() refers to the statistics and ranking according to the number of patents of the patentee or patent applicant, so as to determine the main competitors.

Answer: D

The total analysis of competitors' patents refers to the statistics and ranking according to the number of patents of patentees or patent applicants (according to the habit of patent analysis in most countries, the number of patents usually refers to the number of invention patents, of course, the analysis should be appropriately adjusted according to the specific situation, because the patent strategy of some enterprises is mainly to apply for utility model patents) to determine the main competitors.