  We report on the development of an interface to the US Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO) that allows for the mapping of patent portfolios as overlays to
basemaps constructed from citation relations among all patents contained in
this database during the period 1976-2011. Both the interface and the data are
in the public domain; the freeware programs VOSViewer and/or Pajek can be used
for the visualization. These basemaps and overlays can be generated at both the
3-digit and 4-digit levels of the International Patent Classifications (IPC) of
the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The basemaps can provide a
stable mental framework for analysts to follow developments over searches for
different years, which can be animated. The full flexibility of the advanced
search engines of USPTO are available for generating sets of patents and/or
patent applications which can thus be visualized and compared. This instrument
allows for addressing questions about technological distance, diversity in
portfolios, and animating the developments of both technologies and
technological capacities of organizations over time.
