IoT Patent Strategy for New Business

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©2015 TechIPm, LLC All Rights Reserved http://www.techipm.com/
Internet of Things (IoT) Strategic Patent Development & Monetization for New Business Creation
Alex G. Lee (alexglee@techipm.com)
Contents:
1. New Patent Development Opportunity Analysis
2. New Patent Preparation & Prosecution Strategy
3. Strategic Patent Development Exploiting Existing Patents
4. Monetization Exploiting Strategically Packaged Patent Portfolio
5. Development of Strategically Packaged Patent Portfolio Best Practice
6. Methodology for Developing Strategically Packaged Patent Portfolio

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1. New PatentDevelopment Opportunity Analysis
White Space Analysis
One can identify new patent development opportunity (“white space”)that can lead to new product/service
development through the patent landscape analysis. Following illustrates an example patent landscape analysis for
the IoT smart home applications.
Many high tech business leaders are now competing in the IoT smart home market by providing innovative
products/services suchas Samsung SmartThings and Apple HomeKit. Patent information can provide insights
regarding the state of the art of the IoT innovations for smart home applications suchas home automation,
energy/utility management, home security, lighting system and safety monitoring (e.g., hazard detecting, elderly
care). To find the white spaces in the IoT smart home applications, more than 1000 published patent applications
and issued patents in the USPTO that are related to the smart home applications are reviewed. More than 400
patent applications are selected as the key patents for the IoT smart home applications. In number of patent
applications, Google (including Nest Lab) and Samsung Electronics dominate the patent applications (nearly 30%
of the total patent applications among more than 70 patent owners). Samsung Electronics patent application is
highly focused on the home automation. Google patent application is focused on the home energy/utility
management and safety monitoring.

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Following figure shows the patent landscape of the IoT smart home applications. As can be seen in the figure, the
home automation is clouded by significant number of patent applications owned by many market leaders such as
Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and General Electric. The energy/utility management is also clouded by a
large number of patent applications owned by several key market leaders such as Google and Honeywell. In-depth
analysis of each patent reviles that most of the patent applications are for the incremental innovations of the current
market products/services. 13% of the total patent applications are for the innovations of the potential new market
products/services: Adaptable Autonomous Smart Home System (The adaptable autonomous smart home system
can recognize the contextual or semantic profiling of a person or place or devices (physical environment) based on
sensed data by the IoT devices. The adaptable autonomous smart home system determines particular interpretation
instructions (define particular IoT device controlrules) that are associated with the particular physical environment
and dynamically updates the controlrules for changing physical environment); Self-Aware Self-Healing Smart
Home System; Artificial Intelligence including Deep Learning Applications; Cloud/Big Data/SaaS; Robots;New
UX for Smart Home System; Cross-industryConvergence; Emotion-Aware Smart Home System; Augmented
Reality Applications; and Smart Home Audio and Video Analytics.

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ScenariosAnalysis
Specific patent development subject matters that can cover the new IoT products/services further can be found
from the scenarios analysis. The scenarios analysis can show potential interactions between the potential users and
the new IoT products/services via the specific usage of the products/services and behavior of the user under
environments provided by the products functionality/services offerings. Thus, the scenarios analysis can provide
the specific patent development subject matters that cover the new IoT products/services concepts (e.g., specific
benefits to the user, products/services design, and the technology for the products/services). Following illustrates
an example scenarios analysis for the IoT connected car applications.
On her way to nearby shopping mall, Janet hears a voice massage that she needs to exit at the next to buy milk. The
onboard screen in her car shows a map for nearby shops with milk price if a shop is on sale. When Janet dozes off
at the wheel, the automated vehicle monitoring system changes her car to a self-driving mode. As Janet drives her
car at 75 mph at 55 mph speed limit highway, her car smart control system automatically slows down. About 5
miles before the shopping mall, her car slows down to a complete stop because her car receives an accident notice
from a car drives in the oppositedirection. About 3 miles before the shopping mall, Janet hears a traffic congestion
voice massage near the shopping mall exit. The onboard screen in her car shows a map for alternative route to the
shopping mall. As Janet approaches the shopping mall, smart LED lights detects available parking spaces, then
directs her to them.

