Patent Publication Number: US-2003233354-A1

Title: System for mapping business technology

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] The present application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/388,254 filed on Jun. 13, 2002, which is incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     
       STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH  
       [0002] Not Applicable.  
       FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
       [0003] This invention relates generally to information processing and, more particularly, to systems and methods for mapping business technology.  
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0004] When managing and making decisions regarding intellectual property portfolios, it is often desirable to determine if a business entity has adequate patent coverage to protect current and future business interests and research areas. When considering a potential business decision, companies may attempt to evaluate the impact of the potential business decision, such as selling or licensing patents to a third party, by evaluating their patent portfolios relative to competitors&#39; patent portfolios, identifying high profile technology areas within a company, and evaluating patented technology relative to the company&#39;s business plans. However, it can be challenging and time consuming for relatively large companies with significant technology and intellectual property interests to perform such an evaluation.  
       [0005] In addition, when determining where to direct valuable company resources in protecting intellectual property, such as selecting technologies for patenting, it can be difficult to quickly identify existing intellectual propery assets. Further, it may be relatively difficult to identify and share technical information across various business units and to classify intellectual property into groups related to technologies of interest.  
       [0006] There are a number of known methods that allow for the grouping of patents into various categories. Conventional patent portfolio management methods include the grouping of patents into mega-clusters, a procedure used by MAPIT (a system operated by Manning and Napier) that allows for a select group of patents to be grouped together based on similar terms and concepts. Further such grouping systems include Micropatent/Aurigin. Other conventional methods include the grouping of patents by art groups as done by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the prosecution of a patent application. Patent grouping using the USPTO and/or International patent classification systems and subject classification systems can be performed by a company patent attorney, inventor, or other technologist.  
       [0007] Often the results obtained from these and other methods are overly broad or overly limiting in their classifications. In some conventional systems, the major focus is exploiting a patent portfolio. While a patent centric focus may present a comprehensive history of a company&#39;s technical development, such a focus may be of limited utility in evaluating potential business decisions.  
       [0008] It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome the aforesaid and other disadvantages.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0009] The present invention provides a system for mapping business technology data for various components of a business entity. With this arrangement, the business entity can readily survey its portfolio and evaluate the impact of potential business decisions across the business components. While the invention is primarily shown and described in conjunction with technical and non-technical intellectual property-related documents, it is understood that the invention is applicable to mapping various types of information across a range of entities having many possible structures.  
       [0010] In one embodiment, a method of mapping business technology data includes determining a plurality of technology descriptors, mapping technology documents to one or more of the technology descriptors, and determining which ones of the technology descriptors are of interest to each of a plurality of business segments. The method can further include displaying, in response to a query, information showing which of the business segments are interested in the various technology descriptors. 
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0011] The foregoing features of this invention, as well as the invention itself, may be more fully understood from the following description of the drawings in which:  
     [0012]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for mapping business technology in accordance with the present invention;  
     [0013]FIG. 1A is a block diagram of an exemplary business technology map database including a set of data sources according to the invention;  
     [0014]FIG. 2 is an exemplary Master Technology Descriptor List linking business segments to a technology map for multiple business segments according to the invention;  
     [0015]FIG. 3 is a portion of a template for an individual business segment based on the Master Technology Descriptor List of FIG. 2;  
     [0016]FIG. 3A is a portion of a completed business to technology map template for a segment and other related business entities according to the invention;  
     [0017]FIG. 4 is a portion of a business to technology map for multiple segments and related business entities according to the invention;  
     [0018]FIG. 5 is an exemplary list of technology description and corresponding codes according to the invention;  
     [0019]FIG. 6 is a patent and disclosure to technology code map for a corporate patent portfolio and invention disclosure list;  
     [0020]FIG. 7 is a business to point of contact map for a corporation according to the invention; and  
     [0021]FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps to map businesses to technology to patents and other corporate technical documents according to the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
     [0022] Before providing a detailed description of the invention, it may be helpful to define some of the terms used in the description. As used herein, a “strategic technology” refers to technology that may be part of future business plans or technology of future interest to a business entity or a subset thereof. A “core technology” (also referred to as a tactical technology) refers to a technology which is important to a company&#39;s on going operations. Core business information and related non-technical documents include, but are not limited to, business program information, financial information, competitor assessments, marketing research, and in general any information which can be linked to a set of technology descriptions. In addition, it is understood that the term “document,” as used herein, should be construed broadly to include a wide range of information types and formats.  
