Patent search, as a means of obtaining comparative documents during the patent examination process, is an indispensable part of the patent examination. The main purpose of the search is to obtain the existing technologies most relevant to the application documents, as well as the existing technology groups more relevant to the application documents.
During the patent search work, the author found that some patent applications do not require much search process, and the existing technology network can be clearly seen on the paper. For example, the background technology section generally records a detailed group of prior art technologies, lists typical patent documents of various prior art types, and explains the pros and cons of related technologies, thereby guiding the inventive concept of the patent application document. By reviewing such patent application documents, examiners can comprehensively and systematically obtain development information in relevant technical fields in addition to making "three-nature" evaluations, and can draw inferences when conducting patent examinations in similar fields in the future.
Thus, the author proposes to build a relatively complete existing technology network as the purpose of search, instead of spending a lot of energy on systematic and extensive prior art group searches for every patent application. For a specific patent application, examiners can build a relatively complete prior art network by expanding the relevant prior art groups obtained during the search process, thereby improving patent examination capabilities in similar fields with twice the result. Below, the author takes an actual case as an example to illustrate.
The case is a patent application titled "Buffering Device" (patent application number: CN201010153906.9). The application involves a fluid buffer structure, especially a piston and an end device installed in the cylinder. cover, and there is a convex ring around the oil discharge channel of the end cover to reduce the fluid discharge speed and achieve a buffering effect. The background technology mainly introduces the prior art of providing a conical column in the center of the bottom of the piston body and a buffer structure corresponding to the oil hole in the center of the cylinder bottom. Since the piston body cannot maintain complete alignment during movement, once a deflection occurs, the conical column will When plugged into the oil hole, one-sided contact will occur, causing wear and affecting the buffering effect. In view of this, this patent application proposes a technical solution as shown in Figure 1 to improve the shortcomings of the existing technology.
The examiner obtained comparative documents through patent search, as shown in Figure 2. The core search method is to expand the search scope to the more accurate CPC classification number F15B15/222 (piston has piston extension or piston groove , the piston extension or the piston groove causes the main fluid outlet to be throttled when the piston is near the end) and F15B15/223 (the piston has a piston extension or the piston groove, the piston extension or the piston groove causes the main fluid outlet to be throttled when the piston is near the end) The main fluid outlet is completely sealed). While searching, the examiner uses the CPC subdivision system to classify technology, which has both vertical and horizontal expansion characteristics. By focusing on other CPC subdivision systems under the same group, the examiner can construct a reasonable search workload based on A relatively complete network of existing technologies.
The author used a patent search to obtain all CPC subdivisions related to the acceleration or deceleration stroke of the hydraulic actuator. As mentioned above, the buffer structures involved in this patent application and background technology are divided into F15B15/222 and F15B15/223. The above two technical branches account for the largest proportion of applications and are mainstream buffer structure designs. Taking this patent application as a point in the related prior art network, extending from the transverse direction (buffering by improving the piston and its mating structure), it also includes having an auxiliary buffering piston on the main piston or cylinder end face, or the valve stem operates through a connection Piston end face or cylinder wall, etc.; extending from the longitudinal direction (using other methods to achieve buffering), elastic elements such as springs and rubber pads can also be installed, or shock absorbers can be installed outside the actuator housing. In addition, there are a small number of patent applications involving acceleration strokes, which belong to the working conditions corresponding to the buffer structure of the patent application.
The examiner's construction of such an existing technology network will undoubtedly be of great help in improving patent search capabilities in similar fields.
First of all, building an existing technology network helps examiners quickly understand patent application documents, and can correspond the inventive concept of the patent application to one or certain technical points under a certain type of technology branch in the existing technology network. It can then accurately select and expand search elements such as classification numbers and keywords, narrow the search scope, and improve search efficiency. Secondly, if no suitable comparative documents can be retrieved under the corresponding technical points mentioned above, the examiner can also combine the distribution of similar technical points in the existing technology network to expand the search scope in a targeted manner, and truly achieve Evaluate the creativeness of a patent application from the perspective of a person skilled in the art.
The relatively complete existing technology network mentioned above does not necessarily cover all technical branches. The examiner should focus on obtaining information during the search process without increasing the additional search workload. Related existing technology groups, and by sorting out and summarizing the relevant technical information, taking patent application documents as the starting point and extending to form a relatively complete existing technology network, we can more fully grasp the development status of existing technologies. Examiners can improve search efficiency by "drawing inferences from one instance and drawing inferences about other cases," and can objectively and accurately make patent examination conclusions based on relevant existing technology networks and the perspective of those skilled in the field.