User Guide

Orbit the Questel IP Portal

www.orbit.com

December 2009

Summary
Introduction 4
1 Access to orbit.com .. 6
Identification 6
2 FamPat Coverage .. 8
3 Search Assistants 9
4 General Search 11
Tools. 11
Subject (Keyword) . 12
Classification Codes.. 16
Keywords and Classifications.. 20
Assignee.. 21
Inventor 23
Numbers.. 25
Date.. 28
Publication Country.29
Limit.. 30
Search History. 31
Command Line 34
5 Number Search 37
Number Search Wizard. 37
INPADOC Family 38
Similarity.. 41
6 Citation Search 43
7 Results List .. 47
List of Documents.. 47
Sorting and Ranking.. 48
List Display and Organization.. 48
8 Results Display Menu. 50
Display. 50
Thumbnails. 52
Preview 52
Mosaics 53
Printing the List.. 54
9 Display. 54
Configuration.. 54
Biblio and Image Tabs.. 55
Claims, Descriptions and Key Content Tabs. 59
Claims and Description Tabs 59
Key content ta.. 61
Full Text Tab. 61
Kwic Tab.. 62
Legal Status Tab 62
Drawings, First Page, Complete tabs. 63
INPADOC Family and similarity... 65
Tools. 66
Highlighting.. 67
10 Download PDF Facsimiles of Original Documents.. 68
From list display. 69
From documents display 71
From Download (PDF) Module. 71
11 Lists. 73
Quick Lists 73
Creating Lists.. 76
List Management 77
Analyze 78
Assignees 79
ECLAS. 79
USPCL and IPC. 80
Cited / Citing Patent . 81

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12 Export. 84
Results List.. 84
Document Displays 87
13 Adding Documents to a Workfile 88
14 Saved Searches 91
Saving Searches 91
Multiple Search Queries 93
15 Alerts.. 94
Create an Alert 94
Modify an Alert 98
16 User Preferences.. 99
17 Disconnecting 102

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Introduction
Orbit.com is the portal to search Patents and Designs on Questel.
The portal consists of six modules:
1 - The Search module allows you to search patents collection FamPat covering nearly one hundred
Patent Offices.
2 - The Workfiles module allows you to store documents in your choice of files to analyze and share.
3 - Download module (PDF) lets you download facsimiles of patents in PDF format and keep them
stored for a month.
4 - The Monitoring module allows you to find the result profiles of DSI or alerts that you set up on
Questel (via Imagination or QWEB) on QPAT or Orbit. TXT, RTF, PDF, XLS or XML results are stored
in your portfolio alerts for a year.
5 - Legal Monitoring module allows you to set up alerts on the legal status information and store the
results.
6 The Designs Modules allows you to search designs in the collections of 11 Patent Offices.
This guide is for using the Search Module.

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Search Module

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1 - Access to Search Module

In the address bar of your browser, enter the address: http://www.orbit.com/
The portal is available in two languages: French and English. To change language, click on the flag
provided in the upper right corner of the screen.
Recommended configuration is as follows:
Browsers Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox 3.5, with pop-ups allowed
Screen Resolution 1280x1024
Acrobat Reader 9
Java 1.6

Identification
Enter your UserID (Questel or QPAT) and your password and click the Login button. If you check
Keep my login information, the logon and password will be stored for future connections.

The Sub-account field is optional. If you use this function, searches, alerts or PDF orders will be
allocated to this sub-account. The sub-account can contain up to 30 alphanumeric characters without
spaces. Dashes are allowed.
If you want to work in HTTPS mode, click on the secure version available on the top menu before
entering your logon and password. To return then to HTTP mode, click the Standard version.

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After entering your logon and password, you arrive on the Home page of the portal. To access the
Search module, click on the option in the menu at the bottom left.

Clicking on the Search option opens the general search menu

In the left menu, the current module of the portal is colored orange. Future connections, will
automatically take you to the last module used without going through the home page. This parameter
can be changed in your preferences (see Chapter 16 Preferences).

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2 FamPat Coverage
In this version of the search module, only FamPat is searched.
FamPat - Global collection of patent families
Content: comprehensive family coverage of worldwide patent publications published from more than
100 patent authorities. The documents contain:
First page of information: patent and published application numbers and publication dates,
application numbers and filing dates, priority numbers and priority dates, the assignee (s), inventor (s),
Classification codes from the EPO (ECLA, ICO, IDT and Berlin), International Patent Classification
(IPC) and the US Patent Office and Japanese Patent Office Classifications, title, abstract and drawing
Patent and literature citations are available for WO, EP, U.S., FR, GB, DE, JP, BE, CH, NL, TR, AT,
DK, ES, AP, CZ, LU , SG and GR
Key Content for EP, PCT, and US patents : Key Content contains: Objective (OBJ), Advantages
and Previous Drawbacks (ADB), and Independent Claims (ICLM) and are currently available as
follows: EP Published Applications from 1980, PCT Published Applications Mid 2001,US Granted
Patents 1971 to 2000, US Published Applications from 2001
The full text of the description and the claims: U.S. publications (since 1920), EP and PCT (1978),
FR and GB (from 1920), CA (since 1978 - claims only)
A FamPat family document combines together all publication stages of the family. Searches for
Assignee, Inventor or Classes are conducted on all family equivalents. Boolean searching is available
across all family abstracts. Questel has developed a family definition which incorporates the EPOs
strict family rule with additional rules to include: Applications falling outside the 12 month filing limit;
Links between EP and PCT publications; Combining US Provisionals that share the same priority with
US Published Applications.
Coverage: Bibliographic data for the United States and most European countries from the early 20s.
Abstracts from the early 70s.
Language: English + French / German / various other languages

