A Methodology for Patent Function Analysis

The preceding researches on functional analysis of patents using patent classification codes or keywords as function classifiers are lack of consideration in the fact that functional elements vary from patent to patent. This study proposes the methodology for systematically identifying functional elements of patents using patent-function matrix, allowing us to better match and compare them with the actual functions in commercialized products. By applying the new methodology to the case study of Korean patents regarding smart watch, we could easily find out the distribution of patents amongst functional elements and identify the functional range of each patent. Patent documents deal with technological inventions for solving a certain problem and they describe functions, physical structures and the way they are combined very specifically. Engineers can determine specific R&D directions by conducting a functional analysis of patents in the technical field of concern. Many of the preceding researches regarding a functional analysis of patents regard patent-classification codes or abstract keywords extracted by text mining techniques as functions of the patents (4, 5). Though it is efficient in terms of time and cost spent for the analysis, there are several limitations of that approach. First, it is difficult to identify specific functional elements of patents in detail by the approach. The functions defined by classification codes or keywords are too comprehensive to be matched with the actual functions of the related products commercialized in the market. Thus, commercialization of the patents is difficult to be determined in this analytical method In addition, it is difficult to differentiate specific functions of each patent with the current method. In general, a patent has one or more functional elements and the elements vary from patent to patent. Even if some patents are assigned to the same classification code and have the same keywords, the functional elements of a patent are not necessarily the same with the other patents in the same group. Some of functional elements in a patent are unique and different from the elements in other patents, while the other elements commonly appear in the other patents of the same field. Thus, the functional range or coverage that varies from patent to patent and the distribution of patents amongst functional elements cannot be exactly evaluated by the current approach.