Research on the Extraction Techniques of Ginseng Based on Patent Analysis

Yu Huixian,Zhang Wenfeng,Yuan Hongmei

(School of Business Administration,Shenyang Pharmaceutical University,Shenyang 110016,China)

Abstract Objective To analyze the gaps between patents of ginseng extraction method in China and South Korea,and to provide research and development directions for Chinese companies.Methods By observing the changes in the amount of patent applications over time,the distribution of application countries and regions,the analysis of applicants,the extraction of technical topics,and the development and change of method,an in-depth discussion on the patent of ginseng extraction method in China and South Korea was conducted.Results and Conclusion China lacks the mastery of advanced technology and the exploration of popular fields,while South Korea is just the opposite of China.Therefore,Chinese enterprises should focus on extraction processes and actively explore new technical fields.

Keywords: ginseng extraction;patent analysis;ginseng industry

The chemical components of ginseng are complex,but because of its recognition by the public and its unique value,people everywhere try to use modern science and technology to extract its effective ingredients.With thorough research and clinical application,we have gradually found more suitable methods for extracting those ingredients.

Among them,ginsenosides,as the most important active ingredients,have always received widespread attention.Wang,et al.[1]used microwave extraction to extract ginsenosides from the roots of ginseng and American ginseng under pressure.Pu,et al.[2]proposed that fermentation could greatly improve ginseng’ content of rare saponins,the pharmacological activity and nutritional value,which have been widely used in the fields of food and cosmetics.The domestic literature on the extraction methods of ginseng’s active ingredients is the summary review of the extraction of a certain component,or a process study on a specific extraction method with detailed steps or influencing factors,which are of little significance for enterprises to conduct technological exploration for the ginseng extraction.In the literature on ginseng-related patent research,there is no introduction to the extraction process,but all are on the overall analysis of the patent of ginseng.In view of this,this article studies the development and hot spots of ginseng extraction method from the perspective of patent analysis,thus putting forward some suggestions for Chinese enterprises.

1 Research design

China has a long history of cultivation and application of ginseng.The chemical components of ginseng have the advantages of unique pharmacological effects and high application value.After people’s persistent exploration and accumulation of application experience,ginsenosides,ginseng polysaccharides and other ingredients are used in medicine,health food,cosmetics,and other fields with big market share.In the face of people’s increasing needs,extracting the effective ingredients of ginseng has become popular,and the development of ginseng extraction method has attracted people’s attention as well.

Pan’s research on ginseng patents showed that China,as a country with a long history of ginseng utilization,has fewer patent applications than foreign countries[3].Due to the lack of patent extraction method,the export of ginseng products is rough processed,and the profit margin is smaller than that of South Korea.There is a big gap in comparison.Gao,et al.[4]found that the industrial chain was chaotic and it was difficult to form a scale in his research on patents related to the ginseng industry.Besides,there was insufficient investment in technology and technological innovation in terms of extraction.Since South Korea currently has the most patented technologies related to ginseng,it has bigger market share[5].In the research on ginseng-related patents,there is no detailed research on patents of extraction technology[6]. Therefore,this article takes the patent documents of ginseng extraction technology as the object to analyze the development trends of the ginseng extraction.The extraction methods of ginseng in China and South Korea are compared to provide a reference for the technological development of Chinese enterprises.

1.1 Research ideas

This article uses the patents related to ginseng extraction method in China and South Korea as the data source.After statistically analyzing the application time and application area,the TF-IDF algorithm is used to extract keywords related to the technology scope of the top ten applicants.The research is analyzed in combination with the distribution of domestic applicants.The corresponding keywords are gotten after extracting topics through the LDA topic model.Based on this,the current research hotspots of ginseng extraction technology is studied.Finally TF-IDF algorithm is used extract key words from abstract and topics.Combined with keyword,the important patents in the corresponding period are screened,and a patent roadmap is drawn.After analyzing the development of ginseng extraction technology,the overall development trend and research hotspots are clarified,which can provide a reference for Chinese enterprises to make strategic decisions.

1.2 Research framework

This paper takes patent documents as the research object,and quantitatively analyzes the related patents of ginseng extraction method.Technical topics and corresponding keywords are extracted through the LDA theme model to judge technical hotspots.In addition,this paper also uses the TFIDF algorithm to extract keywords,which are used to select the important patents and draw the technical roadmap based on the timeline.The specific research framework is shown in Fig.1.

Fig.1 Research framework

1.3 Research methods

1.3.1 LDA topic model

LDA is an example of topic model that is used to classify text in a document to a particular topic.It is based on a three-layer Bayesian network structure and uses the relationship between text,topic,and words to solve semantic mining in text clustering.It ignores the order of words in the document and the grammatical structure of the document,forming a spatial model in which the document is classified by several topics,and the topic is composed of several words.This paper uses this method to extract the subject of ginseng extraction method and obtain the corresponding keyword distribution to determine the hot research areas.

