Fiber Optic Sensors Patents Analysis Report

Page 1

Technology Insight Report FIBER OPTIC SENSORS A fiber optic sensor is a sensor that uses optical fiber either as the sensing element ("intrinsic sensors"), or as a means of relaying signals from a remote sensor to the electronics that process the signals ("extrinsic sensors"). Fibers have many uses in remote sensing. Depending on the application, fiber may be used because of its small size, or the fact that no electrical power is needed at the remote location, or because many sensors can be multiplexed along the length of a fiber by using different wavelengths of light for each sensor, or by sensing the time delay as light passes along the fiber through each sensor. Time delay can be determined using a device such as an optical time-domain reflectometer. This report takes a look into the patenting activity around fiber optic sensors uncovering the inventors, patents, the companies and the intellectual property history behind these devices.

Disclaimer: This report should not be construed as business advice and the insights are not to be used as the basis for investment or business decisions of any kind without your own research and validation. Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd disclaims all warranties whether express, implied or statutory, of reliability, accuracy or completeness of results, with regards to the information contained in this report. Š 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Brief History of Fiber Optic Sensor

Fiber optics, though used extensively in the modern world, is a fairly simple and old technology. Guiding of light by refraction, the principle that makes fiber optics possible, was first demonstrated by Daniel Colladon and Jacques Babinet in Paris in the early 1840s. John Tyndall included a demonstration of it in his public lectures in London a dozen years later. It was in the year 1956 that Kapany first officially introduced the term “fiber optics”. He defined fiber optics as the art of the active and passive guidance of light, in the ultraviolet, visible, and infrared regions of the spectrum, along transparent fibers through predetermined paths. Since then, fiber optics has been used in various photo-electronics devices, data processing, and photocopying systems. Today, optical fibers are primary components of global and local telecommunication systems. The primary method of transmitting information via optical fiber is digitally, that is, by sequences of optical pulses whose positions, widths, or occurrences can be modulated. The invention of the laser in 1962 immediately stimulated a revolution that designers created fiber optic sensors combining optical fibers and optoelectronic devices with the application of this coherent light source. Fiber optic sensors are attractive because they offer excellent sensitivity and dynamic range, compatibility with optical data transmission and processing, long lifetimes and potential, low cost and high reliability. They are immune to electromagnetic interference. Fiber optic sensors can also work in other hostile environments, where there may be high temperatures, high-voltage, corrosive materials, all-solid-state configurations, vibration and explosion hazards, and where traditional sensors and transducers do not work well. The lightweight and small sizes of these devices are critical in such areas as aerospace and provide substantial advantages to many products. The comparable low cost is another advantage of fiber optic sensors. With each new successful product the cost of existing and newly introduced components continues to drop, opening the door for new waves of fiber sensor products. These developments include the replacement of conventional spinning mass-inertial sensors with fiber optic gyros, widespread use of fiber optic sensors in process control and manufacturing, electrical isolation of patients in medicine, and fiber optic health monitoring systems in the aerospace and construction industries.

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Overview With the help of Patent iNSIGHT Pro, we will analyze the all the patent data around Fiber Optic Sensors to find answers to the following:   

What does the IP publication trend for Fiber Optic Sensors look like and how has activity around filings evolved? Who are the top assignees or key players in Fiber Optic Sensors and what are their technology wise trends? How is the Assignee portfolio spread across different sensor types and application areas?

To get deeper insights the patent set has been classified as follows: By Types 

Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors a) Bragg Grating Sensors b) Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors

Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors a) Distributed Sensors b) Interferometric Sensors c) Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors d) Microbend Sensors

Fiber Optic Electronic Parts Image Source:

http://communication.howstuffworks.com/fiber-optic-communications/fiber-optic.htm

By Applications    

Chemical/ Bio Detection Defense Encoder Plates/ Disks Industrial Applications a) Humidity b) Induction Heating c) Plastic Film  Mode Coupling  Infrastructure a) Bridges i) Suspension Bridges ii) Truss b) Buildings c) Tunnels  Oil and Gas  Pyrometers  Raman Scattering  Rayleigh Scattering  Transportation a) Acoustic Sensors © 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


b) Automobiles c) Fire Detection  Youngs Modulus

The illustration below shows the different categories prepared and the number of records in each. The categorization involved defining a search strategy for each topic and then conducting the search using the Advanced Searching capability in Patent iNSIGHT Pro. Details of search strings used for each category are given in Appendix B.

