The United States is the place with the most patents in the world. Currently, the main forms of patents are: invention patent (Inversion Patent), reissue patent (reissued patent, independently numbered, and add: "Re" before the number), Plant Patent (Plant Patent, individually numbered, with the word "Plant" in front of the number), Design Patent (Design Patent), that is, appearance design, with a separate number preceded by "Des"), Defensive Publication (Defensive Publication, preceded by the patent number) "T") and reexamination certificate (reexamination certificate, using the original patent number, preceded by "BI"), etc.

In addition to publishing the specifications of the above patents, the U.S. Patent Office also publishes:

1. "Offcial Gazette of the Untied States Patent and Trade Mark" Office, the official gazette of the United States Patent and Trademark Office)

Founded in 1872, formerly known as the Patent Office Report. It is currently a weekly, and its reporting content is:

The first part covers various laws, notices, changes to classification tables, announcements of rules and regulations, and patent applications issued by the Patent and Trademark Office to the public. Judgment, dismissal and other related matters of the case.

The second part reports various patent contents: defensive announcements, re-announcement patents, plant patents, and invention patents. These were originally published in the Gazette in the form of abstracts, but are now published as the main claims of the patent specification. Before July 1952, the layout format was based on the order of patent numbers. Later, the patents were divided into three major categories: General and Mechanical, Chemical, and Electrical. Classification numbers and patent numbers are arranged in sequence.

The last part is various indexes, such as patentee index, classification index and geographical index of inventor's residence.

2. "Patent Index" (Index Patents)

It is an annual index published by the United States Patent Office. It is the main reference book for census of US patents. Before 1965, one volume was published every year, including an index of patentees and a classification. Later, due to the increasing number of patents, it was published in two volumes: the first volume (Part I) is the index of patentees (List of Patentees). Arranged in mixed alphabetical order by inventor and patentee. Inventor's name. Listed under the name of the patentee: invention title, patent number, date of approval, classification number and name of the assignee. Listed under the name of the patentee: see an inventor, patent number and classification number. The second part (Part) is the Index to Subject of Inventions. Prior to 1953 the index was organized alphabetically by invention subject. It was changed to a classification index in 1953, but the original name is still used. This index only lists patent numbers in order of major and minor class numbers. It has neither class names nor titles. It can only be used if the exact classification number is known. The index can retrieve relevant topics within a year. The classification index is divided into two parts, the first half is the main classification (Original Classification), and the second half is the cross reference classification (Cross Reference Classification). The disadvantage of this book is that it is published slowly, generally 1 to 2 years later than the gazette.

3. "U.S. Patent Classification" (Manual of Classification)

It is a must-have search tool for users of patent documents to search for U.S. patents through classification. This table was started in 1837 and has been revised and adjusted almost every year. It is currently the most detailed technical data classification table in the world.

The "Index to Classification" (Index to Classification) is an alphabetical index of classification numbers compiled to facilitate quick search of classification numbers.

"Concordance U. S. Patent Classification to International Patent Classification" (Concordance U. S. Patent Classification to International Patent Classification): In order to strengthen international cooperation and exchanges, the United States has established a Published patent specifications and patent gazettes are marked with the appropriate IPC number, but the domestic patent classification number is still the main one. This index is to help examiners and the public quickly find IPC numbers for comparison.

4. "Uniferm Index to Chemical Patents" (Uniferm Index to Chemical Patents)

This index is published by IFI (Information for Industry)/Plenum Data Company in the United States and was first published in 1950 Year, loose-leaf printing, *** divided into two volumes:

(1) Patent Abstract Index: The content reported in this index is exactly the same as that of the U.S. Patent Gazette. The difference is that the relevant chemical aspects of the United States within one year are included. The patents are singled out and given a new index number. The U.S. patent number has reached seven digits, and the index number can be compiled up to four digits to facilitate computer input and is published quarterly.

(2) Unit word index table: This table is published every quarter, but the following quarter includes the content of the previous quarter. The last quarter will summarize all the content for the whole year. For this reason, every time a subscriber receives a publication, he must eliminate the one he received last time and replace it with a new one. The contents of the table include: 1. General Terms (General Terms), printed in duplicate. The preparation method is to extract a number of units from the specification of each chemical patent (including materials) and adjust them, ranging from a few to more than a hundred. . An index number (representing the patent number) is included under each unit word. 2. Compound Terms. 3. Fragment Terms. 4. Patentee and assignee index (Assignee). 5. Class Codes. 6. Inventor index. 7. Patent number and index number comparison table.

In addition, the various patent review series published by Noyes Data Corporation (NDC) in the United States are very useful publications for collecting patent information on a certain topic. The classification principle of U.S. patents is very special. Its main features are:

1. Functional classification principle. Many categories (mainly mechanical categories) are classified according to the functions of the things themselves, and are placed under the name of each functional category. For example, Category 242 "Winding and Reeling" includes various winding devices such as motors, textile machines, and metal wire turrets.

2. Adopt a hierarchical classification method, that is, within each major category, it is further subdivided into several levels of subcategories according to themes. The first-level subclasses are called Main subclasses. Different numbers of dots are used under the main subclasses to represent different levels of subdivision. Each subclass has an independently written title, and the class number consists of numbers and letters. (temporary) composition. If the class number consists of a major class number and a minor class number, there is a "-" between them, such as 5-3. The level of classification and the relationship between upper and lower classes cannot be seen from the classification number alone. The meaning can only be known by reading the detailed list of categories in the classification table.

Example: Patent Classification Detailed Table

Fifth Category: Beds

First Class CLASS 5 BEDS

Second Class 1 MISCELLANEOUS

2R COMBINATION FURNTURE

Fourth level category 2B. . Beds in combination with sliding and swinging cabinet

Three level category 3. Table beds

Fourth level category 4. . Outfolding sides

5. . Unfolding bed enclosed

6. . Floding bed enclosed

7. . Sofa form< /p>

8 NESTED, TWIN AND STACKED

9R BERTH AND BUNKS

9B . . Double deck, two aligned vertical surfaces

As in the above example, Subcategory 1 is a second-level category, 3 is a third-level category, and 4 is a fourth-level category. There can be up to 7 levels. Categories at all levels are subordinate to their upper categories, so the meaning of lower categories should be judged together with the upper categories. For example, class number 7 belongs to 3, 3 belongs to 2R, and 2R belongs to 5. If you want to know the complete meaning of U.S. classification numbers 5-7. Then the four-level category words 5, 2R, 3, and 7 must be combined, which means "table, sofa bed combination furniture".

3. In the classification table, there are often irregularities in which large numbers are inserted in front of or in the middle of small numbers. There are also decimal points after the category numbers, such as 123-142.5. These are newly expanded categories, and Reflects the disorder of the American classification system. The contents reflected by the adjacent numbers of the major categories have nothing to do with each other, but the contents that are close to each other are far apart. For example, the classification number of furniture:

The major category number of "bed" is 5. "Chair" is 297, "Spring Pad" is 267, and "Cabinet" is 312.

4. Semicolons change frequently, with about 5% revisions every quarter. The US Patent Office will issue "Replacement Pages" every three months for category pages with changed content. Subscribers After receiving this "replacement page", the old page can be removed or attached to the front of the old page. When using, please pay attention to the year and month published in the header corner of each page of the classification table. In addition, the US Patent Office examiner has the right to modify or add temporary subclasses when processing an application. The specific method is to add English letters after the original subclass number. Once the new class number is determined, these temporary class numbers will be used. disappear.

These characteristics of the U.S. patent classification bring many difficulties to readers when searching, which requires users to have a high level of professional knowledge and be familiar with the U.S. patent classification system.

To easily find the U.S. Patent Classification Number, you can use the "Index to Classification". The index is organized in alphabetical order by the category name. The large and small class numbers are given on the right side of the class name. Use these small and large class numbers to verify in the patent classification manual. The disadvantage of this index is that it is not published in a timely manner. 1. Use the "U.S. Patent Gazette" to search

Steps:

1. Analyze the topic and determine the keywords;

2. Use the "Index to classification" button Find the major and minor category numbers in the order of keywords;

3. Use the "Manual of Classification" to verify in the order of the classification numbers. If it can be subdivided, the classification numbers of the lower classes should be used;

4. Search the patent number by the U.S. Patent Classification number in the Annual Patent Index (Index of Patents: Part Index to Subjects of Invention) or the General Index of Patent Classification, or you can also use the U.S. Patent Bulletin (Official Grazette) Find the patent number in the classification index;

5. At this time, according to the patent number, you can find the abstract content in the patent office bulletin of the current year in the order of the patent number;

6. Request patent specifications.

After screening, select relevant patent content and patent numbers, and request the U.S. Patent Specification (Specification of Patents) from the collection unit.

