Guide to STN Patent Databases – Basic Version - Paton - TU Ilmenau

=> S RW IT/DS
L18 881330 RW IT/DS
=> S R IT/DS
L19 1218699 R IT/DS
Types of search
The field DS always contains the countries as published on the respective publication. There may be changes
between the A and B publications of the EPO.
Concerning WO applications, please not these particulars of the individual patent databases:
21.3 Search by date
In a search for date specifications (Priority Date, /PRD, Application Date, /AD, Publication Date, /PD, Date for a
Relation, /RLD, Entry Date, /ED, Updating Date, /UP) it is most favourable to use the uniform date format:
YYYYMMDD
19990909
YYYY Year, four digits (a two-digit input will be edited automatically)
MM Month, two digits
DD Day, two digits
If longer periods (weeks, months) are to be searched, range searching is possible in the date fields.
=> S 19990601-19990630/PD
L7 30852 19990601-19990630/PD
(19990601-19990630/PD)
If years are to be searched, the SEARCH fields /PRY, /AY, /PY (Year, four digits) can be used in addition to a range
search. A search for longer periods (several months, several years) should always be linked with another query, in
order to avoid exceeding the system limits (especially in INPADOCDB/INPAFAMDB).
21.4 Search by priority and application numbers
When searching for Priority and Application Numbers (Priority Number, /PRN, Application Number, /AP), it is
advisable to use the STN standard format or the Derwent format.
The STN standard format has this structure:
For applications except PCT and DE (from 2004):
CCYYYY-aaannnnn
US1996-733805
For PCT applications:
WOYYYY-ccnnnnn
WO1999-DK63
For DE applications (from 2004)
CCYYYY-ZZYYYYNNNNNN
DE2004-102004002764
CC Country (two-letter-code)
YYYY Year (application numbers with a year before 2000 are indexed with two-digit year, application
numbers starting from 2000 are indexed with four-digit year; Japanese emperor year is converted
into Gregorian year)
aaa Optional, digit or letter
n Digit, optional
N Digit
ZZ Digits, designate the type of intellectual property (see Number formats )
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