Derwent Innovation

Can I find all patents for a specific technology? How do I make that sure my keyword searches find all the pat-ents relevant to a technology? How can I focus large result sets on specific aspects of a technology?

Research patents in a specific technology domain

Classification codes identify patents by technological subject matter. You can use these codes to describe a technology and re-search inventions that match that description.

Patent classification codes made easy

Major types classification codesInternational Patent Classification (IPC)

• Administered by WIPO and used in over 100 countries

• Classifies patents into 8 main subject areas, and can optionally be used at a Core or Advanced level

Cooperative Patent Classification System (CPC) • Developed by the EPO and USPTO to create a common system

for US and European patents

• Provides a more specific, detailed version of IPC

DWPI Manual Codes • A unique, proprietary system applied consistently by subject

specialists

• Classifies all patents into 20 categories with clear, easy to read English-language definitions

How to understand a classification codeClassification codes use hierarchical structure that describes increasingly specific areas of technology, from very broad at the highest level to very specific at the lowest level, as demonstrated in an example IPC code:

• Section: The highest level of the code, which represents a broad technology area (e.g., Electricity)

• Class: A major sub-area of the technology (e.g., Electric Com-munication Technique)

• Subclass: A specific, broad application for the technology area (e.g., Broadcast Communication)

• Main Group: Major components of technology for a partic-ular application (e.g., Arrangements specially adapted for receiving broadcast information)

• Subgroup: Precisely defines a specific field within a main group

Note: DWPI Manual Codes use a similar hierarchical structure, but use different terminology to describe each level in the hierarchy.

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Section

Class

Subclass

Main Group

Sub- group

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Identify classification codes to use in your search

Use keyword search and the Results Dashboard A quick keyword search finds patents for the technology you want to research. Then, the Results Dashboard helps you identify potential classification codes to research.

Just search the Title field for key terms that describe the tech-nology space.

Tip: Title-DWPI provides a concise description rewritten by DWPI experts to highlight inventions’ content and novelty.

Then, review the Results Dashboard to see top matching clas-sification codes:

• Review the Current IPC, Current CPC, or DWPI Manual Code charts to see the top class codes in your results.

• Review IPC-4 character (Category) and DWPI Class to see broad technology areas found by your search.

Tip: Hover your mouse over the items in the IPC-4 character chart to see a detailed description of the technology area it represents.

Find classification codes on relevant patentsYou can also review specific patents (e.g., the most relevant patents in your Smart Search results) to review class codes assigned by patent examiners and the patent specialists at DWPI.

• Click a hyperlinked patent number to open the record view and click Classes/Indexing to jump to the class codes assigned to the patent

• Hover your mouse over each class code to see a detailed de-scription; note that the description for some lower-level codes may complete the description on higher level codes, so they may seem incomplete

• For CPC, the first code (in bold) is the primary code, which best describes the invention

• Note codes with different first letters, as that may indicates the invention crosses technology areas

• Copy all the codes relevant to the technology area you want to research for use in a search

Tip: Copy IPC and CPC codes at the subclass (first 4 characters) or main group (first 5 or 6 characters) level. Classification codes are hierarchical, so searches for higher level codes automatically find patents with relevant lower level codes. If you search with a full class code (including subgroup), you will need to either list each specific code you want to search or use truncation operators.

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Browse Classification Codes with a Search AidWhen you select the CPC-Any, IPC-Any, and DWPI Manual Code fields on the fielded search form, a Browse button displays after the text field. Click that button to access a complete list classification codes for that system.

• Use the Keyword search box to find codes that contain a spe-cific key term; use the Browse section to explore the codes by subject matter

• Select check boxes for the codes you want to add to your search

• Select high level codes (first few characters) to explore broad areas of a technology, as high level codes automatically search related full class codes

• Select full class codes to focus on specific aspects of the tech-nology area

Note: Keyword search finds all codes that match the terms you enter, regardless of the section or technology area. For example, a search for computer may find codes for computer desks. Make sure that the codes you select in keyword search match the technology space you want to research.

Explore a technology area with classification codes

Find all patents for a specific technology space1. Click the Patents tile on the Dashboard

2. Click a field dropdown and select a classification type to use (e.g., CPC or DWPI Manual Codes)

3. Enter the classification codes for the technology area that you want to explore

4. Click Search

Tips: Unlike many search fields, Derwent Innovation automatically inserts OR operator between individual classification codes you enter.

You can use multiple instances of a classification search field to research patents that cross technology areas. Use a separate field for each technology area (first four characters in IPC and CPC; first 3 characters in DWPI Manual codes. Make sure you use the AND operator between the same classification fields (e.g., each CPC field) and use the OR operator between different classification fields.

Use the CPC-Primary field to focus your search on the class code that best describes an invention, which can provide a more focused result set.

