2014年获得技术专利最多的8大公司
Robert Hackett | 2015-03-11 04:00
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[译文]
Patents are the lifeblood of the tech industry—and if last year’s numbers are any indication, that sector is performing with vigor.
More than 300,000 utility patents—those are the ones for inventions, rather than designs—were issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office last year, a record high. Such patents allow companies to put their inventions on lockdown for up to two decades, reaping rewards for significant R&D investments. And there’s another incentive: allowing businesses to stock up their intellectual property warchests and fortify their legal defenses.
“If you’re a bully you’re not going to pick on the big kids,” says Larry Cady, vice president of marketing and senior patent analyst at IFI Claims Patent Services, a firm that maintains a database of patents. “You’re going to pick on the pipsqueaks.”
So which companies are the head honchos? And what ideas are they bent on securing?
Fortune partnered with IFI Claims, which last monthranked the top 50 patent assignees of 2014, in order to examine the major players’ patents—most of which involve computing, hardware and software manufacturing, and mobile technology. A word to the wise: technology patents can be, well, technical. Sometimes, mind-numbingly so. “A lot of patents tend to be very regular,” Cady says. “They’re not fun to read. Once in a while you see something like an Apple Watch, but that’s like finding a needle in a hay stack.” (Apple ranked 11 on IFI Claims’ 2014 list.)
Well, we dug in anyway. Fortune peeked inside the patent caches of last year’s top earners to spot companies’ latest additions. What follows is a list expanding on our 2014 list of the top 10 R&D-spending companies, revealing with finer granularity where and how companies spend their innovation bucks.
Here’s what we found.
专利是科技行业的命脉。从去年的统计数字来看，科技行业依旧充满了活力。
去年，美国专利商标局批准了超过30万项实用专利，创下历史新高。所谓实用专利即与发明创造有关的专利，不包括设计专利。这些专利使公司的发明获得最长二十年的保护期限，进而让它们收获大规模研发投入带来的丰硕成果。此外，这些专利还有另外一个好处：允许公司积累充足的知识产权储备，为未来的法律诉讼提供有力支持。
美国商业专利数据库公司市场营销副总裁兼高级专利分析师拉里•卡迪表示：“恃强凌弱的人肯定不会选择大个子。他们会去欺负弱小的人。”该公司的业务之一就是维护专利数据库。
在今年的排行榜中，有哪些公司遥遥领先？他们正在竭力保护哪些创意？
1月，商业专利数据库发布了2014年50家专利大户排名。《财富》杂志携手该公司对这份排名进行了研究，其中大部分公司来自计算、硬件与软件制造和移动技术领域。简而言之：技术专利普遍很专业。有时候，甚至专业到令人麻木。卡迪表示：“许多专利都非常普通。专利文件内容也很无聊。有时候你会发现类似苹果手表这样的专利，但这简直就是凤毛麟角。”（苹果公司在商业专利数据库的2014年排行榜中名列第11位。）
但我们还是进行了深入研究。《财富》调查了去年专利大户获得的专利，以确认这些公司的最新研发成果。在2014年“研发投入最多的十大公司排行榜”基础上，下面这份清单将更加详细地介绍各大公司创新投入的方向和使用方式。
我们的调查结果如下：
1. IBM
Patents earned: 7534
Representative patent: "Operating System Migration with Minimal Storage Area Network Migration"
Country: United States
IBM is untouchable, effectively. Even as the computing and consulting company posts dismal financials, it leads the patent pack for its 22nd straight year. In fact, the company IBM is the first ever to exceed 7,000 patents in a single year—trouncing runner-ups on the list. IBM's innovations land all over the map; its most common areas include computers, semiconductors, telecommunications, business applications (like advertising in virtual reality)—even antimicrobial agents. While the patent we've highlighted—described as "a method for migrating an operating system from a source computer to a destination computer"—may seem more humdrum, it's a representative example of the company's most common patent classification: electrical digital data processing, a.k.a. computers.
2. Samsung
Patents earned: 4,952
Representative patent: "White Light Emitting Diode and Liquid Crystal Display Including the Same"
Country: Korea
Korea's primary patent powerhouse Samsung stayed put at second place in the latest ranking. Nearing 5,000 patents, the electronics company is a formidable IP winner—despite IBM largely blowing it (and the rest of the competition) out of the water. Semiconductor devices are the company's most active area of activity; in August Samsung earned a patent for a "richer" white LED backlight. As its filing summarizes: "Richer colors may be realized by including a wider region of color space when a white color coordinate is adjusted in order to realize a white color." Shine on, Samsung.
