Function-based Patent Landscape Analysis for Diabetes Technologies: Insights from the U.S. and China

Current cross-country patent structural approaches show that comparative studies utilizing SAO (subject–action–object) structures are limited in specific technical domains. This paper analyzes the functional types of expressions in diabetes-related patent texts from the United States and China by examining verb usage and the semantic categories of subject and object phrases. It proposes a method to identify and classify patent functions based on SAO structures, aiming to uncover linguistic preferences and technological characteristics in functional expression across the two countries. The findings reveal significant differences between U.S. and Chinese diabetes patents regarding functional type, structural composition, and semantic expression style, indicating tendencies toward system integration-oriented and pharmacological mechanism-oriented expressions, respectively. Additionally, the analysis of time evolution and field distribution highlights distinct technical rhythms and layout characteristics in each country. The framework introduced in this paper offers methodological support and an empirical foundation for patent semantic modeling and cross-country technology comparison research.