Scouting Intellectual Properties in the Age of More Than Moore

Transcription

1 Scouting Intellectual Properties in the Age of More Than Moore Dr. Kevin Hess Central Texas Electronics Association Symposium Austin, TX Feb 11, 2016

2 How to identify strategic patents for acquisition within a technology domain 3D IC? IP Landscapes and Taxonomies Context for 3D IC Case Study Methodology of Searching Case Study and Analysis 2

3 An IP Landscape is a populated taxonomy used to address questions about patents in a technology domain What solutions exist to technical issues in a domain? Who are the key innovators ( competitors)? What is the investment trend in the space? Were there any inflection points in the domain? Where are the acquisition opportunities for patents? 3

4 Taxonomies are hierarchical frameworks for classifying solutions within a technology domain Comparing patent sets (portfolios) Identifying innovation opportunities (white space, gaps) Finding critical innovations (singular solutions) Taxonomies can be structured in many ways Physical features of a product Attributes of a product or process Steps of a process Stages in a supply chain 4

5 Pushing the limits of Moore s Law Source: IEEE CPMT Webinar: Photonics in Heterogeneous 3D-SiP: A Key to Maintaining the Pace of Progress; W.R.Bottoms; 4 Feb

6 Planar devices are at the cost inversion (physics) Source: IEEE CPMT Webinar: Photonics in Heterogeneous 3D-SiP: A Key to Maintaining the Pace of Progress; W.R.Bottoms; 4 Feb

7 Planar devices are at the cost inversion (physics) Source: IEEE CPMT Webinar: Photonics in Heterogeneous 3D-SiP: A Key to Maintaining the Pace of Progress; W.R.Bottoms; 4 Feb

8 FPGAs Xilinx Virtex-7 (2011) (2.5D - microbumps, TSV, interposer ) Altera Stratix 10 (2015) (Intel EMIB - microbumps, Si bridges ) Sources: 8

9 Processors... improved processor-memory bandwidth Source: IEEE CPMT Webinar: Photonics in Heterogeneous 3D-SiP: A Key to Maintaining the Pace of Progress; W.R.Bottoms; 4 Feb

10 Processor Systems AMD Fiji GPU (2015) (Micro bumps, TSV, Interposer ) SK Hynix DRAM HBM > Sources: or.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=

11 Memory Samsung SK Hynix HBM Micron HMC (not 3D VNAND Flash) Source: IEEE CPMT Webinar: Photonics in Heterogeneous 3D-SiP: A Key to Maintaining the Pace of Progress; W.R.Bottoms; 4 Feb

12 DRAM - JEDEC JESD229-2 Wide I/O 2 (Aug 2014) [Micron HMC, SI2 alliances, working groups, etc.] Presentation at JEDEC Committee JC42.6 Mobile Memory Forum, June Source: JEDEC Standard JESD August

13 DRAM - JEDEC JESD229-2 Wide I/O 2 (Aug 2014) JEDEC Publication 95, Design Registration 4.26, Micropillar Grid Array (Dec 2011) Presentation at JEDEC Committee JC42.6 Mobile Memory Forum, June

14 A patent acquisition to support licensing or defensive position should focus on a common, critical feature or element of the system of interest. Ideally, the solution is prescribed by a design standard. For 3D (and 2.5D) IC, products and design standards use micro-bumps or - pillars for die or interposer interconnect. Therefore, interconnect is a topic of interest for investment. The first step is to construct a landscape taxonomy against which to assess where there are key solutions (patents) available. 14

15 Simple illustrative taxonomy for 3D IC based on structures. 3D IC Interconnect Devices (die, chips, memory, processors) Format (bumps, pillars) Layout (array, grid) Materials (solder, copper) Taxonomy subtopics describe the physical features and functions of a 3D IC system that support the high level interconnect topic. Function (communications, signal) System (3D, multiple die) 15

16 Building a patent set should employ at least two approaches, or lenses: Keyword Booleans are essential as a starting point; provide context; can be focused on fields title, abstract, claims. Class codes are generally broad; misclassification happens; require at least one additional lens. Citations* provide peer group information; multi-level cites can return adjacent and contemporaneous innovations. Semantic matching* returns conceptually similar documents; can be based on any text keywords document - patents, product descriptions, classes technical articles, standards, etc. (augment with focus keywords). *Requires source information to start. citations 16

