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Survey of the annual technical reports 1988 of the patent offices on patent information activities
World Patent Information, Vol. 11. No. 4, pp. 222-221. Printed in Great Britain.
0172-2190/89$3.00+.00. Maxwell Online Inc. CEUWIPO
1980.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports 1988 of the Patent Offices on Patent Information Activities V. S. Dodd, Editor-in-Chief
World Patent Information
been published as three separate publications. The facts of all decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and Registrations of trade marks and designs are published in the Official Journal.
Introduction The Annual Technical Reports 1988 submitted by Industrial Property and Patent Offices to the WIPO Permanent Committee on Patent and Industrial Property Information (PCIPI) and published by WIPO in the series denoted PCIPI/ATR/SB/XY (where XY represents the country code of the office providing the respective report) are surveyed in the following article. Each report summarizes the activities in 1988 of the relevant office in the patent information and documentation fields and, in some cases, indicates its plans for the future. They thus provide a valuable overview of the ongoing activities of the offices and provide some indication of future developments in these activities. The survey concentrates on what appear from the reports to be new developments in 1988 and the progress of developing projects.
In the DE office the internal data transfer network was extended and the German Patent Data Base PATDPA was made available to users in the public reading rooms in Munich and Berlin. The cost benefit study for the office patent information system, reported in last year’s report, was continued; the concept of an electronic search station for access to textual and facsimile information was outlined and specifications dealing with uniform user surface for access to internal and external data bases and displays of texts and images were drawn up. In the FI office a project group started work to improve the contents and layout of the patent gazette and the weekly list of new applications and from January 1988 the official journal of the HU office has been published in a revised form.
The survey is based upon reports received by the editor by mid-July 1989 and covers the reports of the following countries and organizations: Algeria (DZ), Austria (AT), Australia (AU), Canada (CA), Czechoslovakia (CS), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), German Democratic Republic (DD), German Federal Republic (DE), Hungary (HU), Republic of Korea (KR), The Netherlands (NL), Switzerland (CH), Mongolia (MN), United Kingdom (GB), United States of America (US).
The MN office is planning in 1989 to begin publishing an Official Bulletin of Inventions, Industrial Designs and Trade Marks. In 1988 22 inventions and 35 trade marks were registered. The DK office now makes its B and C documents available as microfiches instead of aperture cards. Online access for external users to the office data base has had to be postponed to mid-1989 for technical reasons.
In the survey the source of the items is indicated by the two letter country codes in the above list, and the items are grouped under the headings recommended for the reports by WIPO.
I.
The GB A documents are no longer typeset except for the front page. The main body of the document is photo-reproduced from the application as filed. The U.K. office has on microfilm a collection of GB documents back to 1924 and US documents back to 1950. The new computer system OPTICS is now operational and provides front page data for the printer as well as entries for the Official Journal (Patents).
Matters Concerning the Generation, Reproduction, Distribution and Use of Primary and Secondary Sources of Patent Information
From mid-January 1987 the Australian Official Journal of Patents, Trade Marks and Designs has 222
Annual
II.
Technical
1988
223
Hybrid system indexing
Matters Concerning Abstracting, Classifying, Re-classifying and Indexing of Technical Information Contained in Patent Documents
A new computer search system called ‘Concept Capture Classification’ is under development in the US office consisting of a classification schedule and a cross-reference art collection schedule. The system is intended to use the computer capability to form logical combinations of sub-classes and art collections. A new class (320) has been designated as a test area to see whether the concept should be extended to further areas.
Abstracting Since October 1988 the abstracts on the front page of Austrian specifications are generated by the office staff. A system of full text search of abstracts is in preparation.
Classification The Czech version of IPC4 was transformed into machine-readable form which, after inclusion of the IPC5 revision changes, will be used for photocomposition of the fifth version. The Canadian Standard Industrial Classification is assigned to each patent for internal use in the PATDAT data base. The full text of the of IPC4 is available German Catchword 130 000 catchwords, and is used not only also for selection of
Reports
German and English versions online in the DE office. The Index of the IPC, comprising has been translated into English for classification purposes but terms for data base searches.
Edition J of the U.K. Classification Key was published on 1 January 1988; edition K will not appear until 1990. The GB office has ceased to classify on the U.K. Key the majority of EP and PCT published applications but these applications will be included in the search files on the basis of the EPO-applied ECLA (enhanced IPC) classification.
III.
