Ontology-based patent analysis for bike-sharing services: Identifying competitive advantages of a product-service business

Abstract

In modern cities, the desire to reduce carbon emissions and minimize energy consumption has led to the growth of bike-sharing services as a community approach to transportation. Key technologies are being developed and integrated into advanced bike-sharing systems. The technologies include hardware, software, and business models that support the services. This study integrates knowledge ontology, keyword extraction, K-means clustering, and a technology-function matrix to analyze the large intellectual property combinations of bike-sharing systems. The first stage of research provides a macro-overview of the current state of bike-sharing technologies. The second stage uses service blueprints to discover practical usages of technology patterns, focusing on the case of YouBike service in Taiwan with the implementation of bicycle locks and bike parking stations. A comprehensive literature review and the collection and analysis of patents forms a domain ontology that describes the interdisciplinary characteristics of bike-sharing depicted by a hierarchical schema. This study describes significant trends and future potential of bike-sharing derived from technology mining perspectives. The macro aspect of patent analysis demonstrates global invention trends, domain knowledge, the major keywords, IPC technology categories, and the innovation status of key technical themes. The highlights of critical R&D hotspots and cold spots are highlighted in the technology function matrix. The micro aspect of patent analysis reveals the success of patent applications in the bike-sharing industry. The results study uses YouBike patent technology as a case example to demonstrate the new perspectives for innovative technologies in the bike-sharing domain.