Muscular fabric that helps strength

 

Muscle fabrics have been developed to aid in lifting heavy loads or rehabilitation training.

 

Robot Research at Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (KIMM),

In 2018, KIMM developed a smart robot prosthetic leg that significantly reduced weight, size, and power consumption while improving safety and durability. It measures the wearer's walking speed and the slope of the ground instantly, and adjusts the force of rotation and acceleration to help natural walking. In terms of price, the selling price was reduced from US$70,000 (80 million won) to US$13,000 (15 million won) (1/5).

wipsglobal.com
KR patent, 10-2207703
titled "Robot artificial leg and method of operating robot artificial leg"

Development of muscle fabric using Shape-memory alloy (SMA)

Since then, the KIMM has continued research on robots to help the disabled or the elderly with disabilities in walking. This time, a muscle fabric was developed using a shape-memory alloy. Shape-memory alloys have the mystical nature of returning to the original shape as it is given a constant temperature no matter how much the shape is changed. Because of these properties, it is also used in orthodontic wires, glasses, and various mechanical devices.

Fabric that lifts 1500 times weight

The researchers made a shape-memory alloy that is thinner than 1/2 of the hair in a spring-shaped thread, and then made it as if weaving a cloth together with a regular cloth. This palm-sized fabric can be cut or folded like a real fabric, weighs 6.6g which is only about a paper cup, but it can lift up to 10kg (2), and if you wear 700g, which is about the weight of jeans, it can lift up to 20kg (3). ). This muscle fabric is the electricity of a small battery that contracts and relaxes like the muscles of our body to add strength. It was confirmed that it can make it possible various movements such as sitting, standing, climbing stairs, lifting heavy loads using only 50% of the muscle strength that was normally used if the cloth was attached to the muscles of the legs or arms.

wipsglobal.com
KR patent, 10-1827815
titled "Artificial muscle, Manufacturing method for the artificial muscle module
and control system of the artificial muscle module"

wipsglobal.com
KR patent, 10-1922556 
titled "Muscular strength assistance device using the shape memory alloy spring"

Muscle fabric research and expansion of use

The research team plans to promote the technology transfer of wearable robots for assistive strength clothing in the future, and also plans to continue research on making the spring thread thinner. In addition, it’s expected that it will be possible to create a variety of new industries by applying muscle fabrics to a wide range of fields such as delivery service, wearable rehabilitation equipment, and massagers. We look forward to the day when this wearable robot is commercialized and many people in need of strength will get help.

[International IP Briefing] COVID-19, KR

 

COVID-19

US Forbes reported, Corona Vaccine R&D funding scale and company rankings.

 On May 6, 2021, Forbes, the US publishing and media company, reported the size and recipient company ranking of the ‘COVID-19 R&D Funding’, which was announced by the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute Geneva, Switzerland.

 According to this report, the countries with the largest fund in R&D of the COVID-19 vaccine were the US and Germany, respectively, investing about $2 billion and about $1.5 billion. It was confirmed that 98.12% of the approximately $5.9 billion (estimated) investment made by March 2021 was public funds.

 This R&D fund was found to be mainly used by private companies and academia, and after public funds, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) accounted for 22% of the total investment. Since it comes from the public sectors (97.18%), almost all investment support can be said to be public funds.

R&D investment for the COVID-19 vaccine is concentrated in high-income countries. Western European countries, the United States and Canada have received the most of the funding.

 As of March 2021, the ranking of the companies that received R&D funding for the COVID-19 vaccine are Moderna in 1^st with US$956.3 million, Janssen in 2^nd with  US$910.6m, and Pfizer /BioNTech in 3^rd with $833 million, followed by CureVac, the fourth place, with $741.7 million.

 

Original Source of this post, 

https://www.kiip.re.kr/board/trend/view.do?bd_gb=trend&bd_cd=2&bd_item=0&po_item_gb=&po_no=20410

 

KR

On May 10, 2021, the Korean Intellectual Property Office (KIPO) announced that Korea was ranked first for the declared Standard Essential Patent (declared SEP) which reported to the three International Organization for Standardization (ISO, IEC, ITU)؂1) in the world by 2020.

 Standard Essential Patent (SEP) refers to a patent that must be used to produce and sell products that use standard technologies such as LTE, 5G communication (5G), WiFi, Bluetooth, MP3, etc. 

However, it does not become a standard patent just by declaring it as a standard patent to a standardization organization.

Declared standard patent can be recognized as an actual standard patent only when it is confirmed that it conforms to the standard through verification of the necessity to determine whether it is consistent with the standard in the process of joining the standard patent pool or a patent litigation.