1.3.2 TF-IDF algorithm

TF-IDF is a statistical method,which means term frequency and inverse document frequency.It is used to evaluate the importance of words in a text.TF refers to the frequency of the termtappearing in documentd.The connotation of IDF means that if there are fewer documents containingt,thennis smaller,the IDF will become larger.It indicates thatthas a good ability to be distinguished between categories,and it is easy to retain important words.This paper uses this algorithm to extract keywords from the patent abstracts over some time,so as to obtain higher-value patents for analysis.The TF-IDF algorithm formula is:

2 Results

In this article,the patent data of global ginseng extraction method is obtained based on the IncoPat shared patent information service platform.The keywords areti=(ginseng or red ginseng or American ginseng or Korean ginseng or black ginseng or wild ginseng or white ginseng).Andab=(extract).The time span is from January 1,1995 to December 31,2018.A total of 1 541 patents were retrieved.Since it is impossible to narrow down the scope of keywords for the extraction method,most of the retrieved patents are a certain composition containing a certain ginseng extract,which affects the precision rate.After cleaning and denoising,there are 533 patents left.

2.1 Trend analysis of patent applications for ginseng extraction method

In order to understand the overall development status of ginseng extraction method,this article observes the application date,as shown in Fig.2.

Fig.2 Annual patent applications for ginseng extraction method

It can be seen from Fig.2 that from 1995 to 2002,there are only a small number of patent applications related to ginseng extraction method each year,maintaining a low-level trend.It indicates that the research and development of ginseng extraction method is in the initial stage.Since 2003,the number of patent applications for ginseng extraction method has increased significantly,indicating that patent applications and protection related to ginseng extraction have been valued by people,attracting a large number of researchers and obtaining more research results.The research result reached the peak in 2008 because Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceuticals applied for 32 patents.In 2012,ginseng was approved to enter the food industry in China,so the domestic ginseng industry further expanded.After 2015,the number of applications dropped significantly.Because it takes time to apply for patent.Besides,patent disclosure and authorization also take some time.Therefore,the retrieved data is less than the actual data.Since 2006,the number of patent applications has fluctuated within a certain range,indicating that the ginseng extraction method has received continuous attention.Enterprises invest more resources to improve their competitiveness in ginseng industry.

2.2 Analysis of patent application for ginseng extraction method in different countries and regions

To understand the distribution of ginseng extraction methods in various countries and regions,and provide decision-making for the enterprises patent layout,this article analyzes the region of patent application,as shown in Fig.3.

Fig.3 Distribution of patent application of ginseng extraction method

Fig.3 clearly shows that the patents of ginseng extraction method are mainly distributed in China and South Korea,accounting for 87.81%.South Korea accounts for 12.01% more than China.China has 37.90% of the proportion due to its inherent advantage in the use of ginseng.Although Korean ginseng was introduced by China,its ginseng extraction products have a wide range of applications.It has advanced and diverse extraction method with more in-depth research.Ginseng extraction method is more widely used in China and South Korea,so Chinese enterprises should make a reasonable patent layout in both countries.

2.3 Analysis of applicants for ginseng extraction method

To understand the status of the main applicants for patents of ginseng extraction method,this paper selects the top ten applicants in terms of application volume.Then,the keywords are extracted from the patent abstracts based on the TF-IDF algorithm.After screening,the scope of extraction method involved in the statistical applicants is obtained,and the results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Top ten patent applicants for ginseng extraction method

We can see that Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd.has the largest number of applications,including 32 patents filed in 2008.The application scope is ethanol reflux technology and corresponding methods.But the application scope is relatively single.Among the top ten applicants,except for Tianjin Tasly Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd.,Jilin University,Hainan Asia Pharmaceutical Co.,Ltd.,and Tasly Pharmaceutical Group Co.,Ltd.,the other applicants are all from South Korea.Except for Jilin University,all other Chinese applicants are companies.In addition to companies and universities,Korean applicants also include research institutions and individuals.

In addition,the scope of domestic applicants is relatively simple,most are ethanol reflux extraction,elution method,macroporous adsorption resin method,and a small part of ultrasonic and ultra-high-pressure extraction.The Korean applicants are just the opposite.In addition to the traditional ethanol reflux method and decoction method,they have more research on enzyme treatment method,fermentation method,supercritical CO2extraction,and puffing method.Besides,they actively explore unknown areas,such as the use of radiation,electrolysis,freezing point,artificial gastric juice,and other methods to extract ginseng[7-10].