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The Search Strategy Using the commercial patent database PatBase as our data source we used the following search query to create our patent set. TAC – Title Abstract Claims

(TAC= ((fiber w/3 optic) w/3 (detector* or sensor* or demodulator* or "sensing element")))

The query was directed to search through the title, abstract and claims and a patent set of 1963 records with one publication per family was generated. The publications included in the report are updated as of 14th July, 2011.

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Publication Trend What has been the IP publication trend for Fiber Optic Sensors?

The patent publication trend in the form of a bar graph shows activity from as early as the 1960’s and 1970’s, although the number of filings remained relatively low all the way up till the year 2000. From 2001 which saw a jump to 80 patents published, there was increase in number of publications from 2006 which saw more than 100 patents. It’s clear the current activity around these technologies is likely to continue seeing more innovation in the near future.

How we did it? Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the publication trend chart was generated on a single click using the dashboard tool.

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Top Assignees Who have been the top assignees or the key players within this industry?

The top assignees are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP HONEYWELL INC. US NAVY BAKER HUGHES INC. ABB GROUP WEATHERFORD INC. SIEMENS AG GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. BOEING CO. SCHULMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP

11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

UNIV STANFORD LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP HALLIBURTON INC. VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES INC. CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY US ARMY MECHANICAL TECHNOLOGY INC NXTPHASE CORP FIBERCHEM INC. GENERAL MOTORS CORP

How we did it? Once the patents were populated in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, the assignee clean- up tools were used to normalize the names. Different cleanup tools were leveraged: • To locate assignees for unassigned records • To clean up records having multiple assignees • To locate the correct assignee names for US records using the US assignments database • To merge assignees that resulted from a merger or acquisition or name change. Please refer Appendix A for more details on Assignee merging. Once the Assignee names were cleaned up, the dashboard tool within Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used to find the top 20 assignees within the given patent set. A visual graph was created based on the results of the top assignees with the number of patents alongside each one. The complete Assignee table in available in the following Excel file: http://www.patentinsightpro.com/techreports/0811/List%20of%20Assignees.xls © 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Top Countries How is research in Fiber Optic Sensors spread across different countries? In terms of regional pockets where patent protection is being sought most frequently for these technologies, the US is in the lead, followed by JP and AU. The map below breaks down slot machine patenting activity priority country wise from 1950. The table below ranks the top 10 priority countries and therefore provides an indication of where the innovation in this technology area is originating:

Country Code US DE CN JP RU KR GB

Total 1324 180 83 72 36 32 25

How we did it? The map was generated using the Priority country coverage map option provided in the dashboard tool within Patent iNSIGHT Pro.

Š 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Assignee - Key Statistics Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Assignees such as filing trend, Avg. number of Forward citations per record, Top inventors in each Assignee, Top Co-Assignees and Coverage of underlying patent families Coverage (Includes families)

36 (1.8%)

6.7

5.44

19762010

19842010

19822011

KERSEY ALAN D(13) BUCARO JOSEPH A(11) LAGAKOS NICHOLAS(9) DANDRIDGE ANTHONY(7) DEUS III ANTONIO L(4) TUBEL PAULO S(8) HARRELL JOHN W(8) PAULO S TUBEL(7) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(6) JOHN W HARRELL(5) BOHNERT KLAUS(24) BRAENDLE HUBERT(10) FRANK ANDREAS(6) GABUS PHILIPPE(5) NEHRING

AU

ABB GROUP

44 (2.3%)

16.45

19782010

SANDERS GLEN A(7) STRANDJORD LEE K(5) ANG DICK(3) BLAKE JAMES N(3) BERGH RALPH A(3)

DE

BAKER HUGHES INC

60 (3.1%)

9.76

19772009

HALL DAVID B(14) CORDOVA AMADO(13) LAYTON MICHAEL R(8) PAVLATH GEORGE A(7) FERSHT SAMUEL N(7)

CoAssignees

JP

US NAVY

63 (3.2%)

10.2

Key Inventor (Top 5)

WO

HONEYWEL L INC.

