patent analysis and intellectual property management
TRANSCRIPT
1
Patent analysis And Intellectual property
Management - Advices to Taiwan about
Augmented Reality
Aurora, Fan and James, Zhou
National Tsing Hua University
Abstract. Augmented reality (AR) is to collect and analyze data, and then present
in the carrier, such as mobile phones, flat, glasses, or other entities which can detect the physical context to collect the entity information. Through the carrier
itself superimposed virtual information, users can see through the carrier to
combine virtual information and physical information of the screen. Because of that, people can use AR to interact with the virtual information.Our research goal
is to find the value and trend of AR. Then, we provide this research of AR as
advice to Taiwan government for making Taiwan a better place
Keywords. Augmented reality,patent
1. Introduction
1.1Research motives
There are many things regarded as future industries in 2017. For instance, IoT,
Industrial 4.0, Deep learning is the future industries. However, there is still a big part
people can’t forget, that is Augmented Reality. PokemonGo is widely known for its AR
technology. By that, people knows AR. PokemonGo launched in June, 2016 on iOS
and Android platform. Number of download is more than a hundred million just in one
month. In addition, the stock price of Nintendo company which owns part the of
PokemonGo became 2 times in two weeks. We can see that AR technology is
extremely helpful for business value.
Besides, Magic Leap, a new company, got 800 million USD fund from some big
company, like google, KKR, Vulcan Capital, KPCB, ALBB and so on. Therefore, the
company valuation is about 4.5 billion USD and become one of the most watched
company.
By this statement, we thought AR industry has great potentialities and be worth
to do researches, and then provide suggestions to research institutions of Taiwan, like
Institute for Information Industry, Industrial Technology Research Institute, TAVAR
and so on.
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1.2Research purpose
Comparing with the example of Research motives, AR industry of Taiwan isn’t so
famous. Taiwan still focuses on old industry like manufacturing. If Taiwan can use our
advantage of research and develop and manufacturing to develop AR industry, the
economy situation probably become better.
The purpose of research is find a way or solution to develop AR industry through
integrating global information and patent research analysis. Then, compare situation of
Taiwan and the world to find the most efficient solution to successful in AR industry.
Finally, provide the solution to Taiwan government and company to realize our
suggestions.
2. Method
To achieve the purpose of this report, there are five steps. Those are Collection and
Discussion of Literature, Global AR Industry and Patent Analysis, Taiwan AR Industry
and Patent Analysis, Comparison between Taiwan and the world, Provide advice to
Taiwan AR research institutions.
2.1Collect and review literatures
This study is based on research motivation and purpose to collect and discuss the
relevant literature and information. The direction of Collection and Discussion of
Literature are three part, such as "AR industry value and trends", "AR patent analysis"
and "Taiwan AR industry and patent status." Through the above three parts of the
cross-comparison, we can get the right way to make Taiwan successful in AR industry
and make economy growth.
2.2Global AR industry and patent analysis
By researching the literature and data obtained from the last step, the development and
trend of the AR industry in the world are sorted out. Then, sort out more representative
of the world-class enterprises. By analyzing patents of these enterprises to get more
accurate AR development direction.
2.3Taiwan AR industry and patent analysis
By researching the literature and data obtained from the last step, the development and
trend of the AR industry in Taiwan are sorted out. Then, interview 52 companies to get
situation of AR industry in Taiwan, and then pick up two companies that have great
potential to become a huge company to analyze their patents. We think analysis of
patents of the two companies can get more accurate AR development direction in
Taiwan.
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2.4Comparison between Taiwan and the world
Compare the analysis of steps 2 and 3 to build a SWOT analysis for Taiwan AR
industry. That can find out what Taiwan's AR industry can use, monitor, eliminate and
improve. The purpose is to figure out a specific direction of AR investment and allow
Taiwan to pay the least cost, get the most results.
2.5Provide advice to Taiwan AR research units
After obtaining the conclusion of the fourth step, we can provide some advices to
research institute of Taiwan, such as Institute for Information Industry, Industrial
Technology Research Institute, TAVAR and so on. We expect the above institutes can
use their influence to lead Taiwan’s AR industry to win this game.
