Home on the Range: Top 5 Range Queries to Improve Your Patent Searching

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Submitted by mtroyer(68)
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16 February, 2012 - 14:16
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Range queries are powerful tools for searching patent data.  Most people are familiar with one kind of range query–the date range query.  But there are many unexpected uses for range queries that you may not have considered.  In this article, I’ll illustrate how to format them, and how to leverage their power.
 
If you prefer a video, I created an action-packed video showing the techniques I describe in this article.  See the video here:
 

Date Ranges:

I’ll use this section to review the basic syntax of a range query by illustrating the syntax on some basic date range queries.  
 
The Cheat Sheet contains all the field codes that you can query.  It is found by opening up the help window (Start>Help).  Hover your mouse over one of the field codes, and see an extensive tooltip explaining the function with specific examples.
 

Date Codes:

CobaltIP uses four primary codes for querying date ranges including: 
 
  • PRIRD:  Priority Date
  • APD:  File Date (also called application date)
  • ISD:  Issue Date (Pub date for applications)
  • EXPIRATION:  Expiration Date (next)
A basic range query looks like this:
 
ISD:[1992 to 2012]  
 
The range is contained in square brackets with the word “to” in the middle of the range.  
 
This query shows all patents whose issue date is between 1992 and 2012.  You can use curly brackets in your range queries, ISD:{01/01/2000 to NOW} which exclude the upper and lower boundary of the range, but I personally never use them because it is easy to change the range itself.  Just remember square brackets are inclusive of the end of the range.
 

Dates can be expressed in several ways:

  • Years:  ISD:[1992 to 2012]
  • Specific Dates:  ISD:[01/01/2000 to 12/31/2009]
  • Specific Dates Month Only:  APD:[2000/10 to 2012/2]
  • NOW:  A special term meaning “today”
         ISD:[2000 to NOW] all patents issued from 2000 to today’s date
         ISD:[NOW-20YEARS to NOW] all patents issued in the last 20 years
         EXPIRATION:[NOW TO NOW+6MONTHS] currently active patents that will expire in the next 6 months
  • * (Star or wildcard)
         ISD:[NOW-180DAYS to *] all patents issued in the last 180 days (could have used NOW instead of the *)
         PRIRD:[* to 03/05/2002]  all patents with priority dates before March 5, 2002

Other Uses for Range Queries:

Range queries are great for managing your patent portfolio or looking for patents with specific characteristics.  For example:
 
EXPIRATION:[NOW to NOW+4MONTHS]
 
This query shows all patents that are currently active but will expire in the next four months, if a maintenance fee is not received by the USPTO.
 
One note on the EXPRIRATION parameter:  CobaltIP records an expiration date that is the date the patent will expire if maintenance fees are NOT paid.  Patents expire on years 4, 8 and 12 after issue/grant if the USPTO doesn’t receive a maintenance payment.  
 
For example, a newly issued patent gets an “EXPIRATION” date set to Grant+4YEARS.  If a maintenance payment is received, the date is moved forward to Grant+8YEARS.  Therefore, EXPIRATION is not the statutory expiration (end of life) date but the NEXT expiration date in consideration of required maintenance fees.
 

The TRANCHE parameter:

 
US utility patents are required to record a maintenance payment at years 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 after issue, and they expire they at years 4, 8 and 12 (after a 6-month grace period), if no maintenance fee is received.  In the CobaltIP database, patents are categorized in their respective maintenance tranche.
 
  • E1:  When a patent is issued it is in E1.
  • E2:  If the first maintenance fee is paid, the patent moves to E2, otherwise it stays in E1.
  • E3:  If the second maintenance fee is paid, the patent moves to E3, otherwise it stays in E2 if it is not already expired in E1.
  • EX:  If the third maintenance fee is paid, the patent moves to EX, same logic applies.
Using these parameters, we can find patents that were abandoned in E1.  In other words, find patents that are so bad that their owners wouldn’t pay the relatively bargain-priced E1 maintenance fee.  Use range queries!
 
