I would like to find software that maps groups of patent citations. In
other words, I would like to represent a patent classification on one
axis, the year on another axis, groups of patents as bubbles
corresponding to their size, and citations between the groups of
patents, either as lines with appropriate thickness, or lines with a
number attached. Standard tools in Microsoft Office only allow bubbles
to be displayed corresponding to the size of the group. The
connections they create between the bubbles are meaningless. Patent
citation mapping tools and services (e.g. Delphion, MicroPatent,
Questel) only map the citations to and from one patent at a time. I
have aggregated citations into a group to group format and would like
to display this visually. I am doing most of this work in Microsoft
Access, perhaps there are visual basic scripts to do this? Thank you.

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Clarification of Question by eric2004-ga on 02 Mar 2004 11:45 PST

Also, I am aware of VxInsight.

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Request for Question Clarification by nancylynn-ga on 02 Mar 2004 12:47 PST

Hello eric2004-ga:

I have tried contacting several software companies on your behalf, re:
your specific needs, but unfortunately, none of them have replied to
my inquiries.

This site, Patinformatics:
http://www.infotoday.com/searcher/oct02/trippe.htm
has a good roundup of several programs, incluidng:
 
Patentcitations.com 
http://www.Patentcitations.com
(Be sure to look at the menu to the right)

And

Wisdomain, which I contacted on your behalf, but which hasn't responded to me: 
http://www.wisdomain.com 

Do any of the programs cited here seem to be in the right ball park? 

If I'm on the wrong path entirely, I certainly hope one of my
colleagues can assist you.

Regards,
nancylynn-ga

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Clarification of Question by eric2004-ga on 02 Mar 2004 13:16 PST

Hi, 

most of the patent analysis services and software provide citation
information for single patents at a time. I have been to those
websites. I have also seen bizcharts, patentlab, derwent analytics,
and others discussed on the information today article. It may be a
better approach to simply look for a more general (not designed for
patents) type of program or script that can visually represent
citations.

Thank you

I'm afraid I can't find quite what you want. 

At least our dialogue here has clarified for other researchers just
what it is you're looking for. So, I certainly hope one of my (more
software savvy!)
colleagues can locate the program you need.

Regards,
nancylynn-ga

All right, thank you.