Activities in the Field of ComDuterized and Other Mecfianized Search Systems
The number of computerized searches performed by examiners in the AT office increased by over 40% and an introductory course for examiners in using external data bases was held. In the AU office JOPAL data on magnetic tapes has been loaded on the mainframe computer and is searched by examiners. A data base of genetic sequences disclosed in AU patent applications has been developed on a microcomputer and permits searches of specific nucleotide or peptide sequences. An inventory of Japatic abstracts was also developed on microcomputer. The data can be searched in conjunction with downloaded Derwent WPI/L data for automatic inclusion of available Japatic references. The online bibliographic data base PATINDEX, referred to in last year’s report, covering AU, EP and WO applications, continues to be developed and for international searches search lists from 1974 onwards are generated by accessing Derwent WPI and WPIL online. For international searches in the biotechnology area use is made of the Molecular Biological Information Service (MBIS) located at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Sydney.
for the texts for
At the DD office experimental use began of the data bases ‘GDR Patent Documents’ (in German) and ‘Microelectronics’ (in Russian) by users from abroad and the patent documents data base has been made available to GDR industry.
In US Class 364 (Electrical Computers and Data Processing Systems), index notations on documents classified therein have been recorded in a computerbased system called Computer Aided Search and Patent Image Retrieval (CASPIR). This system has been reviewed and extended and the entire scheme published in the Manual of Classification. The CASPIR notations are available on the Automated Patent System and through CASSIS to the 64 Patent Depository Libraries.
In the DE office testing of a file comprising the full text of 10 000 patent documents in IPC Class GO1 began in 1988. The in-house systems offered online in the office’s public reading rooms in Munich and Berlin include the Patent and Utility Model Register, Legal Status and Licence Information Service (RALS), the IPC Text in English and German, the IPC Catchword Index and the Library Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). The Patent and Utility Model Register is open to dialogue searching by external and internal online interrogation.
Coordinate searching The DE automatic coordinate
data base PATDPA provides selection of catchwords from indexing.
224
V. S. Dodd
A new bibliographic data base for patent applications from 1979 and patents from 1968 in the FI office is in the testing phase and should be in full use by autumn 1989. In the KR office development of the in-house bibliographic online and offline search systems continued and a terminal in the office is linked to the Korea Institute for Economic and Technology computer through which searches by examiners and the public can be made in external data bases such as Korean Patents, WPI, INSPEC, and CAS-ONLINE. The MN office has a data base of the abstracts of national patent specifications used as an information service. In the US office development of the fully automated patent and trade mark search systems continued. The automated trade mark search system has been fully implemented and is used by all examiners and became available to the public in the office public search room in April 1989. The development of the automated patent search system continued and in addition to the loading of the full text of nearly one million US patents issued since 1975, English language translations of Japanese and Chinese patent abstracts have been loaded. The text of most US patents issued between 1970 and 1974 will be loaded in the future. Nearly all the USPTO’s 1500 patent examiners have been trained in text searching techniques and automated searching has been incorporated as a routine part of the examination process. To test the operational feasibility of electronic image searching the USPTO converted approximately 150 000 US documents in one of its examining group’s paper search files into digital image form. The image data was loaded on to single platter optical disc drives. A test operation in a selected examining group began in December 1987 and the APS system is now considered to be operationally deployed in that group. The test is to be extended to a second group in mid-1990, by which time nearly half a million US patents will be available in image form from the optical disc storage system. In 1988 the CA office concluded the operational planning stage of its 8 year automation plan and implementation is expected to commence in 1989-1990. Canadian patent classification information has already been automated on a microcomputer system containing patent numbers with their respective Canadian and cross-reference classifications. The DK office intends to use the US CASSIYCDROM system to assist manual searching in US documents and is revising its online search strategy to make more systematical use of online searching. Phase I of the patent puter system OPTICS
aspect of the U.K. office comwas implemented in December
1988 and provides, in addition to administrative and bibliographic services, an online search facility on the UKC and IPC classification systems. IPC and UKC terms can be searched alone or in combination. Up to nine search patterns can be searched and a natural language facility can be provided for searching alloys. Following successful trials in 1986-1987, regular online searches are performed in Derwent’s WPI; Metadex; and Biosis, Chem. Abs, Pascal, CBA and other biotechnology data bases.
IV.
Search File Establishment Upkeep
and
In the AU office abstracts, previously produced manually from numerical country collections, have since 1983 been produced by a semi-automated process by using Derwent’s XRPX microfilm (secondary accession number order) using a Kodak IMT350 film reader/printer controlled by a microcomputer. The microcomputer uses data downloaded from Derwent’s WPIL file to produce automatically a print of any abstract relevant to the subject matter being searched. In preparation for implementation of the Automated Patent System, the US office is making an inventory of selected portions of the examiner’s search file to ensure that all documents physically located in the search file are contained in the automated Master Classification File (MCF). To date 1.3 million documents have been annotated and 25 000 previously unrecorded documents have been added to the MCF and conversely documents on the MCF but missing from the search files are being replaced. Estimated completion date of the inventory is mid-1990.
