????專(zhuān)利是科技行業(yè)的命脈,。從去年的統(tǒng)計(jì)數(shù)字來(lái)看，科技行業(yè)依舊充滿了活力,。

????去年,，美國(guó)專(zhuān)利商標(biāo)局批準(zhǔn)了超過(guò)30萬(wàn)項(xiàng)實(shí)用專(zhuān)利，創(chuàng)下歷史新高,。所謂實(shí)用專(zhuān)利即與發(fā)明創(chuàng)造有關(guān)的專(zhuān)利,，不包括設(shè)計(jì)專(zhuān)利。這些專(zhuān)利使公司的發(fā)明獲得最長(zhǎng)二十年的保護(hù)期限,，進(jìn)而讓它們收獲大規(guī)模研發(fā)投入帶來(lái)的豐碩成果,。此外，這些專(zhuān)利還有另外一個(gè)好處：允許公司積累充足的知識(shí)產(chǎn)權(quán)儲(chǔ)備,，為未來(lái)的法律訴訟提供有力支持,。

????美國(guó)商業(yè)專(zhuān)利數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)公司市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)副總裁兼高級(jí)專(zhuān)利分析師拉里?卡迪表示：“恃強(qiáng)凌弱的人肯定不會(huì)選擇大個(gè)子。他們會(huì)去欺負(fù)弱小的人,?！痹摴镜臉I(yè)務(wù)之一就是維護(hù)專(zhuān)利數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)。

????在今年的排行榜中,，有哪些公司遙遙領(lǐng)先,？他們正在竭力保護(hù)哪些創(chuàng)意？

????1月,，商業(yè)專(zhuān)利數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)發(fā)布了2014年50家專(zhuān)利大戶排名,。《財(cái)富》雜志攜手該公司對(duì)這份排名進(jìn)行了研究,，其中大部分公司來(lái)自計(jì)算,、硬件與軟件制造和移動(dòng)技術(shù)領(lǐng)域。簡(jiǎn)而言之：技術(shù)專(zhuān)利普遍很專(zhuān)業(yè),。有時(shí)候,，甚至專(zhuān)業(yè)到令人麻木?？ǖ媳硎荆骸霸S多專(zhuān)利都非常普通,。專(zhuān)利文件內(nèi)容也很無(wú)聊。有時(shí)候你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)類(lèi)似蘋(píng)果手表這樣的專(zhuān)利,，但這簡(jiǎn)直就是鳳毛麟角,。”（蘋(píng)果公司在商業(yè)專(zhuān)利數(shù)據(jù)庫(kù)的2014年排行榜中名列第11位,。）

????但我們還是進(jìn)行了深入研究,?！敦?cái)富》調(diào)查了去年專(zhuān)利大戶獲得的專(zhuān)利，以確認(rèn)這些公司的最新研發(fā)成果,。在2014年“研發(fā)投入最多的十大公司排行榜”基礎(chǔ)上,，下面這份清單將更加詳細(xì)地介紹各大公司創(chuàng)新投入的方向和使用方式。

????我們的調(diào)查結(jié)果如下：

????Patents are the lifeblood of the tech industry—and if last year’s numbers are any indication, that sector is performing with vigor.

????More than 300,000 utility patents—those are the ones for inventions, rather than designs—were issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office last year, a record high. Such patents allow companies to put their inventions on lockdown for up to two decades, reaping rewards for significant R&D investments. And there’s another incentive: allowing businesses to stock up their intellectual property warchests and fortify their legal defenses.

????“If you’re a bully you’re not going to pick on the big kids,” says Larry Cady, vice president of marketing and senior patent analyst at IFI Claims Patent Services, a firm that maintains a database of patents. “You’re going to pick on the pipsqueaks.”

????So which companies are the head honchos? And what ideas are they bent on securing?

????Fortune partnered with IFI Claims, which last monthranked the top 50 patent assignees of 2014, in order to examine the major players’ patents—most of which involve computing, hardware and software manufacturing, and mobile technology. A word to the wise: technology patents can be, well, technical. Sometimes, mind-numbingly so. “A lot of patents tend to be very regular,” Cady says. “They’re not fun to read. Once in a while you see something like an Apple Watch, but that’s like finding a needle in a hay stack.” (Apple ranked 11 on IFI Claims’ 2014 list.)

????Well, we dug in anyway. Fortune peeked inside the patent caches of last year’s top earners to spot companies’ latest additions. What follows is a list expanding on our 2014 list of the top 10 R&D-spending companies, revealing with finer granularity where and how companies spend their innovation bucks.

????Here’s what we found.