Q: What is the coverage of the new First Level data within the file?
A: Coverage varies by data element, patent kind (e.g. applications, granted patents and utility models) and time. In general though:
- Original titles: Germany since 1968; EPO since 1978; US since 1975; PCT since 1978; Japan since 1975; Australia since 2004 and UK since 2004.
- Original abstracts: Germany since 2000; EPO since 1978 in English and 2000 in French or German; US since 1975 and PCT since 1978.
- First claim: Germany since 1968; EPO since 1991; US since 1993 and UK (database update 198409 to 199751).
- Inventor full name and associated address and original patent assignee and associated address: Germany since 1968; EPO since 1978; US since 1975; PCT since 1978 and Japan since 1977 (no addresses).
- Agent and associated address: Germany since 1968; EPO since 1978; US since 1975 and PCT since 1999.
At present the first claim is NOT available for PCT applications. In addition machine assisted translations of the JP original abstract and first claim are also NOT available.
Q: Historically Thomson Scientific included abstracts for many equivalent members of the patent family. Is this data still available ?
A: Yes, although this data is only available within the ABEQ field at the Member Patent Level. However in the case of GB-B, EP-B and US-A documents the equivalent abstract for certain time periods was actually the first or main claim and not a Thomson Scientific value-add abstract. For consistency this data has been moved to the new claims field at the Member Patent Level and so no longer qualifies as an equivalent abstract (ABEQ).
Q: What additional Thomson Scientific value-add abstracts are available ?
A: Approximately 750,000 additional abstracts have been made available in a text searchable format for the first time. The time period covered is 1995-1999. These “Documentation Abstracts” were the longest form of value-add abstracts prepared at the time and have been indexed in the ABDT field (Abstract, Documentation). In 1999 Thomson Scientific introduced the Extension Abstract which has been available since that time in the ABEX field on STN.
Q: Is it possible to search using the US national patent classification system ?
A: Yes. Original (Initial) US national classes as issued on the US document at the time of publication are available for US documents since 1975. This data is available at the Member Patent Level. At present Thomson Scientific is NOT updating the US national classes following any USPTO reclassification cycle. The introduction of this reclassification data is a planned future enhancement. When this data is introduced the Current US classes will be available at both the Invention and Member Patent Levels.
Q: Is it possible to search using the ECLA and F-terms patent classification systems?
A: No not at present. The introduction of this data are planned future enhancements.
Q: What are the Inventor Total (IN.T), Original Patent Assignee Total (PA.T) and Agent Total (AG.T) fields ?
A: Where possible Thomson Scientific has split inventor full names, original patent assignees and agent information from the associated inventor address, patent assignee address and agent address details. However, where it has not been possible to identify the constituent elements of the data the complete name and address information has still been made available within the corresponding “Total” field. In such cases the data is more suited to display rather than search.
Q: What is the Patent Assignee Limitation (PA.LIM) field ?
A: When creating the standardized version of the patent assignee (PA) Thomson Scientific does not take into account any country specific limitations on the assignees. This information is however now present as part of the Member Patent Level within the PA.LIM field. Additional fields available at the Member Patent Level are the original patent assignee (PAO), patent assignee address (PAA), patent assignee residence (PA.RES) and patent assignee nationality (PA.NAT) fields.
Q: How do I search the IPC Reform attributes ?
A: IPC Reform attributes are searchable using keywords in the IPC Reform keywords field (IPC.KW). They are linked to the respective IPC codes using (S) proximity.
Q: How is Thomson Scientific implementing the IPC Reform within DWPI?
A: Thomson Scientific will be embracing all aspects of the IPC Reform within DWPI. At the Invention Level the current IPCs for the patent family will be provided. At the Member Patent Level both the current and original IPCs for each member patent will be provided.
Q: Is IPC Reform reclassification data available within DWPI yet ?
A: No, not yet. This reclassification data will be added to the file in the coming months. IPC Reform data on documents issued since 1st January 2006 is available within the file.
Q: How can the IPC Reform IPCs codes be searched and displayed ?
A: At the Invention Level the current IPC Reform IPCs for the patent family are displayed in the fields IPCI and ICPR based on the source level attribute. IPCI contains IPCs with a source level attribute of “B” indicating “Original” and IPCR contains IPCs with a source level attribute of “R” indicating “Reclassification”. Note: on STN the “B” attribute has been indexed as “O” within the IPC Reform keywords field (IPC.KW) to indicate “Original” to avoid confusion with the “Basic” concept within patent families.
At the Member Patent Level the current and original IPC Reform IPCs for each constituent member patent will again be displayed in fields IPCI and IPCR according to the level attribute.
IPCI and IPCR are display fields only.
The /IPC index contains all IPCs irrespective of their status (e.g. Invention and Member Patent Levels, original and current, IPC Reform and IPC 1-7).
It is also possible to selectively search IPC Reform IPCs using the IPC.REF index. However this must be combined with the document level identifier if the search is to be restricted to the Member Patent Level only (Publication/DLVL) in more focused searches.
Q: What about pre-IPC Reform IPCs codes ?
A: IPC 1-7 IPCs continue to be available. Once all the IPC Reform reclassification data has been loaded they are most likely to be found as original IPCs at the Member Patent Level. New search and display fields have been introduced for IPC 1-7 IPCs which constitute original IPCs. These are IIC (Original, Main and Secondary), IICM (Original, Main), IICS (Original, Secondary), IICA (Original, Additional) and IICI (Original, Index).
However, as the IPC Reform reclassification data has not yet been loaded into DWPI then IPC 1-7 IPCs will also be found as current IPCs at both the Invention and Member Patent Levels. These continue to be searchable and displayable using the IC (Main and Secondary), ICM (Main), ICS (Secondary), ICA (Additional) and ICI (Index) fields.
The IC, ICM, ICS, ICA and ICI fields must be combined with the document level identifier (Publication/DLVL) if the search is to be restricted to the Member Patent Level only in more focused searches.
Q: What is the origin of the additional application information within the application number (AP) field ? Why does the application number (AP) field contain foreign priority information associated with a particular patent application ?
A: Historical application information whose origin has been impossible to determine was previously not output within DWPI. However for completeness it was decided to include this data as part of the reload. This data may comprise for example an application, continuation, division or even a foreign priority number.
Q: What data is available within the APTS (Application Number, Thomson Scientific) and PRTS (Priority Number, Thomson Scientific) fields ?
A: Complete application information has only been included within DWPI since 1992. Before then coverage varied according to patent issuing authority. Where possible historical gaps in the coverage of application and priority data have been filled using original data from DE, EP, US, PCT and JP sources. This additional data is available within the APTS and PRTS fields in combination with the application and priority information which has been recorded in DWPI over time (AP and PRN fields). AP and PRN do not contain this additionally sourced data.
Q: What additional DCR numbers are available and how have they been generated ?
A: Additional DCR numbers are available in the Enhanced Polymer Indexing field (auto-generated from the Specific Compound Numbers) and in the Chemical Coding field (auto-generated from the Specific Compound and Registry Numbers).
Q: The REP field is no longer available – where has it gone ?
A: References formerly listed in REP had not been updated since the end of 1997. This data has now been removed from DWPI as comprehensive and up-to-date citation searching is available within the Patents Citation Index, DPCI.
Q: There is a new search field /ANX - what does it comprise ?
A: Prior to 1970 Thomson Scientific had separate printed services operating independently. This newly available data allows for cross-referencing older documents which may have appeared in more than one printed service.
