*IoT-Based Route Guidance Technology for the Visually Impaired in Indoor Area DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105549*

18 months have elapsed since the patent application is filed, the quantitative meaning of patents filed in 2019–2020 is not valid, so quantitative analysis is limited to the end of 2018.

Looking at the overall patent trend by year of the support system technology for the mobility handicapped, from a macroscopic point of view, except for a brief decrease around 2010, the overall number of applications has been steadily increased, and it has been shown to have increased rapidly since 2010 (**Figure 1**). Korea has 433 cases, occupying 17% of the total valid patents; China has 1078 cases, occupying 41% of the total patents; Japan has 151 cases, occupying 6% of the total patents; the USA has 720 cases, occupying 27% of the total patents; and Europe has 237 cases, occupying 9% of the total patents. Looking at the patent trend by year in Korea, the number of patents increased from 2010, and after a sharp increase and peak in 2014, it decreased in 2016 and then increased again. In the USA, patents started to increase from 2006. In 2015, 102 applications were filed, the most among major market countries, and it appears to be declining in 2018. Patents in China started to increase from 2011, and in 2018, 202 applications were filed, the most among major market countries, and it is increasing steadily. In Japan, patents increased sharply in the early 2000s, since then increased and decreased repetitively, but, overall, it showed an increasing trend, but it has been decreasing since 2018. In Europe, the number of patents started to increase from 2011, and in 2015, 34 applications were filed, the most among major market countries, and it has been declining since 2016 [8, 27, 28].

The technology market generally goes through stages of "Birth ⇒ Growth ⇒ Maturity ⇒ Decline ⇒ Recovery" (**Figure 2**). In the field of interactive support system technology for the mobility handicapped, accordingly as it was investigated that the number of applicants as well as the number of applications continued to increase from Section 1 (2003–2006) to Section 4 (2015–2018), it was analyzed that currently it was located in the growth stage. The growth stages of the technology market by country seem to have entered a period of growth. That is, the technology position of Korea patent (KIPO), US patent (USPTO), Chinese patents (SIPO), Japanese patent (JPO), and European patents (EPO) is analyzed to have entered a period of growth, as both the number of applications and the number of applicants were increasing from Section 1 (2003–2006) to Section 4 (2015–2018).

**Figure 2.** *Growth stage of technology market.*

The main examples of development related to the mobility support system for the visually impaired are shown in **Table 3**, and only a few of them are introduced in this section.



*IoT-Based Route Guidance Technology for the Visually Impaired in Indoor Area DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105549*

#### **Table 3.**

*Examples of technology development research and commercialization [9, 14–25].*
