Search Example -- Engineering and Patents

Our company designs thermocouples for use with hot gases. What patent activity has occurred in this area recently? I need the full text of relevant patents immediately.

To open an STN Easy account , click the blue "Open New Account" button and complete the form. Within 30 minutes, your STN Easy login ID and password will be sent to the e-mail address you specify.

To get started, simply enter your login ID and password. Then click "Start Your Session." (1)

To learn more about STN Easy, you can also explore the "Quick Tips" or " Examples" under Help.

To locate patent information, click "Advanced Search". (2) Then click the blue "Select Your Category" button. (3) To acquire the full text of patents, select the "Patents, Fulltext" category. (4)

One of the topics to be searched is "hot gas," but what about the plural of the concept, "hot gases"? No problem! By default, the STN Easy "Preferences" (5) are set to include (6) the plural forms of search terms.

Enter your keywords into the "Search" dialog boxes. Since Boolean operators work within the search boxes, you can type in "hot gas" and thermocouple. The quotation marks ensure that "hot gas" is searched as a phrase. (7)

To search for recent patents, select "Publication Year" in the second row of drop-down boxes. (8) Then select "1999" to "current." (9)

After you have entered your search criteria, click the "Search" button.

Note the search cost.

STN Easy retrieves patents from four full-text patent databases. Note that, even though the singular search term "hot gas" was requested, a patent containing the plural form of the concept was retrieved!

To see details of a specific patent, click directly on the title of the patent. (10)

Note the display cost is in brackets [ ].

A detailed record of the desired patent is displayed.

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