V.
Administration of the Industrial Property Office Library and Services Available to the Public
The library of the AU office has used an automatic cataloguing system since 1981 and in 1987 the library joined the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN). Serials and acquisitions were automated in 1987. Serials automation includes check-in, journal circulation, subscriptions assessment and ordering, fund control and analysis. Library services include online searching, inter-library loan, journal circulation and general reference services. Provision of online searches is based on DIALOG and concentrates on searches for trade mark examiners, mainly to determine whether words and phrases are already in use in a particular subject area. Some online searches are carried out for patent examiners when the patent literature does not yield results and the subject is covered better in non-patent literature.
Annual
Technical
In the DE office EDP use in the library is conceived as an integrated system whereby the transition from catalogue search in the book inventory to a search in the electronically maintained patent register is easily accomplished. The literature of the past 13 years is searchable via each search-relevant term of the bibliographic data. Machine-readable catalogue data of the Deutsche Bibliothek and the British Library were used. In view of the growing importance of patent information, a special section for public library services was set up. It coordinates the activities and services of public libraries and the technical experts of the office. The FI office has worked out a Library Development Plan for 1989-1994. It provides for improvements of services to examiners and the public by improved technical facilities, especially automation, and rearranging the documentation collection to provide more room. The bibliographic data base of Hungarian patent applications and granted patents (HUNPADOC) is accessible to the public in the patent library. The data base is also offered for sale to the public. The HU office in cooperation with an industrial centre operates a selective patent information service based on INPADOC tapes. In the NL office library an online connection a data base for inter-library lending registration been installed.
with has
The USPTO’s Scientific Library is a component of the Documentation Organization. Although it provides a number of services to the public, it primarily serves the examining staff of the USPTO. It has three divisions: a Scientific Literature Division which processes non-in-house data bases for examiners; a Foreign Patent Division which processes all incoming foreign patent documents, maintains the numerically arranged collection of foreign documents and performs commercial data base searches of foreign patent documents; and a Translation Division which provides English language translations of foreign patent documents and technical articles. The library’s automated library system allows examiners and the public access to the online catalogue which includes most of the post-1977 non-patent literature collection. The report includes a listing of the 64 Patent Depository Libraries. In 1988 the annual Patent Depository Library Conference focused on the conversion of the Classification and Search Support Information System (CASSIS) from an online to a CD-ROM system. The system provides easy access to current patent classification information and the assignee data base and also includes one year of patent abstracts and titles searchable by keywords. In 1988 the Office of Documentation Information (ODI) was established with the responsibility for information dissemination activities.
Reports
1988
225
Copies of Canadian patent abstracts, on microfiche, are available for searching in 21 public libraries throughout Canada. The Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS) of the British Library will move to the new British Library building in the early 1990s. The Patents Information Network now consists of 13 libraries outside London and collections of foreign patents at these libraries have been rationalized. Online searches of commercially available patent and trade mark data bases are now carried out for the public in a new purpose-built computer suite at the library. The U.K. Patent Office Search and Advisory Service (SAS) provides four main services for the public, namely Online Patent Search (OPS), Online Chemical Structure Searching (OCS), Patent Search Service (PSS) and Trade and Service Marks (TSM). In 1988 over 1600 general inquiries were dealt with and 2700 search requests were handled. The SAS also handled over 200 patentability assessments as part of the evaluation programme in the Department of Trade and Industry’s Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology. Visitors to the DK office library will have access to essentially the same paper search files as the examiners. Documents comprising, e.g. any group or subgroup may be ordered and will be delivered from the office search files. There are two data terminals in the library for public use; they are at present only connected to the in-house data system.
VI. Matters Concerning Mutual Exchange of Patent Documentation and Information The AT office has a data exchange agreement concerning bibliographic data and abstracts on magnetic tape with the DD, DE, CN, EP offices and INPADOC. The FI office exchanges patent documents in paper form to 15 offices and as microfiche to 8 offices and the US office supplies documents in paper form to 27 offices and as microfiche to 7 offices. English language abstracts of Hungarian patent documents are supplied to 11 patent offices. The KR office is to provide magnetic tapes of Korean patent abstracts to the EPO and the MN office has been receiving INPADOC tapes since 1987.
V. S. Dodd
226
VII
1.
