Filtering Your Results

On the left-hand side of the search results page, you will see the refine options. Using these, you can refine your search in an efficient manner.

 

 

There are various different parameters you can use to refine your results. Explanations of how you would refine your results using each of these are given below:

 

Advanced Search Filter

Up to 10 fields from the advanced search can be used for further refinement, you can access this menu as shown in the image below.

 

 

Assignee

To refine by assignee, select the assignee names that you want to use in your search. In the drop-down menu, you can choose from our different assignee fields, specifically standardized current assignee, current assignee, standardized original assignee (applicant) and original assignee (applicant).

 

 

Grouped Assignee

To refine using your previously created groups, select the groups that you want to use in your search. You can learn more about name grouping here: How do I group companies together?

 

 

Classification

To refine by classification, select the classification codes you want to use in your search. You can choose from the different classification codes here, those being IPC, CPC, LOC and UPC. You can also choose different levels for the various classification codes here. 

 

 

Application Year

To refine by application year, select the application years you want to use in your search:

 

 

Std. Current Assignee Type

To refine by standardized current assignee type, select the standardized current assignee type that you want to use in your search. You can find an explanation of the different assignee-based search options here: How Can I Refine My Search By Assignee?

 

  

 

Authority

To refine by authority, select the authorities that you want to use in your search:

 

 

Patent Type

To refine by patent type, select the types of patent you want to use in your search. You can find an explanation of the different patent types here: What Are The Different Patent Types Within PatSnap?

 

 

GBC

To refine by GBC, select the GBCs that you want to use in your search:

 

 

 

Publication Year

As with application year, to refine by publication year, select the publication years you want to use in your search:

 

 

Issue Year

As with application and publication year, to refine by issue year, select the issue years you want to use in your search:

 

 

Simple Legal Status

To refine by simple legal status, select the simple legal statuses you want to use in your search::

 

 

Legal Status

To refine by legal status, select the legal statuses you want to use in your search::

 

 

Legal Events

To refine by legal event, select the legal events you want to use in your search:

 

 

PatSnap Family Jurisdiction

To refine results that have a PatSnap family member in a specific country, select the countries from the options:

 

 

Simple Family Jurisdiction

To refine results that have a simple family member in a specific country, select the countries from the options:

 

 

Inventor

To refine by inventor, select the inventors you want to use in your search:

 

 

First Inventor

To refine by the first inventor (where the first inventor is the first listed on the patent document), select the first inventors you want to use in your search:

 

 

Agency

To refine by agency, select the agencies you want to use in your search:

 

 

First Current Assignee

To refine by the first current assignee (where the first current assignee is the first assignee listed on the original patent document if no reassignments have been made or the first listed in the details of the most recent reassignment), select the first current assignee name:

 

 

Current Assignee Count

To refine by the Current Assignee Count, move the white circles along the green line:

 

 

Current Assignee State/Province

To refine by the Chinese state/province where an assignee is based, select the states/provinces you want to use in your search:

 

 

Cites Count and Cited By Count

To refine by the number of times patents Cited or were Cited By, move the white circles along the green line:

 

 

PatSnap Family Count

To refine by the number of family members in a PatSnap Family, move the white circles along the green line:

 

 

FI

To refine by FI, select the FIs you would like to use in your search. Please note that this classification is specific to Japanese patents.

More information about it can be found here: What Are The Different Classification Codes?

 

 

F-TERM

To refine by F-TERM, select the F-TERMs you would like to include in your search. Like FI, this classification is specific to Japanese patents. 

Click here for more information:  What Are The Different Classification Codes? 

 

 

Main IPC

To refine by Main IPC, select the IPC from the options:

 

 

Main CPC

To refine by Main CPC, select the CPC from the options:

 

 

Patent Value

To refine by patent value, move the white circles along the green line to choose what range of values you want the patents you search for to have. You can find more about how our patent valuation works here: How Does PatSnap Valuation Work?   

 

 

SEP Source

To refine by SEP source, select the SEP sources you want to use in your search. You can find out more about SEP patents in this article: What are Standard-Essential Patents (SEP)?

