DATA SEARCHES
The two offices will continue to work with the Japanese Patent Office, the Korean Intellectual Property Office and the State Intellectual Property Office of the People’s Republic of China on even further simplification and standardisation of patent classification schemes.
Information aggregators such as ProQuest Dialog, however, have little or no control over the structure or content of classification schemes in the databases which they make available to searchers. The goal here is to make the classification scheme as accessible and meaningful as possible for users with a wide range of searching expertise.
A quick and simple way to start to explore any classification scheme is to run a basic keyword search for the main concepts of interest within a database and then to analyse the classification terms which have been applied to the documents retrieved. The most frequently occurring relevant classification terms can then be applied to a subsequent search to expand retrieval to documents which did not contain the original keywords used, but which are nevertheless of potential interest.
In the new ProQuest Dialog service, this analysis of the classification terms is undertaken simultaneously with the search and seamlessly presented to the searcher on the results screen. Additional lateral search links on classification terms within documents also allow the searcher to retrieve other, similarly indexed, documents. Both scenarios allow searchers to immerse themselves in a classification scheme which they may know little about, having started from a basic keyword search. For more advanced searchers, thesauri that can be fully browsed and searched also help in the identification of appropriate classification terms to use.
An interesting advancement of the use and simplification of classification schemes
“IN THE NEW PROQUEST DIALOG SERVICE, THIS ANALYSIS OF THE CLASSIFICATION TERMS IS UNDERTAKEN SIMULTANEOUSLY WITH THE SEARCH AND SEAMLESSLY PRESENTED TO THE SEARCHER ON THE RESULTS SCREEN.”
engineering should be aware that the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s Inspec database has mapped its own indexing schemes to the International Patent Cooperation (IPC), to facilitate the retrieval of relevant non-patent literature by means of a classification structure used for patents.
In both cases a new mass of documentation has been opened up to searchers who may be unfamiliar with the content or classification schemes normally used with them. n
Ian Pearce is a training and information consultant at Dialog. He can be contacted at:
ian.pearce@
dialog.com
has been an attempt to map a classification scheme intended for one type of document or technology into other areas. The business intelligence tool Innography, for example, has taken US trademark goods and services classification information and mapped this to patent classifications, with the aim of correlating trademarks and the products they represent to any underlying patents. This starts to open up novel search scenarios such as determining the patents that a trademarked product may be infringing.
In addition, anybody with an interest in electronics, computer science, physics, electrical, control, production or mechanical
50 World Intellectual Property Review May/June 2012
Ian Pearce began his career with Derwent Information and spent 12 years within the Thomson Corporation (now Thomson Reuters) in various roles. In 2006, he joined Dialog where he maintains responsibility for providing expert knowledge on Dialog and ProQuest Dialog content, platforms and applications. He holds a BSc Honours degree in chemistry with German.
www.worldipreview.com
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