Delphion Queries
 
NOTES:
1. No case sensitivity, but all caps for field abbreviations helps readability.
2. Proximity operators are always enclosed in angle brackets, e.g., <in>.
3. Use parentheses to set precedence order.
4. A maximum of 500 patents can be view from a single search. Use date restrictions to prune search results to 500 or less.
5. The search engine uses word frequency based upon precedence order to rank search results.


Field Abbreviations

Abbreviation Field Name
AB abstract
AD application date
AGENT patent agent (firm)
AN application number
BACKGROUND background & summary
CLAIMS claims
DESCRIPTION description
DP priority date
DS designated country
IC international patent class
IN inventor
KI kind code
MC main IPC class
NC national class
PA  applicant/assignee
PC publication country
PD publication date
PN publication number
PR priority number
STATUS maintenance status
TEXT text fields
TI title
UP update number
USREFS U.S. references
 
[back to top]

Nesting and Order of Operation
Parentheses are used to create nests which define the order of operation. Nesting directs the search engine to process queries in specified order.
Search syntax... Result set
(driving OR protection) AND helmet under 1000 records
driving OR (protection AND helmet) over 150,000 records
 
[back to top]

Precedence Order
Below is the operator processing precedence order:

[back to top]

<in> Operator
<in> is a proximity operator that helps you select documents which contain your keywords in specified fields in the patent record. Proximity operators are always enclosed in angle brackets (less than and greater than symbols).

Specify the search field after the <in> operator. You can use the full field name or an accepted abbreviation for the field name. The two queries below return the same result set:

Query with full field name:
monoclonal <in> title

Query with field name abbreviation:
monoclonal <in> TI

((380???*) <in> NC)

Natural language for the field name does not work.

Field name improperly formed:
monoclonal <in> the patent title
NOTE: The <in> operator does not work with date fields.
[back to top]

Boolean Operators

AND:
(Hewlett-Packard <in> PA) AND (printer AND scanner) <in> TI
(Hewlett-Packard <in> PA) AND (printer or (ink jet)) <in> (TI,AB,MC)
<AND> (drink, liquid, straw) <in> AB

OR:

dog or cat <in> TI
(Hewlett-Packard <in> PA) AND (printer OR scanner) <in> TI
(semiconductor, wiring, circuit) <in> TI

NOT :
(Hewlett-Packard <in> PA) AND (printer NOT scanner) <in> TI
(veterinary <in> AB) AND NOT ((birds, avian, chicken, poultry) <in> AB)
[back to top]

Proximity Operators
Proximity Operators Example
<NEAR> 0 to 1024 words nearby, ranked by proximity
<NEAR/n> n = acceptable proximity by # of words
<ORDER> used with to <NEAR>, <SENTENCE>, or <PARAGRAPH> to specify order

<ORDER> monoclonal <near/2> antibodies
specifies "monoclonal antibodies" in that exact order. Without <ORDER>, "antibodies monoclonal" would be acceptable.
<SENTENCE> up to 15 words apart
<PARAGRAPH> up to 100 words apart

The <near> and <near/n> proximity operators ranks documents by relevance based on the proximity of the specified words.

<near> selects documents containing your specified search terms. Delphion's search engine scores a 0 for documents where the search terms are not within 1024 words of each other. The closer the search terms are within a document, the higher the document’s relevancy score.

<near/n> selects documents containing two or more search terms within a specified number of words of each other. n can be an integer up to 1024. Once again, the closer the search terms are within a document, the higher the document’s score.

NOTES:
1. The closer the search terms are to each other, the higher the relevancy score of the document.
2. Neither <near> or <near/n> specify the order of the search terms.

 <near> examples:

coffee <near> filter (All records with the word coffee near the word filter.)
(coffee <near> filter) <in> description (All records with the word coffee near the word filter in the Description field.)
(coffee <near> filter) <in> (abstract,claims) (All records with the word coffee near the word filter in the Abstract or Claims fields.)
((dog OR cat) <near> carrier) <in> description (All records with the word dog OR the word cat near the word carrier in the Description field.)
<near/n> examples:
(inorganic <near/10> solvents) <in> claims (over 1,000 records found for collection searched)

(inorganic <near/100> solvents) <in> claims (over 4,000 records found for collection searched)

(inorganic <near/300> solvents) <in> claims (over 5,000 records found for collection searched)
[back to top]

Kind Codes
Kind codes restrict the search of patents by type.

The following query searches for US design patents (assuming US patents are checked for searching).

S1 <in> KI
Here's a complete listing of kind codes.
[back to top]

Thesaurus Operator
The THESAURUS operator searches an index of terms and finds synonyms for the key term in your query.

The following query asks the search engine to look for the word bow in the Title (TI) field.

bow <in> TI
The result set includes patents for an archery bow, bow tuning equipment, a gift wrapping bow, a bow assembly for a ski lift, a key bow, a ladder for a boat bow, a bow rake, and a violin bow cover. All patent records have the word bow in the Title. For the collection searched, the result set was over 1,000.

This query uses the <THESAURUS> operator to ask for results that include synonyms for the word bow in the Title.
<THESAURUS> bow <in> TI
This result set includes patents with the word bow and patents with synonyms for the word bow in the Title. Synonyms found include: bend,

bending, turn, turnable, yield, yielding, curved, curving, round, and crook. For the collection searched, the result set was over 10,000.