Other Relevant Matters Concerning Education and Training in, and Promotion of, the Use of Patent Information, Including Technical Assistance to Developing Countries Assistance
to developing
countries
The AT office in 1988 performed 40 searches and 9 searches and examinations for developing countries under the scheme operated jointly with WIPO. Other offices reporting their efforts in this scheme are: CH (42 searches), DE (100 searches), FI (7 searches). and the CA office which prepared search and examination reports for patent applications filed with ARIPO. Many offices supplied copies of patent documents on specific requests from developing countries.
7
L.
Training
Most offices report that training courses or seminars were held either for their nationals or representatives from developing countries. In particular: the AT office held a seminar on documentation for 7 members of the Chinese office; the AU office ran a training course for trainees from Cuba. Ethiopia, Jamaica and Syria; the DE office organized a training course for 13 officials from China, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Turkey, India and the Philippine Islands; the KR oflice established a permanent training ccntre to promote inventive and innovative activities and held training courses for 1018 nationals; the NL office held a 3 week training course for 8 participants from developing countries; and the CA office continued the 3 year project initiated in 1987 to improve the dissemination of patent information in the Caribbean region. The Marketing and Publicity Unit of the GB office has continued to conduct an industrial property awareness campaign. The short-term strategy of the campaign is aimed at business, especially small and medium sized companies, the medium term at universittes and polytechnics and the long-term at schools. Talks and seminars are conducted throughout the country. at which frequently the oflice video is shown.
Note Added
in Press
The following is a brief resume of the main points of interest in the Annual Technical Reports of the offices of Japan (JP), Sweden (SE) and the European Patent Office (EP) which reached the editor too late for inclusion in the above article.
Japan A total of 250 000 English language abstracts of published unexamined JP applications were published in 1988 and distributed to 64 organizations. Japanese language abstracts of US and EP applications were distributed to examiners.
The available technical fields of the F-term retrieval system (an online retrieval system in which the IPC plus indexing terms (F-terms) are used as retrieval keys and the image data documents retrieved from optical discs displayed on a high resolution screen) are increasing in number. The Mechanised Trade Mark Search System, on which batch searches using phonetics are carried out, now includes about 13 million cases of phonetic denomination data. The Derwent World Patent Index Online service using Dialog or Questel was introduced into the JP office in 1987 and it is used for searching foreign patent documents. A DNA sequence information retrieval system using CD-ROM was introduced in May 1988. The online service of the Comprehensive Document Data Base (an online system where the image data of patent documents is stored on optical discs and retrieved by keys such as document number and IPC) is tentatively made available to the public in the patent library of the JP office (three terminals). the reading room of the Osaka Bureau of MIT1 (one terminal) and Fukuoaka Bureau (one terminal). The Sapporo Bureau of MIT1 started to provide the same service in July 1988. The JP office carried out 59 searches in 1988 under the WIPO state-of-the.-art search programme for developing countries, conducted a training course for officials from 12 developing countries and organized a seminar for officials from 8 developing countries. Assistance is also being given to the Chinese office in training in patent information retrieval.
Sweden Re-classifying non-US patent documents to IPC is an increasing activity using an in-house EDP system which utilizes information from the EPO FAMI system. A communication system has been implemented which makes it easier for examiners to access external data bases. An internal data base has been formed containing documents from international meetings, working groups, etc. During 1988 trials were started with the US CD-ROM system CASSIS. Seminars on the IPC and US classifications were arranged in 1988 for all examiners.
Annual
European
Technical
Patent Office
A breakdown of the 46 672 EP applications published in 1988 according to the 31 Technical Units of the IPC Guide is given showing large numbers of applications in Instruments I (GOl-G03), Electric Techniques (HOl-H02-H05), Organic Chemistry (C07-AOlN) and Macromolecular Compounds (C08). The text of the English language abstracts of JP applications published 1976-1988 on magnetic tape has been loaded under STAIRS and is now full-text searchable. External data bases are accessed via special gateway software (STX) and about 350 examiners at DGl regularly perform their own online searching.
Reports
1988
Two monographs Press):
227
were published
in 1988 (Pergamon
(1) “Methods of Abating Residual Formaldehyde in Industrial Resins” (G. Deraedt); (2) “Universal Computer Interfaces” (R. Dheere). In the technical assistance area, 57 officials from developing countries received training at the EPO and 9 experts were sent by the EPO on technical assistance missions. EPO documentation and search experts were also sent to South America for development of the promotion of regional cooperation between Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Chinese office is supplying the EPO with English translations of the abstracts of Chinese applications on magnetic tape.