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For additional example scenarios analysis for the IoT applications (e.g., connected healthcare), please see Internet
of Things 2020 Scenarios Based on Patents.
Cross-competitor Analysis
Specific patent development subject matters that can cover the new IoT products/services in alignment with
competitive advantage/differentiation strategy can be found from the cross-competitoranalysis. According to Dr.
Benjamin Gilad with the Academy of Competitive Intelligence, the goal of the cross-competitoranalysis is to
enable one to simplify predictions of competitors’ moves and countermoves when multiple competitors are
involved. Through the cross-competitoranalysis, one can understand that: Competitors’ behavior when there are
several significant competitors; Paradigm shifts in industries undergoing rapid change or transition; Entry of new
competitors into the competitive landscape; Future directions in strategic move among industry contenders. The
strategic map is a tool used in the cross-competitoranalysis for visualizing the competitive landscape: A chart for a
strategic parameter No.1 (e.g. product/serviceportfolio, distribution channel etc.) vs. a strategic parameter No.2
(e.g. product/service price, quality, brand etc.). Following illustrates an example cross-competitoranalysis for the
augmented reality (AR) technology innovations.
To do the cross-competitor analysis for the AR, US patent published applications and issued patents of Magic Leap,
Microsoft and Samsung that are related to the AR are reviewed for identifying patents that cover the key AR
technology innovations: Electro-Optical System, Tracking & Rendering, Mapping & Localization, UI, UX, and

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Application (e.g., LBS, retail, automotive, medical, robotics, gaming application). Total of 289 Magic Leap,
Microsoft and Samsung patents are selected for the AR cross-competitoranalysis. The key AR patens of Magic
Leap, Microsoft and Samsung account about 15% of total key AR patents in the US as of Feb. 11, 2016.
Following figure shows the Activity Index vs. technology innovations strategic map for Magic Leap, Microsoft and
Samsung. The size of the circle represents the total number of the patents for each technology innovation. Activity
Index is a measure of a company’s relative technology innovation activities in a specific technology innovation
field: Activity Index = share of a specific innovation sub-class in a company/share of a company’s patent in total
patents, where share of a specific innovation sub-class in a company = patents (innovation sub-class)/patents (a
company) and share of a company’s patent in total patents = patents (a company)/patents (total companies).
The map clearly shows each company’s competitive advantage in the Key AR technology innovations. Magic
Leap’s AR technology innovation is heavily focused on the Electro-Optical System. To accommodatecomfortable
viewing with minimal hardware, a larger field of view can be created by aggregating the outputs/reflections of
various different reflective and/or diffractive surfaces. Magic Leap’s AR Electro-Optical System provides a frame-
sequential configuration in which the eye is presented with a sequence of frames at high frequency that provides
the perception of a single coherent scene using the waveguide combined with various optical element
configurations (for details, please see Magic Leap Augmented Reality Strategy Insights from Patents). Microsoft’s

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AR technology innovation is focused on the user experiences. Samsung’s AR technology innovation is focused on
the AR applications using its smartphones and wearable devices.

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2. New PatentPreparation& ProsecutionStrategy
Prior Arts Search
Even if the IoT gets a huge attention recently, the conceptof interconnected devices and connecting billions of
devices to the internet in the IoT is not new and has been researched for over 10 years. Thus, a large number of
non-patent prior arts including research papers and books can be existed. Therefore, the intensive search of non-
patent prior arts is needed for preparing the IoT patent. US20150019710 illustrates a good example case that
intensive search of non-patent prior arts is required. US20150019710 claims a method of maintaining
interoperability amongst IoT devices connected via an IoT integration platform. The key elements of the claim 1 at
issue are the interoperable control rule based on the semantic label associated with a user's IoT device. The USPTO
rejected the claim 1 under the AIA 102(b) as being anticipated by a non-patent prior art regarding the semantic
interoperability on the web. Semantic interoperability enables exchange of data among different web system. The
inventor argued that the semantic label in the non-patent prior associated with a user's IoT device and amended
claim to clarify the distinguished aspects ofthe claim form the prior art. However, the USPTO rejected the claim
again in the final rejection based on newly founded non-patent prior art that explicitly mentions the IoT device in
the disclosure.