NOTE: The thesaurus includes mostly common words and may not be helpful for technical or scientific terms.

[back to top]

Wildcards
Delphion supports right-hand truncation in queries: wildcard suffix (to the right-hand side of a search term). This allows you to retrieve words that begin with that specific character string but have an unknown variety of characters at the end.

NOTE: Left-hand truncation (wildcard prefix) is not supported.

NOTE: Wildcards can be used within a word.

Wildcard Symbol Explanation
? The question mark wildcard represents one character. Use one or more question marks to stand for a specific number of characters in your search term.
* The asterisk wildcard represents zero or an unlimited number of characters.

Following are examples of queries using wildcards:
Search Syntax Results include...
carbo? Words with only one character following the specified search string of carbo, including:
  • carbon
  • carbox
  • carboy
carbo?? Words with exactly two characters following the specified search string of carbo, including:
  • carbons
  • carboxy
  • carbody
car?on Words with one character between carbo and the suffix on, including:
  • carbon
  • carton
carbo* Words with an unlimited number of characters following the specified search string of carbo, including:
  • carbon
  • carbonate
  • carbonated
  • carbohydrate
  • carbonyl
  • carboxylic
  • carborane-(siloxane or silane)-acetylene
  • carbonless
carbo*ate Words with an unlimited number of characters between carbo and the suffix ate, including:
  • carbonate
  • carbohydrate
  • carboxylate-sulfate
  • carboxydiketonate
  • carbothiolate
  • carboxylic-acid-amidothiolcarbamate
[back to top]

Searching for Phrases
By default, the search engine performs phrase searching. This means two or more words entered without commas or other operators will be treated as a unit — a phrase — when the search is performed. So, a search for optical fiber will return a result set that includes optical fiber, optical fibers, and optic fiber. The words will always be adjacent and always be in the specified order. Variations of the words will appear because stemming is also, by default, turned on.

If you want your search to include the words optical and fiber in any order and not necessarily next to each other, then construct your query in a way that switches phrase searching off.

Search Syntax Phrase searching is... Result set includes...
optical fiber on
  • optical fiber
  • optical fibers
  • optic fiber
(optical AND fiber) off
  • optical fiber
  • fiber optic
  • optical transmission fiber
  • optical glass fiber
relational database on
  • relational database
  • relational databases
  • related databases
(relational AND database) off
  • relational databases
  • method for querying multiple, distributed databases by selective sharing of local relative...
  • method relating to databases
  • database relational extenders


See also: Searching for Exact Terms vs. Stemming
[back to top]

Date Range Searching

Date formats: YYYY/MM/DD or MM/DD/YYYY

Basic usage: 

  date field  date operator  YYYY/MM/DD
Abbreviation Date Field Name
AD application date
DP priority date
PD publication date

NOTES: 
1. Use parentheses for each element to ensure that each element is considered independently.
2. The less than, equal to, and greater than symbols only work with date fields; they cannot be used with text fields.

Target Date  Operator Meaning
prior to a specific date  < less than
on a specific date  = equal to
after a specific date  > greater than
prior to or on a specific date  <= less than or equal to
after or on a specific date  >= greater than or equal to
between two dates, including the start and stop dates  >= and <= greater than or equal to and less than or equal to

Example 1, dates earlier than:
Publication Date (PD) before (less than) 01/01/1991 with Canon as the Patent Applicant/Assignee (PA) with the word image in the Title (TI):

(Canon <in> PA) AND (image <in> TI) AND (PD<01/01/1991)

In this case, the Boolean operator AND is used between each of the query elements to indicate that positive results in all three elements of the query are required for a patent to appear in your result set.

Example 2, dates earlier than or on:
Example 1, but include patents issued on 01/01/1991:

(Canon <in> PA) AND (image <in> TI) AND (PD<=01/01/1991)
Example 3, dates between two dates:
Publication Dates (PD) between 12/31/1988 and 01/01/1991:
(Canon <in> PA) AND (image <in> TI) AND (PD>12/31/1988 AND PD<01/01/1991)
Example 4, dates between two dates, including the start and stop dates:
Publication Dates (PD) on or between 12/31/1988 and 01/01/1991:
(Canon <in> PA) AND (image <in> TI) AND (PD>=12/31/1988 AND PD<=01/01/1991)
12/31/1988 is the first date, 01/01/1991, the last date, and all dates in between.
[back to top]

Searching for Exact Words vs. Stemming
The Delphion search engine automatically performs stemming. When you enter a word, your result set includes words that share a root, or stem, with the word you searched. So, for the word prime, a result set includes words like primed, priming, primaries and primates.

Note: Switch off stemming by enclosing keyword(s) in double quotes. To switch off stemming for multiple words, quote each word.
Search syntax... Stemming is... Result set includes...
prime on prime, priming, primed, primates, primaries, and other words with the same stem
"prime" off prime
carbon on carbon, carbons, carbonate, carbonates, carbonated, and other words with the same stem
"carbon" on carbon

Stemming is a linguistic process and your results will include linguistic expansions of the stem word. Use wildcards for a result set that includes all (right-hand) expansions of a stem or word.

See also: Searching for Phrases and Wildcards

[back to top]