3. Canon
Patents earned: 4,055
Representative patent: "Focus Detection Apparatus"
Country: Japan
Camera king Canon leads the list for Japan, plunking down in third place. The company, which achieved a personal best of more than 4,000 patents, has been a mainstay in the top five of the annual list for nearly three decades. A majority of Canon's patents fall under the category of pictorial communication, which includes television. An example of one such patent blueprints a device "for performing automatic focus adjustment control effectively used with an imaging apparatus such as a video camera." That's one way Canon keeps new ideas in its line of sight.
3. 佳能
专利数量：4055项
代表性专利：“焦点检测装置”
国家：日本
相机之王佳能位列第三，是排名最高的日本公司。该公司获得超过4000项专利，创下历史新高。近30年来，佳能一直稳居该年度榜单的前五名。佳能的专利主要为图像通信类，包括电视。其中一项专利构想了一种能够“通过使用视频摄像头等成像装置，有效执行自动调焦控制”的设备。佳能正是通过这种方式不断创新。
4. Sony
Patents earned: 3,224
Representative patent: "Extensions to Trigger Parameters Table for Interactive Television"
Country: Japan
Like Canon, Sony's speciality is pictorial communication (e.g. television). Certain optical patents granted in years past have helped the company grab, a spokesperson estimates, 43% market share for image sensors in smartphones. ("In general our technology is two years ahead of our competitors," says the spokesperson.) Here we highlight a Sony patent that involves "receiving content from a content source, and displaying the received content on a display." Elaborating within the filing, the patent's authors detail Sony's interest in so-called interactive TV. Imagine, for example, that your big screen dishes out updated statistics for athletes while they compete in sporting events. This patent undergirds that technology. (No telling yet how CEO Kazuo Hirainew business plan that deemphasizes TV will affect it.)
4. 索尼
专利数量：3224项
代表性专利：“触发交互式电视参数表的扩展技术”
国家：日本
与佳能一样，索尼的专长领域也是图像通信（如电视）。根据索尼发言人的估算，此前获得的部分光学专利，已经帮助该公司占领了智能手机图像传感器市场43%的份额。（这位发言人声称：“总体而言，我们的技术领先竞争对手两年。”）我们列举的这项专利涉及“从内容源接收内容后，在显示器上显示接收到的内容”。其发明者在专利申请文件中详细描述了索尼对所谓交互式电视的兴趣。例如，想象一下，你在观看体育比赛的时候，大屏幕上会实时提供运动员的最新统计数据。该专利为这种技术奠定了基础。（目前尚不清楚索尼CEO平井一夫旨在削减电视业务的新商业计划将对这类专利造成怎样的影响。）
5. Microsoft
Patents earned: 2,829
Representative patent: "Automatic Batching of GUI-based Tasks"
Country: United States
Microsoft MSFT -0.14% held steady for another year in fifth place. Safeguarding one of its breakthrough products—the motion sensing Kinect—the company "has filed nearly 600 patents to protect intellectual property related to the device," says a company spokesperson. For Microsoft's featured patent, we picked one that aims to lessen the hassle of performing repetitive actions on a computer. Say, for instance, you would like to resize hundreds of digital photos. The patent outlines a way for the computer to intuit your intentions and automate the process—without you having to learn how to script a single line of code. Most of the software and electronics company's patents fall into the bucket of electrical digital data processing, a.k.a. computers—just as IBM's do.
5. 微软
专利数量：2829项
代表性专利：“基于GUI的任务的自动批处理”
国家：美国
微软连续第二年稳居第五位。微软发言人称，为了维护一款突破型产品——运动体感设备Kinect，该公司“已提交了近600项专利申请，以保护与这款设备相关的知识产权。”我们从微软的主要专利中，挑选出一项旨在简化计算机重复操作的专利。例如，你可能想要调整数百张数码照片的尺寸。这项专利可让计算机自觉感知用户的意图，并自动完成这一过程——用户不需要学习如何编写脚本代码。与IBM相同，这家软件与电子产品公司的大部分专利均与电子数字数据处理即计算机相关。
6. Toshiba
Patents earned: 2,608
Representative patent: "Semiconductor Device"
Country: Japan
With tech conglomerate Toshiba clocking in at sixth place, Japanese companies retain a strong showing on IFI Claims' 2014 list—despite Japan's share of U.S. patent grants having declined 2.5% over the past five years. (While the U.S., Korea and China's share of patent grants continues to grow steadily—China's share actually doubled, though it still only accounts for a meager 2% of the year's total—Japan and Europe's shares are in decline. Cady attributes this trend to "general belt-tightening in those markets.") The company's most popular patent category is semiconductor devices, where one may find the provocatively titled patent "Semiconductor Device." The filing mentions its purpose as producing a device "improved both in data retention characteristics and read characteristics."