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Claim Drafting for Maximum Quality& Value
When the IoT patent claims are drafted, several factors that can make the patent high quality and value should be
considered. The factors are (1) claim scopeand broadness, (2) value propositions of a claim’s novelty point (non-
obvious inventive departure from the prior arts), (3) claim mix (degree to which different kind of statutory claim
types (e.g. apparatus, process, manufactures, composition) are used in a patent), (4) claim diversity (degree to
which different kind of claim formats (e.g. means-plus-function claim), terminology, arrangement in a given
statutory claim type (e.g. number or order of claim elements) are used in a patent) and (5) claim setting (degree to
which different kind of commercially significant settings (e.g. component/system or transmitter/receiver) are used
in a patent). For details regarding the claim mix, claim diversity and claim setting, please consult the books
“Invention Analysis and Claiming” and “True Patent Value.”
The features to be considered in the claim drafting to get the high quality and value patents with the optimal quality
to cost(efforts and time in addition to monetary cost)ratio can be decided exploiting the insights for
products/services that is going to be covered by the patent (e.g. attributes of a product/servicethat valued most by
customers), the patent landscape to figure out the competitors’ patents (e.g. whether design around is required to
avoid infringing competitors’ patents) and internal patenting process (including available patent budget). For
example, if a patent is going to use for excluding the competitors, the key features to be considered in the claim
drafting will be the claim diversity (to avoid potential infringement loophole) and claim mix (to provide protection
against invalidation).

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The bestpractice in the IoT patent claims drafting is the Qualcomm patents for the IoT connectivity. Total of 273
patents issued in the USPTO for the IoT connectivity are reviewed. Following table summarizes the assessment.

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Claim Drafting & AmendmentunderPost-Alice101 EligibilityTest
The basic building blocks of the IoT are devices that can sense/recognize their surrounding environments and
communicate with other devices, connecting/communicating network medium/infrastructure that can interconnect
devices and connect devices to the internet, back-end IT systems that can process information (data) obtained by
the IoT devices (e.g. cloud computing/big data analytics) and provide the value added services exploiting the
information. Therefore, a part or whole of data aggregation, data transfer, data correlation, data analysis and
services based on the data are the essential elements of the IoT inventions, and thus, the elements of the IoT patent
claims. Consequently, many of IoT patents can be identified as abstract ideas because they are the certain methods
of organizing human activities/mental process or fundamental economic practices or mathematical
relationships/formulas unless the IoT patent claims are drafted carefully to pass the post-Alice 101 patent eligibility
test.
For example, claim 1 in US20140012945 claimed: A method of automatically detecting issues and facilitating the
transmission of alert messages in a home network consisting of a plurality of consumer electronic devices coupled
to a service node, the method comprising: storing information regarding home entities in an inventory database,
the entities comprising the household, one or more users within the household, devices in the household,
applications running on the devices, and a community of which the household is included; defining usage classes
for each entity, the usage classes denoting a primary function associated with an entity, and comprising networking,

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productivity, and entertainment; assigning an index value to each usage class for each entity, the index value
comprising an integer value within a fixed range, and reflecting a relative level of satisfaction associated with the
entity for each respective usage class; monitoring data regarding usage trends, performance characteristics, and
external variables associated with the entities; modifying one or more of the index values based on the monitored
data; and facilitating the transmission of messages regarding services or products related to the entities of the home
from one or more parties, wherein the messages are conformed to index values.
This claim was rejected under 101 by the USPTO because the claim is directed towards the abstract idea: storing
data regarding entities, classifying entities, assigning index values, monitoring usage data, modifying the index
values and transmitting messages regarding services or products related to the entities based on index values. Thus,
simply transferring the data through the networks or processed the data for providing services will not sufficient to
transform the nature of the claimed invention into a patent-eligible claim. Additional elements that are sufficient to
amount to significantly more than the abstract idea are needed. Potential claim elements that can overcome the
reject may be the claim elements that embed/link to a specific machine/article (not a generic purposecomputer)
(e.g. medical device, thermostat, application specific microprocessor/controller) or that either recite a specific
series of steps that resulted in a departure from a human activity or transform a particular thing to a different thing
or improve the technology.

