USPTO Launches New Patent Data Visualization Platform

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has launched a new patent data analytics and visualization platform called PatentsView that is designed to allow patent researchers and the general public to search and view data on nearly 40 years of patenting activity in the United States.

PatentsView comes equipped with search filters and multiple viewing options that allow users to explore patent filing trends on technological, regional and individual levels. The platform sources its data from public USPTO bulk data files from 1976-2014, linking inventors, their organization, locations and patenting activities.

The PatentsView platform was developed by the USPTO in partnership with USDA, the Center for the Science of Science and Innovation Policy (CSSIP), the University of California at Berkly, Twin Arch Technologies, American Institutes of Research (AIR) and Periscopic. The development of the platform started back in 2012.

 

PatentsView – Functionality

PatentsView Homepage

The PatentsView homepage is designed to present users with all of the platform’s features on a single page. The platform allows users to view search results according to Patent, Inventor, Assignee and Class. The current review was done while viewing search results according to Patent.

Below the viewing options are a set of search fields that enable users to perform searches. The search fields are Patent; Assignee – At Issue; Location – At Issue; Inventor; USPC Patent Class and Grant Date.

Once users are finished filling in the search fields, they have the option of viewing the search results in a list view or map view. As shown in the screenshot above, the buttons for list view and map view are located directly beneath the search fields.

PatentsView Highlighted Searches

At the bottom of the homepage, PatentsView offers highlighted searches that can help new users start their exploration of the data.

PatentsView Search Results List View

The List View option in PatentsView presents the search results in a simple list. This option lists the search results along with patent title, the number of citations, filed date and grant date. The left-hand side column offers users various search filters to sort the results, like patent, patent type, inventor, assignee at issue, location at issue and date. The top of the list view pages gives a brief summary about the search results, informing users about the total number of patents found matching their search criteria, the number of inventors the patents were granted to, the number of assignees for the patents and the number of USPC classes.

As the screenshot below shows, users also have the option of expanding the patent summary, by clicking on the patent title, which gives additional information on the patents like publication number, patent type, name of the inventor(s), inventor(s) location, assignee name and assignee location. Also, when viewing results in List View, users can choose to view the search results according to Inventor, Assignee and Class, by clicking on the tabs located above the search results.

Expand Patent Summary in List View

 

When users click on a patent title, a new window opens which provides detailed information about the patent including the patent abstract, the number of citations for that patents and most recent citations. Clicking on the patent title opens a Google Patents page detailing the patent in its entirety, enabling the users to study the patent in more detail and download it in PDF format.

Patent Detail View

The map view presents users with an interactive map of the world, pinpointing locations where the inventors or assignees for the patents are located. Hovering the mouse over a location gives users the name of the location and the number of patents for the inventors or assignees in that location

PatentsView Map View

 

The List and Map buttons at the top of the search results page allow users to toggle between the two modes of viewing search results.

 

Have you tried the PatentsView tool? Tell us about your experience in the comments section below!

 

 

This post was contributed by Abhishek Tiwari. The Intellogist blog and Intellogist are provided for free by Landon IP, which is a CPA Global company. Landon IP is a major provider of professional services meeting the needs of the IP community, including patent searches; analytics and technology consulting; patent, legal, and technical translations; and information research and retrieval.

Gridlogics Releases New PatSeer Updates

Gridlogics has launched a new release of PatSeer, its patent search and analysis software, offering functionality and user interface enhancements. The new features include a new syntax operator, additional search field codes and custom tables. Read on for a more detailed report.

A New Intellogist System Report on PatSeer: Top 5 Highlights!

A new Intellogist System Report on PatSeer, a patent search and analysis platform created by Gridlogics, is now available!  Gridlogics, who also created the patent analysis platform Patent iNSIGHT Pro, launched PatSeer in May 2012.  PatSeer coverage includes INPADOC bibliographic and abstract patent coverage, plus full text coverage of 15 patent authorities, as well as additional image, family data, legal status information, citation data, and corporate tree information. PatSeer is a relatively new patent search system that includes a variety of search interfaces, collaboration tools, and analysis options that both novice and advanced searchers will find intuitive and easily accessible.  The Coverage Map and Quick Tables on Intellogist have also been updated with information on PatSeer, so compare PatSeer’s coverage and features with similar patent search tools!

Continue reading to learn about some of the unique features of PatSeer highlighted in the Intellogist Report, such as the in-depth filtering options and the Patent Dashlets™ (business dashboards) that can be shared with colleagues and clients!

Meeting the Challenges of Data Collection and Analysis

As a leader in patent analysis, Landon IP has expert searchers who answer complex questions on a daily basis to produce the highest quality results. If you work with patents, you know the obstacles we face: data collections are huge and unwieldy; errors in the data are rampant; and in short, nothing involving patent data is ever easy. Today, I’m going to share some of our most basic strategies for producing high-quality datasets that lead to reliable results. Read on to get an insight into these best practices.