98 (5%)

Filing Year Range

EP

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP

Filing Trend ( Absolute )

US

Assignee

Total No. of Record s

Average No. of Fwd Cites per Patents

32

1

4

1

0

0

17

2

4

1

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

51

0

2

0

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

11

0

3

0

0

7

BOHNERT KLAUS(2) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1 ) WUEST ROBERT(1)

0

2

1

0

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

SANDIA CORP(1)

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JUERGEN(3)

WEATHERF ORD INC.

SIEMENS AG

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO

BOEING CO

SCHLUMBE RGER TECHNOLO GY CORP

UNIV STANFORD

33 (1.7%)

32 (1.6%)

29 (1.5%)

26 (1.3%)

23 (1.2%)

21 (1.1%)

11.73

2.62

7.31

17.73

4.22

18.14

19962008

19752010

19862009

19792007

19982011

19812010

MARON ROBERT J(5) KERSEY ALAN D(5) GYSLING DANIEL L(5) OGLE PETER C(4) JONES RICHARD T(3)

SCHOBER HERBERT(4) WILLSCH MICHAEL(3) HAPPEL TOBIAS(3) BOSSELMANN THOMAS(2) KNOCHE WOLFRAM(2)

XIA HUA(7) RUGGIERO ERIC JOHN(5) MCCARTHY KEVIN THOMAS(4) FELDMAN SANDRA F(2) RODRIGUEZ ERDMENGER RODRIGO(2) UDD ERIC(10) CAHILL RICHARD F(3) THERIAULT JOHN P(3) MICHAL RONALD J(2) KHOSHNEVISAN MOHSEN(1)

YAMATE TSUTOMU(6) SCHROEDER ROBERT J(6) RAMOS ROGERIO T(5) MADHAVAN RAGHU(4) UDD ERIC(2)

SHAW HERBERT J(10) KIM BYOUNG Y(6) DIGONNET MICHEL J F(4) PAVLATH GEORGE A(3) KINO GORDON S(3)

No CoAssignee Present

2

0

0

0

0

0

SCHOBER HERBERT(3 ) BOSSELMA NN THOMAS(1) FRANKE MARTIN(1) FRENZEL HENRYK(1) GAMULESC U TUDOR ION(1)

2

3

2

0

9

0

No CoAssignee Present

10

0

1

0

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

12

0

0

0

0

0

PRAD RES AND DEV LTD(3) PEIRCE IAN(2) RAMOS ROGERIO TADEU(2) ROBERTS DAMON(2) ALLIOT VINCENT(1)

1

1

2

0

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

3

1

1

0

0

0

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.

HALLIBURT ON INC.

VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECT UAL PROPERTIE S INC.

CALIFORNI A INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLO GY

15 (0.8%)

13 (0.7%)

13 (0.7%)

12 (0.6%)

16.87

4.69

9.62

4.33

19852003

20012010

19912007

19852008

MUHS JEFFREY D(4) ANDREWS JEFFREY P(2) TOBIN KENNETH W(1) GUERCI JR CARL F(1) MCCLINTOCK JOSEPH A(1) SKINNER NEAL G(7) BERTHOLD JOHN W(4) RODNEY PAUL F(2) SHAH VIMAL V(2) LOPUSHANSKY RICHARD L(2) WANG ANBO(8) MURPHY KENT A(4) CLAUS RICHARD O(3) ZHU YIZHENG(2) WANG XINGWEI(2)

LEWIS NATHAN S(9) SEVERIN ERIK J(5) GRUBBS ROBERT H(3) SANNER ROBERT D(2) KELSO DAVID M(1)

No CoAssignee Present

11

0

1

0

0

0

No CoAssignee Present

4

0

2

0

0

0

FURUKAWA ELECTRIC CO LTD(1) LUNA INNOVATIO NS INC(1)

8

0

0

0

0

0

LEWIS NATHAN S(1) SANNER ROBERT D(1) SEVERIN ERIK J(1) SMITHS DETECTION INC(1) US AS REPRESEN TED BY THE ADMINSTRA TOR OF NASA(1)

4

1

2

1

0

0

How we did it? In order to compress all the information into a single report, we used the 360 ° series of reports available in the software. From the Assignee 360° report options, we selected Top 15 Assignees and the different pieces of information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report was then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Inventor - Key Statistics Here we summarize key parameters of Top 15 Inventors such as filing trend, average number of forward citations per record, key associated companies and top 5 co-inventors.

