Example of APA (Automatic Patent Analysis) APA from a study of

13 Pages·2011·1.23 MB·English

Example of APA (Automatic Patent Analysis) APA from a study
of Solar panels
HenriDou,Atelis ESCEM Tours Poitiers,France
JulyetaPaulinaRuntuwene,CompetitiveIntelligenceUnit,SULUT, Indonesia
SriDamayanty Manullang, IICI(Indonesian InstituteforCompetitive Intelligence)
ChristianBetton,SociétéEnergiepro,France
e-mail [email protected]://www.ciworldwide.org
Abstracts : The patents are a unique information source for the SMEs. In this paper we analyze
the field of solar panels (to produce warm water) using the worldpatent database available from
the EPO host. Various analytical techniques are presented from IPC analysis to drawing
browsing. We underline in this study how a small company may find a deep benefice by the
systematicusageofpatent informationtosecureits idea,test themarket andboost innovations.
1-Introduction
The creation of an innovative dynamic in SMEs in Europe of in developing countries (1) is
groundedtotheuseof an understandableinformationwhichwill fit theneedofthese entities. An
information which too close from research will be too far from the concern of SMEs since its
integration in the production will be on a time scale much too large. This is the reason why since
several years we have developed the use of the patent information and the development of
various facilities to retrieve the patents and to perform automatically the most useful analysis on
these local databases. We present here a real study which will extend on the protection, the
knowledge of the ongoing applications and technologies and the application made by the SME.
The field of R&D (solar panel) integrated in most patents a drawing, very useful for the SMEs,
since its visual perception is better than to read a long and often blur description most of the time
inEnglish.
2–Materialand method
The information source was the worldpatent database available from the EPO host, and which is
free. The development of the patent retrieval to build up a local database and to perform the
automatic analysis was done through the Matheo-Patent software, already described in various
papers. (2). The analysis of the local patent data aimed to show in a visual way (chart, networks,
matrix and also drawings) the trend in technology, the main actors, their competencies, etc.. (3).
Oit is thenveryeasytoanswertotheclassical questions (4):
•What arethetechnologies anduses (from theretrievedpatents)
•What is thetrendofthesetechnologies and applications
•Whois doingwhat (inventors)
•Whichis doingwhat (applicants)
•What arethestrategies ofthevarious companies involveinthat field(automaticbenchmarking)
•What aretheR&Dstrategies ofvarious groups ofcountry
•What arethecompanies whichcollaboratetogether(joint patents)
•What is thenetworkoftheinventor
•What is thestatus ofthepatent (publicdomainifagedofmorethan20 years,colse from 20
years,or from Inpadocif thedataareavailable)
What arethesitedpatents inthekeypatents sectioned.
The local database can be update if necessary using the same query of a different one. The key
patents may be selected and grouped according their importance (applicants, countries, IPC …),
and the groups analyzed in depth (networks, matrix, etc…). All the patents or the selected ones
may be transferred under various formats to integrate the data in word processors, or in local
databases, Intranet, Extranet,ortoset upanewdatabasefor amoresophisticatedanalysis (5).(6)
3–Thecasestudy,solarpanels
The context of this study is the following: an SME from the South of France, specialized in the
development of solar heating systems, experimented a very simple technology to buildup solar
panels with a low production cost. That SME whished to know if it will be possible to produce
thepanels without infringingalreadyexistingpatents.Thedateofthestudywas February2007.
Thesolarpanel developed bytheSMEwas thefollowing:
Figure1–Thedrawingof thepanel
This drawingand theexplanationwerethedocument summarizedthediscussionthat wehad with
the director of this small company (no more that 5 people). The two crucial points of the panel
arethe entranceandthe output ofthewarm water.
We process the search by using the IPC (7) International patent Classification available from
Internet (IPC). But to process in this way is long and tedious, so we test the availability of the
catch words (8) to go directly to the right class. By chance if the term panel is not present in the
in the catch words the term solar can be find and allows to select the right IPC class: F24J. A
morecompleteanalysis oftheCIBthroughtheCIBdatabaseconductedto thechoiceof:
F24J/2/20
20 . . theworkingfluidbeingconveyedbetweenplates [4]
2/
Using this class as for the query of the database, we selected 2650 patents (although the original
search was done in 2007, we conducted a new search in October 27th 2009 to make this paper
more accurate). The following figure shows to see part the the direct analysis of the IPCs present
inall thepatent retrieved.Oneormore IPC maybepresent inthesamepatent.
Figure2– Main screenof Matheo-Patentand selection of theIPC F24Jand amongthe
patentsconcerned one whichisparticularlyinteresting
The IPC are automatically presented on the left part of the screen. The selection of one IPC leads
to the presentation on the right part of the screen of all the patents indexed with this class. The
bottom part of the screen shows the information related to the selected patent. The pertinence (1
to8)in yellowhas been addedbythereaderas well as thecomment which appears inred..
