초록
The purpose of this study was to analyze the patent application trend in the processing technology for medicinal herbs. Recently, in processing technology for medicinal herbs, experimental researches have frequently been published through papers in journals. However, the research results about the patent area were fewer than the others. We tried to analyze the patent application trend in nonthermal processing technologies for medicinal herbs by country as Korea, Japan, U.S.A. and Europe. The detailed technologies consisted of pulsed electric field, oscillatory magnetic field, intense pulsed light, ultrasonification, high hydrostatic pressure, microwave, radiation, Ohmic heating, and supercritical extraction. As a result we found that patents of nonthermal processing technologies has been growing steadily in quantity from 1980s and growing quickly since 2000s. The number of patent in Korea is larger than others as making up 70% in that whole. The number of patent in ultrasonification field was larger than others in portfolio analysis. Patent application trend in nonthermal processing technologies for ingestion occupies high share compared to other usage applications. In conclusion, patent trends of nonthermal processing technologies for medicinal herbs belong to the period in the development.