Cassis Currents No. 7
April 2000
CHANGES FOR ODPP
On April 3, the Information Dissemination
Organizations (IDO) was restructured and is now under the direction of
the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO). Major reorganizing
is taking place and several office names have changed. ODPP is now the
Optical
Disc Publishing Services (ODPS).
The Office for Patent and Trademark Information (OPTI) is now the Information
Products Division and the Public
Search Services Division. The
Information Products Division is responsible for the Data Dissemination
Branch providing magnetic tape products, and the ODPS providing optical
disc products. The Public Search Services Division is responsible for the
Public Search facilities at the USPTO and the Patent and Trademark Depository
Library Program.
These two new divisions are under the
Deputy CIO for Information Technology Services, Ron Hack. In addition to
the Office of Information Dissemination Services, he has responsibility
for several other areas including the USPTO Computer Center, Telecommunications
Network, Help Desk and the USPTO Website
Another organizational change is that
Wes Gewehr has become the Deputy CIO for Systems Modernization. He has
shifted to the product development aspect of information technology. All
of us who worked with Wes have appreciated the leadership and support he
has given to the dissemination of USPTO's information products and services
for the past six years. Thank you, Wes, and we wish you all the best in
your new position!
USER RESPONSE TO THE Cassis2
TEST DISC
The Cassis2 test disc was distributed
to over 1300 users in January. Users were asked to respond to ODPP with
comments, suggestions, and questions. We received approximately 100 responses.
A postage-paid return postcard for comments was enclosed with the disc
and this proved to be the most popular feedback vehicle. Comments were
also sent via e- mail, telephone, and even U.S. mail.
Here are a few of the comments we received:
The
windows for viewing documents are too small.
Wonderful! Long
overdue! How soon can I get ASSIST with the MPEP/TMEP in Cassis2 disc format?
Zoom control -
good feature.
We need to be able
to save data in spreadsheet format.
It would be nice
if there was a cancel option if you accidentally sort a large number of
records.
Looks like a user
friendly interface.
After starting
the program, I currently have to click 3 times every time until I get to
Patents BIB search window. Just list all the Cassis products on the first
screen. There's room to show the various patent and trademark, products
right there.
Was not able to
figure out how to select which data fields to display in the individual
document window, as can do now. For example, suppose I only want to see
the patent number, title, and publication date?
What about field
selection for printing?
There is no way
to print search history information.
Overall,
the responses were positive about the search screens, the ease of use of
the search screens, and the move to Windows functionality. Two recurring
themes in the responses were about resolution problems and the need for
the ability to export data.
In
response to these user comments, the Cassis2 development team has been
busy working to implement the data export capability, resolve resolution
issues, as well as looking at integrating graphics with text records. They
have also added the ability to resize the screens to allow for a larger
display area and have worked out the functionality of having more than
one database open at a time.
In addition, the
team is working on multiple style sheets to offer a variety of display
and print options. They have also added the ability to print the search
history. To eliminate a few steps in opening databases and to speed up
access, most of the products are now displayed on the first screen as the
program opens.
The next test disc
will incorporate all of these changes. Plans are still being finalized
about the data that will appear on this next test disc. We
expect to distribute it in May or early June.
PTO BECOMES A PBO
Major
changes are occurring at the Patent and Trademark Office, based on recently
enacted legislation. The American Inventors Protection Act of 1999 went
into effect on 2000
March 29. The PTO
has officially become a Performance-Based Organization (PBO). In addition,
the Patent and Trademark Office officially became the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office (USPTO).
A PBO is a concept
created in 1996 by Vice President Al Gore and the National Partnership
for Reinventing Government. A results-driven organization, a PBO delivers
the best possible services to its customers. The USPTO is only the second
government agency to become a PBO.
A PBO commits to
accountability for results by having clear objectives, specific measurable
goals,customer service standards and targets for improved performance.
In exchange for this commitment to accountability, it can be granted managerial
flexibilities to achieve these goals.
Other important
changes from this legislation include:
The
domestic publication of foreign filed patent applications and domestically
filed patent applications, if requested - called PGPub, for Pre-Grant Publications
(you will hear more about this in the next issue of Cassis Currents);
The
title of Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks has changed to Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual
Property and Director of the USPTO;
The
Assistant Commissioner for Patents will now be known as Commissioner of
Patents, and the Assistant Commissioner for Trademarks as the Commissioner
of Trademarks;
The
separation of patent and trademark operations;
Two
nine-member advisory committees will be put in place, one for patents and
one for trademarks, to review policies, goals, performance, budget, and
fees.
