VizMap: Network Mode

VizMap is visualization software that combines patent network analysis with semantic/ contextual spatial mapping capabilities so as to allow users to view the clusters and their context and also to analyze key relationships in their context.
It is also useful for users who seek advanced visualizations above charts and graphs for semantic exploration within large sets of patent data. VizMap highly leverages the capability of the human visual system to identify patterns and anomalies when information is presented in an intuitive visual landscape.

Once you select VizMap, it opens in a new tab. You will see options to decide which mode you want to select.

Network mode: makes VizMAP work like a network analysis tool. In network mode, you are basically analyzing network relationships between fields. For e.g. you can analyze relationships of how companies are linked to inventors/ IPC/CPC or any other types of custom fields/clusters. You can even traverse the relationship from one leg to the other.

Correlation map: displays the correlation between any two fields

Landscape mode: here software does contextual clustering of the patents and then arranges those contextual clusters against the closest theme or topic they represent. This is represented as contour map.

IMP: Make sure to generate the clusters using the Advanced Clustering Engine to get it reflected in the VizMAP Landscape mode.

Let’s take some examples for different modes

Network Mode
Let’s say if you want to see top 20 current assignees within your project. To load top 20 current assignees, select top 20 Current Assignees from Show Top.

You will see 20 current owners loaded on the map with green colored circles assigned to them. The size of circle is based on number of patents held by the assignee. The patents held by the assignee are represented as blue dots

Working with generated map

You have different options available which will allow you to edit the generated map

Links: allows you to see the connections between the different nodes

Labels: allows you to mark the nodes with patent numbers

Cutoff: allows you to ignore a set of records by specifying the cutoff limit

Font: increases the font size of node labels

Let’s take another example wherein you can traverse the relationship between different fields. Supposing you want to see Inventor groups of key companies within your project.

The generated map below highlights the key inventor groups of assignees. In map below the groups are created using network relationships and the records are positioned on the map based on their relationship to the Assignee and to the inventors listed on the graph. Also groups of inventors who file together will appear clustered together.

Steps to generate the visualization:

1. Once you have loaded top 20 Current Owners on the map, you can right click on the white space on the map and you will see options to expand/ remove/ clear all. Select Expand by inventors to load the inventors onto the same map

2. Once the inventors are loaded enable the links between assignees and inventors from the option present

Adding Patents into the Visual Layout
Manual Loading by adding items one-by-one Manual loading refers to adding items one by one to the map from the expanded list in Analyze by option. A single click on an item in the list adds the respective cluster to the existing map in the visual layout. During this addition the clusters in the map get adjusted based on the common/uncommon patents they are associated with.

You can chose to load any number of items from 9 different group heads

Clicking on any of the groups expands a complete list of the entries as shown below. If you have multi-level hierarchy, you will see the same under Categories.

To load a particular entry, click on it once. The entries are added one-by-one and clicking on a second entry adds that to the display.
VizShade
VizShade allows shading the clusters based on its fields such as Assignee, Inventor, IPC, etc. and this is very useful because you can see collaborations; identify potential overlapping patents between fields. Each cluster is assigned a different shade of color for differentiation.

Other Actions
Time slice
You can slice down the generated map by Publication Year/ Application Year/Estimated Expiry Year

Search Bar 

The bottom panel of VizMap has a search option wherein the user can input search terms of his interest and click enter. Based on the results of the search, patents on the visual layout get highlighted.

Color By options

On the bottom panel of VizMap, you will find color by option as below (image). There are 4 options to color patents on current map as below.

Color by Assignee: Upon selecting Assignee under the Color by option, you can choose to assign a different color to the respective assignees. The results panel on the right shows the list of assignees and options to assign colors to the assignees.

The color of each assignee can be changed by double clicking on the color show next to the assignee names. Upon saving the chosen colors the patents in the map get refreshed with the newly assigned colors. The “Deselect All‟ option in the assignee color window will assign a uniform color (gray) to all assignees. Any particular/specific assignees of interest can then be assigned a customized color to locate the patents in the map.

Color by Legal Status: Upon selecting Legal Status, the patents are colored based on their legal status. By default, colors are assigned to different legal status, however you can assign a customized color.

Color by Current Assignee: Upon selecting Current Assignee under the Color by option, the patents are colored based on their Current Assignees. Each assignee is assigned a different color to differentiate between patents as below.

Color by Search Term: The search bar described above can be used to search for terms in the portfolio. The resulting patents are highlighted if present in the map. The numbers appearing against the nodes represents the number of occurrence of the searched term.

Zoom and Move Map

The map on the visual layout can be zoomed in and out by using the mouse wheel. A left double click on the map magnifies the map to a little extent and allows the user to concentrate on that part of the map. The whole map can be moved by single left click + drag action of the mouse. The zoom level remains the same during this action.

Instant Patent details

By putting mouse over the patent node in the map you will see the record number as below

You can view the node details by performing a mouse right click action on the node

Saving the Chart to the Dashboard

You can save VizMap charts to the dashboard. You will find the dashboard under the quick stats tab on the project result page. 

You can also Decide  the Group on which VizMap is to Be created and analyzed

A key improvement to VizMap feature is now you have the flexibility to decide on the group to be analyzed using VizMap. When you apply filters to your data set and click on VizMap option, a window to select the appropriate option will be displayed