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3 - Search assistants
General Search Assistant
By default, the first assistant accessed is the General Search. To access another assistant, click one
of the options available under the Searches menu on the left.
Please note that the menu on the left is retractable by clicking on the sign".

This assistant allows you to easily search for patents by making available several text boxes
predefined with criteria to use:
Keywords to search the titles, abstracts, claims, the full text ...
IPC, ECLA, ICO, PCL, FI and F-terms Classifications
Assignee
Inventor
Publication, application, priority numbers
Application, priority, publication dates
Country of publication
It also allows you, through the command line, write your queries in expert mode using the full range of
operators, parentheses and the index. The user has total control over the syntax of questions.

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Number Search Assistant

This wizard allows you to retrieve a single number or list of numbers. Standardizing the format of
numbers is not required. The search will automatically include publication numbers, application and
priority. Single number INPADOC extended family searches and Similarity Searches can also be
conducted with this assistant.

Citation Search Assistant

A citation search allows a specific subject search of the technology related to a published patent
document. The backward citation search will retrieve prior art that is cited in the patent. A forward
citation search will retrieve all subsequently published patent documents that cite the patent.

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4 - General Search: Questel Tools

Truncation
Truncation or wildcards are symbols that replace one or more characters, which lets you search for
different variations of a term.

+ or *

Truncation replacing any number of characters

Bicycle-shed+
*inflammatory

Truncation replacing zero or one character

bicycle?
alumin?um

Truncation replaces exactly one character

Polymeri #ation

All truncation symbols are used at the beginning, end and embedded in the words. The shortened
term must be at least three characters for truncation to properly function.
Wildcards may be used in any area of the assistant general search, except with "Keywords" when the
multilingual assistant is used. There, truncation is ignored.
Operators

OR

Finds references containing at least one of the

words
AND
All words
NOT
The first term without the second term
F
The terms in the same field
S
The terms in the same sentence
P
The terms in the same paragraph
D
The terms adjacent in any order
nD
The terms adjacent, regardless of the order, and
may be separated by a maximum of n words (n
value between 1 and 9)
W
The terms adjacent in the order specified; treatment
applied by default for two terms entered without
operator
nW
The adjacent terms in the order specified and may
be separated by a maximum of n words (n value
between 1 and 9)
Parentheses (nesting) is necessary when
combining
different operators
Parentheses

sulfur or sulfur
plutonium isotope
suv not vesicle
sodium f chlorine
sodium s chlorine
sodium p chlorine
redundancy d check
conduct 2d electric 2d
adhesive
smart w card?
smart card?
friction 9w pad?

((wireless w application w
protocol) or wap) not (dna or
transgenic)
(hair 2d (dye or dyeing)) and
oxidate +

Note that a space between two terms is equivalent to:

Implied adjacency for "Keywords" when not using the Multilingual Wizard
The AND operator when searching Keywords" and using the Multilingual Wizard
The AND operator when searching Classifications", "Number" and "Country of publication"
The operator W when searching Assignee" and "Inventor"
A semicolon between two terms is equivalent to the OR in all input fields.

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4 - General Search: Subject

Text Search
The Keywords text Box allows you to search on text in the following eight options:
Title
Title, Abstract
Title, Abstract, Claims.
Title, Abstract, Key Content (default)
Claims
Independent Claims
Key Content
Full text
Please note:
- Key Content contains the patent object, advantages and drawbacks and independent claims
- Title and Abstract searches across all family members.
- Claims and Full Text applies only to US, EP, PCT, U.S., UK and CA publications.
- Independent Claims and Key Content applies only to documents US, EP and PCT published in
English.
A search will be conducted across all family members, with the exceptions noted above. You
may exclude English machine translations by ticking the option "Ignore the machine translation for the
biblio data available in your Preferences.
When you click in the Keywords text box, it automatically expands to allow you to enter a long query.
Also, when you enter the first character, you automatically open an additional text box (equivalent to
clicking the plus sign to the left of available drop-down menu). You can add up to five text boxes. This
feature allows you to search multiple terms in different fields. Each component will be combined by the
AND operator. To close these additional input lines, click the minus - sign.
You can also enter the terms interchangeably in uppercase or lowercase. The search engine is not
case sensitive.
The terms you enter will appear in your results highlighted in yellow. Each text box is associated with a
new highlight color, purple for the 2nd box, green for the 3rd box, orange for the 4th box, blue for the
5th box and rose for the 6th box. You can change these default colors provided or cancel the highlight
by clicking the color square available to the right of each box. Highlight is covered in detail in Chapter
7
When you select the option and enter your search terms using truncation and operators necessary,
click the Search button.
Orbit uses, by default, implied adjacency between your search terms, which means that two words
separated by a space will be found as such in the text.
Warning: If middle or internal word(s) are 3 characters or less the will be ignored in the search. To
retrieve 3 character middle words, use the W operator.
Example: If you enter: EXTRACTION OF XML CONTENT, Orbit will search EXTRACT 1W CONTENT
REMOVAL.
However, you can use an operator to connect the words:
conduct a broader search using the AND, OR
or impose a strict adjacency using the W operator