How to Use PatentOptimizer™ Analytics to Filter Documents and Locate Keyword Variants within a Patent Result Set

LexisNexis® PatentOptimizer™ is a patent analysis tool created by LexisNexis, and it was designed to assist patent attorneys and agents when drafting patent documents.  The PatentOptimizer™ Analytics feature may additionally be of use to patent searchers, who can load a set of up to 2000 documents into the Analytics tool and granularly filter the result set by a wide variety of criteria in order to locate very specific subsets within the broader result set.  Searchers who have narrowed their result set down to a list of hundreds of relevant documents can use the Analytics tool to locate only key documents through the filter options. The Analytics tool can also be used to generate a thesaurus on the fly for selected sets of documents and locate all variations of each term/phrase listed in the thesaurus.  This feature may be used by searchers to identify various important keywords and synonyms in a relevant result set in order to expand their search queries.  In general, PatentOptimizer Analytics offers tools that can help patent searchers either narrow their result set (through the filters) or expand their result set (through the keyword variants in the on-the-fly thesaurus).

I recently had the opportunity to watch a demonstration of PatentOptimizer™ Analytics, so continue reading for an overview of the filter and thesaurus options which can help you narrow or expand your patent search results set!

A Patent Analysis Tool For Merging Assignee Names in TotalPatent Charts

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false] The semantic search option on TotalPatent is a unique tool for patent searchers which I highlighted in a previous post, so today I’d like to call attention to a new TotalPatent feature created specifically for patent analysis purposes: the Merge tool. TotalPatent includes an Analytics tab where users can create charts using saved datasets from search results, folders, or document retrieval results.  Users can now normalize the fields displayed in the charts by manually combining specific data points using the Merge tool.  This tool will be useful to patent professionals performing initial analysis of a patent dataset because users can merge equivalent assignee or inventor names and therefore generate a more accurate visualization of the dataset.  The visualization and data cleaning tools on TotalPatent are very simple and are no substitute for detailed patent landscape studies. The charts created under the TotalPatent Analytics tab shouldn’t be used to make important business or legal decisions, but they will provide an initial overview on certain aspects of the dataset through a simple visualization.

Continue reading for a closer look at how to use the Merge tool on TotalPatent can be used to combine equivalent assignee names!

Free Features of Patent Buddy, Part 2: Create a Patent Portfolio and View Top Patent Attorneys

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false] Last time, we looked at the patent search and analysis options of the online community Patent Buddy.  Patent Buddy is a free patent search and analysis website originally created by a group of patent attorneys in 2007.  The site offers free search of US patent records after 1980, as well as search sections for patent owners, inventors, IPC classes, patent attorneys, and patent firms.  The site also includes some data visualization features, such as a breakdown of patent owners within a specific IPC class.

Registered users of Patent Buddy get the added benefit of access to the Dashboard, My Portfolio and Following sections of the website, where the user can select to receive updates related to chosen patent records, owners, inventors, and technology classes.  Patent Buddy also includes a community for registered users, who can view a directory of other members (and add their profile to the directory), join groups, and post or view job offers.  Finally, Patent Buddy has created its own lists of top-rated patent prosecutors, firms, owners, and inventors.

Continue reading to learn about these portfolio, alert, and community features of Patent Buddy!

Free Features of Patent Buddy, Part 1: Patent Search and Analysis

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false] Patent analysts require sophisticated tools to create detailed and customized patent landscapes for clients who need to  gain insight into a particular technology field or group of competitors.  Analysts can take their pick from a number of subscription-based patent analysis and visualization tools, but free patent analysis and visualization products are few and far between.  Even when a patent search site offers free visualization tools, the product is usually very basic.  Patexia, for example, allows users to create simple graphs based on searches of US patent documents dating back to 1974.  This tool doesn’t even reach the complexity or coverage of the patent analysis features offered in conjunction with subscription patent search systems like Thomson Innovation or TotalPatent, but the free tool is a fast and easy way to quickly visualize trends relating to a particular IPC code, country, assignee, agent, or inventor over a period of time (for US patent records). In short, free patent analysis tools may provide a useful informal overview of trends for smaller US patent datasets, but results should ultimately be taken with a grain of salt.

Bearing that in mind, I recently visited a free patent community called Patent Buddy, which offers a host of free patent search and analysis features covering US patent records after 1980.  The site also allows users to search through patent owners, inventors, agents, and technology classes, and some visualization options offer helpful insights into patent ownership trends within specific IPC classes.

After the jump, learn about all the search and analysis features available on Patent Buddy for US patent documents, patent owners, inventors, agents, and IPC classes!

EDGAR: The SEC’s Financial Data Goldmine

[tweetmeme source=”Intellogist” only_single=false] What is the best way to find detailed financial data on a particular company? You can use a subscription database, such as Factiva, to view a “snapshot” of the current financial status of a company, or you can go directly to the source and view the actual documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  Patent analysts will often need background information on the financial activity of a target company or multiple companies within a particular sector, and EDGAR is an excellent resource for quickly locating financial documents filed directly by both US and non-US companies.

EDGAR (Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system) is a free database created by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and “all companies, foreign and domestic, are required to file registration statements, periodic reports, and other forms electronically through EDGAR” (according to the EDGAR homepage). The SEC website describes how the main purpose of EDGAR is to “increase the efficiency and fairness of the securities market for the benefit of investors, corporations, and the economy by accelerating the receipt, acceptance, dissemination, and analysis of time-sensitive corporate information filed with the agency.”

After the jump, learn what types of financial documents are available on EDGAR, and we’ll also do a sample search for financial documents related to a popular company!

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!