3. Managerial Patent Map of Foreign AR Industry
In this chapter, we will introduce the global AR market trends and industry trends.
Then, we will introduce the AR new company and the most representative company's
and do patent analysis to figure out the main issue in AR industry currently.
In terms of market size, according to Digi-Capital, the global AR market grew
from $ 1.1 billion in 2016 to $ 118 billion in 2020, more than a hundred times faster
than VR (Figure 3.1).
Figure 3.1. The global AR market. <source of the materials:Digi-Capital,2016/11>
According to Tracxn's research
report, the size of AR's investment in
the world has grown from US $ 35
million in 2008 to US $ 454 million
in 2015.However, the impressive
growth rate since 2014 was caused
by Magic Leap one company, in
other words, overall investment in
the AR area is still cool (Figure 3.2).
Figure 3.2. Short description of figure. <source of the
materials:Traxn,2016/11>
Between 2015 and 2016, the top five investment cases and main areas were
shown as Figure 3.3,3.4 From the figures ,hardware is the most important investment
target which focus on the head-up displays. Others are focus on enterprise applications.
4
Figure 3.3. Top five investment cases.<source
of the materials:CJS Interactive,2016/11>
Figure 3.4. Main investment areas. <source of the
materials:CJS Interactive,2016/11>
Figure 3.5. The number of start-up companies.
<source of the materials:Traxn,2016/11>
According to Tracxn's research report,
the number of start-up companies from 51 in
2010 to 101 in 2015.It is steadily increasing
every year (Figure 3.5), representing the AR
industry at present is in the developmenting
period.
In addition, except the United
States, Japan, South Korea who relied
on its own technology to found
company, there is another way to
develop AR industry, that is China.
China use investment, mergers and
acquisitions, cooperation to show the
attention on AR.( Figure 3.6)
Figure 3.6. Investment and acquisition in
2016. .<source of the materials:CJS
Interactive,2016/11>
Next ,we will do patent analysis for three companies, respectively, the United
States start-up company magic leap, Japan's SONY and South Korea's SAMSUNG to
2015-2016 Top five investment case
Field Company Name The amount of
investment
(USD)
Rounds
Head-mounted
Display
Magic Leap 794M C
Enterprise
application
Blippar 54M D
Head-mounted
Display
Meta 50M B
Education NeoBear 37M B
Key Technologies uSens 20M A
2015-2016 Top five investment case
Field Number of company
The amount of investment
(USD)
Company (The amount of
investment)
Head-mounted
Display
>30 >1.5B Magic Leap(1.39B)
Meta(73M)
Enterprise
application
>100 >400M Blippar(99M)
Key Technologies >50 >100M uSens(26M)
Kind of Investment Investment enterprises Investment / acquisition object Amount
CITIC Guoan NextVR 20 million dollars
Sovereign Wealth Fund in China Unity N/A
Digital Domain Holdings Limited IMV 38.9 million dollars
Horizons Ventures Meta N/A
The9 Limited VRFetish N/A
SNDA The Void 35 million dollars
SIET Archiact 3.16 million dollars
GOOREAD Pulse Evolution Corporation 5 million dollars
Kai Ying Network Lytro 4 million dollars
Loong ARHT Media 4.81 million dollars
Leyard Optoelectronic Magic Leap 5 million dollars
Jiesheng shares Auro Technologies 28 million dollars
Songcheng Performance DevelopmentSPACES 1.6 billion dollars
GQY Meta N/A
SMG Jaunt N/A
SumavisionTechnologies VideoStitch 3 hundred thousand dollars
Tencent Meta N/A
NASDAQ: NTES NextVR N/A
Alibaba Magic Leap N/A
Modern Avenue YouSpeace 1 million dollars
Lenovo Meta N/A
Hebei Hengxin Mobile The Vitual Reality Company 20 million dollars
2016 Chinese mainland enterprises to invest in the acquisition of overseas VR business focus list
Investment agency
Game
Radio and television
Network enterprise
Computer communication
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aware of patent strategies from big scale enterprises and new company. And further,we
will get current trend of AR technology.
