The use of Internet as a source of prior art

By

Marios Sideris

September 2003

Contents

• Introduction

• Tools & Search Strategy

• Methods of search - examples

• Dates of Internet disclosures• Conclusions

Introduction

• Introduction of Internet in EPO (1996)

• How to search on Internet in general?

• Can Internet be used as a search tool for patent search?

• What about Automotive Engineering?

• Year 2002: More than 1 per 100 European Patent search reports comprise at least one Internet disclosure

Tools and Search Strategy

• Tools: Search Engines (dynamic & interactive)• Search strategy: Trial & error• Conditions for a successful & efficient Internet

search Knowledge of search engine used Knowledge of technical field Knowledge of relevant sites

Most important Internet Search Engines

Database Total Size Estimates (31 Dec 02)

Source: searchengineshowdown.com

Sept. 2003

3,300 millions

3,200 millions

Source: searchengineshowdown.com

EPO criteria for choosing a tool for patent search

Use of many keywords in a search statement Combination of different search statements

(sub-searching) Use of Boolean operators Possibility of Truncation Use of Proximity operators Search whole phrases Search in certain fields only Limit by age of document Ranking of results

The Tools

The advanced Search option of ALTAVISTA for EPO style searches

(Full Boolean + truncation + proximity)

www.altavista.com/sites/search/adv

The simple & advanced Search option of GOOGLE for any other kind of searches

www.google.com

www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

The Tools

Which tools satisfy most of criteria?

Methods of Search

• Only synonyms of keywords (OR) unmanageable nr. of results

• Combination of keywords (AND, AND NOT, NEAR, WITHIN) Limitation of nr. of results

• Use of whole Phrases Most limited nr. of results (too limited?)

• Recommendation: Combination of all above

Methods of Search

Example I :

Scenario: Find information about O2 sensors used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines to control fuel injection

Synonyms: [Oxygen, O2, lambda, (air fuel), ego, hego] sensors

Use: Boolean operators Proximity operators Right Truncation

Methods of Search

(lambda OR oxygen OR O2 OR ego OR hego OR (air WITHIN 3 fuel)) NEAR sensor*) AND inject*

Results in > 16000 sites

Find disclosures describing all different kinds of OXYGEN SENSORS used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines.

Find a single document describing all different OXYGEN SENSORS used in exhaust pipes of internal combustion engines.

(lambda NEAR sensor*) AND

((oxygen OR O2) NEAR sensor*) AND

(ego NEAR sensor*) AND

(hego NEAR sensor*) AND

(“air fuel” NEAR sensor*) AND

inject*

13 results found

A relevant site

REPEAT SEARCH BY SORTING THE RESULTS

(lambda NEAR sensor*) AND ((oxygen OR O2) NEAR sensor*) AND (ego NEAR sensor*) AND (hego NEAR sensor*) AND (“air fuel” NEAR sensor*) AND inject*

exhaust

Sorting of results

Results sorted according to the importance of the word “exhaust”

Repeat the same search in GOOGLE

lambda oxygen O2 ego hego “air fuel” sensor OR sensors injected OR injection

Maximum 10 keywords

Resulted in 26 hits (compared to 13 of Altavista)

Repeat the same search in Advanced Search of GOOGLE

ego hego oxygen lambda

air fuel

sensor sensors

Resulted in 33 hits (search not complete yet)

Continue search within the 33 results found

injection OR injected

Resulted in 26 hits (compared to 13 of Altavista)

Example II:

Scenario: Stirling Engines comprising heat buffers

Use: Phrases Boolean operators

Methods of Search

(“heat buffer”) AND stirling

OR

stirlingheat buffer

2 Relevant sites found

Repeat the same search in GOOGLE

stirling

heat buffer

Resulted in 3 hits (compared to 2 hits of Altavista)

Example III:

Scenario: Regeneration of an exhaust NOx trap

Use: Boolean operators Truncation Proximity operators A specific word or phrase in one of the

searchable fields e.g. URL (Universal Resource Locator)

Methods of Search

((nox OR nitrogen* OR n2) WITHIN 5 (trap* OR adsor*)) NEAR regener* AND

url:dieselnet

Summary of article available in site

dieselnet

Methods of Search

Methods of Search

Search in GOOGLE by using a URL (domain)

inurl:dieselnet

Search in a known site

• Search by using the search capabilities of a known Internet site

• Each site offers its own search engine - usually of limited capabilities but allows to access “invisible web pages” (dynamically generated pages that are not retained after the search or pages requiring passwords to access)

Methods of Search

Example IV:

Scenario: Search for documents related to “NOx traps” in the site of the “Society of Automotive Engineers” (www.sae.org)

Methods of Search

“NOx trap”

Choose a document

Subscription required or documents are sold separately

Dates of Internet Disclosures

• Prior art defined by Art. 54(2) EPC

• Analogy between oral and Internet disclosures When did the disclosure occur (date)? What was the content of the disclosure? How did the disclosure become available

to the public (place – form of publication – confidential information)?

Dates

Dates of Internet Disclosures

• Case I: Disclosures from publicly recognized publishers like:

- technical journal sites- public databases- encyclopedias- newspapers- subscription sites - etc.

carrying a publication date use this date as the publication date of the document.

Dates

Publication date:April 2001

http:://www.dieselnet.com/tech.cat_nox-trap.html

Dates

Dates of disclosures from publicly recognized publishers

Dates of Internet Disclosures

• Case II: Disclosures from: - publicly recognized publishers without publication date, or - sites from non-publicly recognized publishers with or without

publication date

date of publication should be found or verified. How?

E-mails are not considered as prior art except if send in an open chat group

Dates

Web Last Modified Date on serverJavascript:alert(document.lastModified)

Dates

Web Last Modified Date on server

www.digital-detective.co.uk

Freeware Program: Webdate

Dates

Date of Gigablast Cached Page

Dates

Archiving date

Last modified date

“heat buffer”

http://www.gigablast.com

www.archive.org

www.dieselnet.com

Dates

Dates

Dates

Use retrieval/printing date as publication date of disclosure

Printing date:28 February 2002

Site address

Conclusions

For an efficient search of patent applications

• Analyze patent application• Choose right search tool (Google,

Altavista,...) and/or relevant sites• Choose search strategy – query language -

keywords• Evaluate publisher – recognized?• Evaluate date of disclosure