Worldwide patent analysis and mapping of combine harvester innovation

The patent literature contains a wealth of detailed information existing. Patent analysis contributes to marketing and business strategy. While excellent searching tools have existed for many years for identifying patents relating to specific topics, it is only recently that it has been feasible to map the complete archive of patent literature to identify important trends and competition pattern. In this project, the author experimented with several analysis and visualization techniques on combine harvester-related patent documents between 1991 and 2009, including issued and application patent. The data sets are from the Patent Cooperation Treaty and European Patent offices, plus a range of national patent collections including those of the U.S.A., Japan, the U.K., France, Germany, Switzerland and Russia. Through patent analysis, mapping and citing tree analysis, the results demonstrate potential of information-based discovery and visualization technologies to capture knowledge regarding combine harvester technology performance, leaders or rivals, hot patents or core technology, new application and new technology in the field.   Key words: Combine harvester, patent analysis, trends of development, patent map, patent distribution, competition pattern.