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A novel approach to explore patent development paths for subfield technologies
Author(s) -
Gwak Jae Ha,
Sohn So Young
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of the association for information science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.903
H-Index - 145
eISSN - 2330-1643
pISSN - 2330-1635
DOI - 10.1002/asi.23962
Subject(s) - reuse , computer science , robustness (evolution) , field (mathematics) , process (computing) , path (computing) , convergence (economics) , sensitivity (control systems) , data mining , algorithm , mathematics , engineering , computer network , biochemistry , chemistry , electronic engineering , operating system , economic growth , waste management , pure mathematics , economics , gene
Many algorithms for searching the main paths according to a subfield technology have been suggested using patent citation networks. However, the process by which the specific field is divided into subfields is problematic, in the sense that citation information among individual patents in different subfields is lost. If convergence technologies are common among different subfields, this problem can result in an inappropriate main path being found. To resolve this problem, we propose a new algorithm capable of extracting the main paths for each subfield of a technology by using the International Patent Classification (IPC) codes of patents. The proposed algorithm is applied to the waste management field to allow core technologies in the subfields of waste disposal, waste treatment, and the reuse of waste materials to be found. Finally, a sensitivity analysis is performed by considering the standard of the component ratio along a specific path to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed algorithm in the waste management field.