0172-2190/89$3.00+.00. Maxwell Online Inc. CEUWIPO
1980.
Survey of the Annual Technical Reports 1988 of the Patent Offices on Patent Information Activities V. S. Dodd, Editor-in-Chief
World Patent Information
been published as three separate publications. The facts of all decisions of the Commissioner of Patents and Registrations of trade marks and designs are published in the Official Journal.
Introduction The Annual Technical Reports 1988 submitted by Industrial Property and Patent Offices to the WIPO Permanent Committee on Patent and Industrial Property Information (PCIPI) and published by WIPO in the series denoted PCIPI/ATR/SB/XY (where XY represents the country code of the office providing the respective report) are surveyed in the following article. Each report summarizes the activities in 1988 of the relevant office in the patent information and documentation fields and, in some cases, indicates its plans for the future. They thus provide a valuable overview of the ongoing activities of the offices and provide some indication of future developments in these activities. The survey concentrates on what appear from the reports to be new developments in 1988 and the progress of developing projects.
In the DE office the internal data transfer network was extended and the German Patent Data Base PATDPA was made available to users in the public reading rooms in Munich and Berlin. The cost benefit study for the office patent information system, reported in last year’s report, was continued; the concept of an electronic search station for access to textual and facsimile information was outlined and specifications dealing with uniform user surface for access to internal and external data bases and displays of texts and images were drawn up. In the FI office a project group started work to improve the contents and layout of the patent gazette and the weekly list of new applications and from January 1988 the official journal of the HU office has been published in a revised form.
The survey is based upon reports received by the editor by mid-July 1989 and covers the reports of the following countries and organizations: Algeria (DZ), Austria (AT), Australia (AU), Canada (CA), Czechoslovakia (CS), Denmark (DK), Finland (FI), German Democratic Republic (DD), German Federal Republic (DE), Hungary (HU), Republic of Korea (KR), The Netherlands (NL), Switzerland (CH), Mongolia (MN), United Kingdom (GB), United States of America (US).
The MN office is planning in 1989 to begin publishing an Official Bulletin of Inventions, Industrial Designs and Trade Marks. In 1988 22 inventions and 35 trade marks were registered. The DK office now makes its B and C documents available as microfiches instead of aperture cards. Online access for external users to the office data base has had to be postponed to mid-1989 for technical reasons.
In the survey the source of the items is indicated by the two letter country codes in the above list, and the items are grouped under the headings recommended for the reports by WIPO.
I.
The GB A documents are no longer typeset except for the front page. The main body of the document is photo-reproduced from the application as filed. The U.K. office has on microfilm a collection of GB documents back to 1924 and US documents back to 1950. The new computer system OPTICS is now operational and provides front page data for the printer as well as entries for the Official Journal (Patents).
Matters Concerning the Generation, Reproduction, Distribution and Use of Primary and Secondary Sources of Patent Information
From mid-January 1987 the Australian Official Journal of Patents, Trade Marks and Designs has 222
Annual
II.
Technical
1988
223
Hybrid system indexing
Matters Concerning Abstracting, Classifying, Re-classifying and Indexing of Technical Information Contained in Patent Documents
A new computer search system called ‘Concept Capture Classification’ is under development in the US office consisting of a classification schedule and a cross-reference art collection schedule. The system is intended to use the computer capability to form logical combinations of sub-classes and art collections. A new class (320) has been designated as a test area to see whether the concept should be extended to further areas.
Abstracting Since October 1988 the abstracts on the front page of Austrian specifications are generated by the office staff. A system of full text search of abstracts is in preparation.
Classification The Czech version of IPC4 was transformed into machine-readable form which, after inclusion of the IPC5 revision changes, will be used for photocomposition of the fifth version. The Canadian Standard Industrial Classification is assigned to each patent for internal use in the PATDAT data base. The full text of the of IPC4 is available German Catchword 130 000 catchwords, and is used not only also for selection of
Reports
German and English versions online in the DE office. The Index of the IPC, comprising has been translated into English for classification purposes but terms for data base searches.
Edition J of the U.K. Classification Key was published on 1 January 1988; edition K will not appear until 1990. The GB office has ceased to classify on the U.K. Key the majority of EP and PCT published applications but these applications will be included in the search files on the basis of the EPO-applied ECLA (enhanced IPC) classification.
III.