3.1Magic Leap’s Managerial patent map
Region/country of patent distribution
Figure 3.1.1. Region/country of patent distribution. .<source of the materials:THOMSON
INNOVATION>
IPC analysis
1. IPC number analysis chart
Figure 3.1.2. IPC number analysis chart. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
In this case,we use IPC analysis analyzes the technical classification items in four
classes. Magic Leap co.’s main "AR" technological classification located at G06 and
G02.And consider the following class that IPC did not appear other extreme values,
showed that Magic Leap in this case not yet has a clear direction on AR technology.
The list of important IPC class definitions is summarized in Table 3.1.1.
Table 3.1.1. IPC number analysis table.From the below data, we can conclude that Magic Leap co. ‘s
research focuses on head-up displays and relatived techniques more.
IPC Meaning numbers
G02B 27/01 Head-up displays. 3
6
G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction
between user and computer.
3
G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics. 3
G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic
unit, a programme unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several
programmes.
3
G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube
indicators and other visual indicators.
3
2. IPC patented trend analysis
Figure 3.1.2. IPC number analysis chart. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
IPC patent trend analysis is doing time point analysis on IPC technological field of
"AR" technology, and through the observation of time interval or analysising the
growth and decline of the application technology investment to observe the overall
technology development trends.
From Magic leap's IPC patent trend analysis, we can see that Magic leap's AR
technology is just at a starting state and finding research direction. Over the past three
years, the most important five technologies have continuously developed.
Because there are only one other IPC technology, so we no more analysises.
Table 3.1.2. IPC number analysis table.The top 5 main patents were all passed recently.
G02B002701 G06F000301 G06F001516 G06T001900 G09G000500
2015 0 1 2 0 1
2016 3 2 0 2 1
2017 0 0 1 1 1
7
3. Number of IPC patents analysis
Figure 3.1.3. Number of IPC patents analysis.
3.2SAMGSUNG’s Managerial patent map
Region/country of patent distribution
Figure 3.2.1. Region/country of patent distribution. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
IPC analysis
1. IPC number analysis chart
Figure 3.2.2. IPC number analysis chart. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
In Samsung, IPC technology classification of "AR" technology located to "G09G
5/00"and "G06T 19/00". Samsung‘s application number of patent in these IPC
technologies respectively up to 13 and 12,so in this case ,the two IPC were the most
important techniques. And, the number of these applications are about 1.5 times the
other techniques, it shows that these two are the main axis of technological
development.
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The list of important IPC class definitions is summarized in Table 3.2.1.
Table 3.2.1. IPC number analysis table. From the below data, we can conclude that Samsung co. ‘s
research area focuses on some displays and related techniques .
IPC meaning numbers
G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube indicators
and other visual indicators.
13
G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics. 12
H04N 1/00 The transmission or reproduction of an image or pattern that does not change over time. 8
H04B 1/40 Circuits. 7
H04W 4/02 Services making use of the location of users or terminals. 7
G06T 7/20 Analysis of motion. 7
2. IPC patented trend analysis
Figure 3.2.3. IPC patented trend analysis. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
Samsung's technology development is mainly about "G09G 5/00", "G06T 19/00".
The first patent of "G09G 5/00" this item was in 2010 ,and then began to output patent
after 2014. And the first patent of " G06T 19/00" passed after 2014 ,the numbers of
patent continuously grew.
In 2016, the numbers of these two technical item reach to the highest point so far,
besides, technical patents have also grown.They showed Samsung’s AR technique is in
a steady growth.
Table 3.2.2. IPC number analysis table.
G09G000500 G06T001900 H04N000100 H04B000140 H04W000402 G06T000720
2010 1 0 0 1 0 0
2011 0 0 0 1 0 0
2012 0 0 0 0 0 0
2013 0 0 0 0 0 1
2014 5 1 1 1 0 0
9
2015 2 4 1 1 2 1
2016 5 7 6 2 4 4
2017 0 2 0 0 1 0
3. Number of IPC patents analysis
Figure 3.2.4. Number of IPC patents analysis.
