Study on Korean Mobile Technology Trends through Patent Analysis

Abstract

This study intends to see the trend of Korean mobile technology, technology convergence, and technology knowledge diffusion through social network analysis of Korean mobile patents. To do so, we built a database of Korean patents which are related to mobile technology, and a database of citation relationship focusing on mobile patents. We analyzed a social network analysis using two methodologies: patent citation network analysis and Co-IPC analysis. The results show that G06 (arithmetic and logic unit; calculation; computation) and H04 (telecommunication technology) play a significant role in mobile technology convergence, and the major technologies of mobile industry change to G06 from H04 with the introduction of smartphone. We also investigated that convergence of mobile technology has increased over time but is stagnating lately. Further, mobile patents of domestic corporations are the most frequently cited by other applicants. On the other hands, in case of governmental institutions, there are relatively small numbers of cases that other applicants cite its patents than it cites the patents of other applicants.