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

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Guide to STN Patent Databases
It is recommended to always use a four-digit year, as for years before 2000 a four-digit year will be edited by the
Messenger Field Edit system automatically:
=> S JP1997-245415/AP
L7 1 JP1997-245415/AP
(JP97-245415/AP)
If a year is embedded in the application number, as for example a two-digit year in German application numbers, it
is kept as a two-digit number. If a four-digit year is embedded it is kept as such.
The year is always displayed in four digits by the system (in DISPLAY, SORT, SELECT commands).
These examples are to illustrate the conversion of application numbers into the formats common in patent
databases (STN, DERWENT):
DE Application
to 1995
from 1995
from 2004
Orignal number STN format Derwent format
P 44 44 400.1
100 00 004.5
10 2004 002 764.1
DE1994-4444400
DE2000-10000004
DE2004-102004002764
1994DE-004444400
2000DE-100000004
2004DE-102004002764
EP Application 91100382.0 EP1991-100382/AP 1991EP-100382/AP
PCT Application
to 1999
from 2000
PCT/KR98/00183
PCT/US00/18873
PCT/NL2003/000517
WO1998-KR183
WO1998-US18873
WO2003-NL517
1998WO-KR0000183
1998WO-US0018873
2003WO-NL0000517
* The check digit following the dot in DE or EP application numbers is not taken into account for conversion.
If only an Application Number without a year is available this may be masked with exclamation marks ( ! , four
digits):
=> S US!!!!-12345/AP
L8 8 US!!!!-12345/AP
=> D AP
L8 ANSWER 1 OF 8 INPADOCDB COPYRIGHT 2007 EPO/FIZ KA on STN
AI US 2004-12345 A 20041216
Using SELECT, the Application Numbers can then be retrieved from the documents found:
=> SEL 1- AP
E1 THROUGH E8 ASSIGNED
=> D SEL
E1 1 US1935-12345/AP
E2 1 US1960-12345/AP
E3 1 US1979-12345/AP
E4 1 US1987-12345/AP
E5 1 US1993-12345/AP
E6 1 US1998-12345/AP
E7 1 US2001-12345/AP
E8 1 US2004-12345/AP
21.4.1 Notes
US serial numbers on the printed patent specification consist of the serial code and a six-digit serial
number, e.g.: 09/932,243