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Example: Search for WIRELESS APPLICATION? PROTOCOL? In the title, abstract and the key
content The results will be highlighted in yellow

Example: Search for XML AND CONTENT OR DATA) in the title and abstract (highlighted in yellow)
and STATISTICS in the text (highlighted purple)

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To the right of the input box, the

button lets you access the multilingual search wizard

I would like to contribute to

the improvement of your
dictionaries. Suggestions are
sent to development teams for
synonyms or additional
translations.
The query you entered is shown in the upper window and the name of the search language (English,
French or German). The first time you use the wizard the language selected by default is the
language used to access the Orbit.com service. During searches or sessions, the default language
selected is the one used in the previous search. You can change the language selection based on
your request.
The Multilingual Wizard uses the technology of our partner Lingway and displays the list of
translations and synonyms for each term entered in the various specialty areas. The feminine and
plural variations are not displayed but automatically taken into account.
In this list, a selection of terms is pre-checked by the system calculated by algorithms analyzing
semantic proximity and level of accuracy.
The terms pre-selected are not mandatory for use in your search. You can modify if you wish to
broaden or narrow the search box.
Note: With the multilingual wizard operators are not allowed and truncations are ignored.

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To confirm, click OK. The terms selected as the feminine and plural variations are automatically
included in the text box Keywords General Search Wizard.
The various synonyms are linked by the OR and groups of synonyms are connected by the OR
operator.

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4 General Search - Classification Codes

Orbit offers searching by International, European US and Japanese classification codes.
International Classification (IPC):
The International Classification Codes are applied by various national or regional patent offices.
These codes can be searched at the sub-class, group, subgroup or sub-division.
Subclass: A63F
Group: E21B-003
Subgroup: E21B-003/02
Sub-Division: C21D-001/773
European Classification (ECLA):
The European Patent Office assigns these codes to patents to publications from many countries
around the world to organize their own search files. ECLA codes are reviewed monthly and
retrospectively applied. These codes can be searched at the sub-class, group, subgroup or subdivision.
Subclass: A63F
Group: E21B-003
Subgroup: E21B-003/02
Sub-Division: C12Q-001/68D2E1
Classification In Computer Only (ICO)
Derived from ECLA codes, In Computer Only is used by the European Patent Office to describe minor
features of the invention or characteristics for which there is no ECLA. The ICO code structure is
identical that the ECLA code except the first letter is different. These codes can be searched at the
sub-class, group, subgroup or sub-division.
Subclass: S21Y
Group: S21Y-002
Subgroup: S21Y-002/20
Sub-Division: S21Y-002/205
U.S. Classification Main and U.S. Main and Cross Reference
The Office U.S. Patent and Trademark Office assign these codes classification for U.S. patents for
organizational reasons of their own data files.
In the menu, you can choose only the main code or both types of code.
The U.S. classification codes are revised every two months with retroactive application of new codes.
These codes can be searched at the main class (3 digits), sub-class (6 digits), decimal code complete
(9 digits) or the complete code with extension (9 possible numbers more 1 to 3 alphabetic characters).
Primary class: 108
Subclass: 108051
Decimal: 108051110
Extension: 188250000B

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Japanese classification (FI and F-Term)

Derived from the 6th edition of the IPC classifications FI (File Index) is used by examiners of the
Japan Patent Office to classify Japanese documents.
FI codes can be searched as:
Code IPC: G10L9/20
IPC code with symbol file: G10L9/20A
IPC Code with subdivision: G10L9/20301
IPC Code with subdivision and symbol file: G10L9/20301B
IPC Code with facet: G10L9/14ZNM
All technical areas covered by the FI are defined themes and some of these topics are divided into FTerms.
The F-Terms can be searched as:
Theme: 4C206
Theme and technical viewpoint indicator: 4C206CB +
E-Complete Term: 4C206CB23

Example: Search by ECLA code:

When you click in the input area of the classifications box it automatically expands to allow you to
enter a long query.

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Also, when you enter the first character, you automatically open an additional text box (equivalent to
clicking the plus sign to the left of available drop-down menu). This feature allows you to search
multiple codes in different classifications. To connect the two classifications, you can choose between
AND and OR operator.

Example: Search by code ECLA codes and two PCL combined by OR

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You can check the frequency of use of a classification code and its definition. Enter the classification
code, or the beginning of the class, then click the lookup tool index
available to the right of the box.
In a new window a list of 50 codes beginning with the string you entered is displayed. The Frequency
column provides the number of documents available in the database for each of the 50 codes.
By clicking on the code of your choice, you display in a new window the definition of the class.
You can browse the index by using the navigation arrows at the bottom left and select one or multiple
codes by checking the boxes.
Then click the Add button to add your original complaint or the Replace button to replace your input
by the ones you've selected.

