Chapter Table of Contents
The procedures used to make an accurate and efficient search or to classify
a patent document require familiarity with and use of the following search tools:
- Index
to the U.S. Patent Classification System
- Manual
of Classification
- Classification
Definitions
- Classification
Orders
- Electronic
Search Systems
A.
Index to the U.S. Patent Classification System
The Index
to the U.S. Patent Classification System comprises an alphabetical
listing of technical and common terms representative of arts, processes, machines,
manufactures, compositions of matter, etc., associated with a numerical reference
citation to a class or subclass in which potentially pertinent patent documents
or literature (non-patent literature) may be found. The Index may be used
to find clues to the classification of specific subject matter. The reference
citations obtained by using the Index are not exhaustive and only serve
as a guide to the schedules, or portions thereof, of the identified classes.
The definitions and notes (see Subsection C below) associated with these classes
or subclasses must be reviewed for more precise information on the location
of relevant art. This is true even though the reference citation given
by the Index appears to state a restricted area of subject matter. Also, synonyms
can be used to locate an entry in the Index.
B.
Manual of Classification
The printed Manual
of Classification is comprised of:
- A listing of current
pages of the Manual, showing, among other things, the date each Class was
established,
- An Overview
of the Classification System,
- A theoretical organization
of all the Classes into three major groups and, within each group, an attempt
to list the Classes in a hierarchy,
- Classes arranged
by Art Unit,
- Classes arranged
numerically with Art Unit and Search Room locations,
- Classes arranged
in alphabetical order,
- Class schedules ¾ that is, an arrangement of the subclass titles and numbers in an
organized order under each Class title.
The Manual
of Classification, per se, is only available in printed form. However,
most of the eight items comprising the printed Manual of Classification, listed
above, are available electronically in one form or another through the PTO
Intranet or PALM.
Class and subclass titles
are used to identify major and minor segments of the classification system,
respectively. These brief titles are as suggestive as possible about
the subject matter covered by each segment. Therefore, it is best not to depend
on class and subclass titles alone to delineate the subject matter in a class
or subclass. Reference to respective definitions and notes is essential.
If a search or placement is to be expeditious, accurate, and complete, the
Manual of Classification should be used only as a key to the class or
subclass definition and appended notes.
C.
Classification Definitions
The Classification
Definitions comprise detailed descriptions of the art found in the
classes of the Classification system of the USPTO. Used in conjunction with
the Manual of Classification, Definitions
establish placement of each Original and each mandatory Cross-Reference of
a U.S. patent. Also, they assist the assignment of each patent application
within USPTO.
The review of class and
subclass definitions is essential to properly place a document in the USPC
system or to obtain a proper field of search therefrom. Each definition consists
of a statement of the scope embraced by the respective segment of the system
that it delineates.
A subclass definition
must be read in light of the class definition and any parent subclass definitions
from which it depends. Many of the definitions have accompanying notes. These
notes are usually (1) notes that supplement definitions by explaining terms
or giving examples and (2) notes that refer to related disclosures located
in other classes or subclasses.
The latter notes are termed
Search Notes
and help to qualify and explain the limits of a class or subclass. They generally
state the relationship to, and difference from, other identified subject
matter collections. For any search or patent placement, each note provided
should guide a user to the extent necessary to reach a decision either to
include or exclude an area containing relevant subject matter. Search Notes
found in the class definition, as well as in the definition of any parent
subclasses from which a subclass depends, should also be used as a guide in
reaching this decision.
The definitions and notes
of each revised class, published in separate Classification Orders, are identified
by the class number and title. Class and subclass definitions are available
in electronic format, on PTONet. Individual Classification Orders are available
in printed form from the Editorial Division of the Office of Classification
Support.
D. Classification Orders
At the end of a reclassification
project, a Classification Order is issued. Classification Orders are issued
throughout the year. The Classification Order is a report on the changes to
the USPC system brought about as the result of a reclassification project.
It also serves to bridge the gap between the date of the Order and the time
that the regular paper and electronic search tools are updated to reflect
the reclassification. The date of the Classification Order is also the Issue
Date of the reclassification project.
The following search tools
are updated by a Classification Order:
- Manual
of Classification. Changes to all affected parts of the Manual.
This includes any new class schedules or changes to existing class schedules
impacted by the project.
- Classification
Definitions. Changes to the Definitions necessary to support the
changes caused by the reclassification project.
- Source
and Disposition Pages. Lists how art from abolished subclasses has
been placed into newly established or existing subclasses.
- International
Patent Classification (IPC) Concordance. Shows the relationship
between newly established subclasses and their IPC counterparts.
- Foreign
Patent Art Collections. Listings created to provide for foreign patents
that were not reclassified as part of the project appear at the end of the
Class containing the new schedule. Foreign Art Collections are identified
by the prefix FOR followed by a 3-digit number. See Search
System Organization, above, for a more detailed explanation of this
practice.
A Reclass
Alert Report, issued quarterly, summarizes changes resulting
from Reclassification Orders and notifies examiners of issued reclassification
projects. (For a copy of a Classification Order, contact your Group Post Classifier.)
See below for a discussion
on how to use the Electronic Search Systems to find the locations of new classes
and subclasses of art that were classified in an abolished subclass.
E. Electronic Search Systems
The electronic search
systems at the USPTO include both word searchable text databases of documents
and image searchable databases of documents. The text databases include full
text of U.S. patent documents back to around 1971, as well as English abstracts
for many foreign patent documents. Additionally, there is an OCR file of older
U.S. patent documents that is word searchable. The text searchable databases
are referred to as BRS, and the clients on Examiners workstations used
to access BRS are known as EAST (Electronic Assisted Search Tool) and WEST
(Web-based Examiner Search Tool).
The images for all U.S.
patent documents, as well as those of many foreign patent documents, are retrievable
for viewing by examiners from their workstations using either of two electronic
search clients, EAST and WEST. Images of all U.S. patent documents, and many
foreign patent documents, are retrievable by USPC classification from the
search clients.
The electronic search
systems can be used to access the online database that contains the full text
files for all of the U.S. patents issued since 1971.
The electronic search
systems can also be used to determine the new location of art classified in
a subclass that was abolished in a reclassification project. By searching
in one of the Issue Classification Indexes (e.g., CIOR and CIXR) for the abolished
subclass, and then analyzing the current classifications of the result set.
See the U.S. Patents Text Search Quick Reference
Guide for WEST and EAST for a listing of related search system
commands and indexes.
The underlying textual
database, BRS, requires that all patent documents have at least one valid
classification. Class
1, subclass 1 is a holding place for patents having
no valid classification neither OR nor XR. Invalid
classifications result for two reasons: (1) the classification may become
invalid when a project becomes official and all the old classifications are
abolished; (2) the issue classification that is, the Blue Slip
classification may be invalid. These discrepancies are routinely corrected.
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