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A possible amendment to the claim could be: A computer implemented method for transforming data regarding
usage trends of home entities into messages regarding services or products related to the entities (of automatically
detecting issues and facilitating the transmission of alert messages in a home network consisting of a plurality of
consumer electronic devices coupled to a service node), the method comprising: storing information regarding
home entities in an inventory database of a computing device in a server or a data center, the entities comprising
the household, one or more users within the household, devices in the household, applications running on the
devices, and a community of which the household is included; defining usage classes for each entity, the usage
classes denoting a primary function associated with the (an) entity, and comprising networking, productivity, and
entertainment; assigning an index value to each usage class for each entity, the index value comprising an integer
value within a fixed range, and reflecting a relative level of satisfaction associated with the entity for each
respective usage class; monitoring by the computing device in the server or the data center data regarding usage
trends, performance characteristics, and external variables associated with the entities; modifying by the
computing device in the server or the data center one or more of the index values based on the monitored data; and
facilitating the transmission of messages sent from the computing device in the server or the data center regarding
services or products related to the entities of the home from one or more parties, wherein the messages are
conformed to index values.
As an another example, claim 1 in US20140012800 claimed: An apparatus for providing an application for
processing big data, comprising: a setting unit configured to set data collection and analytic levels and a result

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screen for each of a plurality of tenants; a unified information access unit configured to collect data based on the
settings of the setting unit, and to analyze the collected data; a metadata management unit configured to manage
metadata about the data collected based on the settings of the setting unit; and a database unit configured to store
the collected data and the analyzed data.
This claim was rejected under 101 by the USPTO because the claim is directed towards the abstract idea (software
per se). A possible amendment to the claim could be: An apparatus for providing an application for processing by
way of one or more processors big data, comprising: a setting unit configured to set data collection and analytic
levels and a result screen for each of a plurality of tenants; a unified information access unit configured to collect
data based on the settings of the setting unit, and to analyze the collected data; a metadata management unit
configured to manage by way of one or more processors metadata about the data collected based on the settings of
the setting unit; and a database unit configured to store the collected data and the analyzed data.
PatentDisclosure Drafting & Prosecution in AlignmentwithBusinessStrategy
The IoT patents should supportfuture development of the IoT businesses and commercial implementations of the
IoT innovations. The disclosures of the IoT patent can be considered as a system that is consistof the basic
building blocks of the IoT as a subsystem: (1) devices that can sense/recognize their surrounding environments and
communicate with other devices, (2) connecting/communicating network medium/infrastructure that can

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interconnect devices and connect devices to the internet, (3) back-end IT systems that can processinformation
(data) obtained by the IoT devices (e.g. cloud computing/big data analytics) and (4) provide the value added
services exploiting the information. Then, the system as a whole and each basic building block as a subsystemcan
be construed in the disclosures to supportfuture development of IoT businesses and commercial implementations
of the IoT innovations.
StrategicIoT PatentDevelopment Best Practices
The bestpractice in strategic IoT patent development is the Allure Energy patents for the IoT smart home
applications. Allure Energy has developed 22 US family patents for the smart home energy management up to now
starting from two U.S. Provisional Patent Applications, Ser. No. 61/255,678 entitled a “Proximity Based Home
Energy Management System and Method”, filed on Oct. 28, 2009 and 61/235,798 entitled an “Alternative Energy
Asset Management System with Intelligent Data Framework Capabilities, filed on Aug. 21, 2009. Allure Energy
exploited strategic patent drafting and prosecution (continuation practices).
Allure Energy initially drafted the disclosures of a few co-pending patent applications very broadly in anticipation
of future business development. Then, Allure Energy prosecuted family patents to capture many commercial
implementations as the market evolves. Allure Energy is still developing more family patents to capture most
recent commercial implementations (e.g., IoT device controlusing Bluetooth connection, exploiting smartphone
for the IoT device control, autonomous adaptable energy management system).

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Significant number of forward citations shows the high quality of the family patents. Especially, many patents of
most key industry players including Google (Nest Lab), GE and Honeywell in the smart energy management
heavily cited Allure Energy patents. Forexample, more than 30 GE patents cited the Allure Energy patent
US8024073. Five patents (US8442695, US8457797, US8509954, US8571518 and US8626344) exploited to sue
Google and Honeywell for patent infringement. A huge number of claims of the family patents make it very
difficult to invalidate the family patents through PTAB IPR process.
Another best practice in strategic IoT patent development is the Flextronics AP LLC patents for the IoT connected
car applications. Flextronics AP LLC has developed total of 79 family patents including 11 issued US family
patents from seven U.S. Provisional Patent Applications. Flextronics AP LLC exploited strategic patent drafting
and prosecution(continuation practices).