3.3SONY’s Managerial patent map
Region/country of patent distribution
Figure 3.3.1. Region/country of patent distribution. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
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IPC analysis
1. IPC number analysis chart
Figure 3.3.2. IPC number analysis chart. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
In SONY, IPC technology classification of "AR" technology located to " G06T 19/00".And the number of patent applications with this IPC up to 47 ,which the
number is about other IPC more than 2 times. It is the most important IPC in this case.
The second important applications of IPC is classified as "G09G 5/00", "G06F
3/01", "G06F 3/01", and the number is 23,20,17, respectively.These three more than 2
times to the followings, it showed that these three were also one of the point in
development.
Table 3.3.1. IPC number analysis table.
IPC meaning numbers
G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics. 45
G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube
indicators and other visual indicators.
24
G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction
between user and computer.
20
G06K 9/00 Methods or arrangements for reading or recognising printed or written characters or
for recognising patterns, e.g. fingerprints.
18
G06T 7/00 Image analysis. 12
G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions. 11
11
2. IPC patented trend analysis
Figure 3.3.3. IPC patented trend analysis. <source of the materials:THOMSON INNOVATION>
In this case, the analysis results show "G06T 19/00" is the major techniques. The
“G06T 19/00 “ techniques has continued to applied patents after the first patent passed
in 2013, and the number of patents have grown significantly since 2014. The results
showed that SONY’s AR tecnique is in the growing period.
The second main technique is "G09G 5/00". This patent application time started
at 2010, but during 2010 to 2014, the number of passed patents were less than 5. After
2014, the number of patent applications surge to 24.In the future, wether SONY will
still focus on this item remains to be observed. Other IPC is not clear enough, no longer
analyzed.
Table 3.3.2. IPC number analysis table.
G06T001900 G09G000500 G06F000301 G06K000900 G06T000700 G06Q003006
2010 0 1 0 0 0 0
2011 0 1 0 1 0 0
2012 0 0 0 1 0 0
2013 2 1 2 0 0 0
2014 5 1 2 1 2 0
2015 16 5 9 7 6 0
2016 22 14 7 6 4 11
2017 0 1 0 2 0 0
3. Number of IPC patents analysis
12
Figure 3.3.4. Number of IPC patents analysis.
3.4 Comparison of the three companies
The number of patents over the years for 3 cooperations
Figure 3.4.1. The number of patents over the years for 3 cooperations. <source of the materials:THOMSON
INNOVATION>
Through the number of patents over the years for 3 corporations, you can know
that Samsung who has patent at first from 2006 was the first company to start focusing
on AR technology patents. Followed by SONY, Magic Leap. Because Samsung and
SONY are veteran companies who have stable capital investment, so the number of
patents can be a substantial growth. And Magic Leap is a new company, so it started to
apply patents lately. However, due to the company's core goal is just to develop
AR-related technology ,Magic Leap can whole-heartedly used resource on AR’s
development. So nowadays this company has a huge amount of appling patents.
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Competitor analysis chart
Figure 3.4.2. Competitor Analysis Chart.
From the figure, we found out that the main area three corporations devoted to
are the same. All the companies focus on AR’s head-up display more so far. The three
companies have all developed "G06T 19/00" and "G09G 5/00" technological items;
and "G06F 3/01" technological item was developed by two companies SONY and
Samsung. In addition, SONY has more numbers of patents than Samsung and Magic
Leap significantly, and with IPC items which other two companies do not have being
leader in the area. On the other hand, in "G06T 7/0" this technology item, there is
Samsung alone with seven patents to be leader. In contrast, Magic Leap is weak, but
through the TI patent query tool, we found Magic Leap currently has more than 300
application patent of "AR" technology. In the future, who will become leader of "AR"
technology patent is still unknown.
