Report:Espacenet/Search Syntax/Allowed Operators/Boolean and Proximity Operators

From Intellogist

< Report:Espacenet | Search Syntax | Allowed Operators

Report

Patent Coverage Map

This search system report was created by the Intellogist Team and is available for viewing only. If you'd like to share your knowledge on Intellogist, please visit the Best Practices, Glossary, or Community Reports pages. Registered users may be notified of any substantial changes to this report by placing a "watch" on the Revisions page, which is the last page listed in the table of contents. To learn more about using the Intellogist "watchlist," see the Watchlist Help page.

System Data
Overview
Major Recent Updates
System Features
Data Coverage
- Summary
- Patent Coverage
  - Full Text Coverage
  - Bibliographic Coverage
  - Images
  - Family Data
  - Legal Status Information
  - Citation Coverage
  - Updates
- Non Patent Coverage
  - XP Documents
Search Interface
- The Search Forms
- The Command Line Interface
Search Syntax
- Searchable Datafields
- Allowed Operators
  - Boolean and Proximity Operators
  - Truncation or Wildcard Operators
Viewing Results
Import, Export, and Download
Search History Interface
Usability
Company Strength
Customer Support
- Online Help Features
- Training
Security
Pricing
Other Features
Sources and Notes
Revisions

<< Searchable Datafields | Truncation or Wildcard Operators >>

Boolean and Proximity Operators

The three major Boolean operators (AND OR and NOT) are supported by all Espacenet search forms. In Smart search, the default operator is AND, left has precedence over right, and no operator has precedence by default. ^[1]

In addition, proximity and other operators are supported in the SmartSearch form. The section below is taken from the Espacenet help file, which describes these functions in more detail.^[1]

SmartSearch Operators

Proximity operators

prox/distance<n

Example: mouse prox/distance<3 trap
The system will find patents where the words mouse and trap are less than three words apart in the TXT identifier.

prox/unit=sentence

Example: mouse prox/unit=sentence trap
The system will find patents where the words mouse and trap happen to be in the same sentence in the TXT identifier.

prox/unit=paragraph trap

Example: mouse prox/unit=paragraph trap
The system will find patents where the words mouse and trap happen to be in the same paragraph in the TXT identifier.

prox/ordered

Example: ia=Apple prox/ordered ia=Corp
The system will retrieve documents having Apple Corp but not Corp Apple.

Comparison operators

= (Equal to)

This is the default relation.
Example: pa=siemens

all

When using this operator, all terms entered within quotes will be found within the field identifier, although perhaps not in the order in which they appear. Terms to be searched within a specific field identifier should be surrounded by quotation marks.
Example: ti all "paint brush hair"
This query will locate records where the words "paint," "brush," and "hair" are all present in the title.

any

When using this operator, any of the terms entered within quotes will be retrieved within the field identifier. Terms to be searched within a specific field identifier should be surrounded by quotation marks.
Example: ti any "motor engine"
This query will locate records where either the words "motor" or "engine" are present in the title.

Operators which are only valid for the publication date field identifier

within

Example: pd within "2005 2006" OR pd within "2005, 2006".

>= Greater than or equal to

Example: pd >=2005 will retrieve documents having a publication date higher than or equal to 2005.

<= Less than or equal to

Example: pd <=2005 will retrieve documents having a publication date less than or equal to 2005.

Sources

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 "Operators in Smart Search." Espacenet website, http://ep.Espacenet.com/help?locale=en_EP&method=handleHelpTopic&topic=operators. Accessed on April 11, 2011.

[a-1] 1.0 ^1.1 "Operators in Smart Search." Espacenet website, http://ep.Espacenet.com/help?locale=en_EP&method=handleHelpTopic&topic=operators. Accessed on April 11, 2011.

[1]