     [0023] As used herein, a corporation or company includes a business entity having one or more segments each of which may have a plurality of business units. Each business unit further includes at least one business site. Each site is generally associated with a specific geographical location. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a business can be organized in a variety of structures and that the technology descriptors as described below can be mapped to a wide range of business structures.  
     [0024]FIG. 1 shows an exemplary system  10  for mapping business technology in accordance with the present invention. The system  10  includes a database  12  containing various technical and non-technical business information, as described more fully below. In the illustrative embodiment, the database  12  is coupled to a company intranet  14  for enabling company users at workstations  16   a,b  to access the mapped information. In one embodiment, remote users can access the system  10  via the Internet  18 . It will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that a wide range of network arrangements are possible for the invention.  
     [0025] Now referring to FIG. 1A, an exemplary business technology map database  100  includes a business technology map  102  that is linked to a patent portfolio  110 , invention disclosure system  112 , other technical documents  114  and non-technical documents  115 , through a set of technology descriptions/codes  104 . The database  100  is also linked to a point of contact table (POC)  106 . The business technology map  102  is initially formed by collecting core business information  116 , business unit organization and locations  118 , and strategic business plans  120  (as described in detail in conjunction with FIG. 8). The business technology map  102  and technology codes  104  are used to form templates  124  which are processed at the segment level  128  in the business organization to provide segment maps  126 , as described below. The templates are further processed at the business unit level  132  to provide unit maps  130 , and at the site level  136 , to provide site maps  134 . The segment maps  126 , the unit maps  130 , and the site maps  134  are used to augment the business technology map  102 .  
     [0026] The database  100  provides data reflecting the relationship of business technologies and the patent portfolio elements  110 , invention disclosures  112 , other technical documents  114  and non-technical documents  115  in response to a user query  120 . Other technical documents  114  can include, for example, technical reports, published papers, product specifications, manufacturing information, bids and proposals. Non-technical documents  115  include, for example, personnel records, marketing information, program management documents, and other documents which although not including technology phrases can be linked to technology descriptions.  
     [0027] Now referring to FIG. 2, an exemplary Master Technology Descriptor List  200  includes a plurality of rows  202   a -N each identifying a technology description, which reflects the core and strategic technology areas of a company. Each technology description  202  can further include subsets  204   a -M for further defining the technology areas. It is understood that the subsets  204  can include further subsets and so on.  
     [0028] The Master Technology Descriptor List  200  further includes a series of columns  206   a -P which identify specific business segments within the company. In one particular embodiment, a series of “X”s are used to map the technology descriptors  202 ,  204  to each segment  206  in the company. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  can be provided as either an electronic document or as a hard copy document and that a variety of formats can be used to collect the technology to business mapping.  
     [0029] The Master Technology Descriptor List  200  can contain an identification of the core and strategic technologies of a company through the technology descriptors  202  and subsets  204 . For example, core and strategic technologies can be differentiated when displayed in a variety of ways, including color coding, symbols and the like. In one embodiment, after the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  is distributed to the various business segments in the company, the selected technologies are marked by “X”s for each segment to provide a means for identifying which business segments are currently developing or have an interest in developing the predetermined technologies. It will be readily appreciated by one skilled in the art that various indicators other than an “X” can be used to select technologies. When all the major technologies and sub-technologies have been determined, the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  becomes a template for collecting the same information for each of the company&#39;s other business organizations.  
