Patent Data for Technology Assessment, Part II

Abstract

SUMMARYThis case study of the use of U.S. patents for technology intelligence is the second article of a two-part series on applications of U.S. patent data. Sci-tech librarians are often drawn into the intersection with business information research that involves the study of technology trends and technical industries for business decision-making. Patent data can be a useful resource for solutions to such information problems. This paper uses the patents issued in the technology of global positioning systems (GPS) as an example to discuss how patent data can be retrieved and mined to find patterns of development and innovations in an area of technology. GPS technology is found to be a rapidly emerging and changing field, dominated by a few American corporations and geographically concentrated, but of interest to many organizations in different fields and a number of countries.