New Patent Analysis Tools Coming to Orbit.com

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false]In a previous post, I listed the new features for Questel’s Orbit.com platform, which were released on April 8, 2012 for Orbit version 1.5.  New tools include legal status searching and filter, a search wizard to search in multiple languages and identify relevant concepts, multiple detachable windows, a “More Like This” option, a “My Lists” tab, new import options, and Workfile updates.  At the Patent Information User Group (PIUG) 2012 Annual Conference, Kristin Whitman attended a workshop hosted by Questel that described further updates coming to the Orbit.com platform.  The most interesting new feature described at the workshop is an IP Business Intelligence Module for the Orbit.com system, which will include patent mapping and analysis tools to be used on selected patent family data sets.  According to a Questel representative, this  statistical analysis module will be released in a beta-test version in June 2012, and a full release of the module will most likely occur in September 2012.

Read on as we explore the patent analysis tools that will be available on the new IP Business Intelligence Module for Orbit.com!

The following list of features for the IP Business Intelligence Module is based off the presentation “Questel Workshop: PIUG Conference – April 29th, 2012” by Miguel Iglesias and Joe Terlizzi, originally presented at the PIUG 2012 Conference in Denver Colorado. After the release of the new module on Orbit.com, users will be able to:

•  Select the “Cluster Analysis” option above the search results to analyze select patent families.
• Pick a chart type by selecting an icon in the menu, or select the criteria for the chart from the drop-down menu on the toolbar.

Pick a chart type (screenshot from workshop PowerPoint presentation).

• Select a section (or multiple sections) of the chart (such as one or more bars in a bar graph) to display the list of patent documents corresponding to that section in a window beside the chart (under the tab “Results for Selection”). The user can change the view of the list to view a short hitlist, detailed hitlist, or drawings.
• Edit the chart through the “chart control” options in a menu displayed beside the chart. This menu is under the “Chart Control” tab.
• Under the “Drill down” tab in the window beside the chart, users can view a new chart based on the document set related to a selected section in the original chart.

Drill down and create a new chart based on selected sections of the original chart (screenshot from PowerPoint).

• Create a patent map: patent clusters positioned based on similarity. Users can select a specific section of the map to view the patent documents related to that selection. Chart control and drill-down options are also available for the patent map feature.

Patent map (screenshot from PowerPoint).

• Tree map based on technical concepts or IPC Codes. The technical concepts tree map has 3 levels with selection display for each level and includes selection drill down options. The IPC tree map can be color-coded by multiple assignees.

Drilling down through a tree map (screenshot from PowerPoint).

• Other available chart types:
  • Legal Status Chart with selection details – Granted, pending, revoked, expired, lapsed
  • Legal State Chart with selection details – Alive/Dead
  • Technical Concepts Radial Tree – Can be colored by assignee
  • IPC Code Radial Tree
  • Bubble charts
• Add preferred charts under “My Charts” menu
• Save an analysis and access later
• Group document sets by patent assignee, agents, inventors, concepts, IPC codes, or ECLA codes. Combine values into a single group or ungroup values.

Combining values into a single group (screenshot from PowerPoint).

Orbit.com is joining a number of other patent search systems that host patent analysis tools through their platforms, such as PatBase, Thomson Innovation, and TotalPatent. It should be noted that although these patent analysis tools may be useful for an initial overview of dataset trends, but important business decisions should not be made based off the results of these tools.  A professional patent landscape study will provide your organization with a detailed analysis report customized to meet the specific business needs of each customer, and this professional patent analysis will be a valuable tool for making business decisions.

What do you think of the new patent analysis tools that will be added to Orbit.com? Let us know in the comments!

This post was contributed by Joelle Mornini. The Intellogist blog is provided for free by Intellogist’s parent company Landon IP, a major provider of patent searches, trademark searches, technical translations, and information retrieval services.