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

For numbers with a leading/trailing year (20YY):
CC20YYNNNNNN
CC Country (Tow-letter code)
Types of search
n Optional digit; enter without a leading zero or punctuation. (A leading zero due to the Japanese
year of the emperor should be entered and will be removed by Messenger if necessary.)
N Digit
ZZ Digits, designate the type of intellectual property (see Number formats )
YY/YYYY Year (two or four-digit)
From the publication year 2000 patent numbers with a leading or trailing year will always be indexed as a 2-4-6
string, i.e. 2 characters for the country, 4 digits for the year, and 6 digits for the number. A trailing year will be moved
to the front (e.g. Australia). The numbers of US or WO Applications may be entered both as a 2-4-6-string or using
the original format from the document (automatic field edit).
The Document Kind Code is to be omitted in the search query. The search queries for the above numbers would
look like this:
=> S DE19919951/PN
=> S DE102004002764/PN
=> S DE202004000023/PN
=> S EP50443/PN
=> S US4718426/PN
=> S US20010006158/PN
=> S WO9912345/PN
=> S WO2000004255/PN
It is advisable to adhere to these number formats. Anyway, if a number is entered in a different format it will in many
cases be edited automatically to some degree:
=> S WO99-12345/PN
L5 1 WO99-12345/PN
(WO9912345/PN)
21.5.1 Notes
21.5.1.1 Utility models
In some countries, the same number range is used both for Patent and Utility Model Publications. To distinguish
=> S FI 950103U/PN
L10 1 FI 950103U/PN
(FI950103U/PN)
21.5.1.2 Overlapping number series of different publication types
In some countries, the same ranges of numbering are used for different types of publications. A letter for the
publication type is appended to the numbers for these countries.
China: The Publication Number ranges of the examined and unexamined patent publications from China
CNC):
=> E CN1060260/PN 6
E1 1 CN1060259/PN
E2 1 CN1060259C/PN
E3 1 --> CN1060260/PN
E4 1 CN1060260C/PN
E5 1 CN1060261/PN
E6 1 CN1060261C/PN
=> D AN TI PI PRAI PRAIT
L13 ANSWER 1 OF 1 INPADOCDB COPYRIGHT 2007 EPO/FIZ KA on STN
AN 16891265
TI Method and apparatus for pumping volatilizing gas from container to pump.
137