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Using IFI’s Concordance of IPC to US Classification to enhance patent analysis
IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services
Darlene Slaughter
ACS National Meeting
San Diego, CA
April 4, 2001
Patents as a source
• Readily available
• Well structured– Requirements of patent offices
• Additional organization– Standardization– Indexing– Abstracting
Gathering data for analysis
• Free text search
• Indexing systems
• Classification search– IPC– USPTO class
Free text
• Advantages– Simple to do– No detailed research needed
• Disadvantages– False drop– Missed references– Not always available
Indexing systems
• Advantages– Precise, controlled retrieval– Intellectually assigned
• Disadvantages– Familiarity with system required– Limited coverage– Limited access
Class search
• Advantages– Precise retrieval– Does not rely on wording or language– IPCs cover international patents
• Drawbacks– Limited to patent references– Requires careful class selection
Class searching in CLAIMS®
• US classes, for US patents
– More accurately assigned
– Current
• Use IFI IPC/US concordance as reference
• Compare free text to class results
Polymers used in dental prosthetics
• Start with US class on known reference
• Use IPC/US concordance to find additional relevant classes
• Search in CLAIMS® US Patents database
• Analyze patenting companies
• Compare to free text
Free text in CLAIMS – first try
1. dental? or dentist? or denture? or tooth or teeth
2. polymer? or plastic? or resin?
Wrong teeth!
• Stator pole teeth for a claw pole
stepping motor
• Method for the manufacture of a
machine part with external teeth
• Plastic sprocket wheel with replaceable
teeth
Class Search Tool from IFI
Concordance of IPC to US Class
• Dual concordance
• Match at US subclass/IPC subgroup level
• Percentages help select best match
Browse class manuals
• Full text of class manuals– 7th Edition IPC manual– Current US class manual, updated bimonthly
• Concordance updated bimonthly
433/212.1
Class hierarchy text – class 433 is dentistry
Click H to see IPC hierarchy text
Click % to switch to IPC
check US class 523-116
Click on H to see class text…
Covers both dental and polymer…
Dental plastics
Class search
• Dental polymers523/115, 116, 117, 109, 120;106/035
• Dental prosthetics433/167-228.1
• Polymers522-528424/486, 487or polymer? or plastic? or resin?
US patent search results
• 2380 references with classes
• 3440 references with free text
• 2025 with free text, not with classes
• 965 with classes, not with free text
Free text without classes
LIGHT EMITTING ELECTRIC TOOTHBRUSH
ORAL CARE COMPOSITIONS COMPRISING COENZYME Q10
DENTAL INSTRUMENT
CRYSTAL GELS USEFUL AS DENTAL FLOSS….
Classes without free text BONE SUBSTITUTE COMPOSITION COMPRISING
HYDROXYAPATITE AND A METHOD OF PRODUCTION THEREFOR
Class: 523115000 Class Cross Ref: 424423000
GLASS IONOMER CEMENT; BLENDS Class: 523116000 Class Cross Ref: 523117000; 524030000;
524494000; 524551000; 524555000; 524558000; 524815000; 524816000; 524818000; 524829000; 524831000; 524832000; 524833000
SINGLE-SOLUTION ADHESIVE RESIN FORMULATIONS Assignee: American Dental Association Health Foundation Class: 522182000 Class Cross Ref: 522028000; 522048000;
522064000; 522908000; 523115000; 523116000
CompaniesFree text
105 Colgate-Palmolive Co
36 Minnesota Mining & Mfg Co
27 Procter & Gamble Co The
24 Bayer Ag De
24 Gillette Canada Inc Ca
19 Warner-lambert Co
18 Dentsply Research & Dev
16 Ivoclar Ag Li
15 Johnson & Johnson
12 G-C Dental Industrial Corp
Classes
71 Minnesota Mining & Mfg Co
62 Bayer Ag De
58 Dentsply Research & Dev
51 G-C Dental Industrial Corp
39 American Dental Assoc
Health Foundation
34 Kuraray Co Ltd Jp
30 Jeneric/pentron Inc
29 Ivoclar Ag Li
26 GC Corp Jp
26 National Research Dev Corp
24 Warner-lambert Co
Improve analysis quality
• What data sources are available?
• Best way to define data set?
• Tools to improve accuracy?
• Analyze and interpret!
31
IFI CLAIMS® Patent Services
3202 Kirkwood Highway
Wilmington, DE 19808
Help desk : (800)331-4955
web site : www.ificlaims.com
email : [email protected]
fax : (302) 998-0733