 

 

Original Assignee Region

To refine by original assignee region, select the original assignee regions you want to include in your search:

 

 

Current Assignee Region

To refine by current assignee region, select the current assignee regions you want to include in your search:

 

 

Standardized Original Assignee Type

To refine by standardized original assignee type, select the assignee types you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Reexam & Invalid Outcome

To refine by re-examination or invalid outcome, select the outcomes you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Properties

Use this filter to quickly narrow down and analyze material properties relevant to your search. For example, you can refine by the density of thermal insulation to limit results to a specific range:

 

 

Application Domain

To refine by application domain, select the domains you would like to include in your search. You can find more about how our application domains are generated in the following article: What Does Application Domain Mean?

 

 

Technology Topic

To refine by technology topic, select the topics you would like to include in your search. You can find more about how our technology topics are generated in the following article: What Does Technology Topic Mean?

 

 

Expiry Year

To refine by expiry year, select the expiry years you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Status of Unified Patent Court

To refine by the different statuses of the Unified Patent Court that a European patent can be in, select the statuses you would like to include in your search. You can find more details about the Unified Patent Court in the following article: Unitary Patent.

 

 

Priority Year

To refine by priority year, select the priority years that you would like to include your search:

 

 

Agency involvement

Refine based on whether an applicant filed their patent with or without the involment of an agency:

 

 

EP Designated State

To refine by the national states that an European patent has been designated, select the states that you would like to include in your search. You can find more details abour EP designated states in the following article:  How Can I Determine The States That An EP Patent Has Been Validated In?

 

 

First Publication Year

To refine by the year that an overall patent application was first published, select the first publication years that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Earliest Patsnap Family Publication Year

To refine by the earliest year that a Patsnap family had a member published, select the earliest Patsnap family publication years that you would like to include in your search.:

 

 

Earliest Patsnap Family Priority Year

To refine by the earliest year that a Patsnap family has a member claim priority, select the earliest Patsnap family priority years that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Earliest Priority Year

To refine by the earliest priority year of the patents in your results, select the earliest priority years that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Simple Family Jurisdiction Count

To refine by the count of jurisdictions for the members of a simple family, move the white circles along the green line to select the count range you would like to search within:

 

 

Current Assignee City

To refine by the city that the current assignee of a patent is located, select the current assignee cities that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Current Assignee Country/District

To refine by the country/district that the current assignee of a patent is located, select the current assignee counties/districts that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Official/Predicted CPC

To refine by the official or our prediction of the CPC for a patent, select the official/predicted CPCs that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Technology Field Word

To refine by the technology field words we have extracted, select the technology field words that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Std. Technical Benefit Phrase

To refine by our standardized technical benefit phrase for a patent, select the standardized technical benefit phrases that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Std. Technical Problem Phrase

To refine by our standardized technical problem phrase for a patent, select the standardized technical problem phrases that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

SEIC

To refine by SEIC, select the SEICs that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Include Sequences

Refine based on whether a patent contains references to biological sequences:

 

 

EP Designated State Simple Legal Status

To refine based on which simple legal statuses are present within the designated states of an European patent, select the EP designated state simple legal statuses that you would like to include in your search:

 

 

Most common refinements

Although all the refinements may well be used at some point, we are aware that some tend to be used more than the others.

One of the common refinements is by simple legal status. This is often used for FTO searches since if a patent is inactive it can not be used as a prevention tool which gives others freedom to operate using the technologies mentioned in the patent.

Another common refinement is by authority. Since a patent that is filed to a national patent office is only enforceable in that country, if you choose to operate in a specific country only patents from that country can be legally enforceable in preventing you from doing that. So if you refine by authority, you can see where there are white space opportunities available to you in countries that you are interested in operating within.

Another common refinement is by application year. This will enable you to get an idea of the technology fields that were particularly popular in a specific period of time. It also will give you some idea of the application trends in a given area.

Another common refinement is by IPC/CPC. This will allow you to focus your search on a particular area of technology. This will also enable you to see what is already out there in terms of innovation for this area and allow you to predict what the future progress may be in this area.

A final common refinement is by the (original) assignee. This will allow you to see who is especially active in your technology field. This will also enable you to see who would be worth getting a licensing deal with or who your main competitors are.