As
a USPTO customer, you will be hearing more about these changes and how
they will affect the products and services that you receive.
USAPat
BACK FILE NEWS
The
USAPat back file project is moving ahead. An in-house test disc has been
evaluated and approved. Data
for the first 12 discs has already been sent for mastering and data continues
to be processed for subsequent discs. Plans are in place to distribute
the first set of 50 discs by 2000 September.
The USAPat back
file will consist of approximately 400 DVD-ROM discs containing the images
of all U.S. patents granted from 1790 to the present. The back file must
be purchased as a complete set and is available for $20,000. For more information,
contact ODPS.
DocDW
UPDATE
Over
the past year, there have been many enhancements to the DocDW retrieval
software used with the USAPat and USAMark document delivery products. In
order to better document these enhancements and other changes, the DocDW
User's Guide is currently being reformatted and updated. The User's Guide
will use the same format as the Cassis2 Installation and Reference Manual
that was distributed with the Cassis2 Test Disc. This will be the format
used for all future optical disc product manuals, as well. The updated
manual should be completed by the end of May.
We are also developing
an online help system for both DocDW products. We anticipate an early version
of the online help to be available for 2000 May issues.
The DocDW team is
pictured in Figure 1. Jeff Alderson is the ODPS staff member leading the
team. Alison Hairston, Usha Ananthanarayan, and Debbie Askin provide DocDW
programming support. Shahana Begum and Yousuf Nawab provide operational
support for USAPat and USAMark data production.
Figure 1 DocDW Team (left to right) Yousuf Nawab, Alison Hairston, Shahana Begum,
Usha Ananthanarayan, Debbie Askin, and Jeff Alderson
PTDL TRAINING SEMINAR XXIII COMES TO
CRYSTAL CITY
During the week of March 19 through 24, more than
100 librarians from most of the 86 Patent and Trademark Depository Libraries
(PTDLs) visited the USPTO for their twenty-third annual training seminar.
Providing assistance to the public with the use of the patent and trademark
information disseminated from the USPTO, these 86 libraries are located
throughout the country, with at least one in each state, and the District
of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
In addition to the PTDL representatives, there
were guests from several international organizations in attendance. These
included the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, the World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the British Library, the Puerto
Rico Industrial Development Company, and a representative of the World
Patent Information publication.
This year's seminar
featured updates on future changes due to recently passed legislation,
USPTO automation, and the new Cassis2 interface. Six training sessions
in the use of the new Cassis2 interface were held for the attendees. This
training gave them an overview as well as hands-on experience with the
new product that will soon be available to the public at their libraries.
We received many
comments and suggestions during these training sessions. A photo of one
of the training classes is shown below in Figure 2.
Figure 2 Cassis2 Training Class at PTDL Training Seminar XXIII
DISTRIBUTION OF USAPat FRONT FILE ON DVD-ROM BEGINS
After a slow start
due to problems with the manufacturing contract, the production and distribution
of USAPat for 2000 on DVD-ROM has begun. The production backlog will be
entirely caught up in April. Very soon, future production will be back
on track for shipping discs 10 - 15 days after issue. Because of the capability
to store approximately 10 times as much data as CD-ROM, you will only receive
1 DVD-ROM per week, instead of the 5-7 discs you had been receiving. We
hope that you will find this to be a major improvement for space and filing.
Please verify that you have received all discs. Let us know if you have
not received all issues by mid-May.
Figure
3 displays the catch-up production schedule for USAPat for 2000 January
- March.
Issue |
Mailing Date |
Pressing Date |
Shipping Date |
USP2000W01 |
6 March |
F12 March |
28 March |
USP2000W02 |
6 March |
13 March |
29 March |
USP2000W03 |
15 March |
20 March |
30 March |
USP2000W04 |
15 March |
30 March |
3 April |
USP2000W05 |
16 March |
1 April |
4 April |
USP2000W06 |
17 March |
1 April |
4 April |
USP2000W07 |
21 March |
2 April |
4 April |
USP2000W08 |
21 March |
2 April |
4 April |
USP2000W09 |
30 March |
5 April |
7 April |
USP2000W10 |
30 March |
5 April |
7 April |
USP2000W11 |
30 March |
6 April |
10 April |
USP2000W12 |
30 March |
6 April |
10 April |
USP2000W13 |
30 March |
7 April |
11 April |
USP2000W14 |
7 April |
11 April |
14 April |
Figure 3 USAPat Production Schedule