Visual data mining using virtual reality and augmented reality

Abstract

Disclosed are methods and systems that help to visualize large groups of documents in a virtual reality or augmented reality environment comprising a three-dimensional (3D) space. An example method involves a computing device: determining a group of elements based at least in part on the one or more input parameters; determining one or more attributes based at least in part on the one or more parameters, the group of elements, or both; determining, for each element from the group, a respective location in a 3D space, based on one or more of the attributes; displaying a 3D graphical environment representing the 3D space, wherein each element from the group is represented in the 3D graphical environment by a graphic object at its respectively determined location in the 3D space; and enabling user interaction with the graphic objects in the 3D graphical environment.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, input data indicating one or more parameters, wherein the one or more parameters relate to a patent reference, wherein a database comprising multidimensional data includes a plurality of patent references;   determining, by the computing device, a group of references from the plurality of patent references based at least in part on the one or more parameters;   determining, by the computing device, a plurality of attributes based at least in part on the one or more parameters, the group of references, or both;   determining, by the computing device and for the plurality of attributes, a respective attribute location in a three-dimensional (3D) space, wherein the respective attribute location is indicative of a relationship of each patent reference from the group to a respective attribute of the plurality of attributes;   causing a graphic display device to display a 3D graphical environment representing the 3D space, wherein the respective attribute location is represented in the 3D graphical environment by a respective attribute signpost; and   enabling, by the computing device, user interaction with the 3D graphical environment and the respective attribute signpost.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein determining the respective attribute signpost in the 3D space comprises:
 for each patent reference from the group, determining a vector based on the plurality of attributes;   determining the respective attribute signpost based on the determined vector.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the respective attribute location is a centroid of respectively determined vectors for patent references from the group. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprises a plurality of key terms, and wherein determining the vector for each patent reference comprises determining the vector for the patent reference based on frequencies of the key terms in the patent reference. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein determining respective vectors for the patent references comprises using principal component analysis (PCA) to generate a respective three-component vector for each of the patent references in the group. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprise a plurality of key terms, and wherein determining the respective attribute signpost comprises:
 carrying out principal component analysis (PCA) based on the plurality of key terms to determine, for each patent reference, respective 3D coordinates in the 3D space.   
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 for each of three axes of the 3D space, determining (a) a first subset of first one or more key terms having the most positive loading measures with respect to a principal component represented by an axis, and (b) a second subset of second one or more key terms having the most negative loading measures with respect to the principal component represented by the axis;   wherein causing the graphic display device to display the 3D graphical environment further comprises, for each of the three axes of the 3D space, causing the graphic display device to display:
 at or near a first end of a given axis, a first graphical indication of the first subset with respect to the principal component represented by the given axis; and 
 at or near a second end of the given axis, a second graphical indication of the second subset with respect to the principal component represented by the given axis. 
   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of patent references comprises one or more of the following types of documents: (a) a patent document, (b) a patent claim, (c) a virtual patent marker, (d) a scientific publication, (e) product description, or (f) combinations of any of (a) through (e). 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the 3D graphical environment visualizes a patent landscape for at least one technology space, and wherein the at least one technology space comprises a technology space of patents assigned to a particular assignee and a matched sample of one or more patents assigned to one or more other assignees. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein the determined plurality of attributes comprise a plurality of key terms related to the at least one technology space,
 and wherein each key term is represented in the 3D graphical environment by a-respective attribute signpost at a respective attribute location.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of attributes comprise a plurality of key terms, and wherein determining, for each patent reference from the group, the respective attribute signpost comprises:
 carrying out sparse principal component analysis (PCA) based on a subset of the plurality of key terms to determine, for each patent reference, respective 3D coordinates in the 3D space.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the 3D graphical environment comprises an augmented reality space. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein enabling the user interaction comprises:
 receiving, by the computing device, a user preference for a navigable volume, a navigable dimension, or both; and   modifying, by the computing device, the 3D graphical environment based on the user preference.   
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 for a patent reference from the group, determining a temporal change in importance of the patent reference; and   modifying, by the computing device, the 3D graphical environment to dynamically represent the temporal change in importance.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 predicting a trajectory for the patent reference based on a history of temporal changes in importance.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising:
 predicting, based on trajectories for patent references, a future growth area of a technology.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 a second 3D graphical environment visualizes a product landscape for one or more products,   the 3D graphical environment is overlaid over the second 3D graphical environment, and enabling the user interaction comprises enabling user interaction with the 3D graphical environment and the second 3D graphical environment to facilitate a joint visual analysis of technology and product strategy.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of patent references comprises one or more claims, and wherein enabling the user interaction comprises enabling the user to make amendments to the one or more claims. 
     
     
         19 . A system comprising:
 a display interface operable to control a graphic display;   at least one processor; and   program instructions stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium and executable by the at least one processor to:
 receive, by the display interface, input data indicating one or more parameters, wherein the one or more parameters relate to a patent reference, wherein a database comprising multidimensional data includes a plurality of patent references; 
 determine a group of references from the plurality of patent references based at least in part on the one or more parameters; 
 determine a plurality of attributes based at least in part on the one or more parameters, the group of references, or both; 
 determine, for the plurality of attributes, a respective attribute location in a three-dimensional (3D) space, wherein the respective attribute location is indicative of a relationship of each patent reference from the group to a respective attribute of the plurality of attributes; 
 cause the graphic display device to display a 3D graphical environment representing the 3D space, wherein the respective attribute location is represented in the 3D graphical environment by a respective attribute signpost; and 
 enable user interaction with the 3D graphical environment and the respective attribute signpost. 
   
     
     
         20 . A method comprising:
 receiving, by a computing device, input data indicating one or more parameters, wherein the one or more parameters relate to a type of element, wherein a database comprising multidimensional data includes a plurality of elements of the type;   determining, by the computing device, a group of elements from the plurality of elements based at least in part on the one or more parameters;   determining, by the computing device, a plurality of attributes based at least in part on the one or more parameters, the group of elements, or both;   determining, by the computing device and for one or more attributes of the plurality of attributes, a respective attribute location in a three-dimensional (3D) space, wherein the respective attribute location is indicative of a relationship of each element from the group to a respective attribute of the one or more attributes;   causing a graphic display device to display a 3D graphical environment representing the 3D space, wherein the respective attribute location is represented in the 3D graphical environment by a respective attribute signpost; and   enabling, by the computing device, user interaction with the 3D graphical environment and the respective attribute signpost.