PRIOR ART
provide tools to help identify an appropriate classification term to use. Alternatively, if a word search finds a key patent of interest then the classification terms on this document should be searched to expand retrieval.
Keep it simple
What may initially seem like a complicated search requirement can usually be broken down into more manageable smaller concepts which, when taken together, describe the invention. Te overall search can therefore be simplified by retrieving these smaller concepts separately using synonyms, proximity operators and classification schemes to create individual sets of results. Finally, these sets of concepts can be combined as appropriate to draw everything together into a search which encapsulates the invention. Tis is much easier than trying to search for the complete invention in a single search step.
Citation searching
Patent citations may come from either an applicant or a patent examiner and draw together documents with related content. Researching citations on patents of
another entry point into relevant prior art which interest is therefore
“AS PATENTS ARE OFTEN AT THE FOREFRONT OF TECHNOLOGY THERE MAY NOT EVEN BE ACCEPTED WORDS OR PHRASES IN GENERAL USE TO DESCRIBE THE KEY PARTS OF THE INVENTION.”
may be missed by other forms of searching. Te iterative search process of exploring citations on citations should be repeated until nothing further of interest is uncovered.
Ian Pearce is a training and information consultant at Dialog. He can be contacted at:
ian.pearce@
dialog.com
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
World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2012
85
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128