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4 - General Search - Keywords and Classifications

As part of a subject search, you can combine keywords and classification codes. With this option you
have the choice between the AND and OR operators.
Searching both text, and classifications that define the technology, allows for comprehensive retrieval
of results.
Example: Search by keywords combined with the OR operator and an ECLA code

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4 - General Search - Assignee

Assignee or company names are not standardized. Different versions of an assignee name can be covered in
one search by entering the variations separated by a comma(s). All text should be entered into the "Assignee"
box. All variations are to be separated by commas. Truncation symbols can by used in this search field. A
comma is used to separate one variation from another and is searched with the operator OR. The operator
AND can be used to separate search terms. The NOT operator cannot be used. The assignee field may be
searched in conjunction with any of the other fields listed on the screen. To search on the name of the patent
assignee or owner at the time of publication of a patent:

Use the unique part of the name; do not search Corp, Inc, Ltd, KK or GmbH
Use truncation: + on the stem of each word in the assignee name to allow for multiple word endings
Use all possible variations of the name: acronyms, spelled out in full, and as one word or two
Use all earlier versions of a company name

Examples:
IBM, INT BUS + MACH

finds references to patents filed by IBM

DUPONT, DU PONT, NEMOURS finds references to patents filed by DuPont

If you have other search criteria, the Assignee Name will be combined with the other criteria using the
AND operator
Example: Assignee Name and ECLA Classification:

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You can check how an assignee name is indexed in the collection. Enter the name of the assignee or
the beginning of the name, and then click the lookup tool index available to the right of the box.

In a new window a list of 50 names of assignee will display, starting with the term you entered. The
Frequency column provides the number of documents available in the database for each of the 50
names.
You can browse the index by using the navigation arrows at the bottom left and select one or more
names by checking the boxes.
Then click the Add button to add your original search or the Replace button to replace the previous
input.

Print Preview displays, in a new window, the reformatted list allowing you to edit or print the list.

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4 - General Search - Inventor

Inventor names are not standardized, so it is recommended that you search all possible variations of a
name. The inventor's name is typed, Last Name <space> First Name in the box labeled "Inventor". A
comma is used to separate one variation from another. Orbit interprets the comma as the OR
operator. The NOT operator cannot be used. Different versions of an inventor name can be covered
in one search by entering the variations separated by commas
The space between two words will be interpreted as the W operator. This means that the position of
the first name from the surname is important. EDISON THOMAS find patents where the inventor is
listed as Edison Thomas but not those listed as Thomas Edison.
Operators may be used: AND, W, S.
If you have other search criteria, the Inventor Name will be combined with the other criteria using the
AND operator.

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You can check how an inventor name is indexed in the collection. Enter the name of the inventor or
the beginning of his name, and then click the lookup tool index
available to the right of the box.

In a new window a list of 50 names that start with the inventor term you entered will display. The
Frequency column provides the number of documents available in the database for each of the 50
names.
You can browse the index by using the navigation arrows at the bottom left and select one or more
names by checking the boxes.
Then click the Add button to add your original search or the Replace button to replace the previous
input.

Print Preview displays, in a new window, the reformatted list, allowing you to edit or print the list.

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4 - General Search - Numbers

You can choose from four search options:
Publication Number

Application Number

Priority Number

Application or Priority Number

If you have other search criteria, the Numbers will be combined with the other criteria using the AND
operator
Note: If you want to find all types of numbers simultaneously, use the Search by number (not the
general search assistant).

Search by publication number

Enter the numbers following the rules below:

Always enter the country code on two characters before the publication number.

Do not enter the status code (A, B, etc ...) with the number.

Enter the year in four digits for the numbers including the year and are published from the
year 2000. Example: US20050257307

Enter the two-digit year for the numbers including the year that were published before 2000.
Example: WO9912345

For U.S. patents that are not Utility Patents, specify the type of document after the country
code. Examples: USD419277 (Design Patent), USH001830 (Statutory Invention Registration
- SIR), USRE36522 (Reissue), UST109201 (Defensive Publication), USPP11184 (Plant
Patent)

Characters, such as space, comma or slash, sometimes present in the document number as
published, are accepted by Orbit.
To search multiple publication numbers at the same time, separate numbers by commas.

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By clicking the
button to the right of the box, you access a wizard that lets you enter up to 100
publication numbers. This tool is particularly effective when you copy / paste a list of numbers from a
word or excel file.
Numbers can be separated by a space, a comma, a semicolon or a carriage return.
By clicking the Format button, you get your list of numbers in the Questel standardized format. All the
numbers on this list are checked. You can choose to delete certain numbers by deselecting. When
your list is completed, click Validate, then click the OK button to send the numbers to the search
assistant.

It is also possible to paste text containing patent numbers into the Wizard. Orbit eliminates
unnecessary words and will display a list of numbers you can clean and / or validate.

