Overview
N.B. We apologise for the older video graphics presented, Please note the video content and tutorial is still very relevant to Patent Search and Analysis in Lens.
How to Use
Searching in the Lens is easy as the search bar allows for full expression of the query language. You can simply type a single or a set of keyword such as “lithium batteries” in the main search box and as the boolean operator AND is set as the default here, such search is equivalent to “lithium AND batteries”. Such search allows you to retrieve documents having both of these words. Alternatively, you can also specify the fields that you want to search in (there are many fields available), for example you can use title:lithium AND title:batteries.
Search Results
The search results can then be analyzed further. You can filter your findings by including or excluding various attributes (jurisdiction filter opened), you can select and create a document collection for all or part of your results, save the query, or export up to 1000 patent records in various file formats, or if you want to analyze the data further, you can group by simple patent family and explore the results not only in this summary view but also by graphs in the analysis view.
Analysis View
Here you can analyze the data based on these various attributes, customize your data display by adding or removing various graphs, export images or embed panels in your website or blogs.
Editing Search
To edit or modify your search, you can add key terms in the search bar up on the top. If we use the boolean operator “OR”, instead of “AND”, the new search will retrieve a documents showing either of these words or both. In patent searching, it may be useful to start with a broader search then narrow it down by other filtering or grouping options available at your disposal rather than the other way around
Structured Search
In addition to simply keyword searching, the Lens offers a suite an alternative search strategy among which Structured Search. In the Structured search, you have the option to use the boolean operator “AND” or “OR” between fields. For example, you can combine an “owners” name with a keyword in “title, abstract or claims” field, and add a patent classification code from the cooperative patent classification system. You can also limit your search to a specific jurisdiction or search within a subset of the data, such as full text documents, or search by French instead of English. All these options are available to you in the structured search.
PatSeq Search
If you are interested in biological patents that disclose patent sequences, you may need to browse the PatSeq facility page wherein you have an array of five different tools. Among them, PatSeq Finder which will allows you to search by actual biological sequences such as DNA or protein or you can use PatSeq text search wherein you can combine sequence species with keyword searches.
Patent Classification Search
To search by patent classification, The lens has recently released a new patent classification viewer that allows one to search either by a keyword or by classification code in any of the three patent classification systems; Cooperative patent classification (CPC), International Patent Classification (IPC) and The United States Patent Classification (USPC).
- Example Use Case
Using “Gene therapy” as a search term you can browse the varied codes they represent uses of these terms and then you have the option to select the most relevant code or combine various codes in your search if you want to formulate a more complex query. Once you select the code(s), you can then filter the Lens documents by this code to view the relevant set of documents and even zoom in to view the patent portfolio, read the abstract, or explore its full text, and view the other knowledge artifacts about this specific patent document. In most cases, you can also download the original pdf file for your own use.
There are more features that we hope to cover in other tutorials, but for now, please consult our support pages for additional help, you are also welcome to contact us or send your feedback to Support@support.lens.org