Search Result Filters

PatSeer integrated the search results with a set of filters that allows the user to narrow down with ease. The Integrated filters is one of the most powerful features of the platform.

When viewing the results, you will see the filters arranged by Field names on the left. Clicking on any of the field name will expand the filter and show field values sorted by descending order against your search query. Usually the Top 50 items from the field are shown first and you have a 'More' option present below the scroll bar to load the next 50.

So if you expand Assignee, then you will see the Top 50 Assignees for your search query as seen in the image below.

This way you can filter results by one or more fields instantly and quickly find answer to a questions such as: Between 2006-2012, who were the key inventors of University of Pittsburgh in IPC Class G01N in my search results ?

When you combine multiple values from the same filed a Boolean OR is applied to the values. When combine multiple fields a Boolean AND is applied between the field. So for example if you select say Assignee A1, A2, A3 from the Assignee filter, then select IPC I1, I2, I3 from the IC Main filter and then click on Apply the resulting Boolean string used for filtering will be: (A1 or A2 or A3) AND (I1 or I2 or I3)

Applying a Filter

To Apply a Filter, follows the steps below:

1. In the Search Results page, Click on the Field Name on Filter panel that you want to view
2. Select by click on the checkbox against the value you want to filter by. You can select more than one value.
3. Repeat the above 2 steps if you want to include another field
4. Click on the Apply button above the filter pane.
5. The filtered result sets will appear on the right.
6. All the fields that have been included in the filter, will appear with a Orange background color

Selecting multiple values in a filter

A select all option that works seamlessly with the filter search bar has been added. So, you can now search for name or terms and select all the matching results in one go. This can be done iteratively just like how its in Excel.

Clearing/Modifying a Filter

To clear any applied filer you can click on the 'Clear' option next to the Apply button. It is not necessary to clear a previous filter before applying a new one. You can directly make the selections/changes to the existing filter and then click on Apply to overwrite the previous filter.

Show/Hide Filter Fields

A Settings option on the top-left of the filter pane allows you to show/hide fields in the filter list. Since there are many fields present, this option helps reduce cluttering of the view. You can keep only the important fields for your needs enabled and hide the others.

Important Filter Tips and Tricks

1. Search Within Records Filter allows you to give a command line query as a filter. Further this can be also combined with other filters. So if you want to see all patent of Assignee A1 which have a technology X in their claims, then you can select A1 from the Assignee filter and in Search filter you can enter C:Search_String_for_technology_X and then click on Apply
2. Using NOT in filter: To apply a NOT filter, you need to select a field value and add it to the Search within Records filter. To make this process easy an icon has been provided next to each field value. When you click on the icon the particular value will get added/appended to your search query filter. You can then easily add a NOT before it as per your needs.
3. Increasing Precision when filtering by Assignee or Inventor: For Assignee and Inventor names there are usually misspelling and other name variations that can lead you missed out records. In order to ensure that you pick up all name variations of an Assignee, you will have to go through all the names in the Assignee Filter list which can take a lot of time for big results sets. To make this process easier, PatSeer has provided a search provision in the Assignee and Inventor filters. This appears as a ' + ' icon before the name. When you click on ' + ' the system will search for other matching names in the list of Assignees and shows you the matches. You can then select the applicable names from the matches along with the main Assignee name and click on Apply filter. So this helps you in ensuring that you have factored all name variations without wasting time in going through large Assignee/Inventor lists.

Topic Filters

Topics are essentially key concepts/technologies present in the text of your search results. Topics can be generated for any search result set although they will be more accurate for narrower result sets. Using Topics you can look up the key sub-technologies present in your search results or within a set  of records in a project without having to go through all the results.

The Topics generation algorithm is multi-lingual capable and also has three granularity modes which can be used depending upon the size of your result set. The three modes are:

• Default: This mode is ideal for most result sets (> 100 records) and the topics are organized in a 2 level hierarchy with the main topic at the top-level and related subtopics at the second-level.
• Finer: This mode allows you to focus on more specific and usually hidden smaller subtopics present in your result set. Also to be used for result sets which are > 100 records.
• Keyword: This mode should be used when your result-set is less than 100 records. The mode uses an algorithm specifically designed to work with small set of records.