Miracles and Magic
Short stories of human inventions
Patent Technology Landscapes
January 4, 2009
by merlin
in Technology
Patent Technology Landscapes are the high-level visualization of large set of patent dataset specific to a particular technology. It provides over view of the various technological segments within the dataset and is very useful for the decision makers. These map further breaks into more specific detailed technological segments to visualize the technology co-relation, technology diversification and various technology trends. Mining of the huge dataset for specific technological detail is a laborious process. Presently various vendors such as Aureka from MicroPat provides automated generation of patent landscape maps for large datasets. The basis for the generation of these maps is the keyword frequency. Thus these maps require human intelligence to further refine it.
A patent landscape contains various other 2-D and 3-D technology graph to represent the various emerging, high-growth, mid-growth and low-growth areas in a particular technology, or across technology. It is helpful in extrapolating the concentration and trends of invention with large technology segments. Further, it also includes graphical representation of the Patent technology S-curve to show the pace of invention and patenting activity, in various technology segments.
A patent landscape helps in:
Categorization… More >>
Apple Inc – A Case Study In Innovation – Part 1
January 3, 2009
by merlin
in General Topics
Think about Apple computers, and one cannot but be baffled by its riches to rags to riches story. This company epitomizes what innovation and re-invention is all about. At a quick glance, Apple seems to have adapted and learnt to fly with the winds of change. But there is more to this success than just adapting to change.The SettingIn the early 2000′s, the company was ignored by mainstream. For a long time, the doomsday predictors seemed right. The company stock had hit the pits and any hope was found only in the devout, cult following they had for their computer products, many of whom frequented the annual MacWorld show. A cult following is a great thing to have but not enough to have the wide appeal to have sustained growth.This was right about the time that digital media was gaining ground in the “underground”. Everything from digital pictures, to music to video could now be stored on the computer. Digital still and video cameras were gradually starting to pick up in sales and get a following – especially among the younger section of the population. Even the film… More >>
Laser Sight
There are many scientific, military, medical and commercial laser applications which have been created since the invention of the laser in 1958. It has a variety of properties that make it greatly applicable in many industries. These include its coherency, high monochromaticity, and ability to reach extremely high powers.Military uses of lasers include target designation and ranging, defensive countermeasures, communications and directed energy weapons. Directed energy weapons like Boeing’s Airborne Laser which can be erected inside a 747 jet can actually burn the skin off enemy missiles.Northrop Grumman declare that its engineers in Redondo Beach had successfully built and tested an electric laser with the capacity to produce a 100-kilowatt ray of light, powerful enough to nullify cruise missiles, artillery, rockets and mortar rounds. An electric laser is in theory able to be mounted in an aircraft, ship, or vehicle because it has a much smaller space requirement for its associated equipment than a chemical laser according to Brian Strickland, manager for the United States Army’s Joint High Power Solid State Laser program.Many firearms applications use the power of the laser as a tool to better the targeting… More >>