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Recycling 2021, 6, 72 7 of 18

This document discusses the methodology used to analyze patents related to fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composite material recycling processes. It describes conducting a citation analysis by classifying the backward citations of patents into four macro-categories: mechanical, thermal, chemical, and other. It then calculates an interdependence index measuring the degree of citation within and between each macro-category. The study included defining a database, developing a search strategy using keywords and classification codes, retrieving a patent pool, analyzing the patents, and discussing results. All patents considered had a priority date between 1991 and 2020.

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Jack Frost
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21 views1 page

Recycling 2021, 6, 72 7 of 18

This document discusses the methodology used to analyze patents related to fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composite material recycling processes. It describes conducting a citation analysis by classifying the backward citations of patents into four macro-categories: mechanical, thermal, chemical, and other. It then calculates an interdependence index measuring the degree of citation within and between each macro-category. The study included defining a database, developing a search strategy using keywords and classification codes, retrieving a patent pool, analyzing the patents, and discussing results. All patents considered had a priority date between 1991 and 2020.

Uploaded by

Jack Frost
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Recycling 2021, 6, 72 7 of 18

3.3. Citation Analysis


Citation analysis was developed by using the backward citations contained in the cited
patents. Since backward citations give information about the technological antecedents
of an invention [43], they were considered particularly suitable for achieving the third
objective of this study. Specifically, the backward citations (i.e., cited patents) of each patent
in our database (i.e., citing patents) were classified considering their belongingness to one
of the three main recycling macro-categories: mechanical, thermal, and chemical. A fourth
macro-category (‘others’) was used to classify those citations that did not belong to any
of the previous categories. Thus, the publication numbers of the cited patents were cross-
checked with the publication numbers of the patents in the overall dataset. By comparing
these groups with the total number of backward citations of the respective macro-category,
an interdependence index was created. In detail, this index measures the degree of citation
within and between each macro-category.

3.4. Workflow of the Study


Overall, the study research procedure includes five-stages: database definition, search
strategy definition, patent pool retrieval, patent analysis, and discussion of results. In the
first stage, the search database was defined. In particular, data were collected using the
Intellectual Property Portal of Questel Orbit Company (https://orbit.com/ accessed on
4 December 2020) which is a software providing data mining tools to analyze individual
databases with unique features, e.g., legal status. Furthermore, Orbit is based on patent
families, namely a set of granted patents and patent applications protecting the same
invention [29]. This avoids any duplication in the analysis of patent documents, which
generally occurs when companies patent the same invention in multiple countries [44].
The second stage involved the identification of the search strategy. In particular, a mixed
strategy was adopted to overcome the limitations of both the keywords strategy and
classification code strategy. First of all, a search by keywords was carried out. Specifically,
keywords related to the FRP composite material recycling processes domain were typed
in the English language considering all possible variants, and were searched in the title,
abstract, and claims field within the patent record. (Note: more information on keywords
can be found in Appendix A, Table A1.) Concurrently, an attempt was made to identify the
relevant International Patent Classification (IPC) codes. To this end, a classification code
tree was browsed, followed by a reverse engineering analysis to identify the IPC codes
relevant for the analysis. The results of the two analyses were combined and a group of
experts in the field was then involved to refine the sample of selected patents. Albeit being
time consuming, this activity allowed us to identify those words producing noise in the
sample. Moreover, an algorithm based on keyword characteristics, their proximity in the
document, and their recurrence was adopted to minimize the remaining noise following
the manual screening. Subsequently, this sample was divided in agreement with the three
recycling macro-categories (mechanical, thermal, and chemical) by using specific keywords
(Note: more information on keywords can be found in Appendix A, Table A2.). The three
resulting samples contained 205 patent families for mechanical recycling processes, 389 for
thermal recycling processes, and 494 for chemical recycling processes. In the fourth stage,
the patent analysis was carried out through times series, patent trend, and citation study.
Finally, in the fifth stage, an in-depth discussion of the obtained results was executed.
All patents considered in this study were characterized by a priority date, i.e., the
year in which the patent was first filed in a legal office, between 1991 and 2020. This choice
was made because before 1991 patent activity concerning this topic was insignificant when
compared to the period evaluated. The authors are also aware that the two-year period
2019–2020 is not representative of the trends under analysis due to the 18 months delay
between the filing and publication. Lastly, the patent capture took place in December 2020.

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