Assessing the data processing innovations for inventory management with patent analysis

To understand the technological trend and advances of data processing technologies for inventory management, this study conducted patent trend analysis, IPC (International Patent Classification) analysis, and patent citation analysis upon the patent data retrieved from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Our patent trend analysis not only accessed the development of data processing technologies but also evaluated the novelty performances of different countries. Meanwhile, findings of our IPC analysis can help enterprises to understand the major categories of data processing innovations for inventory management. Moreover, we also identified the core data processing technologies through the computation of citation strength.