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Search by application or priority numbers

The following is a guide to formatting Application and/or Priority Numbers
Questel standardized format: YYYYCC-NNNNNNN
Example: Converting GB9410620 to standardized format
GB
Two-letter Country Code
94
Year of Application (Convert to a four-digit year 94 1994)
10620
Application or Priority Number (Must be seven digits, fill in missing digits with zeros) 10620
0010620
Final Number 1994GB-0010620
Questel standardized format for WO/PCT numbers: YYYYWO-CCNNNNN
Example: Converting PCT/DE00/02241 to standardized format
2000
Year of Application or Priority
WO
Designation as a WO/PCT
DE
Two-letter Country Code
02241
Application or Priority Number (Must be five digits, fill in missing digits with zeros.)
Final Number 2000WO-DE02241
Questel standardized format for US Provisional number: YYYYUS-PNNNNNN
Example: Converting US Provisional 60/534950, filed January 8, 2004, to standardized format
2004
Year of Application or Priority
US
Country Code
P
Designation for Provisional Application or Priority, replaces series code 60
481952
Application or Priority Number
Final Number: 2004US-P534950 YYYYUS-PNNNNNN

To search multiple numbers at the same time, separate numbers by commas.

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4 General Search Dates

You can restrict your search to a range of publication, application or priority dates. Three options
are available: From, Up To and Between
Enter the date or dates in the format YYYY-MM-DD or use the calendar tool.
If you have other search criteria, the date will be combined with the other criteria using the AND
operator
Note that FamPat records contain multiple family members and thus multiple publication dates for one
invention. Publication Date searches the publication date for all family members. The Application
Date searches the application date for all family members. The Priority Date searches the earliest
priority date of the family members.
Due to the size of the database, date range searches can be slow to process. We recommend that you keep
the date range span to less than 10 years.

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4 - General Search: Publication Country

FamPat is a multi-geographic collection covering nearly 100 countries. Limiting by publication country
can be useful to narrow your search results.
You can search by:

The two letter country code

The country code and kind code

The publication date in the format YYYYMMDD, YYYY or YYYYMM

To combine country code and date, use the L operator.

If you have other search criteria, the publication country will be combined with the other criteria using
the AND operator

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4 - General Search: Limit

Limit by Update
This function is not used alone but always in combination with other search criteria.
You can restrict your search to publications included in the collection:

During the last update :

Selecting Latest

During the last 4 updates :

Selecting Last 4 weeks

When you run the same search regularly, to find only new documents.

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4 - General Search - Search History

Modifying a query
If you wish to edit your last query for:

correct a typo,

add or delete a keyword,

add or delete a search criterion,

Click on General Search in the left menu and the wizard will display the last search executed. If you
want to modify the entire query, click the Clear button.
If you want to modify a previous query, click the Search History option available under My session
in the left menu.
This option displays all search statements.
By clicking Modify opposite the search statement to change, you are returned to the wizard with all
the relevant elements of the request.

The search history can also:

View the result of a previous search without having to re-execute the search. This function is
available by clicking on the Show Results option.

Delete one or more search statements by clicking on Delete opposite the search statements
to erase or the entire strategy by clicking on the Erase All option available in the toolbar.

Save a query by clicking Save opposite the search statement you want to save or the entire
strategy by clicking on the option Save the entire strategy available in the toolbar. These
functions are described in Chapter 4 My Searches saved searches and alerts.

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Combine queries
The Search History feature also lets you combine search steps to create a new query. This is
particularly useful when you do not want different search criteria combined by the AND operator as is
done by default using the wizard.
In the box Combining strategies, at the bottom of the screen, enter the search statement numbers
you want to combine by using an operator, AND, OR and NOT. If you enter different operators, use
parentheses. Then click the Search button.

You can also combine a query with a keyword or any other search term. This functionality is intended
for experts in Questel as it requires knowledge of the FamPat basic index and search syntax.

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By default, the execution of a search automatically displays the list of results.

If your search strategy consists of several related concepts and you do not want to see the list of
results for each query, you can set your preferences to request that the history is displayed after each
query execution.
This option allows you to optimize response time.

Print, available from the toolbar displays the search history in a new window, allowing you to save or
print the page.

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4 - General Search: Command Line

With the Command Line it is possible to visualize the translation of your request into the command
language of Questel. To do so, fill in the boxes and prior to clicking search, Click Use Command
Line. You may then append to your search strategy.

To close the command line, click on the X.