Defference of 3 cooperations’ development area
Figure 3.4.3.Magic Leap‘s
patent distribution.<source of
the materials:THOMSON
INNOVATION>
Figure 3.4.4. Samsung‘s
patent distribution.<source of
the materials:THOMSON
INNOVATION>
Figure 3.4.5. SONY ‘s patent
distribution.<source of the
materials:THOMSON
INNOVATION>
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Looking at the above picture, we can be sure that the first step in patent
deployment of the three companies is the United States, who is a technology leader we
used to know. In addition, each company also has multiple patents in its own country.
More specifically, the largest patent number Magic Leap has is in Israel, not in the
United States. The main reason for this phenomenon is that Magic Leap company in
order to enhance their level, it acquiring the Israeli company NorthBit in the mid-year
of 2016. Therefore,it have the company's patents.
4. Technical Patent Map of Foreign AR Industry
4.1 Clustering
Figure 4.1.1. 6 Clusers
From technology - oriented, we did the technical patent map. First, we use data
mining to cluster patents of the three company. The patents divided to six crowds,
respectively image processing, information identification, user interaction, hardware,
measuring and sound application. (Figure 4.1.1) After our Investigating, these 6 crowds
can represent “technology item” in our technology function matrix.
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Figure 4.1.2. Clustering Chart.
4.2 Technology Function Matrix
Figure 4.2.1. ELEBC's web. <source of the materials : http://140.114.53.218/python/programs/TFMindex/>
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After we deleted unnecessary data, and using total 176 patents to do TFM on
ELEBC's web (Figure 4.2.1). After clustering, it made us easier read patents and find
main functions. The four functions are innovative application, improve or increase new
features for AR system, improve functions of headed-display function and
human-computer interaction. (Table 4.2.1.)
Table 4.2.1. IPC number analysis table.
Function Content
Function 1 New application for AR
Function 2 Improvement for method and system
Function 3 About information processing device
Function 4 Apparatus and method of AR interaction
Figure 4.2.1. TFM results.
This is our result. As the back of the patent ranking is not very important, so we
only put the TOP11. From this form we can see that most of the patents focus on the
function of human-computer interaction, showing that this area is a very important part
of the AR industry. And the area least patents touch is the application of AR. It is a
symbol of the industry that AR is still in the development, not really maturely. In other
words, this piece is a blue sea, it is worth our attention.
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Figure 4.2.1. TOP3 important patents.
In addition, TOP3 important patents we found by technical patent map were the
same as the patents found by managerial patent map .
Table 4.2.1. TOP3 important meanings.
IPC Meanings
G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics.
G09G 5/00 Control arrangements or circuits for visual indicators common to cathode-ray tube
indicators and other visual indicators.
G06F 3/01 Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction
between user and computer.
5. Case Study
5.1 Taiwan AR Industry
Taiwan's AR companies is divided into three parts. They are production, installation
and application from top to bottom. They have a clear division of labor but no company
contains all services. Taiwan's manufacturing capacity is very Strong and the software
part is also gradually booming. However, they need to integrate hardware and software
to make more efficiency and more possibility.
Figure 5.1. AR Appliance Company of Taiwan
.<source of the materials:CJS
Figure 5.2. AR Device Company of Taiwan
.<source of the materials:CJS
18
Interactive,2016/11> Interactive,2016/11>
Figure 5.3. AR Production Company of Taiwan.<source of the materials :
CJS Interactive,2016/11>
There are some data from 52 AR companies in Taiwan. We focus on Industry, revenue,
growth and business scale.
This study classifies 52 industry groups into
11 industries. They are hardware, system
integration, terminal equipment, software
industry, audio and video, marketing, games,
education, real estate, medical care, and
service consultants. The number of companies
belonging to the individual industry is shown
in figure 5.4.
Figure 5.4. Short description of figure. <source
of the materials:Traxn,2016/11>
In terms of revenue growth, 36 of the 52
industry operators provided data.
Compared to 2015, 80% of the industry
said revenue growth and only 3% of the
industry said that compared with last
year (Figure 5.5).
