Taking Mintzberg’s organizational structure theory as analysis framework， this paper examines the structural elements and operating mechanisms of patent navigation for universities in four case universities. The study found that the patent navigation of all the case universities was currently driven by the strategic high-level management and provided the operation core service through the middle line based on the existing intellectual property management system with the cooperation and support of the technical structure and supporting structure. Additionally， the case universities presented heterogeneity in the strategic high-level management， in specific， the intellectual property leadership team of different universities selected different department heads to join in， such as the head of the audit department， the graduate school， and the president’s office， which reflected different tendencies in intellectual property management decisions. The intellectual property management operations of the case universities were heterogeneous in terms of technical structure， which can be summarized into three types： operation-oriented， management-operation collaborative， and management-operation integrated. The paper suggests that in order to explore a path for patent navigation that adapts to the development of each university， university administrators should increase their emphasis on patent navigation and designate a project coordinator dedicated to coordinate patent navigation projects to ensure the balance among numerous administrators in the matrix structure； meanwhile， scientific researchers should change their inherent cognition， fully and deeply understand patent navigation， and effectively integrate it into scientific research.