Compared with South Korea,China has a single exploration direction for ginseng extraction method.In combination with the content of the previous section,ethanol reflux technology is mostly used in the preparation of medicines,and methods such as enzyme treatment and fermentation are mostly used in the cosmetics and food industries.In terms of the degree of deep processing,China has lagged far behind.

In order to provide more help to domestic enterprises,this article analyzes the nature of domestic applicants,as shown in Fig.4.

Fig.4 The nature of domestic ginseng extraction patent applicants

Domestic applicants are dominated by enterprises,accounting for 60.18%.The differences between university,individual and other applicants are relatively small.Research institutions only account for 7.08%.This shows that in China,ginseng extraction method is not in the hands of enterprises.Therefore,enterprises should look for cooperation with universities and research institutes.Since individual and other types of applications in China account for 14.16%,enterprises should also consider purchasing patents from them to increase the conversion rate of patents to products,reflecting their dominant position in the market.

2.4 LDA topic model distribution in the field of ginseng extraction method

In order to understand the main directions of patent applications for ginseng extraction method,this article processes the text information of the patent abstracts and titles based on the LDA topic model.Through the LDA topic model,the highfrequency topic words of ginseng extraction patents are obtained.Then LDA topic extraction is performed by filtering stop words,word segmentation,and word merging methods.Finally,the topic words are divided into 7 groups,as shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Patent topic distribution of ginseng extraction based on LDA topic model

It can be seen from Table 2 that the reflux method is the basic process of ginseng extraction and it involves the most patents.At present,it mainly uses organic solvents such as ethanol as the extraction solvent.In addition,in recent years,the macroporous adsorption resin method,elution method and its organic combination method have been used to extract the effective components of ginseng.Due to the diversification of extraction solvents,it is widely used in the field of ginseng extraction.In traditional extraction methods,it has great advantages and is widely used in the preparation of medicines[11-14].Secondly,the fermentation process involves 127 patents,which is another main method of ginseng extraction.The fermentation process refers to the use of microorganisms to change various substances,and then to obtain the required active ingredients by using the resulting energy and metabolic intermediates.Lactic acid bacteria,Yeast and Bacillus subtilis are the main microorganisms used for ginseng fermentation.The fermentation process has now been transformed into a method that combines microorganisms and enzymes for extraction.Because enzymatic extraction has the advantages of mild conditions and complete products,the number of patent applications involving this method accounts for a large proportion[15-20].

The decocting method is a traditional extraction technology.It uses water as the extraction solvent to boil ginseng for a certain time and repeat it many times to obtain the required ingredients,but its scope of application is narrower than other methods.Ultrahigh pressure,microwave vacuum drying method,ultrasonic and supercritical CO2extraction,and puffing method,as emerging extraction methods,involve a certain number of patents.Because of their short extraction time and obvious advantages of significantly reducing production costs,they have been studied by technicians.Therefore,it can become the research direction of domestic enterprises[21-23].

2.5 Roadmap analysis of ginseng extraction method

In order to clarify the development trend of ginseng extraction method,this article draws a technical roadmap based on TF-IDF algorithm and Visio software.First,patents are filtered based on time,and keywords are extracted for all abstracts for the time when the number of patents is small.Secondly,when selecting keywords,such as “ginseng,the present invention,extraction,extract,method” are manually excluded.Among the remaining keywords,the top five keywords are selected for important patents.In the time when there is a large number of patents,keywords are extracted based on the topics,the first ten keywords are selected for screening.Then keyword extraction is performed on the selected patent abstracts.Lastly,important patents are selected based on the keywords extracted for the second time.According to the selected important patents,they are sorted on the drawn timeline to form the technical roadmap,as shown in Fig.5.

Fig.5 Roadmap of ginseng extraction method

The patents in Fig.5 are mainly patents filed in South Korea,followed by China.It can be seen from the figure that almost in each time,ginsenoside components are extracted.Therefore,the extraction of ginsenosides has always been a hot field.From 2007 to 2018,fermentation method was in the patents application in South Korea.Ginseng fermentation method has been a hot area of research in South Korea in recent years.The fermentation process has significantly increased the content of certain active ingredients in ginseng products,which can be applied to food,cosmetics,and other fields.China is more concerned about the extraction of ginseng polysaccharides than South Korea.The extraction of polysaccharides is a direction that can continue to be explored.In China,the exploration of ginseng extraction method remains in the field of medicine and process optimization.The patents applied in China are shown in the figure above.They are all specific methods,or in-depth research on extraction method for the preparation of certain preparations.Meanwhile,South Korea focuses on the production of red ginseng extracts or concentrates through fermentation and other processes,which are used in the production of food,wine,beverages,cosmetics,etc.,which adds more values to the products.

