Method for evaluating activity entities related to patent documents and system for evaluating activity entities related to patent documents

Abstract

To enable easy evaluation of whether a company, etc. is suited to a specified purpose. [Solution] A method for evaluating active entities is provided, which includes a first step S1 of receiving information for deriving patent documents (information for deriving patent search conditions); a second step S2 of obtaining classification indicators and / or search keywords for searching patent documents in a patent database 4 in which patent documents are stored and searchable by a generation AI 3; a third step S3 of searching patent documents and identifying relevant patent documents and active entities related to said patent documents; and a fourth step S4 of evaluating the active entity based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications over a specified period, the more continuous the patent applications and the greater the number of patent applications, the higher the evaluation of the active entity.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method for evaluating entities involved in patent documents, that is, companies and the like that are patent applicants. [Background technology]

[0002] There are various techniques for searching patent documents, such as the following:

[0003] That is, this is a patent search method used in a patent search system to search for patent documents in a patent database that contain patent sections such as abstracts, specifications, or claims, and includes: a first step of receiving a specified keyword containing at least one subkeyword, defining search conditions based on the received keyword, and performing a search on the patent section of patent documents in the patent database based on the keyword in the search conditions, thereby obtaining a plurality of patent documents in which the keyword is contained in the patent section; and a second step of determining the degree to which the keyword matches the search conditions for each patent document based on the patent section in which the keyword is contained, wherein the degree to which the keyword matches the search conditions for each patent document is given by a search weight value obtained by adding up the search weight values ​​for each subkeyword in each patent document, thereby enabling the degree to which each patent document matches the search conditions to be determined (Patent Document 1).

[0004] The technology described in Patent Document 1 is a method for determining and ranking search matches based on the presence or absence of keywords in a combination of patent sections, namely, the abstract, specification, and claims, in a patent document.

[0005] This technology is a method for evaluating the value of individual patent documents. As this technology shows, most prior art is related to the evaluation of patent documents themselves. However, there is no technology that evaluates the value of a company or other entity based on patent documents in relation to a specific purpose or specific person.

[0006] The evaluation based on patent documents here refers to an evaluation based on behavior such as the timing of patent applications, the frequency of patent applications, and the number of patent applications.

[0007] More specifically, in relation to the entities involved in patent documents, students and researchers may use this information to evaluate whether or not they have technical aptitude and the degree of it, while investors may use it to evaluate the relative merits of the development status in a technical field according to their investment objectives.

[0008] Although students, researchers, investors, and others can obtain useful information tailored to their purposes by evaluating the actors in relation to patent documents, there is no easy way to achieve this. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0009] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-138931 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0010] The problem to be solved is to make it possible to easily evaluate whether a target company, etc., meets a specified purpose. [Means for solving the problem]

[0011] The first invention is The computer executes A method for evaluating an active entity related to a patent document, comprising: The search criteria are derived by the generative AI, and are written in a text format containing user information, including the purpose, interest, or priority of the technology search, and a summary of the technical content. A first step of receiving information (information for deriving patent search conditions), and based on the received information for deriving patent search conditions, The aforementioned The method includes a second step of acquiring classification indicators and / or search keywords for searching patent documents in a searchable patent database where patent documents are stored by the generating AI; a third step of searching the patent documents in the patent database using the acquired classification indicators and / or search keywords to identify relevant patent documents and the activity entities related to the patent documents; and a fourth step of evaluating the activity entities based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications over a predetermined period of time for the identified patent documents, the more continuous the patent applications and the greater the number of patent applications. The fourth step evaluates the activity entity based on at least one of an evaluation that evaluates patent applications filed in the most recent period higher than patent applications filed in past periods when the predetermined period is divided into multiple periods, and an evaluation that evaluates the earlyness of the first patent application in the target technical field. The second invention is a system for evaluating an activity subject related to a patent document, which comprises: The search criteria are derived by the generative AI, and are written in a text format containing user information, including the purpose, interest, or priority of the technology search, and a summary of the technical content. A first means for receiving information (information for deriving patent search conditions), and based on the received information for deriving patent search conditions, The aforementioned The system comprises: a second means for acquiring, by a generating AI, a classification index and / or a search keyword for searching patent documents in a searchable patent database in which patent documents are stored; a third means for searching the patent database using the acquired classification index and / or search keyword to identify relevant patent documents and activity entities related to the patent documents; and a fourth means for evaluating the activity entities based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications over a predetermined period of time for the identified patent documents, the more continuous the patent applications and the greater the number of patent applications. The fourth means evaluates the activity entity based on at least one of an evaluation that evaluates patent applications filed in the most recent period higher than patent applications filed in past periods when the predetermined period is divided into a plurality of periods, and an evaluation that evaluates the earlyness of the first patent application in the target technical field. This is an evaluation system for activity entities related to patent documents. [Effects of the Invention]