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3. Strategic Patent DevelopmentExploiting Existing Patents
Well-tailored value creation methodology combined with patent prosecution strategy can develop new patent
portfolios for maximum ROI from existing patents. Many patent applications and newly issued patents can be
further developed for creating new values by amending and creating claims and generating family patents to
encompass emerging technology and products/services trends, market demands, and strategic exploitation goals
(e.g., cross-licensing, monetization etc.). Even if the IoT gets a huge attention recently, the conceptof
interconnected devices and connecting billions of devices to the internet in the IoT is not new and has been
researched for over 10 years. Thus, there may be a large number of patents (that were not intended for the specific
IoT applications at the time of invention) that can be exploited for developing new IoT patents supporting current
and future IoT business goals.
For example, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) is the North American arm of the corporateR&D
organization of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. MERL conducts application motivated basic research and
advanced development. Total of 168 MERL patents filed within 3 years are reviewed for finding new IoT patents
development opportunities. Many patent applications in the field of Wireless & Optical Communications (IoT
connectivity), Power Distribution System (smart grids), Vehicle Control/Information System (connected cars),
Electronic Devices (IoT sensors)and Building Automation (smart home) are found to be the good candidates for
new IoT patent development.

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The good candidates for new IoT patent development can be categorized as application specific and standard
relevant patents for further development.
For the application specific IoT patents, the selected patents can be analyzed to find candidates for commercial
essential patents (essential for commercial product/service implementation), patents for market platforms
(dominant designs), and patents for disruptive technologies (for future market generation potential). Existing
claims can be amended and additional claims can be constructed to capture the unclaimed embodiments in the
candidates’ detail descriptions to reinforce the protectability (against invalidation), enforceability (against potential
infringement), and marketability (for monetization, new products/services development etc.).
For the standard relevant IoT patents (e.g., IoT platform connectivity), the selected patents can be analyzed to find
candidates for the IoT standard essential patents (SEPs)and development as the IoT SEPs with respectto the
specific standards. Forthe IoT SEPs candidates, the claim-standard specification mapping can be performed to
generate EoU claim charts. For the development candidates as SEPs, the model claims can be constructed which
can make a candidate as a IoT SEP with respect to a specific standard. Additional claims can be constructed to
capture the unclaimed embodiments in the candidates’ detail descriptions.

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4. MonetizationExploiting StrategicallyPackagedPatentPortfolio
Goldman Sachs defines the IoT as the third wave of internet revolution: By connecting billions of devices to the
internet, the IoT can open up a host of new business opportunities and challenges. Even if the IoT gets a huge
attention recently, however, the conceptof interconnected billions of devices is not new and has been researched
for over 10 years. Thus, there may be a large number of patented technologies that can be exploited for developing
new products/services, and thus, new business for the emerging IoT market (even if the patented technologies were
not intended for the specific IoT business applications at the time of invention). A strategically packaged patent
portfolio is the collection of patents such that the integrated value propositions of each patent of the portfolio is the
value propositions that are provided by new products/services. The strategically packaged patent portfolio can be
used for monetization through patent sale, patent licensing, commercialization, spin-off, patent banking, and
financing.
For example, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories (MERL) is the North American arm of the corporateR&D
organization of the Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. MERL conducts application motivated basic research and
advanced development. Total of 1000 MERL issued patents and published patent applications are reviewed for
finding the good candidates for strategically packaged patent portfolio. MERL patents covered several IoT related
applications: Wireless & Optical Communications (IoT Connectivity), Power Distribution System (Smart Grids),
Vehicle Control/Information System (Connected Cars), Electronic Devices (IoT Sensors)and Building Automation

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(Smart Home). Through the IoT application motivated analysis for the IoT related patents, the strategically
packaged patent portfolio regarding the IoT connected electric cars can be formed. The strategically packaged
patent portfolio consists of 23 patents that cover the Intelligent Driver/ Navigation SupportSystem,
Safety/Collision Avoidance System, Vehicular Networks, Autonomous Driving System, Voice Control System,
and Wireless Charging System.
Followings summarize some examples of the key MERL patents for the IoT connected electric cars.
US20150134244 illustrates the navigation system for predicting travel destinations (e.g., mostfavorite destinations
for the driver) according to a history of destinations. The navigation system uses a prior driving history or habits.
This information is used for making predictions for the current destination desired by a user of the vehicle. The
information can be segregated into distinct user profiles and can include the vehicle location, previous driving
history of the vehicle, previous searching history of a user of the vehicle, or sensory input relating to the
characteristics of the vehicle.
US8831290 illustrates the vehicle safety system that uses the vehicle-mounted camera to detect obstacles near
vehicles. The vehicle safety system detects people and obstacle near moving vehicles, particularly in constricted
environments such as garages, loading docks, drive ways, parking lots, and generally roads, etc., when the vehicle
is backing up.