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Quickly review top trends in the technology spaceThe Results Dashboard provides immediate insight into the technology space:

• Assignee and Inventor reveal the top organizations and indi-viduals working in this area

• Country Code shows the top territories for patent filings involv-ing this technology

• Priority Year-Earliest helps you see trends in innovation in this technology space

• Publication Year can show how filings in the technology space evolved over time

• Compare Priority Year-Earliest and Publication Year to see how innovation in the space may have affected global filing trends

Discover deeper trends with Charts (beta)Quickly analyze major trends in technology and competitor activity using Charts (Beta).

1. Click Charts (Beta) beneath your results set

2. Choose select the Technology Trends tab

3. Select the Who are the major players? chart

Tip: To analyze families instead of documents tick, click the Select All checkbox to one document per family

Evaluate trends within the technology domainThe How is the technology trending? chart reveals when a tech-nology emerged and its development over time.

• Watch the movement of technical areas over time to spot areas of rising or declining innovation

• Use the trend time line below to focus on specific years

• View the Smart Themes IPC keywords in the legend on the right; click any vertical line in the chart to view and select records by more granular IPC codes

Use Key Insights to view the top 3 technology areas, peak pub-lication years, and technology diversity trends

Find centers of innovationThe Where has this technology been developed? chart helps reveal where innovation occurs in a technology space.

1. Click the icon and select Where has this technology been developed?

2. Click More Tools, select to view Grants or Applications (or both), and toggle between Origin of technology development or Publication countries/regions

3. Key Insights at the bottom reveal the closest competitor to the top assignees

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Compare assignee portfolios

The What are my competitors working on? chart helps you eval-uate R&D investment by assignees across technical areas.

• Select an assignee of interest from the thumbnail charts

• Use the trend player to view the portfolio changes over time

• Click sections of the chart to view the Smart Themes IPC key-words; click any item in the list to see the full IPC definition

• Click Select to add specific technologies to your list of filters

• View the percentage of patents in that technical area for the other assignees listed on the chart

• View Key Insight data below, including the total IPC subclasses, top three IPC subclasses, and the technology common across all assignees

Smart Themes supplement dense IPC definitions with clear, concise key terms derived from actual patents for that technology.

The same powerful technology that extracts key terms for Smart Search analyzes the DWPI Titles from all patents classified with a specific IPC code. We take the top key terms and review them for clarity. Those reviewed terms become Smart Themes—clear, concise summaries of the technology described by an IPC code.

Focus on critical details

Select areas of interest from any chart and click Filter to focus your chart and your results set on the selected information.

Where has this technology been developed? • Click any section of the pie chart and click Select

Competitor Technology• Click a section, select an IPC code or Smart Themes keyword,

and click Select

Technology Landscape • Click a vertical dashed line, then click a solid line to select it

Note: This filters to the IPC code for that line and not by date.

After you focus on specific information, review the charts for updates. For example, research for a specific technology may take place in very specific regions, which you can see on the Where has this technology been developed? chart.

Report on your findings

You can save a chart your saved work for later updates, save an image for use in reports, or print the chart.

Save chart for later work• Click Save, Chart, name the chart, and select a folder

Save chart image• Click Save, Image (PNG), open downloads to view chart image

Print chart image• Click Print and select a printer or save to PDF

Last updated: June 27, 2018

Major Players Competitor Chart Trend Landscape

Blueprints for Success - Research patents in a specific technology domain 6Blueprints for Success - Research patents in a specific technology domain 6

Last updated: June 27, 2018

Focus a broad search on specific technology areasClassification codes also help you focus a broad search (e.g., a Smart Search with the Retrieve all Results option) on specific technology areas.

• Use the Results Dashboard to focus on broad technology areas (IPC-4 character of DWPI Class) or top specific classification codes in your results

• Select the code(s) that you want to focus on and click Filter Results to view matching records

• Search within your results to find patents with specific codes

• Enter the code(s) that you want to focus on and click Sub-search to view matching records

• You can use operators such as AND or NOT to search for patents with specific code combination

ThemeScape offers additional analysisThemeScape is a data analysis tool that creates content maps from Derwent Innovation patent data, enhanced patent data from DWPI, or scientific literature content. A content map is a visual representation of a collection of documents organized by thematic content. This helps you analyze large data sets using a familiar metaphor.

Note: ThemeScape is only available to users with Analyst level subscriptions.

Create a ThemeScape map for additional analysisThemeScape can help you identify hidden trends in the technology space, such as drift into new areas or disruptive innovators.

1. Click Analyze, ThemeScape

2. Enter a Name for the map and click Create

3. Wait for the map to process, then open the map

You can keep working in Derwent Innovation while the map processes. Return to Saved Work to open the map.

Explore the ThemeScape map to discover trendsThemeScape maps cluster patents with similar technology. Groups provide overlays on the map to help you view changes in the landscape based on different factors.

• Publication Year and Time Slices help you see development over time and drift into new areas

• Topics help you relate key terms to technology areas

• Assignee/Applicant helps you identify major players in tech-nology spaces and see where different organizations may have dominance or competition

• Countries/Regions helps you identify centers of innovation for specific aspects of the technology space

Combine groups with each other or Time Slices to get additional insight. For example, review Time Slices with assignees to see how company strategies evolved over time, or review Countries/Regions and Topics to see filing activity in different territories.