[0012] The present invention is expected to be able to evaluate the degree of suitability for a specified purpose by using information related to patent documents as an index. Furthermore, the present invention is expected to be able to easily obtain search criteria for patent documents because it determines classification indices and / or search keywords for patent document searches using a generation AI based on information for deriving search criteria. Furthermore, the present invention is expected to be able to easily and accurately evaluate an actor by evaluating the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications over a specified period for identified patent documents, and by evaluating the actor more highly the more continuity and the greater the number of patent applications. Furthermore, the present invention is expected to be able to easily and accurately evaluate an actor by evaluating the actor more highly the older the first patent application year in the target technical field indicated by the patent document in the fourth step based on the degree of chronological continuity. Furthermore, the present invention is expected to be able to easily and accurately evaluate an actor by evaluating the actor more highly the greater the number of patent applications over a specified period close to the most recent. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 shows an example of an overall image of a system relating to the evaluation of the present invention. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of information communication performed by the terminals shown in FIG. 1 in the evaluation of the present invention. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 shows a first example of an evaluation (calculation method) of an active subject in the present invention. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 shows a second example of the evaluation (calculation method) of the active subject in the present invention. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 shows a third example of the evaluation (calculation method) of the active subject in the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0014] <Terms related to this invention> In this invention, "patent document" means all information relating to patent applications, patents, etc., and includes application publication bulletins, patent publications (registered patents), and various status information (examination status, final rejection, withdrawal, etc.) that can be obtained from patent databases.

[0015] In this invention, "the entity involved in the activity related to the patent document" means the entity of the development activity identified from the patent document in the database search results for the patent document (including the company, university, research institute, individual, etc. that carried out the technological development related to the patent document application, as well as those who have taken over the development activity, and is not necessarily the patent applicant or patent holder).

[0016] In the present invention, a "network" refers to a system in which multiple terminals are connected by wire or wirelessly and are capable of communicating with each other, and includes the so-called Internet, intranet, etc. The network may also be a dedicated line or a VPN (Virtual Private Network).

[0017] In this invention, "information for deriving patent documents (information for deriving patent search conditions)" refers to information that serves as the starting point for deriving conditions (FI classification, search keywords, etc.) for searching patent documents necessary to identify the activity entity to be evaluated and evaluate its technological activities. Examples include the technical fields, products, services, papers, and paper summaries that students and researchers desire when looking for employment or changing jobs, and markets, technical fields, technological elements, and companies that investors are considering as investment targets.

[0018] In the present invention, "generative AI" refers to AI (Artificial Intelligence) and various other programs that generate responses to requests. Specific examples include ChatGPT by OpenAI, Copilot by Microsoft, and Gemini by Google, but in the present invention, "generative AI" is a convenient expression and is not limited to these.

[0019] In this invention, a "patent database" for patent searching means an electronic information system in which patent documents and related information (e.g., applicant information, classification index, application date, etc.) are systematically stored in a searchable manner. Examples include the Japanese Patent Information Platform (J-PlatPat), the USPTO database in the United States, and the European Patent Office (EPO) database. It also includes databases that allow access to desired patent documents by search and that can be used in a desired format, such as private patent information services such as Google Patents, and in-house systems that accumulate other patent-related information.

[0020] In this invention, the term "classification index" for patent search refers to a symbol system that is assigned to patent documents to systematically and objectively classify and organize their technical contents. For example, it includes the internationally used IPC (International Patent Classification) and the FI (File Index) that is detailed based on the IPC, as well as any technical classification system that conforms to these.

[0021] Below are examples of application of the evaluation according to the present invention to individual cases. [Example]

[0022] In this example, at a certain university, students (one fourth-year undergraduate student and four first-year master's students) who wished to work in research and development positions were selected. The research content (papers, etc.) of the students was used as information for deriving patent search conditions, and a patent search was conducted using the derived patent search conditions to identify patent documents, and the entities involved in the activities related to the patent documents were evaluated.

