Skeleton Map

<p>A "Skeleton Map" is so named because of its fishbone shape in which a technology diversifies

and diverges over time. One feature of this map is that divergence of a technology is assumed to take

place at the time when a patent application for the technology was filed. This feature could provide

an accurate and objective measure of the time of divergence that otherwise would not be available

because, unlike the time of release of a product enabled by an invention, the time at which a patent

application was filed is likely to be closer to the actual date on which the invention was made and

can be easily identified regardless of the sale of such product.

A diagram showing the number of applications filed in the year of divergence and thereafter

shows the extent to which the technology spread after divergence occurred. In some cases, the map

may conceptually indicate the time of divergence without showing the specific year in which the

patent application was filed.

 How to Read the Map

Figure 3-15 is an example of a Skeleton Map showing the development of technology relating

to online shopping.

The upper part of the map shows the time when patent applications related to the technology

started to be filed in Japan, with the lower part showing that in the U.S.

The map indicates that in the U.S., patent applications relating to online shopping started to be

filed in the late 1960s, whereas in Japan, patent applications relating to electronic malls, browsing,

ordering, online catalogs, etc. were filed in 1975 all at once. It follows that patent applications

relating to electronic malls and online catalogs were published in Japan earlier than in the U.S.

It also shows a slight difference in the extent to which the filing of patent applications relating to

the relevant technology spread in subsequent years in Japan and the U.S. For example, ordering

technology drew the largest number of patent applications in Japan, while browsing technology

attracted many patent applications in the U.S., with the first of them filed in 1967.</p>