"Now Even Kimchi is Made with Technology" – The Popularization of Kimchi Driven by Innovation

 

Today, Korean kimchi is a representative "K-food" widely sought after even overseas. It has become an everyday side dish easily found in supermarkets, making it more popular than ever before. Today, let's explore the patented technology that smartly facilitates the mass production of kimchi.

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The Foundation of Kimchi Making: Cabbage Salting

What is the most important step in making kimchi? It would be salting the cabbage. In kimchi making, salted cabbage is usually used. In the past, our mothers would painstakingly salt the cabbage by hand. But now, thanks to technology, large quantities of cabbage can be easily salted using machines.

Let's take a look at the technology and equipment.

This device is a cabbage salting machine that consists of a unit for washing the cabbage and a unit for supplying water, allowing for the efficient washing of large quantities of cabbage. When salting cabbage, the key is to salt it evenly with brine of a specific salinity. This technology maintains the brine concentration evenly and optimizes the tank's temperature to ensure efficient salting without any loss of effectiveness.

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KR10-2021-0090410, Discharge pickling device

The company, Daesang, known for its "Jongga Kimchi," has developed a device that quickly salts cabbage using vacuum technology. The distinctive feature of this technology is vacuum pressure. By injecting vacuum inside a sealed salting device, it expels air trapped between the cabbage leaves and allows brine to enter evenly between them, thus salting the cabbage quickly and evenly.

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KR10-2023-0191262,
Apparatus for rapid salting korean cabbage using vacuum and its method

The Korea Food Research Institute (KFRI) has developed a technology for spraying salt onto the cabbage during the salting process. The most crucial aspect of salting cabbage is ensuring the salt is evenly distributed. Manually salting the cabbage often leads to uneven salt distribution. This technology and device minimize salt usage and time, while maintaining consistent quality, maximizing the efficiency of kimchi production.

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KR10-2022-0140054,
Salt spray type kimchi pickling apparatus and salt spray type kimchi pickling method performed thereby

Time to Fill the Kimchi with Its Filling

Once the cabbage is salted, it's time to fill it with the kimchi paste made from various seasonings. The filling usually contains ingredients like chili powder, minced garlic, green onions, fermented shrimp, and other local specialties depending on the region. However, when making kimchi in large quantities, it's challenging to evenly distribute the various seasonings and fillings.

Kimchi filling
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To address this, a device for evenly filling the kimchi with its paste has been developed. The technology previously introduced by KFRI evenly injects brine between cabbage leaves, while this new device automatically and evenly distributes the kimchi filling between the cabbage leaves. This device includes a seasoning supply port, a cabbage supply port, and a mixing unit to ensure that fermented fish, seasonings, and spices are accurately and evenly distributed between the cabbage leaves.

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KR10-2020-0061364, Kimchi sauce stuffing device

Daesang has developed not only a cabbage salting device but also a system for automatically supplying seasonings to the kimchi. This system is designed to release seasoned liquids, including chopped vegetables and solid ingredients, evenly on the cabbage. It uses a rail system with seasoning containers placed at regular intervals, ensuring that the right amount of seasoning is applied to each cabbage.

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KR10-2022-0015070, Automatic seasoning supply system comprising solids

CJ CheilJedang, famous for "Bibigo Kimchi," has also developed a kimchi filling device. Unlike Daesang, CJ CheilJedang uses a "dumping lifter," a basket-like unit, to conveniently supply seasonings to the cabbage. By using this unit, they significantly reduce labor costs and processing time.

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KR10-2020-0126108, A device for filling kimchi seasoning into Korean cabbages

The Popularization of Kimchi through Technological Advancement

Today, we explored the technology behind smart kimchi making. We can see that advancements in technology and equipment are contributing to the popularization and mass production of kimchi. As a representative fermented food, kimchi also embodies the principles of science, making it an ongoing subject of research. We hope that with continued technological advancements, kimchi will become a food that everybody can enjoy all over the world.

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Forest Fire Prevention and Patents

 

Recently, a massive forest fire occurred in Korea, resulting in significant casualties. A major wildfire also broke out in Los Angeles, USA, this past January. Such large-scale forest fires are not unique to the United States or Korea. In this article, we will explore various technologies and devices aimed at preventing forest fires.

Forest fire in Yeongdeok
(source: Yonhap news)

Priority in Forest Fire Prevention: Monitoring

The biggest challenge in forest fires is the difficulty in accurately identifying the ignition point and its cause. Therefore, more precise and comprehensive forest fire monitoring is essential. So, what technologies and patents can help monitor forest fires?

First, the most basic method is a forest fire monitoring system using thermal sensors and CCTV. This invention uses thermal imaging cameras to detect smoke from a forest fire through video analysis, enabling early monitoring and detection from a long distance when a fire occurs.

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KR10-2023-0064787
Forest fire notification system using CCTV equipped with thermal sensor

Next, there is a system using LiDAR for forest fire monitoring. LiDAR technology emits laser beams and analyzes the reflected light from objects to detect and measure them. The atmospheric LiDAR used in this system can detect light that changes direction due to smoke particles scattered by a forest fire, which helps determine the occurrence of a fire.

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KR10-2023-0007219, Apparatus and method for forest fire monitoring using lidar

There is also a technology that can automatically detect forest fires using data measured from GPS and satellites. This method considers the temporal and spatial characteristics of the data measured by satellites, allowing automatic detection of forest fires. The occurrence of a fire can be verified through satellite images that reflect brightness and temperature transmitted to data processing devices.