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Expert Search
Using the Command Line gives greater flexibility to use all Questel operators, forms of truncation, and
nesting in conjunction with keywords. The use of indexes and the presence of fields are limited to
Command Line searching.
To specify an index, enter a slash (/) followed by the field after (s) term (s) except for indexes for use
with numeric operators such as =>> = <<=
For example, to run a search on assignees located in the United States, enter US / CAP
You have the ability to combine searches, using the text boxes and add those fields that are not
available in the wizard.
Index fields that are not offered in the search wizard
Field

Index

Example

Abstracts

/ ABS

(PHENYL AND VIRAL +) / ABS

Patent Object

/ OBJ

CLUB HEAD / OBJ

Advantages and Drawbacks

/ ADB

(ELECTRONIC? AND ACCELEROMETER +) / ADB

Description

DESC

(+ FLEXIBLE ACCELEROMETER AND PIVOT

FREE+) / DESC

Assignee countries

/ CAP

JP / CAP

Inventor Countries

/ INC

US / INC

Designated countries

/ DS

(GB) / DS

Related/Original PCT Publication number

/ NPP

WO200353458/PPN

Related/Original PCT
Application number

/ PAP

2002WO-GB00011/PAP

US Filing Details

/ FD

1997US-0930464/FD

The last publication date of each

member

PDL

PDL> = 2006

Publication date application

PDA

PDA = 2007

Patent Grant Date

PDG

PDG= 2000

All priority dates

PRD

PRD> = 1988

Number of patents in the family

NPN

NPN = 1

All patents cited

Patents cited code with particular
relevance

/ CT
/ XCTA

EP-248377/CT

/ XCTD
/ XCTE
/ XCTL
/ XCTO
/ XCTP
/ XCTT
/ XCTX
/ XCTY

Literature Cited

/ REF

(SIGNAL 1W MAGAZINE) / REF

Field Presence (PRES =)

All fields

XCTX = PRES

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Example: Search by keyword, date and country of publication in the text boxes and add US/ PAC in
the command line to search only those documents that US assignees.
.

You can also use the command line to enter your search.
Example: Find an author in the REF field (literature cited), search criteria not offered by the wizard

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5 - Number Search
The Number Search Wizard allows:

Simplified number searches

INPADOC family search

Similarity search

5 - Number Search - Simplified number searches

In the number search wizard, you can enter from 1 to 100 numbers. This tool is particularly
effective when you use the copy / paste a list of numbers from a word file or excel, or a text containing
publication numbers.
Characters, such as a space, comma or slash, sometimes present in the document number as
published, are accepted by Orbit. If you do not specify a country code, the system will search all the
countries that might correspond to the numbers.
If you enter more than one number, they can be separated by a space, a comma, a semicolon or a
carriage return. A list will display of the reformatted numbers, with all numbers in this list checked.
You can choose to delete certain numbers from your search by deselecting. When your list is
completed, click OK to start the search.

Unlike the Number text box in the General Search Assistant, the number search wizard
simultaneously searches on the three number types: Publication Number, Application Number and
Priority Number.
Note: To enter Application or Priority numbers, do not use the standard format of Questel.

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5 - Number Search - INPADOC Family Search

An applicant seeking protection for an invention must file for a patent in each country where patent
protection is desired. The worldwide applications and publications for an invention are collectively
known as a patent family. Typically, the applicant files for a patent first in his own country.
Subsequent applications in other countries will claim priority rights based on this original application
and filing date. The application number and filing date for the original application are called the priority
number and priority date. In an INPADOC Family Search, all documents share at least one priority.
The family also includes in the results divisions, continuations and continuations-in-part.
To search for INPADOC family, enter one publication number. Check the option INPADOC Family
Search. You may also include the Display Graph of the extended family.
Example: The search for publication number EP1234557, the INPADOC family consists of two
FamPat families.

Display without graph:

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Note: A link to the INPADOC family is also available when viewing documents obtained by the
General Search Assistant (see Chapter 9 Document Displays).
The Show Graph is available only when Search INPADOC Family is selected. Displaying the
graphs gives a visual representation of the extended family links to different priorities.
By default, the graph is displayed by FamPat Family. In the example below, we find the INPADOC
family, representatively colored by the two FamPat families, one blue and one pink.
A different color is assigned to each priority number and with the arrows and color you see the
various priority links.

You can request a color graph by status. The numbers on blue background are published
applications, the numbers on green background are granted patents.
Country filters are also available

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By placing the cursor on a publication number, it turns yellow as do all the priority numbers it claims.
The title of the document appears.

Conversely, placing the cursor on a priority number, you see in yellow, all patent numbers have
claimed priority to that number.
By double-clicking on a publication number, a new window will open with the details of the document.

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The icon at the top of the graph allows you to export in GIF or PDF.

In this view, the menu on the left is folded to provide more space to the graph.

5 - Number Search - Similarity search

A similarity search uses all of the European Classification Codes (ECLA) assigned to a patent to
automatically search for other patents with those classifications. If your initial patent does not have
ECLAs assigned to it, then the International Patent Classifications (IPC) assigned to the patent will be
used to conduct the search. The similarity search also incorporates, automatically, the results of the
cited and citing patents of your initial patent.
The Similarity search is an easy way to execute precise international patent subject searches, starting from a
single patent number.
Enter one publication number and select Search similar patents. This feature is also available when
viewing documents obtained using the General Search Assistant (see Chapter 9 Document Display).

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Example: The search for publication number EP123455 found 933 similar documents.