 In 2020, Korea ranked first in the world with 3,344 cases (23.5%), an increase of about 6.4 times compared to 519 cases in 2016 (5th in the world), followed by the United States with 2,793 cases (19.6%), followed by Finland with 2,579 cases (18.1%) in 3rd place, and Japan in 4th with 1,939 cases (13.6%), and France in 5th place with 1,283 cases (9.0%).

By institutions that have declared standard patents reported to the three International Organization for Standardization, Samsung Electronics (Korea) ranked first with 2,799 cases, followed by Nokia (Finland) with 2,559 cases, and Thompson Licensing (France) with 907 cases in 3^rd place, Apple (USA) ranked 4th with 350 cases, and Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (Korea) ranked 5th with 251 cases.

The reason for the rapid increase in the number of declared standard patents reported to the three major International Organization for Standardization  in 2020 is that in the second half of 2020, Samsung Electronics intensively declared about 2,500 video codec related patents in ISO/IEC JTC1.

Until now, the government has been striving to secure competitiveness in standard patents by linking R&D-standards-patents, such as fostering specialized patent agencies through mutual linkages with the Ministry of Science and ICT's and its 'Information Communication and Broadcasting Standard Development Support Project', ''National Standard Technology Enhancement Project” of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (Korean Agency for Technology and Standards)and KIPO's 'Standard Patent Creation Support Project'.

Status of Standard Essential Patents declared by
three major international organization for standardization (as of Dec. 2020)

1) ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
   IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) 
   ITU (International Telecommunication Union)

 

 

Original Source of this post, 

https://www.kiip.re.kr/board/trend/view.do?bd_gb=trend&bd_cd=1&bd_item=0&po_item_gb=&po_no=20416

Core information of the patent at a glance, Report

 

The patent documents contain a lot of information about the invention. Even a single document has a lot of details about core contents of the technology like background technology, invention descriptions, product features, etc. However, it is not easy to organize patent documents clearly because it is so vast. In this time, we will review the ‘Report’ feature that summarizes the main contents of a large amount of patent documents and prints them out in spread sheet format.

 

 The 'Report' feature of the WIPS Global is a service that allows users to view hundreds of patent documents at a glance by automating tasks that required a lot of time to edit patents one by one. ‘Report’ consists of a ‘Summary’, only the core information of the vast patent information can be extracted and viewed at a glance, and a ‘Techflow’, which allows you to grasp the overall trend of the technology by listing the selected patents in a time series.

⏫'Report' can be accessed from various paths such as the search result list, My Folder, and Easy Viewer.

First, ‘Summary’.

‘Summary’ is to summarize the main contents of the patent literature and makes it documentation.

Key contents such as the title of the invention, patent number, applicant name, abstract, drawing, IPC classification number, etc. can be printed on the screen without any additional works. You can export it to a MS-Word by using the download button in the lower left corner.

In the case of 1 document view, the main items can be freely arranged by the user with mouse dragging. (The 2 and 5 documents views are fixed format, so the position of the items cannot be changed)

When the setting is done and click ‘download’, the ‘Report’ of the selected document is output in MS-Word, and the file output in Word can be edited freely.

Second, 'Techflow' that allows you to see the developing status of a specific technology.

If you look at the developing status of a specific technology, you can see how the past technology has been supplemented and developed, and what are the limitations of the current technology. This kind of information is more effective to figure out when review with the drawing. You can see the overall flow of technology in the chart sorted by year.

Using the setting button, users can assign color to the specific applicant. The displayed color is applied in the downloaded spread sheet for the same.

The technological progress can be printed out as an Excel document. The documented file can be edited freely in the downloaded excel format.

 If you want to quickly organize a large amount of patent documents clearly, we recommend the 'Report'.

Hermes, Mushroom Leather Bag

 

As interest in eco-friendly products increases, vegan products are being actively produced in each field. This trend goes to the fashion world. When making products, they started using naturally degradable vegan leather instead of animal or chemical leather.

 Vegan leather made of pineapple and cactus,

In Vegan leather, there are pinatex made from pineapple leaves and stems and desserto made from cactus. Pinatex is a leather made by extracting fibers from pineapple leaves and stems and remove sticky parts, then lumping them together like a single cloth, and processing to make it light and flexible. Global brand 'Puma' has used Pinatex to produce shoes. Desserto goes through the process of drying the cactus for more than 3 days, then making it into powder and mixing it with other materials to make leather. Like animal skins, it is natural and breathable, and has the advantage of being able to use it for a long time with 10 years lifespan. Desserto is being commercialized not only in Mexico but also in Europe.

