Report:PatBase/Viewing Results/Special Display Feature: Keywords in Context
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Special Display Feature: Keywords in Context
The disadvantage of the pre-defined record views is that they provide a lengthy summary of patent family data without making it immediately evident why the record may be of interest: one necessary feature in a search system is the ability to immediately jump to the keyword hit in a document. PatBase addresses this by offering a display feature called “Keyword in Context” (KWIC), which can be included in the “Custom” display format to allow users to see keyword hits within the document. This feature can be enabled by defining the "Custom" display format from the system's "Settings" menu.
The Keyword-in-Context field provides a high-altitude reviewing tool: it lets the user see the all parts of each full text record that contain the keywords of interest. By showing the keywords as they occur in the documents, PatBase’s interface allows the user to get an immediate impression of the relevant content. Further reading can then be performed by opening up the “full-text” viewing window.
Editor's Note:When selecting keyword excerpts to display, the system is very inclusive. This can be considered an advantage, or a disadvantage, depending on the needs of the user. When conducting a search with rather common keywords, for example, search “((helmet% w5 protect*) and impact*)” in title, abstract or claims, the KWIC field reports every single instance of ”helmet” and “protect,” as they occur in anywhere in the full text, and this can result in a very long KWIC display. However, when the search is focused towards relatively unusual keywords, the user might be interested in each occurrence.
The “keyword in context” feature can be displayed along with the family record while viewing hits. The highlighting scheme will be automatically determined by the program using the keywords from the text string, unless advanced highlighting features are turned on using the full-text viewing options, described in the next section. A similar function, called "hit analysis," can also be generated from the full-text record view page.
Editor's Note:Notably, the KWIC field is NOT restricted to displaying hits that occur in the title, abstract or claims of a document, even when the search was only conducted within these fields. Even more notably, the KWIC field will NOT be restricted to displaying excerpts containing keywords only when they occur within the distance specified by proximity operators. This can sometimes result in a KWIC that is full of too much “noise.” Here is an abbreviated example of a KWIC field resulting from the search described above. In several places, the keyword “helmet” is further than 5 words away from “protect.” Also, the KWIC analysis shows an excerpt from a description section, even thought the search took place in the title, abstract, and claims sections only. The tendancy for the KWIC display to show keyword hits beyond those asked for in the search string can tend to overload the KWIC display and make it less useful, especially if very common keywords are used. However, if this feature is used for less commonly occurring words, this inclusiveness may be beneficial.