[0023] Figure 1 shows an example of the overall system for evaluation of the present invention. The management terminal 1 is a device for carrying out desired communications and information processing via a network with a server 2 (described later), a generation AI 3 (described later), a patent database 4 (described later), a user terminal 5 (described later), etc.

[0024] The server 2 refers to a computer or software that performs the function of providing information or the results of information processing in response to a specific request from the management terminal 1, etc. In the server 2, a CPU, memory, storage, etc. are electrically connected, and processing to realize the present invention is performed.

[0025] The functions of the server 2 may be realized by a single device, or may be realized by a group of server devices realized by multiple devices. Furthermore, these devices do not have to be located in the same place, but may be located in different places.

[0026] Google's Gemini was used as the generation AI 3. However, the generation AI 3 used in the present invention is not limited to such well-known AIs, and any program that outputs the results required to realize the present invention may be used.

[0027] The Patent Information Platform (J-PlatPat) was used as the patent database 4. However, the patent database used in the present invention is not limited to this, and any database that allows searching and use of patent documents may be used.

[0028] In FIG. 1, the management terminal 1, server 2, generation AI 3, and patent database 4 are depicted separately, but any device that combines any of these functions may be used.

[0029] For example, if the program for executing each step according to the present invention does not involve the intervention of an administrator (person), the management terminal 1 may be excluded from the components of the evaluation according to the present invention.

[0030] This program also includes an AI that automatically interacts with the generating AI 3 to produce a predetermined result, and that uses predetermined patent documents and information contained in those patent documents from the patent database 4.

[0031] The user terminal 5 is a device for carrying out communication necessary for evaluation of the activity subject related to the patent document with the management terminal 1 etc. via a network.

[0032] FIG. 2 shows an example of the flow of information communication performed by the terminals shown in FIG. 1 in the evaluation of the present invention.

[0033] First, information communication is performed between the management terminal 1 and the user terminal 5 as a first step S1 for receiving information for deriving patent documents (information for deriving patent search conditions).

[0034] In this embodiment, in the first step S1, requirements are sent by email from the management terminal 1 to the user terminal 4 (S1-1). The requirements are requests for information for deriving patent search criteria, such as the technical characteristics of the target students (major, area of ​​expertise, research content, etc.), industries, companies, occupations of interest, and their priorities.

[0035] In response to this, the user terminal 5 sent information for deriving patent search conditions to the management terminal 1. Here, the management terminal 1 acquired (received) information for deriving patent search conditions, including research papers, abstracts of academic presentations, industries, companies, and occupations of interest, and information on their priorities (S1-2).

[0036] Next, as the second step S2 of obtaining classification indices and / or search keywords for searching patent documents, information communication is carried out between the management terminal 1 and the generation AI 3 based on the information for deriving patent search conditions obtained in S1-2.

[0037] In this embodiment, a predetermined prompt is sent from the management terminal 1 to the generation AI 3 (S2-1). Here, the sent prompt is a sentence requesting classification indices and / or search keywords that are considered optimal for searching patent documents.

[0038] More specifically, an example sentence might be, "I would like to use what I have learned through my research to find a research and development field where I can work. I would like to use a patent information platform to extract patent information that is appropriate for my experience from patent application information from companies around the world, and then consider those applicant companies as potential employers. Please answer the following: 1. Please list the patent classification (FI) derived from this research and the FI that may be related to this research experience. 2. Please list the technical elements derived from this research that should be used as patent search keywords. The content of my research is in quotation marks (") below. "...(abstract of academic presentation, etc.)..."" It would also be possible to obtain FIs and search keywords for the research in question, sorted by technical level, from higher-level concepts to lower-level concepts.

[0039] The generating AI that received the prompt sent a response, and the management terminal 1 obtained FIs and search keywords for searching patent documents (S2-2).

[0040] Next, in the third step S3 of identifying the active entity (in this embodiment, the patent applicant), information communication is carried out between the management terminal 1 and the patent database 4 based on the FI and search keywords acquired in S2-2.

[0041] In this example, a patent search was performed by entering the FI, search keywords, specifying a date, and, if necessary, entering the identification number of a company belonging to the desired industry on the "Patent and Utility Model Search" page of the patent information platform (S3-1, S3-2).

[0042] Finally, in the fourth step S4 of evaluating the activity entity, the patent documents obtained in S2-2 were evaluated based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications over a specified period and the number of patent applications, and the more continuous the patent applications were and the greater the number of patent applications, the higher the evaluation of the activity entity.

