57. Patent creation and invention techniques, Chapter 2

  Let's continue the discussion on “Introduction to Intellectual Property and Understanding Intellectual Property”. Among them, today, we will look at “creation of patents and invention techniques 2”.

1. Necessity of prior art search

  Not all inventions lead to patents. Therefore, prior art research is necessary. The absence of a product on the market related to an idea does not 100% lead to the absence of a patent. Therefore, it is necessary to check whether there is no prior art related to the idea. At the same time, just because a similar idea has already been patented doesn't mean you have to give up. This is because inventions can be reinforced by supplementing ideas to differentiate them from prior art. Lastly, it is necessary to avoid vague patent application and acquisition because it requires a lot of cost and effort to acquire or maintain a patent.

2. TRIZ invention technique

  It refers to a structural approach to achieve innovation in invention technique. TRIZ is a method obtained by analyzing the structure of more than 2 million patents, and deriving the principles of problem solving to utilize them. There are three basic elements of TRIZ: systematic approach, contradiction, and ideal solution.

  1) Ideal Final Result: It refers to the sum of the useful functions of the system divided by the sum of the useless functions.

  2) Contradiction: Contradiction is considered the most important concept in TRIZ. It consists of physical contradiction and functional contradiction. Physical contradiion is a situation like a razor, where the blade must be sharp for performance, but the blade must be dull to protect the skin. Functional contradiction refers to a situation in which one function improves while the other deteriorates. For example, the better the acceleration performance of a car, the worse the fuel efficiency.

  3) Systemic approach: It is a theory that systems do not exist independently, and each system is composed of a supersystem and a subsystem that organically interact with each other.

3. Disassembly and recombination of components

  1) Disassembly of components: From the point of view of creative engineering, an invention can be defined as changing the basic components of an article or method and thereby creating a new product or method. At this time, each component can be divided into a material component, a structural component, and a functional component according to the subject of invention.

  2) Addition of components (A + B + C -> A + B + C + D): To make a useful product by adding one or more functions to an existing product. An eraser pencil is a good example.

  3) Deletion of a component (A + B + C + D -> A + B + C): An invention achieved through the removal of one or more components. A good example is an invention like mittens that not only reduces material cost, but also improves thermal insulation compared to finger gloves.

  4) Substitution of components (A + B + C + D -> A + B + C + E): An invention completed by replacing components with other technologies or products. For example, a cold cathode fluorescence lamp is used as a light source of an LCD display. Then, a good example of substitution is an LCD display that uses LED (light-emitting diode) as a light source.

 

 

*I am a student learning IP, not an IP expert. Translation is also Google translator and my insufficient English skills. I hope it will be helpful for those who do not have the relevant knowledge or who want to learn about IP.

 

*The above is what I learned from a book compiled by the Korean Intellectual Property Office and Korea Invention Promotion Association (published by Pakmungak) entitled “Introduction to Intellectual Property, Understanding Intellectual Property”.