Report:Thomson Innovation/Search Interface/The Search Forms/Number Search
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Number Search
The figure below shows the publication number search interface in Innovation.
The Publications Number Search Style, as opposed to the Fielded Search Style, is selectable from the menu of tabs at the top of the Search Window. This mode is designed to allow the user to enter or ‘import’ one or more publication or DWPI accession numbers directly into Innovation.
The form directs the user through numbered steps to first select the number type that will be entered into the search form or uploaded (patent publication number or DWPI accession number). You must have DWPI entitlements to use the DWPI Accession Number search.[1] Then, the user can select the output type.
When performing a Publication Number Search, the user has a choice of four different output types (as long as all four are enabled by the account manager). They are:
- Result Set
- Work File
- Document Copies
- File Histories
When performing a DWPI Accession Number search, the user may only choose the Result Set or Work Folder output types.
When entering numbers into the search form, separate multiple publication numbers by spaces. If you paste in a list of publication numbers, they can be separated by semicolons, spaces, tabs, or line breaks, and the search form automatically reformats the list for you.[1] The search is not case sensitive, and dashes in a patent publication number are ignored by the search.[1]
Users may also select the Browse/Upload button to open the file selection dialog and choose a text (.txt) file of patent publication numbers or DWPI Accession Numbers to upload. It should be noted that you can't upload both patent publication numbers and DWPI accession numbers in the same file. According to the Thomson help file, your .txt file (or list pasted in the search form) may contain as many as 30,000 (for Express and Pro users) or 60,000 (for Analyst users) numbers when Result Set or Work File is selected as the output type. Document Copies are limited to 500 records, and File Histories are limited to 25 records.[1]
Thomson Innovation does provide some additional tutorial information about document numbers and the importance of including kind codes in a number search. The following information is provided in the system's help file:[1]
- Note: Some countries re-use core publication numbers for different inventions and rely on the Kind Code to establish the uniqueness of the number. Because of this, when doing a Publication Number search, it is always better to include the Kind Code in your search criteria. Countries/authorities who currently do not re-use core publication numbers are: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CH, CU, DD, DE, EP, ES, FR, GB, IL, NZ, SE, SU, TN, US, WO, and YU.
The help file also provides guidance on entering DWPI Accession Numbers:[1]
- DWPI Accession Numbers must follow one of the following patterns. YYYY is a four-digit year from 1966 onwards, and CCCCCC is a sequence of six alpha-numeric characters.
- YYYY-CCCCCC
- YYYYCCCCCC
Publication Number/DWPI Accession Number Discrepancies Window
After uploading a set of document numbers and executing a search on the query, the Thomson Innovation system will first validate the query. The system will inform users of three types of errors for publication numbers: missing country codes, invalid document number formats, or any numbers "out of range" or not contained in the database. Users have the option to save these "difficult" numbers to a .txt file for later review and individual investigation, or simply to remove them from the query altogether. For the numbers missing country codes, users also have the option to select a single country code from a drop down menu for all numbers show. The Thomson Innovation help file notes that DWPI accession numbers entered in a patent publication number search are displayed under Invalid format.[1]
The DWPI Accession Number Discrepancies window is nearly identical to the Publication Number Discrepancies window. It displays DWPI Accession Numbers not found, Invalid format, and Out of range numbers. For each of these discrepancies, users can choose to edit or remove the disputed numbers or simply remove all disputed numbers (which can be saved to a text file). Patent publications numbers entered in a DWPI accession number search are displayed under Invalid format.[1]
The help file notes that numbers with unresolved discrepancies will not appear in the results.[1]
Specialized Search
Within the Publication Number Search style, there is an expandable panel towards the bottom of the window called Specialized Search that is active if the user has selected the Result Set or Work File output type. Specialized Search allows the user to search for only a specialized set of information for the publication numbers entered. A screenshot of the Specialized Search form is below.
- Patent Citations: Result set will include forward citations, backward citations, or both for the searched publication numbers.
- Family Lookup: Choose INPADOC or DWPI family structure. Result set will include all family members for the searched publication numbers.
- Record Updates: Result set will include all searched publication numbers in which family, legal status, publication stage, citations or assignment has changed since the specified date.
