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Search Language Description
The following is a brief description of the search language used by
the text search engine.
This language is valid in all entry fields except the patent number field.
SEARCH WORDS
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Case: the search is case-insensitive.
The case of operators, search words and words in the documents is ignored.
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Stemming: the search will be done for one or more
variations of the search word. For example, a search for the word,
assert
may return documents with "assertion", "asserts", "asserting", and so on.
If you don't want stemming, use the <WORD> operator.
Here's an example.
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Names: names of inventors, agents, attorneys and
assignees (when they are people names and not corporate names) are
stored as lastname firstname . Other tips:
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Do not put commas or periods in with your search words, they are ignored.
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Case does not matter; you may use lower case when entering a name.
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Stemming will occur on names.
If you search for inventor of billing, you will get back inventor's
with the name of "Bill". To prevent stemming, use
<word> billing
in your search.
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Nonalphanumeric characters:
/ and - are kept in the text index.
All other non-alphabetic and non-numeric characters are ignored.
-
Phrases:
to search for a phrase of several words, use doublequotes.
For example, "electric transformer".
PROXIMITY OPERATORS
<NEAR> search for two or more words within n number of
words of each other.
n is an integer between 1 and 1024. <NEAR> defaults to <NEAR/256>
<PARAGRAPH> same as <NEAR/100>
<SENTENCE> same as <NEAR/15>
<ORDER> specifies the order of words when
using <PARAGRAPH>, <SENTENCE> or <NEAR/n>
Syntax:
word1 <operator> word2
word1 <ORDER> <operator> word2
word1 <operator> word2 <operator> word3 ...
For multi-word searches, <operator> must be identical and
the search is for all words to be within n words of each other.
Examples:
robot <near> arm
wrist <sentence> hollow
wrist <near/5> pin <near/5> hollow
fiberglass <near> covering
rotating <order> <sentence> armature
LOGICAL OPERATORS
<AND> search for documents with all words.
<OR> search for documents with any word.
<ACCRUE> search for documents with any word. The more words found the better
the score.
<NOT> exclude documents with specified word. Used only with <AND>
and <OR>
Syntax: word1 <operator> word2
word1 <operator> word2 <operator> word3 ...
Examples:
cpu <or> processor
market <and> survey
(CD <or> cd) <and> platter
computer <and> <not> mainframe
<IN> search for word in a specific field of
the patent index.
The available fields are:
title -- for the title of the inventionabstract -- for the abstractassignee -- for the assignee namesinventor -- for the inventor namesagent -- for the agent/attorney/firmclaims -- for the claimsotherrefs -- for the other referencesusrefs -- for the U.S. referencesnames -- combines both assignee and inventorsummary -- combines both title and abstract
Syntax: word <in> field
word <in> (field1, field2, ...)
Examples:
algorithm <in> title
junction <in> (title, abstract, claims)
<WORD> search for the exact word; do not perform any stemming.
<THESAURUS> search for specified word as well as synonyms.
Syntax: <operator> word
Examples:
<word> memory
<thesaurus> shallow
WILDCARDS
* specifies zero or more alphanumeric characters
? specifies one alphanumeric character
Examples:
fire* will match fire, fires, fireman, firefighter, etc.
?am will match cam, ram, jam, etc.
Wickr* <near> Kumar
Note: Wildcards will lengthen the time of your search.
Be patient.
MORE EXAMPLES
golf ball
Searches for the phrase, "golf ball," in all fields of the
patent index.
"golf ball"<or>"golf tee"
Searches for patents with either the phrase, "golf ball,"
or, "golf tee."
"golf ball" <in> title
Searches for the phrase, "golf ball," in the title of the patent.
("golf ball" <and> <not> practice) <in>
title
Searches for patents with the phrase, "golf ball,"
but do not have the word, "practice," in the title.
"golf ball" <in> title <and> juhas
<in> inventor
Searches for patents with the phrase, "golf ball,"
in the title and the name, "juhas," in the inventor field.
"input/output" <near> connectivity
Searches for patents with the phrase, "input/output,"
along with the word, "connectivity," in any of the text fields.
("walker mark" <in> agent ) <and> (mainframe
<in> title)
Searches for patents where Mark Walker was the attorney and the word,
"mainframe," appears in the title. When searching for names, use the
last name followed by the first name. Case does not matter.
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