Interactive Overlay Maps for US Patent (USPTO) Data Based on International Patent Classifications (IPC)

[Loet Leydesdorff]

Interactive Overlay Maps for US Patent (USPTO) Data Based on International
Patent Classifications (IPC)
http://arxiv.org/abs/1210.6456.

In this new version, we added -- in response to the referees
(Scientometrics)-- a direct interfacing with Pajek (in addition to using
VOSViewer for the visualization).

We report on the development of an interface to the US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) that allows for the mapping of patent portfolios as overlays
to basemaps constructed from citation relations among all patents contained
in this database during the period 1976-2011. Both the interface and the
data are in the public domain; the freeware programs VOSViewer and/or Pajek
can be used for the visualization. These basemaps and overlays can be
generated at both the 3-digit and 4-digit levels of the International Patent
Classifications (IPC) of the World Intellectual Property Organization
(WIPO). The basemaps can provide a stable mental framework for analysts to
follow developments over searches for different years, which can be
animated. The full flexibility of the advanced search engines of USPTO are
available for generating sets of patents and/or patent applications which
can thus be visualized and compared. This instrument allows for addressing
questions about technological distance, diversity in portfolios, and
animating the developments of both technologies and technological capacities
of organizations over time. 

Loet Leydesdorff, Duncan Kushnir, & Ismael Rafols

** apologies for cross-postings.

Loet Leydesdorff 
Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR)
Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam.