HOW NOVEL

BRIGHT IDEAS

This is Jasmine. She's come with an invention for a mobile docking station that has a solar panel chip which stores power and recharges mobile devices, such as media players and cell phones. But she has a few concerns.

Well, she just about to get started but it all feels a bit daunting Well, she just about to get started but it all feels a bit daunting. There must be millions of patents out there-how she supposed to sift through them all?" 

It sounds like Jasmine is bit daunted by the idea of searching through patent databases. If she intends to seek a patent for her invention, so what is the next process for her?

As Jasmine is trying to determine whether she can patent her invention she needs to do a novelty/patentability search to identify patents and other documents that describe technologies identical or similar to her invention. The type of search will influence Jasmine's strategy when searching and deciding when to stop searching as the scope of a novelty/patentability search tends to be narrower than a state of the art search, for instance. So what should Jasmine do next? How can she make sure that she doesn't miss a highly relevant document -in other words, what is the most effective strategy for searching? Should she just jump in, do a narrow search and see what comes up, or do a wide, all-embracing search?  

A wide all-embracing search will result in greater recall than a narrower search; while a narrow, more limited search will result in greater precision than a wider search.   In Jasmine's case, making the search too narrow too early on may exclude a relevant search result (if her invention has already been patented). But if the search is too wide, there may be too many results for Jasmine to read through effectively.

Search Query Unit of measure Homonyms Synonyms Alternative spelling Photovoltaicell, solar panel Y Watt, kilowatt,W,KW Cellphone, mobile phone, cell phone lead she needs to balance recall and precision so she doesn't exclude any relevant results. When using keyword searches, Jasmine needs to be aware of the potential pitfalls offered by language, synonyms, alternative spellings and typos, and she will need to be aware of the possibility of specialist vocabulary used in cetin industries. Using keywords may result in her missing relevant documents (if she doesn't include alternative spellings, synonyms. and relevant units of reassure) or getting false drops (because of homonyms).

THE ADVANTAGES OF PATENT CLASSIFICATION

IP-INITIAL® Patent classification can help Jasmine improve the precision of her search because classification is independent of language, alternative spellings, misspellings and typos that affect keywords. It is also comprehensive, detailed and covers many areas of technology. This is why a spot-on classification can be the quickest and easiest way to get good results in a search. However, classification may not be applied universally and, even when it is applied, it may be applied with varying skill and accuracy by different individuals and different authorities. Plus, there may not be a classification symbol that is a good fit with what you're searching for.

IDENTIFYING CLASSIFICATION

IP-INITIAL® One way to identify relevant classifications would be to carry out a narrow keyword search and then look at the classification symbols used on the most relevant results. For example, a search for solar docking station (solar AND docking AND station) retrieves several relevant documents, which are classified (according to the inventive concepts contained therein) with the symbols H02J 7m, G03B 21/00, G03H 1/04, H02J 7135. Jasmine can check which technologies these symbols represent using the official publication of the IPC, at  http://www.wipo.intfipcpub , and then use these symbols together with her chosen keywords to improve the precision of her search.

FINE TUNING YOUR SEARCH IP-INITIAL® FINE TUNING YOUR SEARCH Jasmine is trying to decide which keywords to use in her search. Take a look at the implication of each of the following choices.

Mobile AND docking AND solar IP-INITIAL® Mobile AND docking AND solar This search brings up about 500 results, including results on signal processing arrangements, a mobile platform for monitoring a well site, a medical device information system, etc.  

IP-INITIAL® MOBILE This search produces over 500,000 results, including results involving material processing techniques, cleaning devices, mobile wind and energy devices, etc. This search does not get a good balance between precision and recall, as it sacrifices precision at the expense of recall, leaving Jasmine with way too many entries to trawl through.  

“Mobile docking station” AND solar This search brings up two results. This search favors precision over recall and may have the results Jasmine is looking for. However, this search may be too narrow and miss out other relevant results.

CALLING IT QUITS Jasmine has been searching for a while. How will she know when she should stop her search ?

At the time of developing an invention, it is unlikely that Jasmine would already have (fully developed) claims. Jasmine would most likely have some idea of the inventive concepts. she would be researching (e.g. the idea of a solar-powered docking station or using solar power to recharge mobile devices). If she can find these concepts reflected in the prior art (e.g. documented in patent documents), she can stop searching. As this is a novelty/patentability search, only one document with all the features of a claim is required to show that the claimed invention is not new. She can think about calling it quits if she can't find such a result, if the same or similar documents keep appearing or if related documents have been found but no perfect matches, despite the fact that Jasmine's made a reasonable effort to broaden her search. 

RECAP

Planning a patent search strategy requires you to combine a bit of art and science to get the best results.

As you saw in Jasmine's case, she needs to consider how her strategy Will affect the balance between the total number of hits that are relevant -or search recall, and the proportion of hits which are relevant i.e. the precision of the search.

Jasmine found that often the best way to achieve this balance is by structuring her search using both keywords and classifications to get the balance right.