17 Initial patent set defined by keyword and semantic searches. Then refined based on filters for patent quality and context of acquisition. Keywords First Iteration Data Set Solutions, Trends, Players Semantic Filtering Algorithms* Review Acquisition Candidates Refined Data Set Cite Mining Second Iteration *Strength filters are comparative algorithms for screening criteria such as indicators of patent quality, as well as assignee revenue. 17

18 Taxonomy nodes converted to keyword phrases. The result set includes overlap between KW search strings (25585) k(ij) Definition String Results* K(1,1) Device1 (die or chip or semiconductor or silicon or IC or "integrated circuit") 3917 K(1,2) Device2 (memory or processor or CPU or MPU or GPU or DRAM or Flash) 1735 K(1,3) Format1 (bump or pillar or column or post or micropillar or microbump or "micro-bump" or "micro-pillar") 3537 K(1,4) Format2 (flipchip or "flip chip" or "flip-chip") 614 K(1,5) Layout (array or grid or interposer or interposed) 3828 K(1,6) Materials (metal or alloy or solder or copper) 3898 K(1,7) Function (interconnect* or connect* or communicat* or signal or redistribution) 4139 K(1,8) System1 (3d or 3-d or 3-dimensional or z-direction or z-axis or vertical or stacked) 3380 K(1,9) System2 ("chip-to-chip" or multidie or multichip or "multi-die" or "multi-chip" or "multiple chips"~2 or "multiple die"~2 or "two die"~3 or "two chips"~3) 537 K(1,10) NOT Wirebond (wirebond or "wire bond") na * Matches versus final pool resulting from Boolean of keyword terms (overlap). 18

19 Logical OR of the keyword string results, refined search field, patent jurisdiction, and document status. Code String Limitations Results K1a ((die or chip or semiconductor or silicon or IC or "integrated circuit") OR (memory or processor or CPU or MPU or GPU or DRAM or Flash)) AND ((bump or pillar or column or post or micropillar or microbump or "micro-bump" or "micro-pillar") OR (flipchip or "flip chip" or "flip-chip")) AND ((array or grid or interposer or interposed)) AND ((metal or alloy or solder or copper)) AND ((interconnect* or connect* or communicat* or signal or redistribution)) AND ((3d or 3-d or 3-dimensional or z-direction or z-axis or vertical or stacked) OR ("chip-to-chip" or multidie or multichip or "multi-die" or "multi-chip" or "multiple chips"~2 or "multiple die"~2 or "two die"~3 or "two chips"~3)) NOT ((wirebond or "wire bond")) TAC, WW 8977 K1b As above. Claims only, WW 5291 K1c As above. TAC, USG&A 4510 K1d As above. Claims only, USG&A 2290 K1e As above. TAC&B, WW K1f As above. TAC&B, USG&A Keyword Boolean yields 4510 hits for US Grants and Apps. * TAC search against title, abstract, and claims. 19

20 Semantic matching to interconnect description provided in the JEDEC Publication Micropillar Grid Array with added keyword string search to ensure context ((die or chip or semiconductor or IC or "integrated circuit") OR (memory or processor or CPU or MPU or GPU or DRAM or Flash)) Returns 945 results, 74 overlapping the initial KW search hits. 20

21 Summary of Semantic Search Results Code Semantic Source Context Limitations Results S1 JEDEC Micropillar Grid Array Definitions (2011) Device1 OR Device2 USG&A S2 Samsung Press Release Wide IO DRAM (2011) ws-events/press-releases/detail?newsid=4028 Device1 OR Device2 USG&A 991 S3 Micron Hybrid Memory Cube Technology Description Device1 OR Device2 USG&A 919 Semantic search yielded 2495 unique hits. Negligible overlap between the keyword and semantic searches was observed. The overlap between semantic searches was marginal, except for S2:S3. KW JEDEC Samsung HMC K1 S1 S2 S3 K S S2-330 S3 - K1 + S1, S2, S3 = 6553 patents, 4010 families 21

22 Top 50 Assignees Patent Counts (bar) and Revenue (line) Top companies with larger holdings have significant revenue; not likely to represent patent acquisition opportunities. 22

23 Top 50 - Patent Count (size) and Revenue (color scale) Number of large companies, many one might expect in this space. Confirms companies noted in the market orientation for 3D IC. Several zero revenue patent holding companies highlighted. 23

