AIM-listed Arria NLG, whose natural language generation (NLG) technology helps clients crunch large amounts of word-based data, has secured two US patents over its software.Arria, whose shares have been hit by the stock market crunch in Big Data firms since its December flotation, said the patents extended its intellectual property portfolio to cover the recent work of Chief Scientist Ehud Reiter and his colleagues. Chairman and Chief Executive Stuart Rogers said: "As we work to extend Arria's installed base of solutions for the management of large data sets, we continue to build its patent portfolio through prosecution of existing patent applications and the filing of new ones covering a range of innovations in Big Data management through Natural Language Generation. "We believe that long-term shareholder value is fostered by commercial success and the creation of robust intellectual property assets, and we are pleased that the first US Patent and Trademark Office actions on our patent applications have been favorable to Arria."Earlier in June, full-year results showed losses doubled as a result of heavy investment in the business. Shares in Arria, which rose from their 100p debut to over 280p in the first days of trading before tumbling ever since, were up 2.1% to 58.7p on Tuesday. OH