ISD:[* TO NOW-4YEARS] AND TRANCHE:E1
 
This query finds patents that are at least 4 years old but never moved past E1, i.e. there was never an E1 maintenance event recorded that would have moved the patent to E2.
 
Interesting to note, the patents that are abandoned most often are drugs, organic chemistry and manufacturing processes.  Try it, and see for yourself.
 
I think studying the abandonment rates of particular classes can help guide your decision-making at renewal times for your own patents—leveraging the wisdom of the crowds.
 
Let’s find the inverse.  Show me all patents that survived all maintenance tranches.  In other words, these are patents that are valuable enough that the patentee paid the relatively high E3 (year 11.5) renewal fee.
 
ISD:[NOW-20YEARS TO NOW-12YEARS] AND TRANCHE:EX
 
The date range clause above finds patents issued at least 12 years ago, but no more than 20 and the TRANCHE:EX shows patents which had their E3 renewal paid.
 
Note:  When querying expiration dates, you might want to toss in a “AND PT:U” clause to restrict the results to utility patents since the renewal rules don’t apply to design (PT:D) and plant (PT:PP) patents.
 
ISD:[NOW-20YEARS TO NOW-12YEARS] AND TRANCHE:EX AND PT:U
 

Co-Assigned Patents

Co-Assigned Patents are assigned to more than one entity.  This is an interesting topic to study since it tells you whom a target company or university is currently working with.
 
CobaltIP includes several pre-computed meta values which are usually counts of something.  One of them is Assignee Count (ANA_AS_CT).  To find co-assigned patents, you guessed it, use a range query.
 
ANA_AS_CT:[2 to *] and AN:(Samsung)
 
The range query above says show me all patents with assignee name containing “Samsung” yet has 2 or more assignees listed.
 
Run the query then look at the Assignee facet in the refinement panel and you’ll have a ranked list (by number of patents) of all the entities with whom Samsung has co-developed IP—pretty cool!
 
 

Find Patents less than 5 years old with 50 or more forward citations:

 
Try this query:
 
ISD:[NOW-5YEARS TO NOW] AND ANA_INREF_CT:[50 TO *]
 
The first part of this query (ISD:[NOW-5YEARS TO NOW] ) is a date clause restricting the query to patents issued in the last 5 years.  The second part (AND ANA_INREF_CT:[50 TO *]) finds patents with 50 or more forward citations.
 

Find all singlet patents:

 
Singlet patents are those that are lone wolves without any related family members.
 
(ISD:[NOW-5YEARS to NOW] and AN:(Apple Inc) and ANA_SFAM_CT:1)
 
This query (above) shows all the singlet patents.  But a slight variant using a range query shows all the patents with at least one additional family member.
 
(ISD:[NOW-5YEARS to NOW] and AN:(Apple Inc) and ANA_SFAM_CT:[2 to *])

Advanced Example:

 

Survivorship Rates Among Top Patentees

 
 
I think that the major differences between survivorship rates among top patentees reflects IP management philosophies more than it reflects patent quality.
 
I did two range queries and saved them to a research folder:
 
All utility patents between 12 and 20 years old:
 
(ISD:[NOW-20YEARS TO NOW-12YEARS] AND PT:U)
 
Surviving Patents 12 to 20 years old:
 
(ISD:[NOW-20YEARS TO NOW-12YEARS] AND TRANCHE:EX AND PT:U)
 
I then used the multi-series charting options (top right on Research Folders window) to chart the two sets together.  
 
There are virtually unlimited ways you can analyze patents using range queries.

Conclusion:

Range queries work on any date or any number.  You can do range queries on text fields— IN:[Smith to Smythe] ¬ but I can’t think of too many use-cases where you’ll find it particularly valuable.
 
I encourage you to play around with the advanced query syntax and range queries.  As you can see, the syntax is simple, and help is on the Cheat Sheet.  There are at least a dozen field codes where you’ll find range queries useful and unlimited permutations.
 
In just a few minutes you’ll be querying ranges like a pro!