Analysis of patent documents with utility mining: a case study of wind energy technology

Abstract

Purpose This study aims to propose a novel approach based on utility mining to find the associations among wind energy technologies. Design/methodology/approach The proposed approach uses patent documents and utility mining. Associations among wind energy technologies have been evaluated to show how the proposed approach works in practice. Findings Determining the relationships between wind energy technologies provide essential information to investors and decision-makers. Therefore, a real-life case study of wind energy technology is performed to show how the proposed approach works in practice. The proposed approach founds technology classes associated with wind energy technology. Furthermore, the strongest associations among technologies are also obtained by the proposed approach. The results of the case study show that the proposed approach can be easily used in practice. The maximum size of itemsets is 18-level itemsets. Y02E and F03D cooperative patent classification (CPC) codes appear on all itemsets. As the technologies of Y02E and F03D are directly correlated, they will be mutually developed in the future. Additionally, the number of patent corresponding to Y02E and F03D CPC codes are 7,494 and 6,577, respectively. Originality/value This is the first study that applies the utility mining-based approach to patent documents. Different levels of importance among technologies based on patent citations and the number of repetitions of each technology class are considered in the proposed approach.