3 Suggestions

3.1 Overcoming the shortcomings and actively expanding the scope of technical exploration

Through the empirical analysis,the exploration of domestic ginseng extraction method is still based on traditional ethanol reflux extraction.Although it combines other method such as macroporous resin adsorption,the gap in is obvious compared with South Korea’s enzyme treatment,fermentation method,ultrasonic extraction,ultra-high-pressure method,supercritical CO2extraction,bionic extraction,electrolysis,radiation and other aspects.

In view of the fact that Chinese enterprises currently involve a single method,they can learn from the experience of South Korea to actively explore the current popular fermentation method,enzyme treatment and other methods.When they research on the characteristics and applications of Korean ginseng extraction methods and conduct patent search to make quantitative analysis,they can upgrade their industrial technology,which will improve market competitive advantages[24-27].Through patent analysis,we can also accurately grasp the dynamics of related patent applications at home and abroad,narrow the gap between Chinese patent level and the international level to seek a broader market prospect.

3.2 Discovering partners and improving innovation capabilities

Due to the long-term supply of ginseng raw materials in China,enterprises lack motivation for scientific research.Enterprises not only have poor research accumulation,but also lack good research methods.In recent years,the number of patent applications for ginseng extraction method in China has been increasing,but most of the applicants are companies or universities and research institutions alone.Meanwhile,Korean companies such as the Korean Ginseng Corporation and Chungnam University pay more attention to cooperation,saving costs and improving the quality of patents.

The inventor is the source and creator of technology,who has a certain influence on the technological innovation of enterprises.Therefore,the talent is of great significance in technological cooperation.A considerable part of the domestic ginseng extraction patent applications are universities and scientific researchers.Domestic enterprises should cooperate with universities or scientific research units to speed up the transformation of R&D technology to products,which can improve the technological advantages of enterprises.They can become more competitive with independent intellectual property rights[28,29].

3.3 Making full use of patents to increase the added value of ginseng extraction products

Domestic ginseng extraction method is mostly used in the research and development and preparation of medicines.Meanwhile,itis more used in the food and cosmetics industries in South Korea.Therefore,Korean ginseng products have the advantages of varieties,high technological content,and high added value.China’s ginseng industry is mainly based on the production of ginseng medicinal materials.Therefore,the development of cosmetic value of ginseng in China is insufficient,and the development of food,especially the functional products,is far from enough.The degree of deep processing of ginseng in China lags far behind South Korea.

In September 2012,the Ministry of Health of China approved ginseng as a “new resource food”.Although the state approves the entry of ginseng into the food industry,most companies are not wellprepared in this field.Chinese companies should achieve industrial upgrading and transform the production of raw materials to other ginseng products,thereby enhancing the market position of the ginseng industry.In addition,we should seize the opportunities to carry out the research and development of new products with high added value,such as food,cosmetics,and health products based on ginseng.

4 Conclusion

With the increasing demand for ginseng products,ginseng extraction method has also been continuously developed,and more efficient extraction method has become the research direction in recent years.According to the current literature on ginseng extraction,it is from the overview of the introduction methods or the optimization of the extraction process through experiments.In the literature on ginsengrelated patents,it does not focus on the content of ginseng extraction method.This article takes the ginseng extraction patent as the subject of research.Through combing the relevant literature,we use LDA topic model and TF-IDF algorithm to process patent documents.It is found that domestic ginseng extraction method has narrow technical scope,insufficient understanding of new technologies,and less contact between applicants.Compared with South Korea,the application scope of extraction method in China is narrow.In response to the above problems,Chinese companies should carefully review their technical shortcomings and seek the cooperation such as universities and research institutions to deepen their understanding of popular method,thus improving the quality of patents and possessing technical advantages.Besides,they should actively explore unknown areas and find new technologies to meet market needs.After learning from the experience of South Korea,they can explore the potential method of ginseng extraction to increase the added value of ginseng products.

Patent not only contains valuable knowledge and technical information,but also has strong novelty,creativity,and practicality.From the above analysis of patent statistics and technical roadmaps of ginseng extraction method,Chinese ginseng extraction method has a certain development space,and ginseng products also have great market potential.Since South Korea is the main competitor,Chinese companies should enhance their ability by analyzing competitors’strength through patents.At the same time,they can focus on exerting their own advantages to gain a dominant position in the global ginseng market competition.

Although this research has a certain contribution,it still has some limitations.First,this article only studies ginseng extraction method from the perspective of patents,without considering factors such as national policies and industrial foundations.Second,when the patent roadmap is analyzed,only the TF-IDF algorithm is used to extract important patents for abstracts and topics.Therefore,the future research should include patent citation analysis.