Inventor

BOHNERT KLAUS

PAULO S TUBEL

KERSEY ALAN D

JOHN W HARRELL

Average No. of Total Fwd No. of Cites Records per Patents

26 (1.3%)

25 (1.3%)

23 (1.2%)

22 (1.1%)

4.04

12.4

19.22

11.32

Filing Trend ( Absolute )

Filing Year Range

Key Assignees (Top 5)

Co-Inventors

BRAENDLE HUBERT DR(11) FRANK ANDREAS(6) GABUS PHILIPPE(5) NEHRING JUERGEN(3) WUEEST ROBERT(3)

1988-2011

ABB GROUP(26) BOHNERT KLAUS(2) WUEST ROBERT(1) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1)

1997-2006

BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(4) TUBEL PAULO S(1)

JOHN W HARRELL(22) KURT A HICKEY(12) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(11) WILLIAMS GLYNN R(7) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6)

1988-2005

US NAVY(13) WEATHERFORD INC.(5) CIDRA CORP(4) VILLARRUEL CARL A(1) KERSEY ALAN D(1)

DANDRIDGE ANTHONY(5) BAILEY TIMOTHY J(4) FERNALD MARK R(4) GYSLING DANIEL L(3) PUTNAM MARTIN A(3)

1997-2006

BAKER HUGHES INC(20) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(2)

PAULO S TUBEL(22) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(11) KURT A HICKEY(10) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6)

BIDIGARE BRIAN(5)

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WLODARCZYK MAREK T

UDD ERIC

BLAKE JAMES N

BERTHOLD JOHN W

HALL DAVID B

20 (1%)

17 (0.9%)

16 (0.8%)

15 (0.8%)

15 (0.8%)

13.85

17.35

7.5

4.4

4.8

1986-2007

WLODARCZYK MAREK T(9) GENERAL MOTORS CORP(7) POORMAN THOMAS J(4) C.R. BARD INC.(3) KABALA JERZY A(1)

POORMAN THOMAS J(4) CAMPBELL JAMES A(2) COLETTA LUCIANO(2) KRAGE MARK K(2) TANG DAH LAIN(2)

1983-2008

BOEING CO(10) UDD ERIC(3) BLUE ROAD RESEARCH INC.(2) SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP(2) CALVERT SEAN G(1)

CAHILL RICHARD F(3) THERIAULT JOHN P(3) MICHAL RONALD J(2) RAMOS ROGERIO T(2) SCHROEDER ROBERT J(2)

1993-2010

NXTPHASE CORP(7) TEXAS AM UNIVERSITY SYSTEM(5) HONEYWELL INC.(3) BLAKE JAMES N(2) ALSTOM TECHNOLOGY LTD(1)

SANDERS GLEN A(3) GLASOW CARL(2) BERGH RALPH A(1) RAHMATIAN FARNOOSH(1) SHORT SHAYNE X(1)

1989-2009

HALLIBURTON INC.(4) BABCOCK AND WILCOX CO(3) DAVIDSON INSTRUMENTS INC.(3) MCDERMOTT TECHNOLOGY INC(2) J W B C LLC(1)

LOPUSHANSKY RICHARD L(5) JEFFERS LARRY A(4) REED STUART E(2) BUSH IRA JEFFREY(1) COCKING SETH A(1)

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(15)

FERSHT SAMUEL N(3) BATHELT CARL(1) BUNN JR JAMES S(1) FREDERICK DONALD A(1) GOLDNER ERIC L(1)

1997-2009

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CORDOVA AMADO

JOHNSON MICHAEL H

KURT A HICKEY

SHAW HERBERT J

BRAENDLE HUBERT DR

13 (0.7%)