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6 Citation Searches
When a patent is published it includes a list of citations to previously published patents and literature. This
cited art has some direct relevance, in terms of novelty, obviousness, or state-of-the-art, to one or more claims
in the patent. Patent applicants and patent examiners will assign patent citations.
A citation search is a specific subject search of the technology that is closely related to a published
patent. The backward citation search will retrieve the prior art that is cited on the patent. The forward
citation search will retrieve all the subsequently published patents that cite the patent.
In Orbit, citations are available for the following publications: EP (1978), WO (1978), U.S. (1971), AP
(1984), AT (1974), BE (1988), CH (1963 ), CZ (1997), DE (1943), DK (1956), ES (1993), FR (1969),
GB (1983), GR (1988), JP (1972) LU (1999), NL ( 1947), SG ( 2001) and TR (1987).
A backward citation search is a typical place to start a validity search.
A forward citation search is a typical place to look for patent infringement.
A backward and forward citation search together creates a very precise subject search from the starting
point of a single patent number.
Enter a publication, application or priority number. Use the formatting rules outlined in the chapter
"General Search: Numbers."
Orbit automatically defaults to searching both the forward and backward citations. If only one type of citation
(backward or forward) is desired, it is necessary to uncheck the unwanted citation type. The same applies if
the original patent is not to be displayed.

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The show graph option is only available when the other three options are checked. The graph gives
a visual representation of citation chains. Note: A link to the citation graph is also available when
viewing documents obtained by the General Search Assistant (see Chapter 9 Document Display).
By default, the graph is based on patent documents. To obtain a representation of families, tick
Graph by families.
The patent searched is shown on a purple background, the cited patents on a green background and
citing patents on blue background. The arrows are different colors, depending on the relevancy
indicators, red for X, blue for Y, green for A, D, E, L, P and T, black for those with no relevancy codes.

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By default, the graph displays the patents cited all relevant categories combined. You can restrict the
display of the graph to a category or a selection of categories using the category tool category at the
top right of the window. Uncheck the boxes of categories that you do not want.

Relevancy Category Codes, also known as relevance indicators, are used by the EPO in their Search
Reports. Relevancy Category Codes are found in EP, WO, FR, BE, CH and NL publications
X - Particularly relevant if taken alone
Y - Particularly relevant if combined with another document in the same family
A - Technology background
P - Intermediate document
T - Theory or principle underlying the invention
E - Earlier patent document, but
published on, or after, the filing date
D - Document cited in the application
L - Document cited for other reasons
By default, the graph is displayed by date of publication. You can ask to see the inventors (blue
background), the ECLA codes (pink background) and / or IPC codes (pink background).
The mouse over a patent displays the title and goes into yellow all related patents by citations and
classification codes or inventors that are attached.
In the example below, we visualize, in addition to the numbers of patents (their depositors), the ECLA
codes.
Show/Hide
IPC Codes

Show/Hide
ECLA Code

Shown/Hide
Inventors
Review the
graph by
Date

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Double-clicking on a publication number will open a new window showing the details of the document.
The icon at the top of the available graph allows for export in GIF or PDF.

Right clicking on a document to Center the graph on this document or Add citations specific to this
document.

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7 Results - List of Documents

List of Documents
Once a search is executed, the documents automatically display as a list in batches of 25 documents
per page. This number can be changed (200 records maximum) by selecting Results per page
available in your Preferences.
To continue viewing the list, use the navigation tools available at the bottom of the Orbit screen (do not
use the buttons "Previous" and "Next" in the browser).
If your search strategy consists of several related concepts and you do not want to see the list of
results for each query, you can set your preferences to request that the history is displayed after each
query execution.
This option allows you to optimize response time.

At the top of the screen, your search strategy is displayed and to the left, the number of results.
The results list displays the Title, Assignee, Publication Number and Priorit Date. One publication
number displays per family. The display of the representative member is dependant on the User
setting preferences (see Chapter 16 preferences).
Your search terms are highlighted based on the color defined in the text boxes used in the Search
Assistant, or not highlighted if specified.

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Sorting and Rating

The Title and Assignee columns are sortable alphabetically ascending or descending, and the Priority
Date column is sortable chronologically ascending or descending. To apply a sort, click on the
header of the column to sort.
The sorting function is limited to a maximum of 2 500 results.
You can also classify documents by relevance. Click Sort by relevance in the upper right corner of the
results list. Relevance is calculated from the sum of the occurrences of your keywords in the search
results.
The relevancy sorting is limited to a maximum of 65 000 results

List Display and Organization

You can delete from the list one or more columns.
Right click on the header of a column, select the columns you wish to view, uncheck any you do not
wish to display.
Right clicking on the column heading also provides for the Sorting function.

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You can hide the left Menu by clicking on the sign.

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8 - Results: Display Menu

In addition to List, the other options available in the Display Menu are:
Details
Thumbnails
All three also have preview options

Display
The Display lets you see the list with additional information. From here you can choose the details you
want to see: Default, Full, KWIC.
Details - Default
Items displayed :Title, Assignee, Publication Number and Priority Date, Abstract and Front Page
Image. Sort and Rank Options are available
Details - Complete
Items displayed Title, Assignee, Publication Number and Priority Date, Abstract, Front Page Image,
Inventor and Classifications. Sort and Rank Options are available
Details - KWIC (Key Word In Context)
Items displayed : Title, Assignee , Publication Number And Priority Date Front Page Image, Keyword
used in the search will display in context from all family members. Sort and Rank Options are not
available

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Example: Details Default

Example: Details - Complete

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Example: Details - KWIC

Thumbnails
The Thumbnail view displays the publication number and the front page image. Five publications per
line are shown.

