Process for facilitating the conception of inventions in a directed manner
First Claim
1. A method of facilitating the conception of one or more inventions in target market and/or technology areas by a group of one or more participants, the method comprising:
- (a) a set of one or more steps accomplished by a facilitator, comprising one or more steps selected from the group consisting of;
(i) communicating guidelines for creative thinking to the participants wherein the guidelines for creative thinking comprises creativity tools; and
(ii) facilitating any one or more of steps (b)(i) to (b)(vi); and
(b) a set of one or more steps accomplished by the participant(s), the set of steps comprising one or more steps are selected from the group consisting of;
(i) conceiving of and establishing a mess statement;
(ii) conceiving of facts, data, and/or relevant attributes relevant to the mess statement;
(iii) conceiving of problem statements related to the mess statement, wherein the problem statements are identified using creativity tools and/or creative stimuli comprising one or more of the facts, data, and/or relevant attributes identified in step (ii) as creative stimuli;
(iv) conceiving of elements of solutions to the problem statements, wherein the elements are conceived using creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step (b)(iii); and
(2) one or more of the facts, data, and attributes of step (b)(ii) as creative stimuli;
(v) conceiving of inventions using one or more creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the creativity tools communicated in step (a);
(2) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step (iii); and
(3) one or more of the elements conceived in step (iv); and
(vi) expanding one or more of the inventions conceived in step (v).
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Abstract
In general, in one aspect, the invention features a method of facilitating the conception of one or more inventions in a target market and/or technology areas by a group of one or more participants. The method may include the following; a set of one or more steps accomplished by a facilitator, and may include one or more of the following steps. First, communicating guidelines for creative thinking to the participants, wherein the guidelines for creative thinking may include creativity tools. Second, facilitating any one or more of the following steps: conceiving of and establishing a mess statement; conceiving of facts, data, and/or relevant attributes relevant to the mess statement; conceiving of problem statements related to the mess statement, wherein the problem statements may be identified using creativity tools and/or creative stimuli comprising one or more of the facts, data, and/or relevant attributes as creative stimuli; conceiving of elements of solutions to the problem statements, wherein the elements may be conceived using creative stimuli such as the problem statements and one or more of the facts, data, and attributes as creative stimuli; conceiving of inventions using one or more creative stimuli which may include stimuli selected from one or more creativity tools using one or more of the problem statements and one or more elements; and expanding one or more of the inventions.
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Citations
43 Claims
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1. A method of facilitating the conception of one or more inventions in target market and/or technology areas by a group of one or more participants, the method comprising:
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(a) a set of one or more steps accomplished by a facilitator, comprising one or more steps selected from the group consisting of;
(i) communicating guidelines for creative thinking to the participants wherein the guidelines for creative thinking comprises creativity tools; and
(ii) facilitating any one or more of steps (b)(i) to (b)(vi); and
(b) a set of one or more steps accomplished by the participant(s), the set of steps comprising one or more steps are selected from the group consisting of;
(i) conceiving of and establishing a mess statement;
(ii) conceiving of facts, data, and/or relevant attributes relevant to the mess statement;
(iii) conceiving of problem statements related to the mess statement, wherein the problem statements are identified using creativity tools and/or creative stimuli comprising one or more of the facts, data, and/or relevant attributes identified in step (ii) as creative stimuli;
(iv) conceiving of elements of solutions to the problem statements, wherein the elements are conceived using creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step (b)(iii); and
(2) one or more of the facts, data, and attributes of step (b)(ii) as creative stimuli;
(v) conceiving of inventions using one or more creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the creativity tools communicated in step (a);
(2) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step (iii); and
(3) one or more of the elements conceived in step (iv); and
(vi) expanding one or more of the inventions conceived in step (v). - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
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41. A method of facilitating the conception of one or more inventions in target market and/or technology areas by a group of one or more participants, the method comprising:
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(a) a set of one or more steps accomplished by a facilitator, comprising one or more steps selected from the group consisting of;
(i) communicating basic concepts of patentable inventions to the first group of participants;
(ii) training the first group of participants on creativity and associative thinking methods;
(iii) defining the target market and/or technology areas in which inventions are desired; and
(iv) communicating guidelines for creative thinking to the participants; and
(b) a set of one or more steps accomplished by the participant(s), the set of steps comprising one or more steps selected from the group consisting of;
(i) conceiving of and establishing a mess statement;
(ii) conceiving of facts, data, and/or relevant attributes relevant to the mess statement;
(iii) conceiving of problem statements related to the mess statement, wherein the problem statements are identified using creative stimuli comprising one or more of the facts, data, and/or relevant attributes identified in step 1(b)(ii) as creative stimuli;
(iv) conceiving of elements of solutions to the problem statements, wherein the elements are conceived using creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step 1(b)(iii); and
(2) one or more of the facts, data, and attributes of step 1(b)(ii) as creative stimuli;
(v) conceiving of inventions using one or more creative stimuli comprising stimuli selected from the group consisting of;
(1) one or more of the creativity tools;
(2) one or more of the problem statements conceived in step 1(b)(iii); and
(3) one or more of the elements conceived in step 1(b)(ii);
(vi) sharing the inventions with other participants of the first group of participants; and
(vii) expanding each of the inventions to broaden and determine a path to full enablement;
(c) assessing the inventions based on pre-determined criteria to identify a list of most valuable inventions; and
(d) communicating to a decision making group information about the inventions, the information comprising a ranking of the invention according to one or more business or technical criteria.
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42. A method of facilitating the conception of one or more inventions in target market and/or technology areas by a group of one or more participants, the method comprising:
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(a) providing a first group of participants, wherein the participants have sufficient technical knowledge that each of the first group of participants is capable of contributing to finding solutions to the technical problem;
(b) providing a facilitator with expertise in creative problem solving and inventive problem solving;
(c) providing a display medium;
(d) providing note pads in sufficient quantity for a one-to-one correlation with the first group of participants;
(e) providing to the first group of participants a plurality of pictures for use as visually identifying relationships (VIR) tools;
(f) providing small objects for use as Forced Fit tools; and
(g) providing sticky dots for use in Multi-Voting. - View Dependent Claims (43)
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Specification