Activities in the Field of ComDuterized and Other Mecfianized Search Systems
The number of computerized searches performed by examiners in the AT office increased by over 40% and an introductory course for examiners in using external data bases was held. In the AU office JOPAL data on magnetic tapes has been loaded on the mainframe computer and is searched by examiners. A data base of genetic sequences disclosed in AU patent applications has been developed on a microcomputer and permits searches of specific nucleotide or peptide sequences. An inventory of Japatic abstracts was also developed on microcomputer. The data can be searched in conjunction with downloaded Derwent WPI/L data for automatic inclusion of available Japatic references. The online bibliographic data base PATINDEX, referred to in last year’s report, covering AU, EP and WO applications, continues to be developed and for international searches search lists from 1974 onwards are generated by accessing Derwent WPI and WPIL online. For international searches in the biotechnology area use is made of the Molecular Biological Information Service (MBIS) located at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Sydney.
for the texts for
At the DD office experimental use began of the data bases ‘GDR Patent Documents’ (in German) and ‘Microelectronics’ (in Russian) by users from abroad and the patent documents data base has been made available to GDR industry.
In US Class 364 (Electrical Computers and Data Processing Systems), index notations on documents classified therein have been recorded in a computerbased system called Computer Aided Search and Patent Image Retrieval (CASPIR). This system has been reviewed and extended and the entire scheme published in the Manual of Classification. The CASPIR notations are available on the Automated Patent System and through CASSIS to the 64 Patent Depository Libraries.
In the DE office testing of a file comprising the full text of 10 000 patent documents in IPC Class GO1 began in 1988. The in-house systems offered online in the office’s public reading rooms in Munich and Berlin include the Patent and Utility Model Register, Legal Status and Licence Information Service (RALS), the IPC Text in English and German, the IPC Catchword Index and the Library Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). The Patent and Utility Model Register is open to dialogue searching by external and internal online interrogation.
Coordinate searching The DE automatic coordinate
data base PATDPA provides selection of catchwords from indexing.
224
V. S. Dodd
A new bibliographic data base for patent applications from 1979 and patents from 1968 in the FI office is in the testing phase and should be in full use by autumn 1989. In the KR office development of the in-house bibliographic online and offline search systems continued and a terminal in the office is linked to the Korea Institute for Economic and Technology computer through which searches by examiners and the public can be made in external data bases such as Korean Patents, WPI, INSPEC, and CAS-ONLINE. The MN office has a data base of the abstracts of national patent specifications used as an information service. In the US office development of the fully automated patent and trade mark search systems continued. The automated trade mark search system has been fully implemented and is used by all examiners and became available to the public in the office public search room in April 1989. The development of the automated patent search system continued and in addition to the loading of the full text of nearly one million US patents issued since 1975, English language translations of Japanese and Chinese patent abstracts have been loaded. The text of most US patents issued between 1970 and 1974 will be loaded in the future. Nearly all the USPTO’s 1500 patent examiners have been trained in text searching techniques and automated searching has been incorporated as a routine part of the examination process. To test the operational feasibility of electronic image searching the USPTO converted approximately 150 000 US documents in one of its examining group’s paper search files into digital image form. The image data was loaded on to single platter optical disc drives. A test operation in a selected examining group began in December 1987 and the APS system is now considered to be operationally deployed in that group. The test is to be extended to a second group in mid-1990, by which time nearly half a million US patents will be available in image form from the optical disc storage system. In 1988 the CA office concluded the operational planning stage of its 8 year automation plan and implementation is expected to commence in 1989-1990. Canadian patent classification information has already been automated on a microcomputer system containing patent numbers with their respective Canadian and cross-reference classifications. The DK office intends to use the US CASSIYCDROM system to assist manual searching in US documents and is revising its online search strategy to make more systematical use of online searching. Phase I of the patent puter system OPTICS
aspect of the U.K. office comwas implemented in December
1988 and provides, in addition to administrative and bibliographic services, an online search facility on the UKC and IPC classification systems. IPC and UKC terms can be searched alone or in combination. Up to nine search patterns can be searched and a natural language facility can be provided for searching alloys. Following successful trials in 1986-1987, regular online searches are performed in Derwent’s WPI; Metadex; and Biosis, Chem. Abs, Pascal, CBA and other biotechnology data bases.
IV.
Search File Establishment Upkeep
and
In the AU office abstracts, previously produced manually from numerical country collections, have since 1983 been produced by a semi-automated process by using Derwent’s XRPX microfilm (secondary accession number order) using a Kodak IMT350 film reader/printer controlled by a microcomputer. The microcomputer uses data downloaded from Derwent’s WPIL file to produce automatically a print of any abstract relevant to the subject matter being searched. In preparation for implementation of the Automated Patent System, the US office is making an inventory of selected portions of the examiner’s search file to ensure that all documents physically located in the search file are contained in the automated Master Classification File (MCF). To date 1.3 million documents have been annotated and 25 000 previously unrecorded documents have been added to the MCF and conversely documents on the MCF but missing from the search files are being replaced. Estimated completion date of the inventory is mid-1990.