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US8233389 illustrates the congestion control protocolfor vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANET). The congestion
control protocolextracts and stores local network information, i.e., node density and aggregate data rate,
neighboring node information, number of successes and failures in reception, for incoming and outgoing messages.
It also keeps track of node status. The protocolperforms congestion control, admission controland rebroadcast
control operations.
US20150259007 illustrates the method for a semi-autonomous driving of a vehicle with a steer-by-wire system
having a steering wheel mechanically decoupled from vehicle wheels determines values for the steering angle and
the wheels angle tracking a target value of the wheels angle received from a semi-autonomous driving planning
(SADP) system.
US9159317 illustrates the automatic speechrecognition system that can provide the speechrecognition while
placing low cognitive load on a user.
US8674549 illustrates the system that can exchange energy wirelessly via a coupling of evanescent waves.
For further analysis for the strategically packaged patent portfolio regarding the IoT, please see

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University Internet of Things (IoT) Patent Landscape: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/university-internet-things-
iot-patent-landscape-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Intellectual Ventures Patents for Internet of Things (IoT): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/intellectual-ventures-
patents-internet-things-iot-alex-g-?published=t

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5. Developmentof Strategically PackagedPatentPortfolio BestPractice
Zetta Research Development LLC is an intellectual property management company that acquires, develops and
sells patent portfolios from patent holders (startups, inventors, investors and lenders). Zetta finds patent holders
that have potentially valuable patents and helps patent holders to develop and sell the patent portfolios that will be
valuable for a specific emerging business. Patents are assigned into a special purposeholding entity. Zetta’s equity-
based investment exploits the fund it manages. Rather than relying on the litigation enforcement, Zetta seeks to sell
the portfolios to the strategic buyers at the time when market conditions are most advantageous.
Zetta Research and Development LLC, ForC series is a special purposeholding entity for developing strategically
packaged patent portfolio regarding the connected cars. Starting from the U.S. Patent Application No. 61/637,588,
dated 24 Apr. 2012, it developed nice issued patents and six published patent applications regarding V2V (Vehicle
to Vehicle) communication applications for the connected cars. Followings illustrate some key patents that are
developed by Zetta.
US8922391 illustrates the collision avoidance system using the V2V communication system. The V2V
communication system includes the V2V transceiver in a transmitting vehicle that broadcastsV2V messages at
regular intervals. The V2V messages comprise the subject vehicle position, heading and speed that are received
from the gateway. The collision avoidance system computes a likely future location of the subject vehicle and a

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risk value of a possible collision involving the subject vehicle. The collision avoidance system generates a warning
if the computed risk value exceeds a risk threshold.
US9031089 illustrates the vehicle communication system for transmitting and receiving messages regarding the
status of parking spaces, suchas empty or occupied. Only vehicles belonging to a predetermined set are able to
decrypt such messages. The parking information messages describe the shape and size of vehicle entering or
leaving a parking space.

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6. Methodologyfor Developing Strategically PackagedPatent Portfolio
Strategically packaged patent portfolio development in alignment with the specific IoT business interests (e.g.,
smart home automation) requires deep understating of the IoT technologies, insights for the emerging IoT market,
and extensive experiences in patent analysis and development.
Understating IoT Technologies
Patents are the good information resources for obtaining the IoT technology development status, insights regarding
technical details for a specific IoT technology, and the IoT R&D status in a specific company. Followings are the
examples of patent researches for understating the state of the art of the IoT technologies.
IoT Smart Home & Connected Car Convergence Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-smart-
home-connected-car-convergence-insights-alex-g-?trk=hp-feed-article-title-publish
IoT Connected Car Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-connected-car-insights-from-
patents-alex-g-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
IoT Healthcare/Medical Devices Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-healthcaremedical-
devices-insights-from-patents-alex-g-?trk=pulse_spock-articles
IoT Security Measures Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-things-iot-security-
measures-insights-from-alex-g-?published=t