     [0030] The technical and business community within each of the company&#39;s businesses is one source that can be used to compile information relative to the company&#39;s core and strategic technology areas for their business. Once this information is collected either manually, automatically, or using a combination of methods, a list of terms that broadly identifies technology areas within each business is compiled and each of these broad technology areas is then divided into various subsets that further describe the technologies within each broad category, as described above. Prior to becoming recorded, the list of technology descriptions may be technically reviewed, along with any suggested additions, by representatives of each business entity and/or technologists for accuracy and completeness. The Master Technology Descriptor List  200  provides the selected technology descriptions as the common link between the company&#39;s core and strategic technology areas and multiple sets of cross-related information.  
     [0031] Now referring to FIG. 3, a business/technology map template  210  includes the technology descriptors  202  and subsets  204  of the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  of FIG. 2, and further includes a series of columns for sites  212   a,b,c , business units  214   a,b  and business segment  216  within a company. It is understood that the number of sites and business units will reflect an actual business segment, which can include any number of sites and business units. The template  210  is used to collect information indicating where the core and strategic technologies fit within the company&#39;s business entities.  
     [0032] The templates derived from the technology description/codes list are used for collecting, organizing and formatting other cross-related data, thereby providing a means to link data through a common variable for providing a quick overview of other sets of cross-related information. In one embodiment, the template  210  is used as a form on which a series of “X”s are used to map the technology descriptors to each of the business units and sites which here are further business divisions of a business segment.  
     [0033] Now referring to FIG. 3A, a portion of a completed template  210 ′ is similar to template  210  (FIG. 3) is shown. Here, the completed template  210 ′ includes a series of “X”s that are used to map the technology descriptors to each of the business units and sites which here are further business divisions of a business segment. Inconsistencies can occur, for example, at row  214  where sites  1  and  3  indicate an interest in antenna elements which is not reflected in the corresponding business unit or segment. Such inconsistencies can be resolved by the process for forming the business to technology map database  100  (as described in conjunction with FIG. 8).  
     [0034] Now referring to FIG. 4, a portion of an exemplary business to technology map  220  for multiple business segments includes data from a plurality of completed templates  210 ′ (FIG. 3A) after being completed by each site for a plurality of segments in a company. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the map  220  can be iteratively updated. For example, if a business site determines that a technology of interest is not reflected on the template  210  (FIG. 3), the template  210  is updated and is eventually circulated to all of the sites where it is again updated to reflect any interest in the added technology.  
     [0035]FIG. 5 shows a portion of an exemplary technology description/code list  250  including a list of technology descriptions  252   a -N and subsets  253   a -N and corresponding technology codes  254   a -M (generally referred to as technology codes  254 ). The technology description/codes list  250  provides an alphanumeric system used to code the predetermined technology descriptions as they relate to the company&#39;s core and strategic businesses. In one embodiment, an “alpha” symbol is taken from the first letter of each word in the title assigned to the broad technology groups. A “numeric” value is then assigned to the subsets of technology descriptions within each broad technology group. The codes of technology description/codes list  250  provide a means to link multiple sets of cross-related business and technology information.  
     [0036] Now referring to FIG. 6, an exemplary technology document to technology code correlation list  260  includes a set of the U.S. patents  262  currently owned by or of interest to the company. The technology document to technology code correlation list  260  can further include invention disclosures  264  and other technical documents which can be mapped to a technology through the codes  254 . In one embodiment, a code  254 , here in alphanumeric format, from technology description/codes list  250  (FIG. 5) is assigned to each patent.  
     [0037] In one embodiment, the list of patents is compiled from an internal docketing database, which identifies those patents currently owned by the company. In an alternate embodiment, an automated system can be used to generate this list from a variety of patent database sources. Using techniques known in the art, the Master Technology Descriptor List  200 , completed templates  210  (FIG. 3), technology description/codes list  250  (FIG. 5) and the technology document to technology code correlation list  260  provide a database having tables which can relate a company&#39;s businesses, a-set of relevant technology descriptions and patented technologies and other technical and non-technical documents.  
