China's OLED equipment technology patent situation analysis

Under the background of the rapid development of science and technology and economic globalization, the role and influence of patents on scientific research, economic investment and legal rights protection have become increasingly prominent. Digging deep into patent information, rationally and effectively utilizing patent resources, and timely and accurately formulating patent strategies It is the guarantee for long-term and rapid development of a company and the whole country. This paper searches, analyzes and summarizes related patents in the field of OLED equipment technology in China through the analysis system of patent information service platform in Guangdong Province. Analyze domestic OLED equipment technology patents from the total application, application trend, key IPC technology fields and major applicants, and provide reference for technology research and development and overall development in the field of OLED equipment technology.

1 Patent Analysis System

1.1 Patent search database and retrieval time range

Select Guangdong Province Patent Information Service Platform Analysis System Database. The Boolean search strategy is used to formulate the search formula, and then the patent search is combined with the classification number to facilitate fast and accurate search for related patents in the field of OLED device technology.

Patent data retrieval time ranges from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2013.

1.2 Patent Analysis Method

According to the characteristics of patent information, the patents are analyzed from three levels: “point”, “line” and “face”. The “point” intelligence analysis is mainly the statistical analysis of the external features of patent documents, and it is the preliminary mining of patent information. "Line" intelligence analysis refers to sorting the "point" information obtained in a certain way, so as to obtain ordered "line" intelligence. By combining the above-mentioned information, various "related" information about the state of technological development can be obtained. This paper analyzes and discusses the patents of Chinese OLED equipment technology by using the "point", "line" and "face" analysis methods in the intelligence analysis method.

2 China's OLED equipment technology patent analysis

2.1 OLED device technology patent status

According to the Guangdong Patent Information Platform, a total of 2,854 patents involving OLED equipment technology were retrieved, including 2,554 invention patents (89.5%) and 300 utility model patents (10.5%).

As can be seen from Figure 1, it can be seen that the number of patent applications in the field of OLED device technology is on the rise. The number of Chinese patent applications for OLED devices can be divided into three phases. This period from 1980 to 1996 involved 5 Chinese patent applications for OLED devices, which is the initial stage of OLED research. The number of patent applications in the second phase from 1996 to 2004 showed an increasing trend year by year, and continued to grow rapidly from 2001. At this stage, the focus on OLEDs and input work became larger, and the research on OLEDs began to pay attention. The number of patent applications for OLED devices declined from 2004 to 2013, and has gradually increased since 2007. It is more than 150 pieces per year. The research on OLEDs and some related technologies have become relatively mature. Only increase or decrease. Overall, the number of patent applications for OLED devices has shown an increasing trend since 1996, indicating that the world's research on OLEDs is very active and is still a research hotspot.

2.2 Applicant Analysis

2.2.1 Analysis of the status of national applications

The distribution of patent applicants in OLED equipment is helpful to understand that the countries and regions where each applicant is located in the patent application have a good patent application in this field, which can better provide a certain reference value for enterprise development planning. 1 is the number of patent applications for OLED equipment technology in various countries in China.

In the OLED device patent application, the number of applications in Japan was the highest, at 1,209, far ahead of other countries, and ranked first in the country. China is second only to Japan, with 615 patents. China and Japan have more than 500 patent applications, ahead of other countries. The number of invention patent applications in Korea and the United States accounted for the third and fourth places respectively (458 and 134, respectively), and both exceeded 100. The number of invention patent applications in the Netherlands is 64. Except for China, Japan, South Korea, the United States, and the Netherlands, the number of patent applications in other countries is less than 50. Japan's application accounted for 42.4% of the total number of applications, almost half, showing that Japan has an absolute leading position in the field of OLED, showing strong strength, in line with its market share. The number of applications from China and South Korea accounted for 24.1% and 18.0% of the applications in the top ten countries, respectively, several times higher than those in the fourth and subsequent countries.

2.2.2 Analysis of the application status of various provinces in China

Table 2 shows the number of patent applications related to OLED equipment technology in various provinces in China. It can be seen that the distribution of OLED equipment patent applications in various provinces in China is uneven and the applications for OLED equipment in Guangdong, Beijing, Taiwan, and Jiangsu are ranked high.

According to the number of patent applications, Guangdong, Taiwan, Beijing, and Jiangsu ranked 146, 119, 94, and 83 in the top four patents in China's OLED equipment field, and significantly higher than the fifth Sichuan (42). In addition to the above four provinces, the number of OLED equipment applications in Sichuan, Shanghai and Shaanxi provinces exceeded 20, and the remaining provinces were all less than 10. It can reflect the regional concentration of patent applications for OLED equipment in China, with the eastern region ranking higher and the inland regions applying backward.

2.2.3 Global and China's major applicants

Applicants for similar patents are competitors. The more projects and patents are applied, the more competitive they are. By understanding the main applicants in the industry, you can know the competitive relationship between applicants.