If you want to start with the patentee (Patentee) or inventor (Invento), you must use the patentee index in the Patent Office Gazette.

2. Use the chemical unit word index

Any topic related to the chemical industry (including the materials industry) can be directly searched using the chemical unit word index.

(1) First determine the keywords (unit words) according to the topic. For example, for the topic "Extreme pressure Lubricants for Gears", you can choose the keywords "Extreme Pressure Lubricant" and " Gear (gear);

(2) Use the general terms part of the unit word index, which can be found under two keywords:

EXTREME PRESURE LUBRICANT< /p>

1580 611 1812 3953 7724 1965 2486 287 458 1579

1970 1581 4592 81232155 457 1188 2969

2390 1971 5602 978326 652077

4170 3781 3105

81204335

GEAR

5250197156023953 3084 1965 5396 27674581409

81203651460377242015738614683439

378152832845 83068938 3559

5181　 433596069738

4845

*Note: There are no vertical lines drawn in the above table:

(3) From these two keywords, Found 10 unique index numbers.

Use the "Patent Number Index" to convert the above index numbers into corresponding patent numbers, and then check the patent gazette or patent specification based on the obtained patent number.

Japanese patent documents and their search Japanese patent specifications are called "Gazette", which is a complete collection of various Japanese patent specifications in six forms: "Patent Gazette" from 1885 (Meiji 18). Starting from the publication of more important inventions, commonly known as large patents; starting from the "Utility Model Gazette" (Meiji 38), small creations and new designs such as structures and forms were published, equivalent to utility models, commonly known as small patents; "Open Patents" The "Trademark Gazette" (started in 1888) and the "Trademark Gazette" (started in 1884) respectively publish industrial designs and trademark designs.

The publication of patent specifications in Japan is different from other countries, mainly in:

< p>1. Publish a bound version (except for the Official Gazette)

The Official Gazette refers to the "Patent Cooperation Treaty" (PCT). After it began to accept international patent applications on June 1, 1978, it has The priority application is filed 18 months from the date of application. In the internationally published specification, the designated country includes Japan. According to the treaty, the translation must be submitted to the patent office of the designated country within 20 months from the filing date. The Japanese Patent Office publishes these Japanese translations through the "Public Patent Gazette" and the "Public Utility Model Gazette". Japanese who apply for an international patent through the PCT no longer need to submit a translation to the Japan Patent Office, nor publish it in the "Official Gazette". Instead, they will publish a separate publication titled "International Disclosure of Japanese Patents Based on the Patent Cooperation Treaty" and "Utility Model Registration" willing".

2. Published in volumes according to industry scope

After 1950, it was divided into seven industrial departments (7 volumes) and published. Each industry department includes several major patent categories in the Japanese Patent Classification Table. Category, due to the large volume of some volumes, it was changed to 14 divisions (14 volumes) in July 1972. After 1980, it was published in 26 divisions (26 volumes), and each division was divided according to the International Patent Classification. The department and district code are indicated on the official gazette.

*Note: Here is a table (page 241):

3. Covers and table of contents of various communiqués

Showa 57 (1982). 7.2 Issuance

Patent Gazette

57(1982)-779[22912]

Department 6

Second Division (Optics: Expression: Impact

6(2)-31(151)

Patent Application Announcement No. 57-31121~31160

Japanese Patent Office

Cover: If "Showa 57 (1982). 7. 2 Release" appears, it means the release date is July 2, 1982;

57 (1982~779[22912] is 1982 ( The 779th volume published in Showa 57); the 22912th volume published from 1950;

6(2)~31[512] is the 31st volume published that year in Part 6, Part 2, from 1980 512 volumes published since the implementation of 7 departments and 26 divisions in 2016;