     [0038] Now referring to FIG. 7, an exemplary points of contact list  270  includes a contact column  272  having at least one individual to contact at each site  274  along with contact information  276  and organization information, such as the corresponding business unit  278  and segment information  280 . Preferably, the point of contact for each site is familiar with the technologies at each respective site.  
     [0039] Referring now to FIG. 8, a flow diagram illustrates a process for mapping a company&#39;s businesses to technology to patents and other corporate technical documents. In the flow diagrams of FIG. 8, the rectangular elements are herein denoted “processing blocks” (typified by element  302 ) and can represent computer software instructions or groups of manual procedures. The diamond shaped elements in the flow diagrams are herein denoted “decision blocks” (typified by element  318 ) and can represent computer software instructions or groups of procedures which affect the operation of the processing blocks. Alternatively, the processing blocks represent steps performed by functionally equivalent manual operations. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that some of the steps described in the flow diagrams may be implemented via computer software while others may be implemented in a different manner (e.g. via manual procedures or interactive systems). The flow diagrams do not depict the syntax of any particular programming language. Rather, the flow diagrams illustrate the functional information used to generate computer software to perform the required processing. It should be noted that many routine program elements, such as initialization of loops and variables and the use of temporary variables, are not shown. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that unless otherwise indicated herein, the particular sequence of steps described is illustrative only and can be varied without departing from the spirit of the invention.  
     [0040] In the process described by FIG. 8, a Master Technology Descriptor List  200  (FIG. 2), completed templates  210 ′ (FIG. 3A), technology description/codes list  250  (FIG. 5), a technology document to technology code correlation list  260  (FIG. 6) and a points of contact list  270  (FIG. 7) are compiled. The Master Technology Descriptor List  200  which includes the list of technology descriptions serves as a template for collecting data related to various business groups within the company. The template  210 ′ identifies the type of information to collect and the organization of that information, and provides a link between business entities within a company to technical and non-technical information and documents through a carefully chosen set of technology descriptions. The process for collecting data used to compile the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  and for completing the templates is explained below.  
     [0041] The business-technology-patent mapping process begins at step  300 , where the patent portfolio and/or invention disclosures are updated to remove abandoned or otherwise expired patents, closed matters, and patents and disclosures which are no longer of interest, no longer owned or are not related to the company&#39;s core and strategic technologies.  
     [0042] At step  302 , an initial technology list is generated. Sources of technology terms can be provided by existing business technology listings, USPTO Classes &amp; Subclasses, Standard Industry Classifications (SIC), Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC) standards, governmental report categories and other commercially available industry listings, as well as company-generated terms. In one embodiment this step is an iterative process relying, for example, on interviews, questionnaires, etc. to determine core and strategic technologies of interest throughout the company.  
     [0043] At step  304 , the core and strategic technologies are identified at each site, each business unit, each segment for the overall company. It should be understood that the number of technologies could vary with the size of company. At step  306 , a major technology listing is generated based on findings from the core and strategic technology categories determined in step  304 . Table 1 below includes examples of some major technology areas in an exemplary major technology listing.  
                       TABLE 1                                   Major Technology List                                                Electronically Scanned Arrays           Sensors and Focal Plane Arrays           Algorithms and Processing           Systems - Design &amp; Integration           Acoustics           Antennas and Arrays           Communication Modules and Datalinks           Database - Mining, Management, etc.           Digital &amp; RF Components           Microelectronic/Electronic Packaging &amp; Cooling           Information Management           Networks           Sensor &amp; Data Processing           Simulation, Modeling &amp; Analysis           Structures &amp; Materials           Man-Machine Interface &amp; Human Computer Interface           Power Systems                      
 
     [0044] At step  308 , technologies in which the company does not have an interest are identified and purged from the major technology list. Additionally any gaps in technology coverage are identified and filled in by adding the missing technology descriptions to the major technology list. At step  310 , sub-technologies are identified for each major technology further delineating specific initiatives based on information obtained from step  304  above. A predetermined maximum number of sub-technologies can be set for each major technology.  