[0043] In this example, the number of patent applications filed for each patent applicant for the last 10 years, including the year in which the search date falls, is counted (S4-1), and the more consecutive patent applications filed each year and the greater the number of patent applications, the higher the evaluation given (S4-2).

[0044] Evaluation factors include the number of patent applications and the continuity of patent applications during the target period, and these may be evaluated independently or in an integrated manner.

[0045] Furthermore, the evaluation method (calculation method) is not limited, and it is sufficient if the patent applicant is evaluated higher based on the above evaluation factors, the more patent applications he or she files and the more continuous the patent applications he or she files. Furthermore, it may be an absolute evaluation based on a calculation formula, or a relative evaluation by comparing each patent applicant.

[0046] For example, with regard to the number of patent applications, the number of patent applications itself may be considered as the evaluation score of the patent applicant, or a method may be used in which the greater the total number of patent applications, the higher the coefficient.Furthermore, with regard to the continuity of patent applications, an evaluation may be made such that even if applications were confirmed in the past for a specified period (for example, one year), the evaluation may be made such that the evaluation is lowered if applications cease after that.

[0047] Figure 3 shows a first example of the evaluation (calculation method) of the active actors in this invention. This is an integrated evaluation of the number of patent applications and the continuity of applications.

[0048] Here, the numerical values ​​derived from a specific calculation formula such as that shown in Figure 3 do not necessarily have to be adopted as the final evaluation result for a patent applicant, because quantitative evaluations are not necessarily the only useful information.

[0049] For example, there is an evaluation method for the degree of continuity of patent applications that does not rely on a specific formula, but rather gives a higher evaluation the older the year of the first patent application in a given technical field, making it possible to evaluate the precedence of the activities of the patent applicant based on the year of the patent application.

[0050] Similarly, there is an evaluation method that does not rely on a specific formula, but instead uses the patent search date as the base date (the most recent date) and gives a higher evaluation to patent applicants with a larger number of patent applications in a specified period close to the most recent date. This makes it possible to evaluate the timely development results of patent applicants.

[0051] The evaluation results are output in a form such as a graph or table, displayed in descending order of evaluation, and transmitted from the management terminal 1 to the user terminal 5 (omitted from FIG. 2).

[0052] In this example, the development work at the patent applicant company, which was derived from the evaluation of the present invention, was verified by the faculty members who are in a position to guide and supervise the target students to determine whether it was appropriate in light of the research content of the target students. The faculty members found that it was appropriate and useful in considering the target students' career paths.

[0053] Furthermore, all the students reported feeling that this evaluation was useful, as it identified many companies that could be directly derived from their research themes (joint research companies) as well as companies that could be found to be related to the research themes. This was due to the results being based on patent search criteria derived by using generative AI to broaden the scope of each student's research theme. [Example]

[0054] In this example, patent documents were identified in the same manner as in Example 1 for the latest technology in a technical field that an individual investor was interested in, and an evaluation of the entity involved in the patent documents (an evaluation of a patent applicant company that is a listed company) was carried out.

[0055] In this embodiment, the user terminal 5 in Fig. 1 is the terminal of the individual investor. The flow in Fig. 2 is the same as in embodiment 1. Information on the above technical field is sent from the user terminal 5 as information for deriving patent search conditions, and the management terminal 1 acquires this information (S1-2).

[0056] In this embodiment, the prompt may include a request for FIs and search keywords derived from the technical elements that make up the relevant technical field. The relevant technology may be divided into technical levels, from higher concepts to lower concepts, and patent searches and evaluations of active actors may be performed at each level.

[0057] The lower the technology level, the more narrow the target information obtained by patent searches. However, because less information is obtained as patent search results, evaluation information tends to be poor. Therefore, it is desirable to divide the technology concept into stages and have the active participants evaluate each stage.

[0058] In this example, taking into account the 1 year and 6 month period until the publication of the patent application publication, the number of patent applications filed for each patent applicant over the 21 years prior to the search date was counted for each 7-year period (S4-1), and the more consecutively patent applications were filed and the greater the number of patent applications, the higher the evaluation (S4-2).

[0059] The essence of the evaluation method is the same as in Example 1. In other words, based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications filed over a specified period, the more continuity of patent applications and the greater the number of patent applications filed, the higher the evaluation of the activity entity.

