Welcome to the first issue of Cassis Currents
August 1998

Published by the Optical Disc Publishing Program (ODPP), a division of the Office for Patent and Trademark Information under the Administrator for Information Dissemination at the US Patent and Trademark Office, Department of Commerce.

Cassis Currents will be published bi-monthly to bring you news about ODPP products and services. You'll read about new products, changes to existing products, important notices, search tips, and be able to check out customer FAQs ... With this first issue, we bring you news of very big changes - the Cassis CD-ROM Series Migration.

The Big news! -- Cassis CD-ROM Series MIGRATION

In mid-1999, the Cassis CD-ROM Series is undergoing BIG changes. First, we will be changing our publishing software to Dataware II. Dataware II runs on a Windows 95, 98, or NT platform, so we will no longer support DOS or Windows 3.1. The search interface will look different from what you are used to, but we are adding features to make it easier to use when searching and displaying. In addition to new software, CD-ROM is being replaced by DVD-ROM, a new optical storage medium that holds many times more data per disc. With more disc space available, it will be possible to consolidate products and add new features. You will hear more about these changes as design plans are finalized.

This change takes place a year after the Cassis series celebrated its 10^th anniversary. Throughout the more than 10 years of providing patent and trademark information in a CD-ROM format, the product line has grown from 1 disc to 12, adding products to accommodate the needs of our customers.

The current line of Cassis products includes:

GLOBALPat*

Patents ASSIGN

Patents ASSIST

Patents BIB

Patents CLASS

Patents SNAP

Trademarks ASSIGN

Trademarks ASSIST

Trademarks PENDING

Trademarks REGISTERED

USAMark**

USAPat***

*GLOBALPat's format will not be changing.
**USAMark will be changing to DVD­ROM but will not use Dataware II.
***USAPat will change to DVD-ROM and may move to Dataware II, but not in the near future.

Dataware II - What Changes are in store?

The new software we will be using to publish Cassis discs, Dataware II, offers greater flexibility in product development. We are redesigning our product line to improve search and display capabilities. What changes can you expect?

Dataware II is 32-bit software that runs under Windows 95, 98, or NT platforms, therefore, our products will no longer run under DOS or Windows 3.1. Dataware II uses the BRS/Search engine, a full-featured, robust, and time-tested search engine. This software offers many enhanced features including the ability to add hypertext links and images, and to provide natural language queries and document relevance ranking. Hypertext links allow you to jump between or within documents or files. It is also possible to provide images to accompany bibliographic text. With natural language queries, it is possible to enter a search request in sentence form and the engine will interpret your query. After your search is performed, documents retrieved in your search can be ranked by relevance in a manner similar to the Internet search engines you are familiar with.

For more information about Dataware II, check out their web site at http:// www.dataware.com.

What is DVD-ROM?

DVD-ROM is a new medium for storing and delivering information. A DVD­ROM disc looks the same as a CD-ROM disc, but it provides much greater storage capacity because of the construction of the disc and the ability to use up to four data layers.   While a CD­ROM holds a maximum of 640 megabytes of data, a DVD-ROM disc can store between 4.5 and 18 gigabytes, depending on the number of layers.  So, a weekly CD-ROM product such as USAPat that now might take up to six discs per week will fit on just one DVD­ROM disc.  This additional space also makes adding images to bibliographic text a possibility.

If you plan to purchase a DVD drive, be sure to get a second-generation DVD drive. They can be used to access DVD, CD, and CD-R discs, while first-generation DVD-ROM drives cannot read CD-R discs. For more information about DVD-ROM, take a look at http://www.dvdforum.org/.

Cassis in 2000

A few of our customers have asked whether Cassis products will behave correctly in the year 2000.  Dataware Technologies, from whom we license both CD Author/Answer (used currently in most Cassis products) and Dataware II (replacing CD Author/ Answer), have informed us that their software will behave correctly in 2000. The DocD software used in USAPat and USAMark was developed to behave correctly in the year 2000. In addition, dates in all of our products always have a four-digit year and the user interfaces do (and will) always display the complete year. Should anyone encounter any date-related difficulty using our products in 2000, we would like to know of it so that we can correct the problem. However, due to the variety of hardware and operating system configurations used by our customers, the behavior of Cassis products cannot be tested fully. Therefore, Cassis products are not warranted in any way with respect to the year 2000.

If you're interested in finding more information about the USPTO, please explore our web site at http:// www.uspto.gov/. You'll find news releases, forms to download, fee schedules, files to search, and other general information. To receive a free copy of the IDO Products and Services Catalog, please call the 800 number below.

Meet the ODPP Staff

We want you to get to know the ODPP staff:

Bruce Cox, Manager; Jeff Alderson, Product Engineer; Ed Vocke, Product Engineer; Donna Cooper, Technical Writer

Office for Patent and Trademark Information staff you'll want to know:

Jane Myers, Director, Office for Patent and Trademark Information
Meg Gilbert, Program Analyst, Customer Services
Carolyn Johnson, Program Management Assistant

How To get in touch with us:

We want to hear from you!

Please contact us with questions or comments about our products or about our anticipated changes. Here is a list of our addresses and phone numbers.

By US mail:

USPTO - OPTI
Crystal Park 3 Suite 441
Washington, DC 20231

Use this address for courier service only:

USPTO - OPTI
Crystal Park 3 Suite 441
2231 Crystal Drive
Arlington, VA 22202

By telephone:

703-306-2600, or 800-786-9199: when your call is answered by a Customer Service Representative, identify yourself as a Cassis subscriber and ask to be transferred to OPTI.

By fax:

703-306-2737

By e-mail:

cassis@uspto.gov

Production Notes:

Because of a change in mastering plants, the June issues will be slightly delayed.