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IoT Big Data Analytics Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-big-data-analytics-insights-
from-patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Big Data Applications Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/big-data-applications-insights-from-
patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
Cloud for Internet of Things Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/cloud-internet-things-insights-
from-patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
IoT Smart City Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-things-iot-smart-city-insights-
from-patents-alex-g-?published=t
Robots forSmart Home Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/robots-smart-home-insights-from-
Artificial Intelligence for Internet of Things Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/artificial-
intelligence-internet-things-insights-from-alex-g-?published=t
Deep Learning for Internet of Things (IoT) Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/deep-learning-
internet-things-iot-insights-from-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
Health Monitoring Biomedical Sensing Devices Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/health-
monitoring-biomedical-sensing-devices-insights-alex-g-?published=t
6LoWPAN & Li-Fi for IoT Connectivity Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6lowpan-li-fi-iot-
connectivity-insights-from-patents-alex-g-?published=t

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IoT M2M Connectivity Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-m2m-connectivity-insights-
from-patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
Fog Computing for Internet of Things Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fog-computing-
internet-things-iot-insights-from-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
IoT Ambient Intelligence for Smart Living Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-ambient-
intelligence-smart-living-insights-from-alex-g-?published=t
IoT SaaS: Internet of Things Killer Applications Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-saas-
internet-things-killer-applications-insights-alex-g-?published=t
Self-Aware Self-Healing Internet of Things (IoT) Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/self-
aware-self-healing-internet-things-iot-insights-alex-g-?published=t
Emotion-Aware Internet of Things Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/emotion-aware-internet-
things-insights-from-patents-alex-g-?published=t
IoT RF Fingerprinting Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-things-iot-rf-fingerprinting-
insights-from-alex-g-?published=t
FinTech, Internet of Things & Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fintech-internet-things-patents-alex-g-lee-
ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
5G for Internet of Things & Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/5g-internet-things-patents-alex-g-lee-ph-d-j-
d-clp?published=t

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Samsung IoT R&D Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/samsung-iot-rd-insights-from-patents-
alex-g-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Cisco IoT R&D Insights from Patents: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/cisco-iot-rd-insights-from-patents
Apple IoT R&D Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/apple-internet-things-rd-insights-from-
IBM IoT R&D Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ibm-internet-things-rd-insights-from-
Qualcomm IoT R&D Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/qualcomm-internet-things-rd-
insights-from-patents-alex-g-?published=t
Understanding Samsung SmartThings from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-samsung-
smartthings-from-patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
Understanding Autonomous Parking Car Technology from Patents:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-autonomous-parking-car-technology-from-alex-g-
?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Understanding Apple UI/UX for Internet of Things Smart Home from Patents:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/understanding-apple-uiux-internet-things-smart-home-alex-g-?published=t

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Future Apple iPhone Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-apple-iphone-insights-from-
Smart Electronics Cigarette Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/smart-electronics-cigarette-
insights-from-patents-alex-g-?published=t
Future Smart UI/UX Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-smart-uiux-insights-from-
patents-implementing-alex-g-?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Smartphone Mobile Payment Process Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/smartphone-mobile-
payment-process-insights-from-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Insights for EmergingIoT Market
Patents are the good information resources for obtaining insights regarding the emerging IoT market. Followings
are the examples of patent researches for understating the IoT business and global IoT business leaders’ strategic
moves, and thus, obtaining insights regarding the emerging IoT market.
.
IoT Business Reality & Patent Development: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-business-reality-patent-
development-alex-g-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=hp-feed-article-title-publish
IoT Ecosystem& Patent Strategy: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-ecosystem-patent-strategy-alex-g-lee-ph-d-
j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles

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IoT Disruptive Innovation & Patent Exploitation: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-disruptive-innovation-
patent-exploitation-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
IoT Business Models & Patent Eligibility: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/iot-business-models-patent-eligibility-
alex-g-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
2016 Samsung IoT Smart Home Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-
samsung-iot-smart-home-strategy-perspectives-alex-g-?published=t
2016 Cisco IoT Networks Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-cisco-iot-
networks-strategy-perspectives-from-alex-g-?published=t
2016 IBM IoT Analytics Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-ibm-iot-
analytics-strategy-perspectives-from-alex-g-?published=t
2016 GE Industrial IoT Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-ge-industrial-
iot-strategy-perspectives-from-alex-g-?published=t
2016 Philips IoT Connected Health Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-
philips-iot-connected-health-strategy-from-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
2016 Toyota Self-driving Connected Cars Strategy Perspectives from Patents:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-toyota-self-driving-connected-cars-strategy-from-alex-g-?published=t
2016 Verizon IoT Services Strategy Perspectives from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/2016-verizon-iot-
services-strategy-perspectives-from-alex-g-?published=t

