across technology. It is helpful in extrapolating the concentration and trends of invention with large technology segments. Further, it also includes graphical representation of the Patent technology S-curve to show the pace of invention and patenting activity, in various technology segments.

A patent landscape helps in:

Categorization of large dataset into various technological segments.

Categorization company’s large patent portfolio

Identification of the possible competitors within a technology domain

Visualizing trends in a technology landscape over time

Comparing the portfolios of competitors companies

Identification of possible collaboration and acquisition and merger opportunities

Identification of possible research opportunities
In conclusion a patent technology landscape is a type of Technology Competitive Intelligence (TCI) report, which consists of visual representation of the analytic analysis of large patent dataset information in a particular technology domain. These reports typically organize and highlight patent filings trends, patent count by country, top patenting organization and other details. These reports help in identification of technology gaps and white spaces.

By Robert Smith

John Smith: John, a former software engineer, shares his insights on software development, programming languages, and coding best practices.