For the analysis of the patent data of China's OLED equipment, applicants who occupy the top 10 applications are ranked according to the number of applications: Seiko Epson Co., Ltd., Samsung SDI Co., Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd. LG Display Co., Ltd., BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., Canon Inc., Samsung Mobile Display Co., Ltd., and Sony Corporation. Among the top ten applicants, there are 6 Japanese applicants, accounting for more than half. Seiko Epson, ranked first, has 238 patent applications, accounting for 25.65% of the total number of applications. It is far ahead of Samsung SDI 139, which ranks second, and 101 Matsushita Electric, which is the third. Strength. The fourth-ranked Idemitsu Kosan and the main applicants afterwards have similar strengths, and there is no significant difference in the number. See Table 3 for details.

In the OLED patents applied for in China, the number of patent applications filed by major foreign applicants is significantly higher than the number of patent applications applied by Chinese applicants. The top ten applicants have 9 foreign applicants (6 Japanese applicants, 3 Korean applicants), because applicants in Japan and South Korea started earlier than other applicants at LOED equipment research. The overall strength is strong, and it has an advantage in this field and is in a leading position. A Chinese applicant (BOE), BOE is currently the only company in China that can produce a full range of semiconductor display products, and is the only company that independently masters the complete technical capabilities of the display industry.

2.3 Analysis of major IPC technology components

The International Patent Classification (IPC) is an internationally accepted tool for managing and utilizing patent documents and is the public key for patent search [7]. Through IPC analysis, you can understand the regional distribution of different technologies in the industry and understand whether a technology is in a mature or a recession. It can be seen from Table 4 that the patent applications for OLED devices are mainly concentrated in the H (electrical), the G (physical) and the C (chemical and metallurgical). Among them, there are 2,165 patents belonging to Part H, accounting for 75.9% of the total patent applications. It can be seen that the patent research on semiconductor devices and lighting is the hottest in the field of OLED device technology. There are 805 patents belonging to Part G, accounting for 28.2% of the total patent applications. This part is mainly about display, lighting and various devices or devices for control. There are 501 patents belonging to Part C, accounting for 17.6% of the total patent applications. This part is mainly used in OLED applications, plating and heterocyclic compounds. It is expected that the top IPC rankings in the field of OLED equipment, H01L, H05B and G09G will remain the research hotspots in the next few years.

2.4 Main applicant IPC technical analysis

By analyzing the applicant's IPC technology differences, we can understand the main technical components of different applicants' patent applications and in which areas they have a dominant position. Table 4 shows the IPC technology composition of the top ten major applicants.

In the field of OLED equipment technology, H05B and H01L technology research and master the most applicants, respectively: Seiko Epson, Samsung SDI, Matsushita Electric, Idemitsu Kosan, Sanyo Electromechanical, etc. These applicants are the main applicants with a large market share. The development of OLED equipment is unique. G09G and G09F also have appropriate research, mainly Seiko Epson, Matsushita Electric's Sony and so on. Applicants whose main applicants are ranked fifth are not much different in terms of the number of applications, and the overall strength is relatively close. In the field of OLED equipment technology, the technology among the main applicants has its own merits. The top five applicants have strong comprehensive strength, especially the top-ranked Seiko Epson, see Table 5.

3 summary

Based on the Guangdong Patent Information Service Platform System, the analysis of China's OLED device technology patents yields:

(1) According to the total number of applications, there are 2,854 patents involving OLED equipment technology, including 2,554 invention patents (89.5%), 300 utility model patents (10.5%), and invention patents accounting for nearly 90%. Very high, the OLED device field is highly technical and is a high-tech field.

(2) From the application trend, the number of patent applications in the field of OLED device technology has been on the rise since 1996. The research on OLED in the world is very active, and it is still a research hotspot in various countries.

(3) From the perspective of regional application status, Japan, China and South Korea have a higher proportion of patent applications, especially Japanese applications account for 42.4% of the total applications, almost half of them, showing strong strength; Distribution and imbalance, Guangdong, Beijing, Taiwan, Jiangsu and other eastern regions ranked high, inland areas applied backward, there is regional concentration.

(4) From the perspective of the main applicants, the number of patent applications by major foreign applicants is significantly higher than the number of patents applied by Chinese applicants. Among the top ten applicants, there are 6 Japanese applicants, 3 Korean applicants, and only one Chinese applicant. This is worthy of our attention.

(5) From the perspective of IPC technology, patent applications for OLED devices are mainly concentrated in H (electricity, accounting for 75.9% of total applications), G (physical, 28.2%) and C (chemical and metallurgical, 17.6). ). It is expected that the top IPC rankings in the field of OLED equipment, H01L, H05B and G09G will remain the research hotspots in the next few years.