New data mining software helps extract business-critical insights from patent databases

New data mining and visualisation software could help senior managers and Research and Development staff identify new product development trends and gain business-critical insights into patent information worldwide. The new software, Derwent Analytics, powered by VantagePoint, helps users analyse trends, profile a competitor’s patenting activity and track trends in specific technology areas. It all starts when users perform a search of the Derwent World Patents Index, which includes more than 11 million classified patents from all over the globe. Search results are imported into Derwent Analytics and upon import, a summary screen gives a snapshot of the search set. Key statistics of each field within the Derwent record are instantly revealed. Top players within a search set can be quickly identified as well as the top patent assignees. By selecting a particular set of records, the details of a patent assignee’s patent portfolio are instantly displayed, allowing users to determine key insights such as how long a certain company has been patenting in a technology area and who their top inventors are. And, for those users wanting to keep an eye on their competitors, the new software is equipped with six automated patent analyses. Users can quickly profile their competitors’ patenting activity over time and discover a number of other important trends within their dataset. Microsoft Excel charts and graphs can be generated which can then be easily exported into reports and presentations for senior management. The software can also help you manage and understand your own company’s patent portfolio. The co-occurrence matrix allows a user to discover the key relationships between any two fields within the Derwent record. And for those companies looking for potential new areas to exploit existing technology, Derwent Analytics has powerful mapping functions that allow users to visually discover relationships within their dataset. This map is basically a visual representation of the co-occurrence matrix enabling users to quickly identify what company’s are patenting under the same Derwent classifications and identify potential areas to exploit their existing technology.