觸控面板市場與專利：初期資料收集

我對觸控面板的專利認識不多。從BP這篇報導當起點，找了一些資料，很快地整理現有的資訊。
BP的報導：


BP只有提供比較粗的專利數趨勢圖。Touch User Interface在「Touch Screen Panel Key Patent Analysis」這篇有提供依技術類別的圓餅圖：

There are totally 5,584 patents regarding touch screen technology. They are U.S., Japanese, Korean, and European patents issued before June 14, 2008.

The inner circle illustrates a big picture of the technology: UI, component and panel. There are 1,383 UI patents (25%), 1,263 component patents (23%), and 2,938 (52%) panel patents.

The outer ring shows more detailed classified analysis results.

在上面所提供的內容中，觸控面板關鍵專利是什麼？
我先查了Wikipedia，在Touchscreen詞目的Development小節，提到：

Virtually all of the significant touchscreen technology patents were filed during the 1970s and 1980s and have expired. Touchscreen component manufacturing and product design are no longer encumbered by royalties or legalities with regard to patents and the manufacturing of touchscreen-enabled displays on all kinds of devices is widespread.

喔！？原來觸控面板的主要專利都已經過期了。
在About.com的Touch Screen，介紹兩個早期重要專利：


這兩個專利的Forward Citation簡表：


與觸控有關，前陣子最紅的是Apple多重觸控專利US Patent 7479949。這個專利可以讓Apple坐收多重觸控的授權金。在Engadget的「蘋果獲得『多重觸控』的專利許可，全世界『挫著等』？」這篇報導的回應中，不笑的老K告訴大家怎麼閱讀這個專利的重點。以下則是資策會科法中心的整理報導，你可以看到這個專利已經產生的威力：



之後，隨著資料的收集，再寫些分析心得。