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Crossfile patent searching: a dream comming true
Literature
industry cooperation; and information, communication and future prosperity. Abstracts of individual papers can be found under the relevant classification codes in this or other issues. 12. Automation: the latest good idea at the U.S. patent office. ZMCJ. (U.S.A.), 1987, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 37-40. Forty million pages describing more than four and a half million uatents granted bv the U.S. Department of Cot%merce are;n the Patent and Trademark office (PTOJ. The excessive amount of time taken’for fiie searches and other problems had the PTO thinking about advanced storage technologies for some time. The advent of economical electronic data storage in the form of optical disks has made conversion possible. The Automated Patent System (APS) uses the Backfile Image Capture System (BICAPS) which consists of recording both image anh index data on magnetic tape which is used for the oroduction of the final optical disks. Desigi and implementation of the system is discussed.
Review
particular, and their relationship with policies and with the environment within which they must work. Several aspects of the production of patents information are discussed at some length including the need to cover the widest possible areas of technology and the widest possible numbers of countries producing patents. Emphasis is placed on the international responsibilities of the database producer in this field. Side effects of this which are important include the effect of language on both production and marketing, and the need for an English language publisher to be able to support customers who speak a wide variety of languages, although most of them can of course read English.
Software Review Battelle Patents - PCTMsoftware - a review
13. Crossfile patent searching: a dream coming true. S. M. Kaback. Database (U.S.A.), 1987, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 17-30. Crossfile searching refers to developing a set of references in one database and transferring the references into another file, sometimes further interacting them in some way with the second file. Some reasons for crossfile searching are discussed. These include reference transfer, merging output and interacting files. The strengths of the APIPAT and WPI databases are outlined and online hosts that are active in the crossfile area are overviewed. 14. Patent information from the vendor’s point of view, Frankfurt, Germany, 12 May 1987. J. Sergeant (Derwent. London. U.K.). Mess -Frankfurt, Frankfurt ai Main, Germany, pp. 97, pp. 66-67, 1987. Discusses many aspects of the factors which are affecting database producers in general, the patents database producer in
The international research organisation Battelle is not alone in recognising the importance of comDetitor Datent analvsis as -a background td commercial plan&ng and decision making. Thev have develoned patent trend analys& into’something of an art form, and have now made available a microcomputer version of their software Patents - PCTM. This review takes a look at a demonstration package. The purpose of the software is to take the strain out of analysing sets of bibliographic patent data. A set of data in the desired iechnical area is downloaded during an online search and the Patents - PC user can then set to work editing the data, for example to standardise applicant names or to add a tailored classification system using fields provided for the purpose. When the data has been prepared in this way, time series line graphs can be plotted for the whole set in terms of numbers of
159
patents, numbers of inventors or numbers of assignees and various subsets selected by classification criteria etc. Other types of analysis give dominance and citation data in which the ten most orolific assignees are ranked, and the rates-of citation-between these ten shown in a matrix. The citation analysis can be pursued down to the level of the individual patent. As a third possibility, a variety of company profile information can be produced. The software itself is very easy to use. Menu selection and overlapping windows give the user iull control and confidence with a minimum of learning time. The system is clearly designed with a particular tvpe of analysis in view, and indeed the manual shows how this analysis fits into the Battelle Datent trend analysis methodology. This gives rise to some limitations in the use of the software as a general analysis tool. Only specific types of analysis are provided for: time series graphs are permitted but no other combinations of parameters such as assignee against classification. Analysis by country of origin is only supported to the extent that U.S. and non-U.S. assignee can be identified. In addition there is an implied limitation to a few hundred records whereas a general package might be expected to cope with a couple of thousand for some types of analysis. However, this seems to be mitigated bv the ‘export’ feature which can apparently accumulate Patents - PC outuut in other software. ‘Export’ can also Ge used to transfer data for more versatile graphing with a standard spreadsheet package. All in all, this is a very competent piece of software for the specific analysis for which it is designed but with some limitations as a general analysis package. The first software license costs $7500 and annual updates $750. Further details are available from Battelle. 505 King Avenue. Columbus, OH 43201-2693. P. Marchant
industry cooperation; and information, communication and future prosperity. Abstracts of individual papers can be found under the relevant classification codes in this or other issues. 12. Automation: the latest good idea at the U.S. patent office. ZMCJ. (U.S.A.), 1987, Vol. 23, No. 5, pp. 37-40. Forty million pages describing more than four and a half million uatents granted bv the U.S. Department of Cot%merce are;n the Patent and Trademark office (PTOJ. The excessive amount of time taken’for fiie searches and other problems had the PTO thinking about advanced storage technologies for some time. The advent of economical electronic data storage in the form of optical disks has made conversion possible. The Automated Patent System (APS) uses the Backfile Image Capture System (BICAPS) which consists of recording both image anh index data on magnetic tape which is used for the oroduction of the final optical disks. Desigi and implementation of the system is discussed.
Review
particular, and their relationship with policies and with the environment within which they must work. Several aspects of the production of patents information are discussed at some length including the need to cover the widest possible areas of technology and the widest possible numbers of countries producing patents. Emphasis is placed on the international responsibilities of the database producer in this field. Side effects of this which are important include the effect of language on both production and marketing, and the need for an English language publisher to be able to support customers who speak a wide variety of languages, although most of them can of course read English.
Software Review Battelle Patents - PCTMsoftware - a review
13. Crossfile patent searching: a dream coming true. S. M. Kaback. Database (U.S.A.), 1987, Vol. 10, No. 5, pp. 17-30. Crossfile searching refers to developing a set of references in one database and transferring the references into another file, sometimes further interacting them in some way with the second file. Some reasons for crossfile searching are discussed. These include reference transfer, merging output and interacting files. The strengths of the APIPAT and WPI databases are outlined and online hosts that are active in the crossfile area are overviewed. 14. Patent information from the vendor’s point of view, Frankfurt, Germany, 12 May 1987. J. Sergeant (Derwent. London. U.K.). Mess -Frankfurt, Frankfurt ai Main, Germany, pp. 97, pp. 66-67, 1987. Discusses many aspects of the factors which are affecting database producers in general, the patents database producer in
The international research organisation Battelle is not alone in recognising the importance of comDetitor Datent analvsis as -a background td commercial plan&ng and decision making. Thev have develoned patent trend analys& into’something of an art form, and have now made available a microcomputer version of their software Patents - PCTM. This review takes a look at a demonstration package. The purpose of the software is to take the strain out of analysing sets of bibliographic patent data. A set of data in the desired iechnical area is downloaded during an online search and the Patents - PC user can then set to work editing the data, for example to standardise applicant names or to add a tailored classification system using fields provided for the purpose. When the data has been prepared in this way, time series line graphs can be plotted for the whole set in terms of numbers of
159
patents, numbers of inventors or numbers of assignees and various subsets selected by classification criteria etc. Other types of analysis give dominance and citation data in which the ten most orolific assignees are ranked, and the rates-of citation-between these ten shown in a matrix. The citation analysis can be pursued down to the level of the individual patent. As a third possibility, a variety of company profile information can be produced. The software itself is very easy to use. Menu selection and overlapping windows give the user iull control and confidence with a minimum of learning time. The system is clearly designed with a particular tvpe of analysis in view, and indeed the manual shows how this analysis fits into the Battelle Datent trend analysis methodology. This gives rise to some limitations in the use of the software as a general analysis tool. Only specific types of analysis are provided for: time series graphs are permitted but no other combinations of parameters such as assignee against classification. Analysis by country of origin is only supported to the extent that U.S. and non-U.S. assignee can be identified. In addition there is an implied limitation to a few hundred records whereas a general package might be expected to cope with a couple of thousand for some types of analysis. However, this seems to be mitigated bv the ‘export’ feature which can apparently accumulate Patents - PC outuut in other software. ‘Export’ can also Ge used to transfer data for more versatile graphing with a standard spreadsheet package. All in all, this is a very competent piece of software for the specific analysis for which it is designed but with some limitations as a general analysis package. The first software license costs $7500 and annual updates $750. Further details are available from Battelle. 505 King Avenue. Columbus, OH 43201-2693. P. Marchant