In the field of patent analytics there is, obviously, an emphasis on the analysis of patent information, but looking at the area holistically, there is just as much, if not more emphasis on the subsequent visualization of the output from the analysis process. There are a variety of individual methods for visualizing analysis results, but over the past few years there has been an increased interest in merging diverse analysis results, and providing them together in a single representation. The practice of doing this provides context and depth to an area, which can’t be achieve when looking at individual results in a one at a time fashion.
One of the companies providing visual insight into patent activities is Deltasight. An interview with CEO Taavi Raidma was published on this blog earlier in the year, and up to now the organization has published visual comparisons between companies in the fields of mapping and navigation, non-practicing entities, and social media companies, among others. Having established some traction by comparing company portfolios Deltasight is now producing visual reports for technology fields as a whole. These reports bring together insights on the companies, people and patenting activities within specific industries.
For the inaugural public industry report Deltasight started by looking at Near Field Communications (NFC) payment and transaction systems. A copy of this report can be downloaded by clicking on the link:
The report brings together individual visualizations on the following items:
The images below shows each page from the report. Beyond providing the traditional charts and graphs associated with patent analytics each section also adds insight on the business implications of the metric. For instance, looking at the Top Assignee section the table also compares the organizations by relative size and their recent activity.
Speaking again with Taavi Raidma, he had the following to say about the company’s purpose in generating these visualizations:
“The goal of these visual reports is to provide quick overviews of desired technology areas and companies for people who don’t necessarily have an in-depth IP knowledge. In particular, these reports have so far found great reception from private equity firms, and business consultants who want to integrate IP into their decision making.”
At its most effective patent analytics is a tool for organizations to understand risk, and value, and a means for making smarter technical business decisions faster. Statistics, in and of themselves are useful for decision making, but to be really impactful it is often necessary to create visualizations associated with these statistics that provide overviews, and context directed at key business metrics. Putting all of these elements together in a single visual, where all of the salient aspects are together in one place can be a valuable means for developing context, and breadth.
