Patent Analysis of the Critical Technology Network of Semiconductor Optical Amplifiers

Abstract

With the development of 5G, mobile communication, and optical communication technologies, semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) have become an important research topic. However, most SOA-related studies have focused on a technical discussion or market research but have failed to indicate the critical SOA technologies and the SOA technology development trends. Therefore, this study analyzes SOA patents and constructs a technology network for SOA patents. The results indicate that the critical SOA technologies are mainly used in lasers, semiconductor lasers, light guides, electromagnetic wave transmission communication other than radio-wave communication, and devices controlling light sources. Among the five critical SOA technologies, lasers (H01S3) account for the highest percentage at 22.21%. Consequently, the critical technologies do not focus on specific technology fields but have characteristics of multiple technology fields. In addition, considerable development has occurred in semiconductor lasers in recent years. Finally, patentee analysis indicates that for SOA technologies, the public sector and academia play relatively weak roles in early technology development or following technology development. However, with the rapid development of mobile communication and optical communication, the government of each country can consider investing additional R&D funds and resources in the future. This study constructs a network model for patent technologies to explore the development tendencies for SOA technologies. This model can be used as a reference for R&D resource management and the promotion of new technologies.

Early Identification of Significant Patents Using Heterogeneous Applicant-Citation Networks Based on the Chinese Green Patent Data

“…On the contrary, the proportion of research institutes and u because the number of them is limited, but their R&D capabilities o the analysis of applicants is particularly indispensable. Many studies rank applicants according to the number of patents the applicants own [33,55,56]. Therefore, we simply analyze the number of Chinese green patents owned by different applicants and found differences in the status of technological innovation, we do not consider whether it is a current name or a former name.…”

Analyses of the Key Technologies and Development Trends of Optical Networks from the Perspective of Standard Essential Patents

“…Optical transmission technology has developed rapidly over the past thirty years through three main technological innovations: time division multiplexing (TDM) technology based on electrical multiplexing, optical amplification technology combined with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology, and digital coherent technology [14]. Literature has used photonic technologies [15,16] and semiconductor optical amplifiers [17,18] to discuss 5G optical communication. However, at present, the technology development of 6G is gradually attracting attention.…”

A Patent Analysis to Identify Emergent Topics and Convergence Fields: A Case Study of Chitosan

“…The current patent classification system is complex and hierarchical, comprising the descending levels of section, class, subclass, group, and subgroup (Figure 1). Patents contain substantial information about innovation phenomena, and patent co-classification analysis has been extensively used in numerous previous studies [49][50][51][52][53]. Curran and Leker [4] analyzed patent co-classification by investigating overlaps of patent classes to monitor technological convergence in different fields of the ICT sector.…”