• Selected Thinkmap Examples

This visualization uses the Thinkmap Chronology to show patent citation references. In the center is a particular patent, with its horizontal position tied to the date the patent is released. Each patent within our data set that refers to the patent or that the patent refers to is also placed on the chronology at the appropriate point. Below the Thinkmap application is a Web page from the Google Patent Search with details on the patent that is in the center.

The colors represent the type of entity that the patent is assigned to, and the size of the circles represent the number of patents in the future that refer back to the patent.

Data from Two Separate Data Sources

The Patent Citation example is bringing in data from two sources:

1. A SQL database that contains information about the relationships and assignment, and
2. The Google Patent Search API which enables external software to query Google's Patent search engine.

Things to Try

1. Right (or Apple) click on a node to expand either forwards or backwards in time.
2. Change the Depth Slider on the bottom left to see two degrees from each patent.
3. Search for any subject area: The search goes to Google, and then amalgamates the results with local data.

Source Data

This example uses data compiled by the National Bureau of Economic Research (http://www.nber.org/patents/) to show graphs. These data are described in the following paper: Hall, B. H., A. B. Jaffe, and M. Tratjenberg (2001). "The NBER Patent Citation Data File: Lessons, Insights and Methodological Tools." NBER Working Paper 8498.

The data for the names and the pages describing the patents come from Google's Patent search using the Google web service described at http://code.google.com/apis/ajaxsearch/documentation/.