Unconnected component inclusion technique for patent network analysis: Case study of Internet of Things-related technologies

In this study, we propose an unconnected component inclusion technique (UCIT) for patent citation analysis. Our method generates a cluster solution that includes unconnected and connected components of a direct citation network, enabling a more complete analysis of the technology fields. Case studies of Internet of Things-related technologies were conducted to test the effectiveness of our proposed method. We observed that UCIT increased the number of nodes especially in relatively small networks. Additionally, we analyzed how the clusters changed by adding unconnected patents to the citation network and identified four types of clustering phenomenon. Our method can be used by patent officers, R&D managers, and policy makers when they want to understand the technology landscape better.