The technology industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by the rapid emergence and widespread adoption of game-changing technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and mobility, and growing importance of technologies such as logic programming, rule-based systems, indexing and query optimization, and database management systems. These technologies collectively enable the reasoning, deduction, and retrieval capabilities of deductive databases, facilitating advanced data analysis, decision-making, and knowledge representation. In the last three years alone, there have been over 4.1 million patents filed and granted in the technology industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Big data in technology: deductive databases. Buy the report here.
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According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which uses over 1.5 million patents to analyze innovation intensity for the technology industry, there are 190+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Deductive databases is a key innovation area in big data
Deductive databases are a type of database system that employs logic programming to derive information from the stored data. By utilizing logic programming, deductive databases enable the representation of knowledge and the ability to reason with that knowledge. This enables the execution of more sophisticated queries compared to conventional relational databases.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 150+ companies, spanning technology vendors, established technology companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of deductive databases.
Key players in deductive databases – a disruptive innovation in the technology industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to deductive databases
| Company | Total patents (2010 - 2022) | Premium intelligence on the world's largest companies |
| ZTE | 16 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Dropbox | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Industrial and Commercial Bank of China | 22 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Inspur Software | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| NARI Technology | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Alibaba Group | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Salesforce | 20 | Unlock Company Profile |
| State Grid Corporation of China | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| SAP | 41 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Meta Platforms | 83 | Unlock Company Profile |
| General Electric | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| China Southern Power Grid | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Advanced New Technologies | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Tencent | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| IBM | 38 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Inspur Electronic Information Industry | 17 | Unlock Company Profile |
| China Mobile Communications Group | 7 | Unlock Company Profile |
| MongoDB | 17 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Qizhi Software (Beijing) | 5 | Unlock Company Profile |
| China Tower | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Cortica | 58 | Unlock Company Profile |
| SI-TECH Information Technology | 9 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Coupang | 12 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Guangzhou Tedao Information Technology | 24 | Unlock Company Profile |
| Babylon Partners | 6 | Unlock Company Profile |
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Meta Platforms is the leading patent in deductive databases. The company’s patents are aimed at an enhanced metadata structure and associated process to capture and store the metadata gathered about the source and usage of a media asset or file.
The source and usage metadata are integrated by encoding within the enhanced media file, as the media asset is transferred and used. The integrated metadata accumulates as a trail of source information and usage information in the enhanced media asset and can be extracted upon arrival at a target computer system.
Other prominent patent filers in the space include Cortica and SAP.
By geographic reach, Meta Platforms leads the pack, followed by Guangzhou Tedao Information Technology and Cortica. In terms of application diversity, Cortica holds the top position, followed by Coupang and Advanced New Technologies.
Deductive databases provide a powerful platform for representing, reasoning, and querying complex knowledge. It can handle intricate data relationships, perform automated reasoning, support advanced applications, and contribute to the advancement of knowledge-based systems and intelligent decision-making.
To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the technology industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Big Data.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
