WHY?
A large proportion of CN publications have translated abstracts and are available in full-text in professional databases. Minesoft PatBase also allows searching with Chinese characters. This makes searching easier but the selection of synonyms generated needs to be precise and then expanded. How can appropriate terms be anticipated?
HOW?
- Find a classification heading that is spot on and skim the terms used
- Use an internet search engine to find common terms for the technology area
- Conduct citations on references of interest to find references not dependent on keywords
💡 Use IPC classification headings to capture CN references of interest. Of course, start with focused CPC headings but an iteration should always include IPC. This might be the final ‘net casting’ stage covering a large number of refs, but it’s likely that great prior art will be located.
💡As you become familiar with machine translated terms, cycle them in your search strategies. It may not be the proper technical term but if it’s noted as being a commonly used translated term throughout the search, include it.
💡Combine classifications so not all search strings are dependent upon keywords. This is also another great way of finding yet more synonyms.
💡Conduct assignee/inventor searches. It’s also likely that more than one application/patent is available by the inventor/assignee.
💡Oftentimes there are English technical language terms sprinkled through CN publications, which makes full-text searching important. For example the reference pictured uses the terms, active light pattern [0014], 3D [0020], LED [0024], RGB [0019] and TIR [0024].
MECHANICAL PATENT SEARCHER | LONDON