V.
Administration of the Industrial Property Office Library and Services Available to the Public
The library of the AU office has used an automatic cataloguing system since 1981 and in 1987 the library joined the Australian Bibliographic Network (ABN). Serials and acquisitions were automated in 1987. Serials automation includes check-in, journal circulation, subscriptions assessment and ordering, fund control and analysis. Library services include online searching, inter-library loan, journal circulation and general reference services. Provision of online searches is based on DIALOG and concentrates on searches for trade mark examiners, mainly to determine whether words and phrases are already in use in a particular subject area. Some online searches are carried out for patent examiners when the patent literature does not yield results and the subject is covered better in non-patent literature.
Annual
Technical
In the DE office EDP use in the library is conceived as an integrated system whereby the transition from catalogue search in the book inventory to a search in the electronically maintained patent register is easily accomplished. The literature of the past 13 years is searchable via each search-relevant term of the bibliographic data. Machine-readable catalogue data of the Deutsche Bibliothek and the British Library were used. In view of the growing importance of patent information, a special section for public library services was set up. It coordinates the activities and services of public libraries and the technical experts of the office. The FI office has worked out a Library Development Plan for 1989-1994. It provides for improvements of services to examiners and the public by improved technical facilities, especially automation, and rearranging the documentation collection to provide more room. The bibliographic data base of Hungarian patent applications and granted patents (HUNPADOC) is accessible to the public in the patent library. The data base is also offered for sale to the public. The HU office in cooperation with an industrial centre operates a selective patent information service based on INPADOC tapes. In the NL office library an online connection a data base for inter-library lending registration been installed.
with has
The USPTO’s Scientific Library is a component of the Documentation Organization. Although it provides a number of services to the public, it primarily serves the examining staff of the USPTO. It has three divisions: a Scientific Literature Division which processes non-in-house data bases for examiners; a Foreign Patent Division which processes all incoming foreign patent documents, maintains the numerically arranged collection of foreign documents and performs commercial data base searches of foreign patent documents; and a Translation Division which provides English language translations of foreign patent documents and technical articles. The library’s automated library system allows examiners and the public access to the online catalogue which includes most of the post-1977 non-patent literature collection. The report includes a listing of the 64 Patent Depository Libraries. In 1988 the annual Patent Depository Library Conference focused on the conversion of the Classification and Search Support Information System (CASSIS) from an online to a CD-ROM system. The system provides easy access to current patent classification information and the assignee data base and also includes one year of patent abstracts and titles searchable by keywords. In 1988 the Office of Documentation Information (ODI) was established with the responsibility for information dissemination activities.
Reports
1988
225
Copies of Canadian patent abstracts, on microfiche, are available for searching in 21 public libraries throughout Canada. The Science Reference and Information Service (SRIS) of the British Library will move to the new British Library building in the early 1990s. The Patents Information Network now consists of 13 libraries outside London and collections of foreign patents at these libraries have been rationalized. Online searches of commercially available patent and trade mark data bases are now carried out for the public in a new purpose-built computer suite at the library. The U.K. Patent Office Search and Advisory Service (SAS) provides four main services for the public, namely Online Patent Search (OPS), Online Chemical Structure Searching (OCS), Patent Search Service (PSS) and Trade and Service Marks (TSM). In 1988 over 1600 general inquiries were dealt with and 2700 search requests were handled. The SAS also handled over 200 patentability assessments as part of the evaluation programme in the Department of Trade and Industry’s Small Firms Merit Award for Research and Technology. Visitors to the DK office library will have access to essentially the same paper search files as the examiners. Documents comprising, e.g. any group or subgroup may be ordered and will be delivered from the office search files. There are two data terminals in the library for public use; they are at present only connected to the in-house data system.
VI. Matters Concerning Mutual Exchange of Patent Documentation and Information The AT office has a data exchange agreement concerning bibliographic data and abstracts on magnetic tape with the DD, DE, CN, EP offices and INPADOC. The FI office exchanges patent documents in paper form to 15 offices and as microfiche to 8 offices and the US office supplies documents in paper form to 27 offices and as microfiche to 7 offices. English language abstracts of Hungarian patent documents are supplied to 11 patent offices. The KR office is to provide magnetic tapes of Korean patent abstracts to the EPO and the MN office has been receiving INPADOC tapes since 1987.
V. S. Dodd
226
VII
1.
