Proximity Search

To do a left-right ordered proximity search use wd operator between the words. For unordered proximity search use w operator between the words.

For example:

(antivirus wd5 software) : searches for antivirus within 5 words of software and antivirus must appear before software

(antivirus wd0 software) : searches for antivirus within 0 word of software i.e., antivirus should be right before software. The operator isn’t needed as a search for (antivirus software)  will also achieve the same result.

(antivirus wd2 software wd2 trojan): searches for antivirus, software and Trojan within 2 words of each other.

Important Notes:

• Only for users using the older double-quote syntax for proximity: The disadvantage of using double-quotes for proximity is that you cannot use wild-card within the double-quote as it will be ignored. So if you are searching for optic* then the query TAC:(fiber optic*) will work and TAC: “fiber optic*” will only search for fiber optic.
• To do an unordered proximity search use w or double-quotes and % operator. So (optics w1 fiber) will match both fiber optics and optics fiber
•  You can also enter a number range defining limits to number of words to search around. So (optic w3-10 fiber) will match only those records in which optic and fiber come within 3 to 10 words of each other.

Same Sentence and Same Paragraph proximity

You can order search within the same sentence and same paragraph using the ws and wp inline proximity operators. See example usage below:

Common mistake: Keep in mind that (mobile ws network) is NOT the same as (mobile ws0 network). (mobile ws network) will span across the length of the sentence and (mobile ws0 network) will look for an exact match within the same sentence. In that sense (mobile ws0 network) and (mobile w0 network) is the same since in PatSeer an exact match query anyhow doesn't span across sentence boundaries.

However (mobile w network) is the same as (mobile w0 network). 

Using Boolean within a Proximity Search

Using parentheses within proximity search you can increase the combinations of proximity search to be conducted. For example:

Using Multi-term Phrases within a Proximity Search

You can use multi word phrases inside a Boolean Proximity construct. The inline proximity operators allow you to nest a proximity within an external proximity. For example:

•  (turbo w5 (jet w2 engine*))
• T:((semiconductor w0 laser w0 excit* w0 solid) w10 ((laser w0 amplifier) or (laser w0 device)))

You can also use the parentheses syntax but the multi-word phrases must be enclosed within brackets. See example of equivalent syntax below:

In the example in table above, since there is no operator between mobile* and phone, an exact match is assumed by default. This is equivalent to entering (mobile* wd0 phone).

NOTE: There is a limit of 50 proximity operators per search query.