Maris Pineapple, Bag made of Pinatex

Collaboration between Hermes and MycoWorks, an alternative textile company,

Luxury brand Hermes also started producing vegan leather products. In collaboration with California-based startup MycoWorks, which specializes in alternative textiles, the company announced the launch of a vegan handbag made of mushroom leather. MycoWorks has developed and has a patent for Mycelium, a mycelium of horseshoe mushrooms. The hypna is a spore spreading out in the shape of a tube, and the mycelium is the hypna that gets entangled and collected.

Philip Ross, the CEO of MycoWorks, applied for a patent for the ‘method for producing fungus structures’ in 2011. Mycelium grows accordingly when the desired shape of the frame is made, creating a structure, and is naturally entangled uniformly and tightly, increasing its density. MycoWorks continued research by applying for a patent for the “Mycelium growth bed” to produce leather with a delicate thread structure and a touch and durability that is no different from animal skins.

wipsglobal.com
US patent, 16/657979
 "Mycelium Growth Bed with perforation layer and related method
for creating a uniform sheet of Mycelium from a solid state medium"

Hermes, that noticed this, signed an exclusive contract with MycoWorks, and MycoWorks completed the new material, Sylvania, for three years. As the Hermes requested, he produced the upgraded material from the latest fabric 'Lace' announced in 2020. This material is characterized by less emission of warming substances such as CO2 compared to artificial products using petroleum or products made from animal materials. It is expected to be released at the end of this year after processing the material at Hermes' factory and completing through a finishing process.

MycoWorks.com
Mushroom leather  bag

Animal skins take several years to manufacture, and 17,000 liters of water are required to produce 1 kg. On the other hand, vegan leather is receiving a lot of attention because it takes only a few days to harvest plants and requires only a small amount of water to reduce environmental pollution. As we are increasing the production of sustainable products with an interest in the environment in various fields, we look forward to the day when these products are popularized and used by many people.

Patent application trend of camping cars' technologies

 

With the emergence of COVID-19, it is not easy to even keep our daily life safely. Travel has become even more dangerous. Naturally, ‘camping’, which allows you to distance yourself from others as much as possible, has begun to emerge as an alternative. According to the statistics, customizing small cars has been allowed since last year, the number of motor home customizing has increased by 14 times1) compared to the previous year.

 If you've ever longed for someone who travels around the world in a camper, you may have looked for pictures at least once. A motorhome is literally a car or trailer equipped with accommodation devices. From exclusive vehicles such as caravans, there are also cases in which the interior of a general vehicle is renovated, or a tent is installed on the roof of the vehicle. Trailers range from small tent trailers to large, well-equipped trailers. It is a method of moving by connecting to another vehicle.

pixabay.com

 

In this patent trend analysis, we’re going to take a look at the patent application trend of technology2) related to 'camping car', which has recently attracted public attention.

1. Application status by year and country

About 5,700 patents related to camping cars have been filed in major countries3) over the past 20 years, which has increased sharply since 2013. By country, the US and China have the largest number of applications with approx. 30%, followed by Korea with approx. 10% and Germany with 9%. As long as the non-face-to-face life continues, patent activities are not expected to run down.

 

2. Application Status by Applicant

Looking at the status of each applicant, Dometic Corporation, Thor Industries, and Lippert Components were identified as the top applications. Sweden's Dometic Group was the leisure equipment division of electronics company Electrolux, but became independent in 2001 and provides various devices and control solutions related to camping. Thor Industries is an American recreational vehicle manufacturer with approx. 40% of the North American camper market. Airstream and Jayco, which are famous for their motorhomes, are also subsidiaries of Thor, and in 2018 they acquired Hymer, Germany's largest manufacturer of recreational vehicles. Meanwhile, Repert Components is an American recreational vehicle-related device and component manufacturer.

3. Application status by nationality

As a result of examining the applicant's nationality, the United States and China are the most, followed by Korea and Germany. In detail, the overall proportion of domestic applications was high with 80% of the total number of domestic applications. Of these, when comparing the United States, China, Korea and Germany, the proportion of foreigners in the United States and Germany is over 19% while that of China and Korea is less than 5%.

4. Family and citation status

Next, let's check the family status. While 69% of all patents owned a patent family in one country, there were cases of having patent family in more than 11 countries. The top applications are Sirius Technology (Norway) patents related to camping car toilets and Tomtom International (Netherlands) patents related to vehicle navigation.

On the other hand, when looking at the citation status, it was confirmed that 60% of the total was never cited, but about 7% were cited in 11 or more documents. Among these, the upper applications are a patent for the structure of a recreational vehicle of Alfa Leisure (USA), and for the position and motion control of recreational vehicles of Lippert Components (USA) and Actuant Corporation (USA).

5. Application Status by IPC

The patent classification code is concentrated on B60 (vehicles in general). If you look at it in detail, the B60P (vehicles for special loads of objects) is the most, followed by E04H, B60R, B60J, and B60H related to the internal/external device and control of the camper. You can also check out the trailer field B62D.

