Abstract
We report on the development of an interface to the US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) that allows for the mapping of patent portfolios as overlays to basemaps
constructed from citation relations among all patents contained in this database during the
period 19762011. Both the interface and the data are in the public domain; the freeware
programs VOSViewer and/or Pajek can be used for the visualization. These basemaps and
overlays can be generated at both the 3-digit and 4-digit levels of the International Patent
Classification (IPC) of the world intellectual property organization (WIPO). The basemaps
can provide a stable mental framework for analysts to follow developments over searches
for different years, which can be animated. The full flexibility of the advanced search
engines of USPTO are available for generating sets of patents and/or patent applications
which can thus be visualized and compared. This instrument allows for addressing questions
about technological distance, diversity in portfolios, and animating the developments
of both technologies and technological capacities of organizations over time.