[0060] Figure 4 shows a second example of the evaluation (calculation method) of an active entity in this invention. This is an evaluation that takes into account the first-mover advantage score, which evaluates the speed of the first patent application, and the growth score, which evaluates the number of patent applications in the most recent period.

[0061] Furthermore, the phrase "the more patent applications the higher the evaluation of the entity" may include not only the absolute number of patent applications, but also the relative number of patent applications as a percentage of the total, or compared with the number of patent applications filed by other patent applicants.

[0062] Figure 5 shows a third example of the evaluation (calculation method) of an active entity in this invention. This is an evaluation that takes into account the proportion of patent applications filed by the active entity relative to the total number of patent applications filed. By evaluating from this perspective, even if the number of patent applications in the entire target field is decreasing, it is possible to avoid a uniformly low evaluation due to the downward trend, and to make an appropriate evaluation.

[0063] In this way, the evaluation method of the active subject in the present invention may be an evaluation method characterized in that the evaluation based on the degree of chronological continuity in the fourth step S4 is such that the older the year of the first patent application in the technical field targeted by the patent document, the higher the evaluation.

[0064] Furthermore, the evaluation method of the activity entity in the present invention may be an evaluation method characterized in that the evaluation based on the number of patent applications in the fourth step S4 is such that the higher the number of patent applications in a specified period close to the most recent, the higher the evaluation.

[0065] As in the first embodiment, the evaluation results in this embodiment are output in a graph or table format, etc., displayed in descending order of evaluation, and are transmitted from the management terminal 1 to the user terminal 5.

[0066] The individual investors commented that the results could be used as reference information for making investment decisions.

[0067] The present invention may also be an evaluation system having the functions of the first to fourth means, where the first to fourth steps can be read as the first to fourth means, respectively. That is, examples of the present invention include the evaluation systems in Examples 1 and 2 that can be used from a user terminal. [Industrial Applicability]

[0068] The present invention can be used in a method for evaluating companies such as patent applicants, etc. The present invention can also be used to automatically report and submit evaluation results based on information for deriving patent search criteria received from users using a systemized computer or program (including trained AI). [Explanation of symbols]

[0069] S1 First Step S2 Second step S3 Third step S4 The fourth step 3 Generation AI 4. Patent Database

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for evaluating actors involved in patent documents, comprising: A first step of receiving information (information for deriving patent search conditions) that will be used to derive patent search conditions by the generation AI, and that is described in text containing user information including the purpose, interest, or priority of the technology search and a summary of the technical content; A second step of obtaining classification indicators and / or search keywords for searching patent documents in a searchable patent database where patent documents are stored by the generated AI based on the received information for deriving patent search criteria; a third step of searching the patent documents in the patent database using the obtained classification index and / or search keywords to identify relevant patent documents and actors related to the patent documents; a fourth step of evaluating the activity entity more highly based on the degree of chronological continuity of patent applications and the number of patent applications filed for the identified patent documents over a predetermined period of time; and Including, The fourth step is a method for evaluating an active entity related to a patent document, characterized in that the active entity is evaluated based on at least one of an evaluation that evaluates patent applications in the most recent period higher than patent applications in past periods when the specified period is divided into multiple periods, and an evaluation that evaluates the timing of the first patent application in the target technical field.

2. An evaluation system for activity entities related to patent documents, A first means for receiving information (information for deriving patent search conditions) described in text that is the subject of derivation of patent search conditions by the generation AI and includes user information including the purpose, interest or priority of searching for technology and a summary of the technical content; A second means for acquiring classification indexes and / or search keywords for searching patent documents in a patent database in which patent documents are stored and searchable by the generated AI based on the received information for deriving patent search conditions; a third means for searching the patent database for patent documents using the classification index and / or search keyword obtained, and identifying relevant patent documents and actors involved in the patent documents; a fourth means for evaluating the activity entity more highly the more continuous the patent applications are and the greater the number of patent applications filed, based on the degree of chronological continuity of the patent applications filed over a predetermined period of time for the identified patent documents and the number of patent applications filed; Equipped with The fourth means is a system for evaluating active entities related to patent documents, characterized in that it evaluates the active entities based on at least one of an evaluation that evaluates patent applications in the most recent period higher than patent applications in past periods when the specified period is divided into multiple periods, and an evaluation that evaluates the timing of the first patent application in the target technical field.

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