The Development of Product and Process Claims in Blu-ray Technology

In their well-known theory Utterback and Abernathy [1] present insights into the dynamics of innovation. They distinguish product innovations from process innovations in a technological field, showing the different dynamics of each as well as their interplay in the course of time. We introduce a new method for measuring relevant variables of these dynamics by means of patent analysis. In particular, we develop a semantic tool for a rule-based categorization of patent claims. We select Blu-ray technology as a promising test field. It is a patent-active technology which has recently reached the maturity state of its life cycle, so that we have access to the full time scale of the Utterback and Abernathy model for analysis. Focusing on product claims and manufacturing process claims of Blu-ray patents, we cannot only provide insights into their dynamics, but can also link the time series to the phases described by Abernathy and Utterback. Our method does not just offer a new possibility to measure innovation dynamics for researchers in this field, it also helps managers in companies to obtain early information about a technology.