13 (0.7%)

12 (0.6%)

12 (0.6%)

11 (0.6%)

7.62

12.23

4.5

17.83

4.18

1994-2001

1998-2007

1998-2006

1979-2003

1997-2008

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP(13)

FERSHT SAMUEL N(3) SURABIAN GLENN M(3) RAHN JOHN P(2) BILINSKI DONALD J(1) CARLSON KURT RANDY(1)

BAKER HUGHES INC(11) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(2)

JOHN W HARRELL(11) PAULO S TUBEL(11) KURT A HICKEY(6) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6) BIDIGARE BRIAN(5)

BAKER HUGHES INC(8) SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD(4)

PAULO S TUBEL(12) JOHN W HARRELL(10) JOHNSON MICHAEL H(6) LEMBECKE JEFFREY J(6) NIGEL LEGGETT(6)

UNIV STANFORD(10) US AIRFORCE(1) IFOS INC(1)

KIM BYOUNG Y(5) BROOKS JANET L(2) FESLER KENNETH A(2) PAVLATH GEORGE A(2) TOYAMA KEIICHIRO(2)

ABB GROUP(11) BOHNERT KLAUS(1) BRAENDLE HUBERT(1)

BOHNERT KLAUS(11) GABUS PHILIPPE(4) ANDERSSON LARS(1) BODOR PATRICK(1) FRANK ANDREAS(1)

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BUCARO JOSEPH A

11 (0.6%)

11.64

1978-2010

US NAVY(11)

LAGAKOS NICHOLAS(8) CAROME EDWARD F(2) DARDY HENRY D(1) HOUSTON BRIAN H(1) JARZYNSKI JACEK(1)

How we did it? In order to compress all the information into a single report, we used the 360 ° series of reports available in the software. From the Inventor 360° report options, we selected the different pieces of information we wanted to include in the singular display and then ran the report. The generated report as then exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Assignee portfolio across different sensor types and application areas

1

3

WEATHERFORD INC.

5

2

22

1

US NAVY

12

5

BAKER HUGHES INC

10

4

SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORP

4

10

HALLIBURTON INC.

5

2

2

5

GENERAL ELECTRIC CO

1

1

5

6 1

1

1

7

1

8

12

2

11

1

1

2

1

6

1

1

1

1

1

1

8

1

2

3

1

1

3

3

4

1

1

8

ABB GROUP

2

VIRGINIA TECH INTELLECTUAL PROPERTIES INC.

2

1

UNIV STANFORD

3

1

1

1

3

3

1

1

2

1

1

1

1

1

1

5

2

LUNA INNOVATIONS INC

1

1

10

BOEING CO

SENSOR HIGHWAY LTD

4

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

1

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com

1

1

Encoder Plates/Disks

3

Mode Coupling

Oil and Gas

4

Rayleigh Scattering

Chemical/ Bio-detection

2

Transportation

Youngs Modulus

4

Raman Scattering

Defense

1

Infrastructure

Industrial Applications

22

Bragg Grating Sensors

NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP

Microbend Sensors

Distributed Sensors

Application Areas

Interferometric Sensors

Key Assignees

Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors Extrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors

Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors

Intrinsic Fabry-Perot Fiber Sensors

Categories


GENERAL MOTORS CORP

2 1

US ARMY NXTPHASE CORP

2

LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP.

1

HONEYWELL INC.

1

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

1 1

1

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

1

1

1

1

1

REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

1 1

2

2

1 1

1

SIEMENS AG

1

1

4

1

1

1

2

1

1

3

3

2

1

8

5

4

In the above matrix leading patent holdings within each category of sensor types and application areas have been highlighted with stronger shades of orange for larger number of patents within that category. How we did it? The clusters of types and application areas that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the co‐occurrence analyzer and then the resulting matrix was exported to Excel using the option provided for the same.

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Keywords vs. Fiber Optic Technologies – White Space Analysis What are the top keywords in Fiber Optic technologies and how do they vary across the different fiber optic sensor types? For this a cleaned list of keywords that were generated from the Title, Abstract and Claims. Such a table can be used for preliminary insights toward White Space Analysis. (Whitespaces are gaps in a technology landscape that have potential for attaining exclusivity.) As can be seen in the table below the concept of “Electromagnetic Sensor”, “Displacement Sensor” haven’t been used in any of the Intrinsic and Extrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors. Such an indication can be further verified via patent search to confirm existence of a white space.

© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


© 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


How we did it? First the various types of Fiber Optic Sensors were identified by online research. Then by using a combination of semantic analysis tools such as the clustering tools and searching tools available in Patent iNSIGHT Pro, patents were categorized under the different types. A clean set of keywords was generated using Patent iNSIGHT Pro using a combination of keyword list Cleanup and Auto Custer features. A co-occurrence matrix was generated to map the keywords with types. The generated matrix was exported to Excel. Š 2011 Gridlogics. All Rights Reserved. Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a trademark of Gridlogics Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Feedbacks and Comments on this report can be sent to feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com


Fiber Optic Sensor types vs. Key Application Areas How do various fiber optic sensors compare across key application areas?

In the chart below “Bragg Grating Sensors“are extensively used in Oil and Gas with 21 records. Distributed sensors are used in Raman Scattering.

How we did it? The clusters of types and application areas that were created for the previous analysis were correlated using the co‐occurrence analyzer and then the resulting matrix for converted into a bubble chart.

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Sample Portfolio Comparison of Northrop Grumman Corporation vs. other top Assignees How does the portfolio landscape of Northrop Grumman Corporation compare with other companies? What are the overlaps in the portfolios?

The map shows patents of top five assignees clustered together based on the basis of application areas. The map also shows the overlapping areas and patents in respective categories. How we did it? The VizMAP tool in Patent iNSIGHT Pro was used for this analysis. First the patents of the top five assignees were loaded on the map. The map was then analyzed in the context mode wherein each patent record is placed across to the contextual similarity with other records. The contextual similarity was calculated over Title, Abstract and Claims.

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Appendix A: Key Assignee Normalization Table Note: The tables below include normalization from US Assignments database and so some assignees may appear under multiple normalized names. NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP LITTON SYSTEMS INC LITTON SYSTEMS INC US NORTHROP GRUMMAN GUIDANCE AND GRUMMAN AEROSPACE CORP NORTHROP CORP GRUMMAN AEROSPACE CORP LITTON SYSTEMS CANADA SPERRY MARINE INC TELEDYNE RYAN AERONAUTICAL DIV NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP LITEF GMBH

ABB GROUP ASEA BROWN BOVERI ABB RESEARCH LTD ABB TECHNOLOGY AG SKOLD LEIF, AKESSON ULF, ANDERSSON DAG PETERSSON YNGVE ASEA AB WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC CORP ASEA AB BBC BROWN BOVERI AND CIE ASEA BROWN BOVERI ABB FLEX AUTOMATION INC

HONEYWELL INC. HONEYWELL INC ALLIED SIGNAL INC MCCLARY CHARLES R HONEYWELL INT INC HONEYWELL ASCA INC HODARA HENRI HONEYWELL INC MEASUREX CORP FERRAR CARL M WINSTON JR CHARLES R ALLIED SIGNAL INC L 3 COMM CORP HONEYWELL FED MFG AND TECHNOLOGI SANDIA NAT LAB BAKER HUGHES INC. BAKER HUGHES INC WESTERN ATLAS INTERNATIONAL INC WESTERN ATLAS INT INC BAKER HUGHES CORP

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Appendix B: Search Strings Used for Categorization Categorization: Types of Fiber Optic Sensors 1. Extrinsic/Hybrid Fiber Optic Sensors a) Bragg Grating Sensors Bragg Grating Sensors (TAC) contains ((Bragg w/3 grating*)or FBG) 160 results b) Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors Extrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors (TAC) contains (fabry-perot and (extrinsic or 18 results external or hybrid)) 2. Intrinsic Fiber Optic Sensors a) Distributed Sensors Distributed Sensors (TAC) contains (distributed w/3 sensor*) 74 results b) Interferometric Sensors Interferometric Sensors (TAC) contains (interferomet* w/3 sensor*) 114 results c) Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Etalon Sensors Intrinsic Fabry Perot Fiber Sensors (TAC) contains (fabry-perot and (intrinsic or 13 results internal)) d) Microbend Sensors Microbend Sensors (TAC) contains(microbend w/3 sensor*) 14 results Categorization: Applications 1. Chemical/ Bio Detection Chemical/ Bio Detection (TAC) contains ((chem* or bio*) w/5 (detect* 71 results or monitor*))

