ABSTRACT
Objective This study analyzes the main technical fields and their mutual correlation concerning the international patents of acupuncture to provide decision support for the strategy of developing acupuncture related products.Methods Derwent Innovation Index was applied as the data source,Thomson Data Analyzer was adopted as the main analyzing tool,and the co-occurring clustering spectrum analysis method of international patent number (IPC) was used.Results Based on the retrieval and analyzed results,the main classification of international patent of acupuncture and the technical association diagram of Chinese medicine acupuncture patents were formed.Conclusion The main technical fields of acupuncture international patent included acupuncture needles,acupuncture instruments combined with drug and acupuncture instruments combined with modem physical methods as well as the point health care products.Among them,the methods applied in acupuncture,namely the magnetic therapy method,laser therapy,thermal therapy,roller and ball massage adopted in acupuncture point massage instruments which combine traditional herbal medicine,have already been the research hotspot of current acupuncture patent products.