"Charter Application Announcement No. 57~31121~31160" is the starting and ending announcement number;

Contents: Example:

*Note: Here is a table (below page 243):

If there is the word "trial" before the public account, it means that the announcement manual was decided after a trial;

"Please": Indicates that a review request has been made for the disclosure specification;

"Previous": The announcement was decided after preliminary review;

"Public": Relevant to prevent Pollution-hazardous technology

“※”: The patentee has the intention to transfer the patent rights and license the use;

“International”: The international patent application through the PCT is announced. The Japanese Patent Classification was formulated in 1893 and has been revised many times. Japanese publishing organizations also have multiple versions. Generally, in front of the "Classification List" there is an industrial sector classification table for the publication of patents and utility model patents and announcements. There are also major categories of the classification table.

The "Japan Patent Classification Table" adopts a classification method based on application technology concepts and a hierarchical structure. For example:

*Note: Here is a table (page 244):

The specific classification number is written as "class + secondary class + subdivision number". For example, the Japanese patent classification number of "drainage purification equipment" is 91C911

From January 1, 1980, the "Japanese Patent Classification Table" was deactivated and replaced by the "International Patent Classification Table". When using the IPC number, each subclass and each separate Class numbers have been supplemented. For example, the "auxiliary class number" added to C02F is a class number added to the Japanese version of IPC. Its purpose is to combine the functional concept classification with the application concept classification, and use both to make the search more accurate and more suitable for Japan. Classification of people, both consisting of three uppercase English letters, such as CCK, CCL, etc. Another example is that there are three class numbers 101, 102, and 103 under the C02F1/46 class number. It is also an "expanded class number" added for subdivision. For example, it will appear in the Japanese version of IPC:

C02F water. Wastewater

__ __

Auxiliary class number

Application scope 1/00 -11/20

CCK. Oily substances

CCL. Mineral oil

:

:

__ __

1/00 Water and wastewater treatment

1/02. Heating treatment

:

:

In order to facilitate the comparison between Japanese patent classification numbers and IPC numbers, the Japan Patent Information Center publishes the Japanese Patent Classification International Patent Classification Comparison Table ("Japan Patent Classification International Patent Classification Comparison Table") Japan There are two categories of patent search tools: index and abstract. The index can be used alone, that is, the patent announcement number can be found from the index, and the gazette can be directly consulted to obtain the patent specification. It can also be used in conjunction with the abstract, that is, to search the patent announcement number from the index, then check the abstract, and then check the gazette after screening to obtain the full text of the patent specification.

1. Patent Index

There are three indexes for searching patent gazettes for patents and utility models: periodicals, annuals and cumulative annuals.

When the "International Patent and Utility Model Standard Index" (Express Edition) adopted Japanese patent classification numbers (before 1979), it was called the "Japanese Patent and Utility Model Standard Index" 》 (Express Edition), a semi-monthly publication. Before the annual index was out of print, this index was mainly used for searching. The content is divided into two parts: "Patent Application Announcement" (formally approved patents) and "Patent Application Publication" (patent applications published in advance without approval). Each part includes two parts: classification index and applicant index. The classification index style is as follows:

*Note: Here is a table (page 246):

First column: IPC number. The annotations behind the number are:

" ": Main classification number (first invention information)

"①": Secondary invention patent classification number

"Reference ①": First reference classification number

"Phase": Supplementary classification number

Second column: Patent announcement number or publication number, which is the Japanese Patent Office's review of the patent application Four forms are used to publish the patent specifications for public review and draw numbers. A patent number will be given after formal approval, but the patent specification will no longer be published. The Japanese patent numbers excerpted from various countries' abstracts are actually announcement numbers or publication numbers. If the searcher finds the official patent number from other channels and wants to check its abstract or patent specification, he must also use the "Patent Number and Publication Number Comparison Table" to convert the patent number into a public notice number to find the patent specification. This comparison table is generally published in the "Official Gazette". If there is the word "please" before the publication number, it means that the patent application has submitted a request for review to the Patent Office.