So far, we have looked at the trend of patent application of technology related to motorhomes. After a while, spring is coming, but the end of the pandemic is not visible. For the time being, the interest in camping seems to continue. In Korea, automakers entered the camping car market last year4). We look forward to seeing what will happen to the camping car industry in the future.

 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

< footnote >

1) Motorhome tuning increased by 3.7 times in the last 8 months... Deregulation and Corona Impact, 2020.11.17 (https://www.hankyung.com/car/article/202011177467Y )

2) Review focusing on vehicle structure and equipment for camping or technology related to operation and control

3) Patents in Korea, USA, Japan, China, EP, PCT, Germany, UK, France, Russia, India, and Taiwan

4) Hyundai Motor also entered the camping car market… Prices start at 48.99 million won, and on July 2, 2020 (https://news.mt.co.kr/mtview.php?no=2020070208374417416 )

 

 

Patents for improving the convenience of the disabled

 

People are concerned about rapidly developing technology and becoming an inhumane society. As new technologies are developed, human labor is replaced by machines, and children playing in the playground got stuck in digital.

 However, technology often comforts our hearts. They also become special and indispensable wings to some people.

Let's look at patents related to improving the convenience of the disabled.

wipsglobal.com
KR patent 10-1612010

Titled “Self-driving vehicle for handicapped person”

A patent designed to allow a disabled person in a wheelchair to conveniently ride and drive a vehicle alone.

wipsglobal.com
KR patent 10-1918399

Titled “Wearable Braille input device for blind people”

A patent designed to be worn as an accessory, so the visually impaired person can easily carry and access the mobile device.

wipsglobal.com
KR ​​10-2020-0118261

Titled “Robot to support independent activities for the disabled”

Patent designed to help people with physical disabilities who are inconvenient in activities through base module and mobile module.

wipsglobal.com
KR 10-1830908

Titled “Smart glass system for hearing-impaired communication”

A system that delivers the intention of the hearing impaired to the other party using augmented reality(AR) technology. A patent designed to enable free conversation between a hearing impaired person and a person who does not know sign language.

Trends in patent applications to improve the convenience of the disabled,

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), patent applications for assistive technology that help people with physical disabilities smooth their daily activities are increasing rapidly. Patent applications for assistive technology are growing at an annual rate of 17%, and the marketability is expanding through grafting with general medical devices and electronic devices.

The original post is written by LEE, Se-Bin and excerpted from the official blog of the KIPO.

Original source 

https://blog.naver.com/kipoworld2/222329103349

 

 

Can floor-noise be prevented with a patented method?

 

Increasing floor noise problem,

In Korea, it is common to have a quarrel or call the police over floor noise issues. It has become a serious social problem that goes beyond the inconvenience of neighbors to a tragedy. In particular, the conflict intensified as the time at home increased since COVID-19. According to an announcement by the Korea Environment Corporation, civil complaints on floor noise this year increased by more than 60% from last year.

clipartkorea.co.kr

Why can't we block the floor noise?

 The reason why floor noise cannot be blocked is due to structural problems of the house. Most apartments in Korea are wall Column Structures that support the load of the floor with walls. Because the noise in the house resonates through the wall, even a small sound is amplified as it crosses the wall, making it louder. Minimizing soundproof construction to reduce the cost is one of the reasons that cannot block the floor noise.

 Patent for construction technology to prevent floor noise

As the problem of floor noise increased, construction companies began to develop new construction methods. DL E&C has obtained a patent for the ‘Construction method of laying type buffer material and sound insulation structure in flooring using the same.' If the installation type buffer material is used, it can be quickly installed and makes excellent soundproofing effect.

Korea Land and Housing Corporation acquired a patent for the “Noise Absorption Structure of Slab Concrete Using Impact Mitigation Part”. By creating an empty space between the wall, the inter-floor noise is absorbed by the wall rather than passing directly over it.

wipsglobal.com
KR 10-2214059 "Noise absorption structure of slab concrete using impact mitigation part"

 Floor noise, I have to be careful first,

Even if a new construction method is developed to build a building, the already built building is vulnerable to floor noise. To prevent this problem, Daewoo E&C acquired a patent for “Apparatus and Method for Reducing Interlayer Noise”. This technology is a device that self-measures the noise generated in the house and informs you to control the noise yourself. It is expected to be helpful in disputes between neighbors as it is inexpensive to install and can manage noise by itself.

 

wipsglobal.com
KR 10-2185163 "Apparatus and method for reducing interlayer noise"

 With the prolonged COVID-19, the level of stress is getting higher. Hopefully that we can get through this difficult time well.