Figure 5.5. Short description of figure. <source of the
materials:Traxn,2016/11>
From Figure 4.4 and 4.5, we can see that the annual income of Taiwan's AR industry is
not high, but more than 80 percent of corporate revenue are growing. It seems that AR
industry in Taiwan is very potential.
19
Figure 5.6. Short description of figure. <source of
the materials:Traxn,2016/11>
In terms of the number of staff members,
41 of the 52 industry operators provided
data. The average number of employees in
each industry is 26. We set four level of
staff members, which is "below 10
people", "11-50", "51-100" and "over
100." There are 44% of the industry fell
"below 10 people, 46% of the industry fell
"11-50 people". In other words, up to 90%
of the number of employees is less than
50 (Figure 5.6)
Furthermore, comparing the growth in the
number of staff between 2016 and 2015,
73% said they increased more than last year,
and only 12% said they were down from
last year (Figure 5.7).
Figure 5.7. Short description of figure. <source of
the materials:Traxn,2016/11>
The following selects two promising AR companies in Taiwan to analyze its patent to
obtain its patent layout and development direction. Those are StagingDesign which is a
real estate application company and ARPlanet which is Integrated marketing company.
5.2 Introduction of iStaging
Itroduction
iStaging is a technology platform company of AR/VR. They proposed an innovative
business model, putting real estate, intermediary, furniture and design and other
industrial ecology chains together by AR/VR technology. Then they developed a
technology, which is needed by PGC (Professional Generated Content), along the real
estate home design industry.
iStaging’s capital is amount a hundred million NT Dollars. Their company has
fifty members. And their business region includes Taiwan, China, U.S., Europe, Japan,
and Southeast Asia… and so on. iStaging is founded in 2010. In addition, their services
include real estate, agency, furniture and design. Their services are almost about house.
iStaging has not only launched several APP service platform, for example,
20
iStaging Home™、iStaging VR MAKER™、iStaging™, but also owned lots of multi -
national key technology patent layout of converting 2D to 3D.
The AR technology from iStaging overcame the bottleneck of estimating the size
of space by marker positioning technology. And they developed an “Immersive Reality”
technology, avoiding the size of virtual image, like furniture, to distort. The objects can
be symmetric to the real space. The furniture and ornaments can be arranged at one step
in APP. It really promotes the digitization of industry sales of furniture and ornaments.
This is the patent analysis of iStaging. First, find all the AR patents in TI. Then
utilize the patent search of TI to enter iStaging in “Assignee”. In the
“Abstract/Title/Claim”, type “Augmented near1 reality”, and publication date till today.
And we will get the result as you can see here. Region/country of patent distribution
Region/country of patent distribution
Figure 4.1.1. Region/country of patent distribution.
IPC analysis
1. IPC number analysis chart
Figure 4.2.2. IPC number analysis chart.
iStating co. only have 7 patents in Taiwan, and almost all are about AR’s applications.
For a customer-driven company, it is on the right way.
Table 4.2.1. IPC number analysis table.
IPC meaning numbers
G06Q 30/02 Marketing, such as market research and analysis,surveys,marketing,
advertising, consumer profile analysis, customer management or rewards; price
2
21
estimates or decisions.
G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions. 2
G06Q 30/00 Commerce, e.g. shopping or e-commerce. 1
G06Q 50/10 Services. 1
G06T 19/00 Manipulating 3D models or images for computer graphics. 1
H04N 05/45 Image within the image. 1
H04N 13/00 Three-dimensional television system; its parts and components. 1
2. IPC patented trend analysis
Table 4.2.2. IPC number analysis table.
G06Q003000 G06Q003002 G06Q003006 G06Q005010 G06T001900 H04N000545 H04N001300
2016 1 2 2 1 1 1 1
5.3 Main patents of iStaging
I585617
The first one is “interaction method and system thereof.” It’s about cluster 3 we just
talked about in chapter 4, user interaction. it just patented in June, 2017.