The third column: the first invention classification number of the invention. If the "IPC number" in the first column of the invention is "issued", this column is blank;

Column 4: Invention title. In the brackets after the invention title in the foreign index section, in addition to the priority country code and priority date, there is also the priority application number, such as (US1976-9-07) (721124), which is the United States priority application. The date is September 7, 1976, and the priority application number is 721124.

Column 5: Name of the applicant

"Japan Patent Comprehensive Index Yearbook" and "Public Patent Utility Model Index Yearbook". " are the annual cumulative editions of the announcement and public editions of the standard index respectively, and the "General Catalog of Patent Classification and General Catalog of Utility Model Classification" is a multi-year cumulative index.

2. Patent Abstracts

There are two abstract publications of the Japan Patent Office that report patent abstracts: one is "Patent·Utility Model Report", which specifically reports on patents that have been formally approved, including Patent Gazette and Utility Model Gazette; the other is "Open Patent Publication". "Wish to Copy" specializes in reporting patent gazettes and utility model gazettes that have not been approved and have been published in advance.

"Patent and Utility Model Gazette" is a ten-year publication with 36 issues per year, and each issue reports "patent gazettes" published within 10 days. Gazette" and "Utility Model Gazette" include the header part, invention title, claims part and main drawings. At the front of "Collected Reports" there is a page number list basically arranged in the order of major categories, and then there is. The catalog of patent announcements and utility model announcements arranged in order of announcement numbers includes five columns: announcement number, classification number, application number, invention title and applicant's country name.

The main parts of the "Collected Reports". The content is arranged in the order of categories (Japanese Patent Classification in 1979, and IPC number after 1979). Patent first, then utility model, the "Jibao" can be searched directly by classification number. It must be noted that all relevant cross-class numbers are found, otherwise there will be omissions. Since the content arrangement only appears in the main classification (the first invention classification number), it is also important to note that cross-class numbers are not repeated. Do not confuse the Patent Announcement Number with the Utility Model Announcement.

"Public Patent Application Transcript" is a summary of the "Public Patent Gazette" instructions. The publication method corresponds to the "Public Patent Gazette" and is also based on industry. The volumes are divided into departments, and each volume contains abstracts of 100 disclosed inventions. In front of each volume of abstracts is a catalog index of the inventions included in the volume, arranged in the order of publication number and classification number; the abstract section contains three items per day. Public patent abstracts include each description item, abstract and main drawings

3. General search methods

There are three ways to search for patent information using the Japanese patent index and abstracts: namely, classification method. , patentee channel and patent number channel.

The following uses an example to illustrate the search method for classification pathways.

Example: Manufacturing method of flame-retardant epoxy resin

(1) Analyze the subject and find out from the IPC table that the IPC number is C08G58/18.

(2) Use the "Title Index" or the "Category Index" in the "Index Yearbook" to search for the patent announcement number or publication number under the number. For example, it can be found in the "Announcement":

International Patent Classification Announcement Number Invention Name

C08G59/1842972 Flame-retardant epoxy resin composition

(3) Based on this announcement number, check the homepage table of "Patent Application Announcement Category Index" at the front of this volume and learn that its abstract and patent specification are published in the volume indicated by the following items:

Announcement number of the annual general public number department and divisional annual general public number on the issuance date

10th (Wood) 10743(3)-79(728)3063042921~

(4) According to Use the announcement number 42921~ and the announcement date to find the "Collected Newspaper" that published the patent abstract No. 42927. Since the "Standard Index" is a semi-monthly publication and the "Collected Newspaper" is a ten-month publication, the issue numbers and publication dates of the two are inconsistent, so you must search in each issue of "Collected Newspaper" from September to October. If the cover of the October 10, 1962 issue of "Jibao" indicates that the patent start and end numbers are 42761~44400, the above-mentioned patent abstract No. 42927 can be found.

(5) Turn to the "Charter Announcement Catalog" of the issue of "Collection" and find out that the classification numbers under No. 42927 are:

C08G59/18;C08K3/10; C08L63/00;H01L23/30. It can be seen from this that the first classification number C08G59/18 is the main classification number, and the others are sub-classification numbers. The abstracts of "Collected News" are arranged under the main classification number, and the abstracts can be found.

The patent specification can be found in the "Patent Gazette" according to the announcement number.