Searching the Green Channel Patent Applications Database
There are several ways to refine your search of these databases.
Basic refining
You can search for specific details such as an application number, name, word or phrase, by entering text into the Refine text box.
For example, you could search for all entries that contain the word engine. You will note that searching for the word engine produces results that contain the words engine, engineering, engines etc. This is the default search behaviour for these databases. However, if you would like to find entries that contain only an exact match to engine, you should type this into the Refine text box using quotation marks, i.e. “engine”.
Quotation marks are also required if you wish to include reserved characters in your search, for example a / within an IPC classification term, i.e. “H04B 3/54”. All matches to your refinement are highlighted in yellow.
To clear your refinements, delete the text in the Refine box and click the Submit button. To reset all entries and return to the default sort, click the Reset button.
Refine using wildcards
These databases support wildcard searching.
A star (*) represents multiple characters, so to search for all application numbers that begin with GB080 for example, you should type GB080* into the Refine text box. For all application numbers that begin GB080 and end in 1, enter GB080*1.
A question mark represents a single character, so to search for both spellings of the word tyre (tire), use a question mark as follows t?re.
Refine using Boolean Search Operators
It is possible to refine your search further using the Boolean expressions AND, NOT, OR, EOR or XOR. Note that these expressions must be entered in capital letters.
For example, typing engine AND lubrication into the Refine text box will return all results that contain the terms engine and lubrication.
EOR and XOR both perform a “logical exclusive OR”. In other words, only one of the terms is permitted to appear in each result, so a search for oil XOR lubrication will return results that contain the term oil or lubrication, but not both. EOR works in exactly the same way.
More complex queries can be built up using bracketed expressions, e.g. engine AND (oil XOR lubrication) NOT (diesel OR aircraft).
Refine using Proximity Search Operators
You can also refine your search using the following Proximity Search Operators :-
BEFORE, AFTER, NEARn, DNEARn (Directed NEAR) and XNEARn (eXact NEAR). n represents the number of words of separation between the two terms, where a value of 1 would mean the terms are adjacent to each other. If not specified, n defaults to 5. Note again that these operators must be entered in capital letters.
Directed NEAR only returns results where the second term is within n words of the first term, in the specified order. For example, "engine" DNEAR3 oil will find all results in which the exact term engine is followed by oil not more than three words away.
The eXact NEAR operator will only return results where the second term is exactly n words from the first term. For example, with the query engine XNEAR2 oil, the only results returned are where the term oil follows the term engine and is exactly two words away from the term engine.
