A strategy for electronics and software patents

In the electronics and software fields, the applications that result in the most valuable patents are typically the ones filed early, before the market for the protected products grows. Patent visualisation is an inventing strategy aimed at systematically developing ideas from a very early stage to optimise the chances of filing patent applications at the critical time before market growth. Central to patent visualisation are the processes of brainstorming, in which an early-stage idea is developed through a series of questions, and theme determination, in which a technical area of focus is selected and tested to determine its potential to yield early inventions with respect to market growth. Patent visualisation is an opportunity for IP professionals to take on new roles and have a greater impact on the development of technology and the success of their companies.

This article is the fourth of a five-part paper. The first part appeared in the MIP Japan IP Focus (February), the second appeared in the MIP Handbook (April), the third appeared in the Asia-Pacific Focus (September), and the fifth and final part will be published in February 2012.

In this part, the discussion of theme determination will continue with an explanation of how candidate themes are created.

Before the brainstorming process of patent visualisation can begin, a technical area of focus, or theme of the invention, must be selected. An invention that is developed through patent visualisation has a good chance of resulting in highly valuable patent rights if the resulting product is actually commercialised. Selecting a suitable theme increases the likelihood that the product of such an invention will be commercialised.

The somewhat vague word 'theme' is used because the technical area of focus can take many different forms. For example, often an imagined future product is chosen as the theme, such as in the example of the domestic solar cell introduced in part 1. In other cases, a particular problem with an existing product or a new technology with potential applications to many products may be chosen instead. In other words, it is possible to begin the brainstorming process from any of the three steps of the cycle (visualising a future product, visualising problem states, and visualising solutions).

Naturally, it is desirable to select a theme of invention relating to a product that is expected to become widely sold in the future. Since new products do not simply materialise out of thin air but rather are built to some degree from existing components, one way of arriving at a theme is by considering existing component technologies.

Perhaps the most obvious place to start is the company's own newly invented component technologies. In developing its own products, a company may arrive at an interesting new solution to some technical problem. Such a solution is often a new component technology with potentially widespread application. Although a new component technology can often itself serve as a candidate theme, it is important to take further steps to generate more candidate themes by imagining specific future products that the component technology may be used in, and by imagining potential problems that might arise in these future products. In this way, several specific embodiments of the new component technology and foreseen potential problems can be generated as additional candidate themes.

Even if there have already been many patent applications filed based on an existing component technology, it is still possible for new products with different uses to arise when the attributes of the component technology (cost, performance, size) are greatly changed. For this reason, it is also important to consider how old component technologies might evolve in the future.

It is also possible for the environment of a technology to evolve. For example, legal restrictions on broadcasting, energy regulations, and standards for communication or recording media may change. In such cases, new uses for existing component technologies may emerge. Therefore, when considering an "old" component technology, imagining possible changes in the environment of the technology can lead to additional candidate themes.

When inexperienced participants examine component technologies to come up with candidate themes, there is a tendency to focus on how brand new component technologies will be implemented in the future. However, with new component technologies there is often an excessively long wait, relative to the life of a patent, before the market for the products grows. Therefore, it is important to combine this process with a consideration of how known component technologies or their environments might change in the future as explained above.

The fifth part of this paper will conclude the discussion of themes with some guidance on how a theme is selected from a list of candidate themes.

Akihiro Ryuka	Stephen Hamon