     [0045] At step  310 , sub-technologies are identified and added to the major technology list to form an initial Technology Descriptor List based on findings from the core and strategic technologies identified in step  304 . In one embodiment, raw data is collected from various internal sources such as the patent department, the business development groups and technology community. The data collected includes, but is not limited to, the identification of the company&#39;s core and strategic technology areas and the company&#39;s businesses, which are further broken down by business units, and geographic location. In one embodiment, “X”s placed on a form at the intersection of a technology description and a business segment identify those business segments that have an interest in a particular technology area. The raw data is then compiled to generate the Master Technology Descriptor List  200 , which serves as a template for mapping each of the company&#39;s businesses to a predetermined group of technology descriptions that identify core and strategic technology areas across company lines.  
     [0046] At step  312 , the Master Technology Descriptor List  200  can optionally be reviewed by technical contacts at the various business entities to ensure coverage of selected technologies and the overall business objectives of the sites, business units, and segments as well as the corporate level.  
     [0047] At step  314 , templates including standardized codes are generated to represent each technology and sub-technology for correlation with other database information and other databases. At step  316 , the core and strategic business interests and initiatives of each site, business unit and segment are correlated to the technology descriptions as provided in the template.  
     [0048] At step  317 , any inconsistencies among the selected technology descriptions of site, business unit and segment are resolved by adding or deleting a technology. An inconsistency can occur, for example, where a site is interested in a particular technology and the segment containing the site is unaware of this interest. Any errors in completing the template are also detected and resolved in this step.  
     [0049] At step  318 , it is determined whether any additional major technologies or sub-technologies have been identified as the result of activities in step  316 . If there are additional technologies processing continues at step  314  to generate additional standardized codes and to update the templates which are then reprocessed at step  316 . If there are no further technologies or sub-technologies to be added processing continues at step  320 .  
     [0050] At step  320 , patents, invention disclosures and other technical and non-technical documents are correlated to the technology descriptions via the standardized technology codes  254  (FIG. 5) by assigning the technology codes  254  to each document. It should be noted that more than one code might be applicable to each patent depending on the level of granularity in the major and sub technology listings.  
     [0051] At step  322 , a point of contact (POC) is identified at each site. The POC may be, for example an attorney, a patent agent, a patent engineer or a technical lead who assists with coordination of all IP activities.  
     [0052] At step  324 , the business technology map  100  (FIG. 1) is updated from the completed master lists. The mapping provides the company with a database having a set of common technology descriptions that allows a quick overview of the company&#39;s core and strategic (present and future) business interests and the company&#39;s technology including but not limited to its intellectual property including patents and invention disclosures.  
     [0053] It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that several of the above steps can be automated and the process can be integrated with other enterprise systems such as docketing database systems, financial systems, licensing support systems for example, commercial systems such as: Omnis, Aurigin, and CaseTrack.  
     [0054] In one particular embodiment, core technologies are displayed in red font and strategic technologies are displayed in blue font. Further embodiments differentiating between core and strategic technologies will be readily apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art including symbols, such as letters (e.g., c and s), font differences, and the like. One of ordinary skill in the art will also appreciated that the information can be displayed in a wide range of formats including multiple overlapping windows displayed on the screen.  
     [0055] The present invention provides a system for generating a business technology map/database that can be used to collect a wide range of information about a company&#39;s technologies and intellectual property relative to its businesses. The map/database provides a means for sharing technical information across company lines, a means for classifying a company&#39;s patents into groups of predetermined technology descriptions that identify a company&#39;s core and strategic technology areas. The map/database provides a means for analyzing business decisions that may impact a company&#39;s businesses through the selling or licensing of patents to a third party, evaluating a company&#39;s patent portfolio relative to a competitor&#39;s patent portfolio, a means of identifying high profile technology areas within a company, and a means of evaluating the company&#39;s patented technology relative to its businesses.  
     [0056] Having described the preferred embodiments of the invention, it will now become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art that other embodiments incorporating their concepts may be used. It is felt therefore that these embodiments should not be limited to disclosed embodiments but rather should be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims. All publications and references cited herein are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.