Support : Publications : Chronolog Archives : Nov/Dec 2002

CLAIMS® U.S. Patent Files Annual Reload Completed

In October 2002, the CLAIMS®/U.S. Patents databases (Files 340, 341, 942) were reloaded on Dialog. This is an annual process in which IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services, the database producer, updates the U.S. Classification codes assigned to existing patents to match classification changes made by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) during the previous year. Additional reload enhancements include:

• Corrections and further standardization of patent assignee names
• Updates to legal status flags (e.g., REASSIGNED, REEXAMINED) to note additional post-issue legal status information in CLAIMS®/Current Patent Legal Status (File 123)
• Miscellaneous data and chemical indexing corrections

In addition to the CLAIMS® granted patent record, the recently introduced PGP (Pre-Grant Published Application) records, introduced in October 2001, were also updated with the reload enhancements. The Dialog version merges PGPs and granted patents into a single record; therefore, each Dialog record represents one U.S. invention. This streamlines search and display and is a feature offered only on Dialog.

Business Method Patent (BMP) indexing was first added to CLAIMS® granted patent records in June of 2002, with initial coverage from January 2000 through September 18, 2001. Patents with BMP indexing have also been reloaded and include the enhancements described above. Patents classified in USPTO class 705 (OR or XR) are indexed with terms to describe the claimed invention, novelty or improvement, and the use of the invention. The indexer also adds a title expansion to further describe the novelty and use. The Business Method indexing is searched on Dialog using the BI= search prefix. You can display Business Method indexing using pre-defined Format 9, or the BI user defined format code (e.g., T S3/2,BI/1-5).

Once indexing of patents in class 705 is complete, business method indexing will expand to cover PGPs and other related US classes. With the annual reload business method indexing is current through 2002, and IFI continues to index back to 1998. Currently over 2,500 patents have business method indexing.

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