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2. Defense Defense (TAC) contains (defense or aerospace or 37 results aeronautic* or aerodynamic* or navy or naval* or army or airforce or aircraft or airplane or aerosystems or military or weapon* or submarine* or missile*) 3. Encoder Plates/ Disks Encoder Plates/ Disks (TAC) contains (encode* w/3 (plate* or disk*)) 2 results 4. Industrial Applications a) Humidity

(TAC) contains (humid* or dampness* or moist*)

Humidity 44 results

b) Induction Heating

(TAC) contains (induction w/3 heat*)

Induction Heating 3 results

c) Plastic Film

(TAC) contains (plastic pre/3 film*)

Plastic Film 3 results

5. Mode Coupling

(TAC) contains (mode w/3 coupl*)

Mode Coupling 9 results

6. Infrastructure a) Bridges i) Suspension Bridges Suspension Bridges (TAC) contains (suspension w/3 (line* or cable* 4 results or wire*)) ii) Truss (TAC) contains truss*

Truss 2 results

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b) Buildings

(TAC) contains building*

Buildings 1 result

c) Tunnels

(TAC) contains tunnel*

Tunnels 2 results

7. Oil and Gas Oil and Gas (TAC) contains (oil* or gas or petro* or refin*) 190 results 8. Pyrometer

(TAC) contains pyrometer*

Pyrometer 7 results

9. Raman Scattering

(TAC) contains Raman

Raman Scattering 26 results

10. Rayleigh Scattering

(TAC) contains (rayleigh or CRN)

Rayleigh Scattering 12 results

11. Transportation a) Acoustic Sensors

(TAC) contains (acoustic w/3 sensor*)

Acoustic Sensors 82 results

b) Automobiles Automobiles (TAC) contains ((traffic or vehic*) w/3 control* 6 results or monitor*) c) Fire Detection

(TAC) contains (fire w/3 detect*)

Fire Detection 5 results

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12. Youngs Modulus

( TAC ) contains ("youngs modulus")

Youngs Modulus 13 results

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Summary Fiber optic sensors began as a by-product of optical fiber research and development. The first sensors were designed to measure the performance and status of an optical network. This report graphically analyzes fiber optic sensor markets from many perspectives, categorizes and highlights the key companies involved, defines unique keywords. This report also covers the global fiber optic sensors marketplace. It focuses particularly on the markets and opportunities for fiber optic sensors in defense, oil and gas exploration and drilling, medical, and industrial markets. The study considers future opportunities for new application markets.

About Patent iNSIGHT Pro Patent iNSIGHT Pro™ is a comprehensive patent analysis platform that allows you to accelerate your time-to-decision from patent analysis activities. Designed from inputs by experienced patent researchers, Patent iNSIGHT Pro easily blends into your existing Research workflow. Patent iNSIGHT Pro is used by leading legal services, Pharmaceutical & biotech, electronics companies and research organization across US, Europe, South America and India with more than 400 end users. Patent iNSIGHT Pro is developed and marketed by Gridlogics, a research driven IT Company specializing in providing intellectual property analysis and visualization solutions to aid R&D and corporate strategy. Gridlogics is headquartered in Pune, India and has a sales presence in Delhi, Mumbai and USA. For more information: Visit us at: www.patentinsightpro.com Or call us at: 1-408-786-5524 Or mail us at:

Have a comment on this report? Mail us at feedback_tr@patentinsightpro.com

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Sources & References     

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiber_optic_sensor http://www.rp-photonics.com/fiber_optic_sensors.html http://www.eaeeie.org/theiere_bratislava/1.html http://www.wikid.eu/index.php/Fiber_optic_sensing#Two_Main_Types_of_Optical_S ensors http://www.sensorwiki.org/doku.php/sensors/fibre_optic

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