• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.77-89
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• 2013

Objectives Tongue diagnosis is an important diagnostic method in traditional Eastern medicine, and it has a high potential to be used in the future healthcare because of easy, quick, and non-contact measuring features. Recently, research and development efforts on computerized tongue diagnosis systems (CTDS) have been active that led to the technical advancements in the field of photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms. In this study, we analyzed the trends in the CTDS patents. Using the WIPS search engine (www.wipsglobal.com), quantitative and qualitative patent analyses were performed through Korea, China, Japan, U.S.A and Europe. Methods For a systematic search and data analysis, we defined patent categories based on the application area and technical details. By applying thus-obtained categorical key words, we obtained 360 relevant patents on photographing techniques, image extraction and classification algorithms for the purpose of diagnosis or security. Results As a result, companies related to image acquisition, medical imaging and mobile devices and research groups of universities in East Asia were major patent applicants. In all the five countries, the number of patents have been increasing since 1980. In particular, technology related to color correction and image segmentation were most actively patented categories, and expected to continue a high application rate.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.60-68
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• 2012

Silicon wafer for making semiconductor devices and solar cell is used in the semiconductor and solar industry, respectively. Silicon wafer is produced by cutting with silicon ingot and sludge contains silicon occurs from cutting process. Generation of silicon sludge is increasing on developing all industry sectors which have need of semiconductor device. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the silicon sludge from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents and paper on the recycling technologies of the silicon sludge were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EU), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1982 to 2011. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.63-70
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• 2013

There are generated the hundreds of tons of waste electric wire per year due to replace for increase transmission capacity and/or replacement of old electric wire by Korea's national power grid and/or private industrial factories. Recently, the wire recycling technologies studied extensively in terms of effieiency by of economic aspects and environment aspects. In this paper, the patents and papers for the recycling technologies of spent electric wire were collected and analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1975 to 2011. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.76-84
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• 2008

There are several kinds of battery such as zinc-air battery, lithium battery, manganese dry battery, silver oxide battery, mercury battery, sodium-sulphur battery, lead battery, nickel-hydrogen secondary battery, nickel-cadmium battery, lithium ion battery and alkaline battery, etc. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the used battery from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents on the recycling technologies of the used manganese dry battery were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), and Korea (KR) from 1986 to 2006. Patents were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.16-25
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• 2012

There are several kinds of batteries such as zinc-air battery, lithium battery, Manganese dry battery, silver oxide battery, sodium-sulphur battery, lead acid battery, metal hydride secondary battery, nickel-cadmium battery, lithium ion battery, alkaline battery, etc. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the used battery from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents and published papers on the recycling technologies of the used battery were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EU), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journal articles from 1972 to 2011. Patents and journal articles were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journal articles were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.72-81
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• 2009

The demand for platinum group metals for various advanced industries has been growing due to their excellent physical and chemical properties. Since the deposit of platinum minerals are restricted to few countries, their recovery from various secondary resources has becomes an important issue to related industries for keeping the supply reliably. In this paper, patents on the metallurgical technologies for the platinum group metals were analyzed. The search of patent was limited to the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (IP), and Korea (KR) from 1986 to 2006. Patents were surveyed using key-words searching and selected by filtering criteria. The trend of patents was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.56-64
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• 2012

It is generally well known that PCB (Printed Circuit Board) is an electric component assembled by various metals mixed with plastics and ceramics. Accordingly, it is very important to extract metallic components from used PCBs from the point of view of recycling of used resources as well as an environmental protection. In this paper, patents and paper on the recycling technologies of PCB were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1980 to 2011. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.61-70
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• 2014

Tin has been widely used to solder, tin plated steel, bronze alloy, sputtering target for transparent electrode and chemical additives. It has been widely reported to the recycling technologies for tin scraps because of the scarcity and economic efficiency of the reserve. This study was analyzed by using open/registered patents KR, US, CN, JP and EP related to recycling technologies for processing scrap, sludges, waste fluid for plating process and spent alloy containing tin in between 1970 and 2013. Patents were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents were analyzed by year, country, appliant and technology.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.3 s.77
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• pp.50-60
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• 2007

There are several kinds of battery such as zinc-air battery, lithium battery, Manganese dry battery, silver oxide battery, mercury battery, sodium-sulphur battery, lead battery, nickel-hydrogen secondary battery, nickel-cadmium battery, lithium ion battery, alkaline battery, etc. These days it has been widely studied for the recycling technologies of the used battery from view points of economy and efficiency. In this paper, patents on the recycling technologies of the used lithium battery were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA(US), European Union(EP), Japan(JP), and Korea(KR) from 1986 to 2006. Patents were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.72-79
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• 2013

There is increasing interest to the development of environmental friendly products related global environment and health issue and it is very important technology for recycling contained hazardous substance that occur due to oxidation during used oils and fats of vegetable and animal to eco-friendly products. In this study, papers and patents for recycling technologies of used fat and vegetable oil as monomers were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1976 to 2012. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals were analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies. Such pretreatment purification, polymerization for monomer, and polymer manufacturing technology were ahead of the United States.