TRIZ-based Systematic Circumvention Method for Patent Clusters
The research used TRIZ product design and problem-solving tools in the field of patents circumvention from technical perspective. Most patent circumvention methods involved only one patent at a time. It is possible that multiple patents are in our way of product design and manufacturing. This research proposed a systematic process to circumvent multiple related patents and possibly leads to patent re-generation – though the process can also be reduced to treat one patent at a time. The process has three stages, including relevant patent identification, resolving patent functionalities, and patent circumvention. TRIZ tools such as Trimming Rules, Effect Database, Invention Principles and Substance Field Analysis are used to re-solve or re-design the key functions of the patents or circumvent components or attributes of the patents. The results may not only lead to circumvention of the patent clusters, but also the re-generation of patentable ideas.The contributions of this work include: 1) Proposing a systematic method to re-generate or circumvent patent; 2) Designing a set of structured forms with examples and explanations to facilitate the systematic way of patent re-generation and circumvention; 3) Providing capability of circumventing patent clusters instead of single patents as there often multiple patents which may be in the way of design or manufacturing endeavors.
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