Report:PatBase/Viewing Results/Record Structure
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Record Structure
As mentioned in earlier sections of this report, PatBase defines families according to shared priority data, essentially in accordance with INPADOC policies, but with further corrections applied.[1] In addition, they apply some of their own algorithms to determine how these records should be displayed. The database assigns a self-generated accession number to each patent family, called the family number (FN). This internal number is always displayed at the top of any family record. Once a family is created, available classification, citation, priority, inventor and assignee data from each member is placed into aggregated data fields, which are then shown in the family display. In other words, a family record displays a complete list of data points compiled from the entire family. The record shown in the screenshot below is made up of 64 members, and available classification data for all documents is shown in the aggregated family record.
It’s worth noting that in most record display views, the classification data for each system (US, IPC, ECLA, F-I and F-Term, DEKLA, Locarno) is hyperlinked to interactive classification schedules. This means that the user can easily view the class description of a class that catches his/her eye, or seems to pop up in multiple records – and it is an example of the system incorporating outside public domain sources whenever possible for convenience. The most class data hyperlinks actually pull up classification data from external sites in most cases, such as the USPTO for US classes, German Patent Office (DPMA) website for DEKLA classes, and IPDL (a partner with the Japanese Patent Office) for Japanese F-Term and F-Index entries.
Even though super-sized family data fields are melded together from individual bibliographies into family records, PatBase uses an algorithm to choose a single “master patent” to display for the family record; this ensures that the user will be able to see more than just an artificially created family number when viewing a hit. The “master patent” is chosen by patenting authority in order of the following preference: United States (US), Patent Cooperation Treaty (WO/PCT), European Patent Office (EP), United Kingdom (GB), France (FR), Germany (DE). This hierarchy was chosen to favor English-language titles and abstracts wherever possible, and these are displayed for the individual family member alongside the aggregated classification, inventor and assignee fields.
Within the record, a smaller scrollable window will appear containing patent family by individual member. When users search by country or date, the family members that actually meet the given search criteria will appear highlighted in blue-green. This directs the searcher to individual records of interest within the larger family. If only these individual family members are of interest to the searcher, they can select a checkbox next to the record to mark it for later download or export, independent of its family data. To explore a family member further, users can click the patent number, which is an external link to the document image hosted on the espacenet database. Keyword-in-context text analysis can also single out individual documents for further analysis – for more information, see the Keyword-in-Context section, or the Hit Analysis section, both of which appear in a later section of this article.
The nature of these aggregated family data records means that in most of the suggested “displays” offered through the PatBase interface, a single record takes up quite a bit of space. Here is one example of how a record appears in the “Classic” display format:
As part of the May 2008 update, additional information is accessible when viewing a record. The information pertaining to the agent or representative who filed the patent application is now shown in the record. Also there are small blue circles with a question mark inside that link to more detailed information relating to the Agent(s) and the Designated States of the patent family.
When clicking on the Blue circle for in the Agent(s) row, one views a list of the agent of record and their address for each record in the patent family for US, EP and PCT publications. This information can be useful for a searcher trying to determine what law firms are doing work for particular inventors, companies, or technologies. It may also have use for applications without an assignee. This coverage applies to January 2008 applications onward. Applications before that date are not retroactively tagged. This data is keyword searchable. The figure below shows an example of "agent of record" data for an example patent family.
Clicking on the blue circle in the Designated States row shows a list of the designated country codes for each regional patenting authority record. (Applicants who submit their applications through a regional patenting authority, such as the Eurpean Patent Office or the World Intellectual Property Organization, must designate the countries where they intend to seek patent protection.) This data is searchable in PatBase.
Sources
- ↑ Adams, Stephen R. Information Sources in Patents, 2nd Edition. K.G. Saur, Munich. 2006. Page 157.