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KR10-2023-0072359, Method and apparatus for detecting forest fire

Lastly, drones are used for fire monitoring. This method is particularly applied for monitoring and suppressing remaining embers rather than extinguishing large-scale forest fires. Drones equipped with thermal cameras, fire-extinguishing pellets, and wireless communication modules can identify embers at the fire site and extinguish them effectively by dropping fire-extinguishing pellets on the location.

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KR10-2022-0189211,
Drone for wildfire monitoring and suppression and controlling method thereof

Quick Suppression if a Forest Fire Occurs!

If the above methods fail to prevent a forest fire, quick suppression is necessary. Due to the mountainous terrain, wildfires can spread rapidly and extensively in a very short period. How can these fires be suppressed?

The most common method is aerial firefighting using firefighting helicopters. These helicopters transport tanks filled with fire retardants to the fire site and spray the retardant at a high pressure to suppress the fire. Their powerful performance enables fast and widespread fire suppression.

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KR10-2022-0053493, Apparatus for midair extinguishing using firefighting helicopter

The following is a technology and device that installs water tanks and sprinklers on mountains to extinguish forest fires more quickly and effectively. It can be applied especially to areas where fire helicopters are difficult to access. Here's how it works. It installs a large-capacity water tank on top of a mountain and sprinklers that spray water along the mountain's perimeter, and when a forest fire occurs, it remotely sprays water using a hose that can be controlled remotely.

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KR10-2022-0082455, Forest fire extinguishing system

There is also the use of robots for fire suppression. This invention is a multi-legged walking robot designed to spray firefighting water and suppress forest fires at the fire site.

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KR10-2023-0023764, Multi-legged walking robot for fire suppression

Reducing the Damage Caused by Forest Fires

With dry and windy weather, the damage from forest fires continues to increase. We hope that the above methods will help suppress wildfires and that we can return to a safe daily life soon.

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Family Diagram, check the patent family's relationship at a glance

  When applying to multiple countries based on a domestic application (original application), all patents and applications related to the original application are called patent family. It refers to all literature created by the first patent application filed at the patent office and the same patent application filed within the priority period at the patent office of another country. For companies, global strategies can be predicted by whether or not domestic patents are applied for in other countries. Since it is important to secure patent rights to conduct business in overseas markets, looking at the trends of patent family applications for companies can help predict which countries they will be active in.

The importance of patent family analysis can be summarized as follows:

. Identifying Technology Trends: By analyzing patent families, organizations can track the direction of technological advancements and identify key trends in specific industries. If multiple countries file patents for the same technology, it indicates that the technology is developing and gaining importance in that field.

. Competitive Analysis: Patent family analysis allows companies to assess the patenting patterns of competitors, providing insights into their R&D strategies, technological capabilities, and market focus. This helps organizations identify areas where they can achieve a competitive advantage.

. Market Entry Strategy: When a particular technology is protected by patents in multiple countries, it signals that the technology is likely to be valuable in those markets. This information can help companies develop market entry strategies or prioritize certain countries for patent filings.

. Patent Portfolio Management: Analyzing patent families helps companies evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their patent portfolios. By identifying valuable patents or redundant filings, businesses can make strategic decisions, such as acquiring additional patents or abandoning less relevant ones.

. Preventing Patent Disputes: Through patent family analysis, companies can identify whether a technology is already protected by patents in other regions or if competitors hold patents in key markets. This can help prevent costly patent litigation and conflicts by ensuring freedom to operate.

. Increasing R&D Efficiency: Patent family analysis helps avoid unnecessary duplication in research and development by identifying existing patents in other countries. This enables organizations to focus their efforts on innovative areas where protection is not already in place, improving overall R&D efficiency.

For these reasons, patent family analysis is a valuable tool for technology strategy, enhancing competitiveness, legal protection, and overall decision-making in the innovation process.

  WIPS Global has newly launched the ‘Family Diagram’ feature that allows quick and efficient review of patent family. In order to conveniently view the relationships between complex patent families, we provide a map-typed diagram that divides the relationships between documents into generations without restrictions on years or countries.

wipsglobal.com> Family analysis

You can see the overall structure at a glance by diagramming the family relationship in a map format. The picture above is a horizontally expanded relationship diagram in simple mode.

wipsglobal.com> Family analysis

The two screens above are relationship diagrams that can be viewed by year. They are provided based on the filing year of the family document. If one application has entered multiple countries, we recommend viewing it in a horizontal mode, and if one application continues to be divided, continued, or partially continued, we recommend viewing it in a vertical mode.

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If you select the ‘Details’ mode, you can examine the important items of the document in more detail. You can check information such as status, date, and number of claims. You can freely move the location of the document box.

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This is a case where there are many documents and the relationship types are diverse and complex. The colors are distinguished by relationship type, so you can intuitively understand what kind of relationship is formed by document. Eight types are provided, and only the types that exist in the family relationship are activated and displayed.

* 8 types - Provisional, priority, international application, division, continuation, continuation in part, re-issue, etc.

wipsglobal.com> Family analysis

When you select a specific document, the connection line showing the relationship between patents is highlighted, making it really convenient to review.

wipsglobal.com> Family analysis

If you need to review the contents of the patent document in detail, click the document box. The list of documents you clicked will be displayed on the right. Clicking on the patent number in the document list will link to the ‘View Details’. In addition, the document list can be linked to Easy Viewer, My Folder, Smart Angle, etc. to review or analyze.

So far, we have looked at the Family Diagram newly provided by WIPS Global. It is a really convenient feature that allows you to review complexly intertwined family relationships at a glance. Be sure to use it for family analysis.