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Qualcomm 5G Standard Candidates R&D Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/qualcomm-5g-
standard-candidates-rd-insights-from-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?published=t
StrategicallyPackaged PatentPortfolioValuePropositions Development
McKinsey introduced the design-to-value (DTV) approachof new productdevelopment for developing winning
products in the emerging markets. The basic conceptof the DTV is to design a productin a way that strategically
includes only the essential features of a productto get the optimal value propositions to costratio, but still
maintaining its market competitiveness. The DTV methodology exploits market insights to figure out the features
that valued most by customers, competitive intelligence to figure out the features in the competitors’ products and
engineering know-how to optimize the value propositions to costratio. Patents can be exploited for the DTV
approachof new IoT products development by using the Blue Ocean Patent Strategy and products insights from
patents.
The basic principle in the Blue Ocean Patent Strategy is to exploit existing patents to achieve the value innovation,
and thus, to serve the customers in fundamentally different ways. By deciding which factors (that are covered by
the existing patents) of the existing products are really crucial, and thus, needed to raise and/or create, the new IoT
products that can change the value propositions from the typical direction of a specific market can be developed.

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Another way to achieve the value innovation is to integrate into the existing platforms. In the technological
assimilation frameworks, a core innovation that once provided stand-alone products orservices for a specific
market can be the building blocks for mass market generating innovations through assimilation to broader
platforms that were not existed at the time of innovations. By contrasting all possible value propositions from an
existing platform to the potential value propositions provided by the inventive departures (novelty points) of the
existing patent(s), the integration feasibility of the existing patented technologies into the platform can be found,
and thus, the new integrated value propositions of the new IoT products can be developed.
Patents can also provide the insights for the new IoT product development opportunity baseon the scenarios
analysis and killer application design rules. The first step in the scenario analysis is to do patent search and review
for the state of the art of IoT innovation for the specific IoT application. The searched patents that are related to the
specific IoT application should be analyzed to find the measurable user benefits provided by the value propositions
(e.g., automation, care, safety, entertainment) and method/device/system to offer the value propositions. Then, one
should develop a story of the future implementations of the state of the art of IoT innovation for the specific IoT
application exploiting 5W1H - Who, When, Where, What, Why, How. Base on the developed scenarios, potential
improvements over the existing products canbe devised.
For more information regarding the IoT scenarios analysis, please see

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Internet of Things 2020 Scenarios Based on Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-things-2020-
scenarios-based-patents-lee-ph-d-j-d-clp?trk=pulse_spock-articles
Patents can provide the insights for the IoT killer application design rules: Rule 1 Interoperable Networking of the
IoT Devices; Rule 2 Best IoT Sensor Selection for Collecting Characteristic Information of the Environment; Rule
3 Semantic Reasoning of the Data from the IoT Devices; Rule 4 Collective Interaction of the IoT Devices; Rule 5
Best UI Selection for Users; Rule 6 Adaptable Autonomous System for Users; Rule 7 Maximum Exploitation of
Back-End Systems (e.g., Cloud, Big Data Analytics); Rule 8 Security Architectures for Maximum Security
Measures; Rule 9 Exploration of Cross-IndustryApplications; Rule 10 User Experiences (UXs) for Maximum User
Satisfaction
For details regarding the IoT Killer Applications Design Insights, please see
Internet of Things Killer Applications Design Insights from Patents: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/internet-
things-iot-killer-applications-design-from-alex-g-?published=t

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Internet of Things (IoT) Business & Technology & Patent Integrated Strategy
Link: http://www.slideshare.net/alexglee/internet-of-things-iot-intellectual-property-patent-information-center-3q-
2015

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Alex G. Lee is a principal IP Strategist with TechIPm LLC, an IP strategy consulting firm based in Boston. He is
an emerging technology (Electronics, Computer, IT, Telecom, IoT) patent expert with extensive experience in
technology R&D & management, business development, strategy consulting, and intellectual property management
both in the US and S. Korea. He consulted Fortune 500 companies, patent monetization firms, law firms,
investment firms and research institutions regarding the strategy for patents acquisition, investment, prosecution,
development, litigation, monetization, and commercialization.
He earned Ph.D. in physics from the Johns Hopkins University and J.D. from the Suffolk University Law School.
He registered to practice before the US Patent and Trademark Office. He is a certified licensing professional (CLP).
He passed New State York Bar Exam. He is a member of IEEE, AIPLA, LES and ABA.

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