4–Thestrategyin the patentselection
Theabovepatent has not beenselectedusingtheclassification,neitherthe words ofthetitleor
thewordofthe abstracts; Inthis case, readingone aftertheothermorethan 800patents will beto
longandwill taketoomuchtime.Toselect thepatents directlyrelatedwiththeproblem ofthe
SME,weuseapropertyofMatheo-Patent whichis toselect patent bybrowsingautomatically
throughthepatent drawings.On courseincertain cases this methodwill not besuitableifthe
numberofdrawings is small.But,inthecaseofthesolarpanels this methodis welcomesinceit
allows evenif youdonot knowEnglishtoselect theright patent. Todoso,themainscreenof
Matheo-Patent withall thepatents present is selectedfrom themenu,then analysis is selectedand
inthemenuwhichshows upontheleft part ofthe screendrawingis selected.All thedrawings
will appearontheleft part ofthescreenandtheselectionofonedrawingwill leadtothepatent
selectionontheright part ofthescreenandtoits refenceinformationonthebottom part.Another
waytoseethedrawings relatedtothepatent is to movethemousetothepatent number. Ifthe
drawingis present,it will appear as indicatedon figure3.
Figure3–Selection of acriticalpatent
When passing the mouse on the patent number WO03040631 we can see a drawing which is
quasi the same as the idea developed by the SME. More information area available: reference
and abstract. If necessary the full text of the patent can be directly downloaded. The abstract of
thepatent shows clearlythat it covers all theidea developedbytheSME.
Abstract ofWO03040631
A solar heating panel comprising three substantially parallel plates, a front plate (10) a middle
plate (12) and a rear plate (13) assembled in distance to each other, where at least the front plate
(10) and the middle plate (12) are glass plates and the rear plate (13) is energy absorbing, and
where a liquid may flow between the middle plate (12) and the rear plate (13), where a coating
(11, 11') that is transparent to visible light and short waved infrared radiation but is reflecting
long waved infrared radiation is coated on at least one of the glass surfaces facing into the room
betweenthe front plate andthemiddleplate.
5–Depthanalysis of theformerpatent
Moreinformationhas to beobtainedontheformerpatent duetoits importancesinceit seems to
blockall thepossibledevelopment oftheSME’s idea.One waytoobtain moreinformation is to
usethecitedpatents.Theyaredirectlyobtainedfrom thesoftware andare presentedinfigure4.
Figure4–Thenetwork of thecitedpatents
On constate que le brevet sélectionné est de l’année 2003, c’est à dire très loin de son extinction.
The selected patent if from 2003 that is tosayveryfar awayfrom the date of its extinction. It will
seem then that we should stop a further analysis of the downloaded patents since for this former
result it seems that the SME’s idea was already covers by a patent. But, because of the facility of
the drawings selection we nevertheless continue to browse through them. This leads to the
selectionofanotherpatent,as shows infigure5:
Figure5– New patentveryclosefromthefirstoneslected bybrowsingthrough the
drawings
Figure6–Bibliographicdataof thenew patent
Abstract ofDE3120794
The invention relates to a solar collector for heating a fluid, in particular air and/or water. The
solar collector has a light-permeable plate, behind which an absorption layer is arranged, which
absorbs solar radiation and forms a part of the wall of a chamber which has connections for
conducting through the fluid to be heated. In order that, even in the case of polluted fluid, the
absorption of solar radiation cannot be impaired by dirt coatings and at the same time a reduction
of heat losses can be achieved, the chamber is arranged on the side of the absorption layer facing
away from the light-permeable plate. The absorption layer is preferably arranged at a distance
from the light-permeable plate, the space arranged in between being closed. As support for the
absorption layer, use can be made of a metal plate or a foil. Pipes for conducting through water
can additionally be arranged in the chamber, which are in heat-exchanging contact with the
absorptionlayer.
This patent,whichindeedis veryclosefrom theSME’s ideais aGermanPatent whichhas been
publishedin1982andwhichis inthepublicdomainsinceit is olderofmorethan20 years from
now.This veryinterestingfortheSME,sinceit couldbeopposedotheWorldPatent selected
duringthe first analysis. Moreoverit seems strangethat this patent is not indicatedinthecited
patent list ofthepatent WO03040631.
6–Access tothefulltextof thepatents
This is the last step before taking a decision to go or not go for the SME. The full text of the two
patents is downloaded automatically by Matheo –Patent. The result is show in the following
figures.
Figure7 : Fulltexteof thepatentWO03040631
Figure8– Claimsfromtheabovepatent