4. Creative micro-processes

This section describes the stages of the creative micro-process followed by the inventor each time he produces an idea during his invention macro-process. This process, represented in figure 4 , is made up of six stages: the idea germination stage, the creative disposition stage, the idea emergence stage, the idea immediate processing stage, the idea retention and disconnection stage and finally, the idea maturation stage. Of these stages, only stages 2 to 5 follow one another without interruption, over a short period of time, a few hours at most.