Polymer Formers - FIZ Karlsruhe

Polymer Indexing
System Description
17
Autoposting
There are two kinds of autoposting: upwards posting of broader terms, and ‘cross posting’ of
chemical aspects.
Broader Terms
Any given term within a hierarchy will autopost to the corresponding broader term(s) within
the hierarchy.
Thus, in the example on page 10, alpha-Methyl styrene, Halomethyl styrene, Cinnamic acid
and Vinyl aromatic monoolefinic other will all autopost the code for Vinyl aromatics
monoolefinic, which in turn will autopost Monoolefinic.
Each of the specific concepts within a hierarchy will autopost the appropriate wider generic
term(s). These autoposted terms will be distinguishable from the terms which have actually
been indexed. This is indicated with a role ‘-R’ added to the code which has been indexed, not
autoposted. Thus, Vinyl aromatics monoolefinic which has been indexed, rather than
autoposted, would be G0102-R. This provides the option of searching for instances where the
generic has been specifically indexed, to retrieve those patents which describe a concept only
at the generic level. Comprehensive retrieval for a given concept can, therefore, be achieved
by searching for the ‘indexed’ generic concept in addition to the specific concept, without the
risk of retrieving records where the generic term has been autoposted by a different specific
concept. A search for the generic without a role will retrieve references which have been
specifically indexed together with those which have been autoposted.
Aspects
The chemical aspects are generated when SCNs are used, and the SCN and its aspects are
tightly linked together in the online file. It is for this reason that the aspects have to be few in
number, and the codes are as small as they can reasonably be - three characters each, or less
in the case of element symbols. For the generic concepts some chemical aspects will be
autogenerated, and more can be applied during indexing if the information is available.
Benefits of Autoposting
The versatility of this system allows for a compound such as alpha-Methyl styrene to be
searched specifically by its SCN, generically via the Vinyl aromatics monoolefinic hierarchy
and/or generically using chemical aspects; the chemical aspects in this case for alpha-Methyl
styrene are:- organic, hydrocarbon, unsaturated aliphatic chain, benzene ring, 1 ring, 6-
membered ring, monoolefinic, terminal olefin and 9 C. However, when using chemical aspects
you must be aware that all compounds defined by a set of chemical aspects will be
retrieved. For example, the aspects - aliphatic unsaturated chain, monoolefinic unsaturation,
carbon count 2, halogen-carbon bond, Cl - will retrieve references to both vinyl chloride and
vinylidene chloride, since both compounds are defined by the same set of Chemical Aspects.