I540525
The second one, “system and method for providing proposal to furniture and
decorations buyer,” is also about cluster 3, user interaction and has patented in the last
year.
I534743
The last one, “system for delivering proposal of decoration for residence or exhibit and
method for the same,” is about cluster 1, image processing. And it also has patented in
the last year.
5.4 Comparison between iStaging and the world
At this section, we will compare AR industry of Taiwan and the world with macro and
micro way. The macro way is that level of industry, and the micro way is that level of
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company. In the micro way, we choose iStaging which is a Taiwan company to be our
model.
Comparison with macro way
By the contents of the previous two chapters, we can make the AR industry in
Taiwan and the global AR industry to do comparative analysis. Therefore, the next
will be a SWOT analysis that compares Taiwan’s AR industry with the world. And
then find out the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats of Taiwan. Finally,
determine the direction of Taiwan's AR industry.
Strengths
1. Good at manufacturing and R&D skills.
2. Many talented people of software engineering.
Weaknesses
1. AR industrial chain divided too detailed ,it makes hard to integrate
resource systematically.
2. Lack of and difficultly raised funds.
3. Local market and consumption size are small.
4. Patent deployment wide not enough .
Opportunities
1. Speed of wireless network becomes faster.
2. Battery power of Electronic products is increasing.
3. Investment amount on AR industry stays high and increases year by
year.
Threats
1. Global patent deployment swiftly completed
2. Lack of network infrastructure development at present
23
Figure 5.1. SWOT analysis chart.
Comparison with micro way
Compare with the three AR companies with authority, iStaging has three main
disadvantiges. First one is iStaging only has a few kind of patents. SONY, SAMSUNG,
and Magic Leap have all kinds of AR patent.
Second disadvantige of iStaging is iStaging has patents only in Taiwan. The three
companies are from Japan, Korea, and the U.S. and their patents almost apply in the
U.S. and also in some big country, like China and Europe.
Third one is services of iStaging are too narrow. The three companies have
mutiple services, like producing, product, system, and platform. Beside, they cooperate
with not only one industry but more.
In next section, we will discuss some solutions for the three disadvantiges we
discuss this section.
5.5 Advices to iStaging and other Taiwan AR company
There are three Advices which are that iStaging compare with the three company with
authority in AR industry. Compare with the three company, iStaging only has a few
kind of patents. It’s not complete that iStaging only have two clusters which are user
interaction and image processing. iStaging need to cooperate with other companies
which are in different AR supply chain.
Second, Compare with the three company, iStaging has patents only in Taiwan.
Taiwan is small and market size has a ceiling. If iStaging want to become a world class
company, it must get the main market in the world, like U.S., China, Europe, and so on.
Third, Compare with the three company, services of iStaging are too narrow. If
iStaging can expand their business from furniture and decorations to other industry,
like sporting goods, musical instruments, clothes, and so on, their opportunity must
increase a lot.
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6. Conclusion
Based on the analysis of the above chapters, the following suggestions are made to
provide the AR industry in Taiwan. We hope AR industry research units in Taiwan,
such as Institute for Information Industry, Industrial Technology Research Institute,
TAVAR can promote these ideas to AR companies in Taiwan.
Taiwan AR company's upper, middle and lower reaches of the resources should
be integrated well. The whole AR industry supply chain should plan the target
and direction together to avoid the empty hardware without software support or
empty software without hardware support.
Taiwan government must attach importance to the AR industry, and actively
provide resources such as funds, AR policy concessions, and the development of
AR-related infrastructure. In addition, it is important to retain Taiwanese software
talent and make Taiwan's own AR companies more competitive in Taiwan.
Taiwan is small and market size has a ceiling. Taiwan AR companies must go out
of Taiwan to look around the world. We should use of patent layout early.
Otherwise, other companies from other country will get the market and don’t let
it go.
AR industry prospects are good, but it will be late to start to invest it when the
market is mature. We should fully integrate the resources already and strengthen
the most critical weaknesses at present. We hope that Taiwan will be able to grab a
favorable position in this trend.
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