Patent Analysis by Data Mining for identifying and determining relationships among technologies

Analyzing technologies relationships can provide insight into technological strategies and maximizing the profits. Patents are integral parts of intellectual property rights including significant information about developed technologies. Due to the increasing amount of patents, data mining method is proposed for patent analysis. Thus, weighted association rules have been used for patent analysis; meanwhile unequal importance of patents and levels of technology have been considered in terms of technological impact and commercial importance. The aim of this study is to find a sustainable method for extracting technologies relationships based on patent analysis being independent of subjective knowledge of experts in a particular field of technology. To achieve this goal, a four-step process including data collection, structured database creation, data mining implementation, and technologies relationship identification/determination/theirs graphical representation are proposed. The proposed process has been implemented and evaluated within a case study.