A commodity index is compiled by looking at all of the patenting activity that are assigned to specific patent codes (USPC codes). Patent codes are individually selected that are applicable to the production, transport, or sale of specific commodities. The selection of codes is entirely subjective based on the evaluation of an analyst. The list of codes used in the index are available by request.

A company index is compiled from all of the patents specifically registered with a given company. No consideration is given to wholly or partly owned subsidiaries of a given company.

A country index is compiled from the patents specifically registered to persons or companies with addresses in a given country.

An industry index is compiled from the US patent classification codes which companies in that industry own patents. For instance, the Healthcare index would be created by aggregating the patent codes of patents owned by Merck and similar companies, then generating the index from all of the patents designated by those codes. Patent counts are assigned fractions for patents with multiple designations.

An organization type index is compiled by using all of the patents owned by organization within the organization type.

A region index is compiled using all patents whose owner addresses are listed within a given region of the country.

A technology index is compiled from all of the patents contained in the set of US Patent Classification codes which are deemed important to the production that technology. The selection of codes is entirely subjective based on the evaluation of an analyst. The list of codes used in the index are available by request.