Other Relevant Matters Concerning Education and Training in, and Promotion of, the Use of Patent Information, Including Technical Assistance to Developing Countries Assistance
to developing
countries
The AT office in 1988 performed 40 searches and 9 searches and examinations for developing countries under the scheme operated jointly with WIPO. Other offices reporting their efforts in this scheme are: CH (42 searches), DE (100 searches), FI (7 searches). and the CA office which prepared search and examination reports for patent applications filed with ARIPO. Many offices supplied copies of patent documents on specific requests from developing countries.
7
L.
Training
Most offices report that training courses or seminars were held either for their nationals or representatives from developing countries. In particular: the AT office held a seminar on documentation for 7 members of the Chinese office; the AU office ran a training course for trainees from Cuba. Ethiopia, Jamaica and Syria; the DE office organized a training course for 13 officials from China, Brazil, Yugoslavia, Turkey, India and the Philippine Islands; the KR oflice established a permanent training ccntre to promote inventive and innovative activities and held training courses for 1018 nationals; the NL office held a 3 week training course for 8 participants from developing countries; and the CA office continued the 3 year project initiated in 1987 to improve the dissemination of patent information in the Caribbean region. The Marketing and Publicity Unit of the GB office has continued to conduct an industrial property awareness campaign. The short-term strategy of the campaign is aimed at business, especially small and medium sized companies, the medium term at universittes and polytechnics and the long-term at schools. Talks and seminars are conducted throughout the country. at which frequently the oflice video is shown.
Note Added
in Press
The following is a brief resume of the main points of interest in the Annual Technical Reports of the offices of Japan (JP), Sweden (SE) and the European Patent Office (EP) which reached the editor too late for inclusion in the above article.
Japan A total of 250 000 English language abstracts of published unexamined JP applications were published in 1988 and distributed to 64 organizations. Japanese language abstracts of US and EP applications were distributed to examiners.
The available technical fields of the F-term retrieval system (an online retrieval system in which the IPC plus indexing terms (F-terms) are used as retrieval keys and the image data documents retrieved from optical discs displayed on a high resolution screen) are increasing in number. The Mechanised Trade Mark Search System, on which batch searches using phonetics are carried out, now includes about 13 million cases of phonetic denomination data. The Derwent World Patent Index Online service using Dialog or Questel was introduced into the JP office in 1987 and it is used for searching foreign patent documents. A DNA sequence information retrieval system using CD-ROM was introduced in May 1988. The online service of the Comprehensive Document Data Base (an online system where the image data of patent documents is stored on optical discs and retrieved by keys such as document number and IPC) is tentatively made available to the public in the patent library of the JP office (three terminals). the reading room of the Osaka Bureau of MIT1 (one terminal) and Fukuoaka Bureau (one terminal). The Sapporo Bureau of MIT1 started to provide the same service in July 1988. The JP office carried out 59 searches in 1988 under the WIPO state-of-the.-art search programme for developing countries, conducted a training course for officials from 12 developing countries and organized a seminar for officials from 8 developing countries. Assistance is also being given to the Chinese office in training in patent information retrieval.
Sweden Re-classifying non-US patent documents to IPC is an increasing activity using an in-house EDP system which utilizes information from the EPO FAMI system. A communication system has been implemented which makes it easier for examiners to access external data bases. An internal data base has been formed containing documents from international meetings, working groups, etc. During 1988 trials were started with the US CD-ROM system CASSIS. Seminars on the IPC and US classifications were arranged in 1988 for all examiners.
Annual
European
Technical
Patent Office
A breakdown of the 46 672 EP applications published in 1988 according to the 31 Technical Units of the IPC Guide is given showing large numbers of applications in Instruments I (GOl-G03), Electric Techniques (HOl-H02-H05), Organic Chemistry (C07-AOlN) and Macromolecular Compounds (C08). The text of the English language abstracts of JP applications published 1976-1988 on magnetic tape has been loaded under STAIRS and is now full-text searchable. External data bases are accessed via special gateway software (STX) and about 350 examiners at DGl regularly perform their own online searching.
Reports
1988
Two monographs Press):
227
were published
in 1988 (Pergamon
(1) “Methods of Abating Residual Formaldehyde in Industrial Resins” (G. Deraedt); (2) “Universal Computer Interfaces” (R. Dheere). In the technical assistance area, 57 officials from developing countries received training at the EPO and 9 experts were sent by the EPO on technical assistance missions. EPO documentation and search experts were also sent to South America for development of the promotion of regional cooperation between Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay. The Chinese office is supplying the EPO with English translations of the abstracts of Chinese applications on magnetic tape.