24 Landscape of Derived Topics and Top 5 Assignees Patents per cell: 9 Largest holders have patents across the landscape. Few areas untouched by the top 5. Alignment with initial taxonomy. 24

25 Priority Year Early Development 18 Month Publication Delay Filing Year The priority to filing ratio for grants suggests early patent families created follow-on filings - one indicator of patent value; later patents less fundamental. 25

26 The initial patent set (6553) is too large to identify acquisition prospects. Innography s CustomStrength feature provides a means for ranking by intrinsic and extrinsic factors (i.e., patent maturity, examination length, forward and backward citations). Code criteria for patent quality and filter the larger data set for just the patents of interest. Innography provides an example CS filter based on the oft-quoted Valuable Patents paper by Allison, et al. (2003): if((fwdcites/age) > 1, 1, 0) + if(cites > 18, 0, if(cites > 5, 1, 0)) + if(age > 10, 1, 0) + if(life > 1, 1, 0) + if(inventors > 3, 1, 0) + if((publishyear - filedyear) > 4, 1, 0) + if(claims > 25, 1, 0) + if(litigation > 0, 1, 0) Valuable Patents paper: 26

27 Patent acquisition for licensing - proposed factors to define patent quality and acquisition likelihood: Forward citation count at least equals numeric age (1 cite/yr) Backward citation count of at least 5 At least 7 yrs since priority and 5 yrs before expiration Prosecution length at least 4 yrs Not used in litigation Asset owned by small entity (<$10M revenue proxy) Ranking algorithm from above criteria (max score of 7): if (revenue < ,1,0) + if((fwdcites/age) > 1, 1, 0) + if(cites > 5, 1, 0) + if(age >= 7, 1, 0) + if(life >= 5, 1, 0) + if((publishyear - priorityyear) > 4, 1, 0) + if(litigation > 0,0,1) 27

28 The initial starting set (K1 + S1, S2, S3) contained 6553 unique patents. Using the patent quality and acquisition scoring algorithm and setting a threshold at 70% of max score of 7 points (composite scores of 5-7 points) as the cut off. Initial data set is reduced to a subset of 358 patents. Of the 358 patents, several exemplary documents were found that represent potential acquisition opportunities. 28

29 Patent Count (size) and Revenue (<$10m reported) Diverse neighborhood Patent aggregators suggest an active patent space. Research groups and universities now prominent potential source. Refine further by removing large holding companies Round Rock Research, etc. 29

30 Patent Count and Litigation Record Top 30 Top 30 companies with no significant reported revenue and patents flagged by the maturity, citations, examination filters. Company records flag patent holders involved in any litigations. These assignees are less likely to sell patents. 30

31 Landscape of Derived Topics and Top 5 Assignees Patents per cell: 2 Focus areas better resolved for the top 5 assignees. Some hints as to company IP strategy. 31

32 Elm Technology Corp. (US) Three Dimensional Structure Integrated Circuits Priority: Apr

33 Advanpack Solutions (SG) Pillar Connections for Semiconductor Chips and Method of Manufacture Priority: Apr

34 Megica Corporation (TW) Low Fabrication Cost, Fine Pitch And High Reliability Solder Bump Priority: Mar

35 Arbor Company LLP (US) Reconfigurable Processor Module Comprising Hybrid Stacked Integrated Circuits Priority: Dec

36 Norman, Richard (CA) Microelectronic Complex Having Clusters Conductive Members Priority: Dec

37 Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (CN) Bonding Method for Through- Silicon-Via Based 3D Wafer Stacking Priority: Jun

38 The 3D IC interconnect was identified as an interesting neighborhood. A patent data set was created from a structural taxonomy using a combination of keyword and semantic searches. The quality of the properties in the neighborhood was ranked. The data set was refined using a filtering algorithm based on the context of patent quality and acquisition. A shortlist was created to tour. Patents assigned to several small entities were identified that met the quality criteria and that might available for acquisition patents or companies. Further refinement - include citation analysis and class code mining to expand the initial pool before filtering on quality; incorporate claim element/word count based scoring in the quality algorithm. 38

39 CTEA Innography Patent Information Users Group 39

40 Thank you! 40

41 Pt /ˈtɛknɪks/ - the study or science of an art or arts. Patent Portfolio Review & Annuity Decisions Patent Landscape Studies Patent Market Valuation: Acquisition & Divestiture Evidence of Use and Technical Claim Mapping Prior Art Search, Reverse Claim Mapping, & IPR Support