6. 东芝
专利数量：2608项
代表性专利：“半导体设备”
国家：日本
科技巨头东芝名列第六位。尽管在过去五年，这家日本公司在美国获得的专利比例下降了2.5%，但在商业专利数据库2014年的排行榜中，它仍表现出强劲的实力。（东芝在美国、韩国与中国申请的专利比例继续稳步增长，中国更是提高了一倍，但却仅占全年专利总数的2%，而日本与欧洲的比例则在持续下降。卡迪将这一趋势归因于“这两个市场的紧缩政策”。）东芝公司最主要的专利类别为半导体设备，其中包括这项挑衅意味十足的专利“半导体设备”。专利申请文件中提到其用途是生产“在数据保持和读取性能上均获得提升的”设备。
7. Qualcomm
Patents earned: 2,590
Representative patent: "Optimal Sleep / Paging Cycle Duration in a Wireless Network"
Country: United States
Qualcomm performed spectacularly on the latest list, jumping to seventh place from ninth a year prior. The company landed within spitting distance of Toshiba—less than 20 patents behind—and has increased its patent count by 23% over last year. One of Qualcomm's patents, which can be grouped under its most popular header: wireless communications networks, aims to conserve the battery power of mobile devices by managing their "sleep cycles." Periodically, these devices awaken to monitor lines of communication with cell sites. The patent is a method for saving battery-life while keeping them quickly responsive. Roger Martin, senior vice president and chief IP strategist, is proud of the company's legacy. He points to another patent the company is particularly excited about as well: "Automatic Interfacing between a Master Device and Object Device". As he describes it, the a means of using optical recognition to pair "Internet of Things" devices. The idea is to, say, point your phone at your smart watch and they'll automatically configure together.
7. 高通
专利数量：2590项
代表性专利：“无线网络中的最佳睡眠/寻呼周期时长”
国家：美国
高通在最新榜单上的表现引人注目，从2013年的第9名上升到第7名。高通与东芝仅相差不到20项专利，而且高通的专利持有量相比去年也增长了23%。高通的一项专利代表了其最主要的专利类别：无线通信网络，该项专利旨在通过管理移动设备的“睡眠周期”来提高设备电池的续航能力。这些设备每隔一段时间会自动唤醒，以监测与蜂窝基站的通信线路。这项专利既能保持电池的快速响应能力，又能延长电池的使用寿命。高通高级副总裁兼首席知识产权策略师罗杰•马丁对公司的专利非常自豪。他指出，公司对另外一项专利特别期待：“主设备与目标设备之间的自动接合”（US-8818274）。据他描述，这是一种利用光学识别对“物联网”设备进行配对的方法。例如，将手机对准智能手表时，两者可以通过该项专利技术自动配对。
BONUS:
8. Google
Patents earned: 2,566
Representative patent: "Changing a Rank of a Document by Applying a Rank Transition Function"
Country: United States
Although Fortune intended to cap this list at seven companies, we would be remiss not to include one of the year's biggest winners—Google, which debuted for the first time in the top 10. The company, which was awarded 38% more patents this year than the year prior (most of them in the electrical and digital data processing—a.k.a. computers—category), entered the top 50 list only two years ago. (For the curious, Amazon snuck onto the top 50 list this year for the first time in the ultimate spot.) Google's ascendency from out of seemingly nowhere surprises Cady."It was a stunning move," he says—especially on a list that stays mostly stagnant from year to year. Aptly, Google's highlighted patent involves an algorithm that determines multiple rankings for a document, and creates a transitional ranking between the two. The purpose is to hamper people who manipulate Google's search results with so-called rank-modifying spamming. Here we see Google modifying its own ranking on the IFI Claims patent list, to great effect.
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