Preview
The Preview option allows you to display the results in two parts. In the left pane, is the list view, and
in the right pane of the summary document that is selected, shown with a blue background in the list.
The document provides previewed the title, drawing the first page, the abstract, Patent Family,
Assignee, Inventor, Priority data, Classifications and Citations. The content in the left pane may be
viewed by using the navigation bar on the right or by the up and down arrows on the keyboard.
Keywords are highlighted in color. Sort and Rank are available. The Preview option is especially
useful if you have chosen to list without details or thumbnails.

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Mosaics
All views of the that display the first page drawing (detailed list, thumbnail, preview), click on the image
opens a new window showing the drawing in magnified format (Zoom, default) or all drawings
published in the form of mosaic. You can modify this option by changing your preferences (see
Chapter 16 Preferences).

When there is no Front Page Image, a link provides access to the mosaic drawings.
Click : Image not available, order mosaic.

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From the results list, the following options are available:

Display Documents
Print the List
Add to a Workfile
Add to a list
Add to My Patent Copies

Export Documents
Analysis
Save a Search
Create an Alert
Translation (Only With the Preview Option)
Highlight

Printing the list

To print a list of the documents, use the Print function available on the toolbar. Clicking this option
opens a new window with the beginning of the list displayed. You may also save the list as an html
document.

9 - Displaying documents - Configuration

To comfortably view the Search Assistants, search results, and drawings found in orbit.com, the
resolution of your monitor should be set to 1280 by 1024 pixels. This screen resolution allows Orbit to
display documents with two windows, the text of the document in the left pane, the drawing or the
facsimile of the original in the right pane.
If your screen resolution is lower, Orbit automatically adjusts the display of the documents to a single
tab.
To check or change the resolution of your screen, see the display properties by right clicking on the
desktop.

Orbit.com is also compatible with the zoom on your browser.

Internet Explorer:
Firefox:
Keyboard shortcuts:

View, Zoom, then Zoom In or Zoom Out

View, Zoom, then Zoom In or Zoom Out
Ctrl + or Ctrl - or Ctrl + mouse wheel.

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9 - Displaying documents: Biblio and Image Tabs

By clicking on a title of a document from your list, the record automatically displays the contents of the
Biblio and Image tabs, if you are displaying with two windows. If viewing in a single window, the
contents of the Biblio tab will be shown.
The Biblio tab contains the title, abstract, members of the family, Assignee, Inventor, the priority data,
classifications and citations.
The Image tab contains the front page image.
By default, the field names are displayed in full (spelled out) for better understanding. You may elect to
have the fields display in short format (code) by changing your preferences (see Chapter 16
Preferences). The short format is useful if transferring results for internal use.
The keywords you used in your query are highlighted in the colors defined at the search assistant.
Other search terms, such as classification codes, numbers are displayed in bold text.
The highlight hypertext creates a chart of all occurrences in the text. This line of words is highlighted in
gray vertical bar that separates the two panes.
Each dash of color represents the occurrence of a term in the displayed text. Click a color marker to
go to the appearance of the term in the text.
The display of this layout can be hidden by clicking on the

. Button

Using the navigation tools available on the screen, you may view the next or previous documents in
the same tabs. You can also use the up and down arrows on your keyboard.
To return to the results list, click Back to list. To return to the search assistant or the history, click on
the section on the left Menu bar.

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As in the List and Thumbnail views, clicking on the image opens a new window with the drawing
mosaics or the drawing in ZOOM view, as select in your preferences (see Chapter 16 Preferences).
Similarly, when the drawing of 1st page is not available, you can order the mosaics.

By passing the mouse over the image you display two tools that allow you to zoom in/out, or fold/
unfold the image.

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Links are available for the following:

Classification Codes: ECLA, IPC and USPCL, with the option to display the definitions.
Cited Patents. By clicking on the publication number, the bibliographic information opens in a new
window
Example: Link to classification codes

Example: Link to a Cited Patent

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Icons showing additional links, when available, are displayed:

Order a PDF copy of the publication
Allows you to control the mosaic designs
Graph citations (see Chapter x "Research quotations)
Displays register information
Order the File History (Questel DIGIPAT)

Links are provided to the Patent Office Registers for the following publications EP (Epoline), WO
(WIPO), US (USPTO PAIR), Britain (UK Intellectual Property Office), CA (Office of the Canadian
Intellectual Property), CN (SIPO - State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China),
KR (KIPRIS - Korea Industrial Property Rights Information Service) and AU (IP Australia).
For US and CN records, you must enter the number as required by the Registers interface.
Example: Link to Epoline Register

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9 - Displaying Documents - Claims, Descriptions, Key Content & Full Text Tabs
Clicking on the Claims, Descriptions, Key Content and Full Text tabs display that content. In all these
views, the keywords you used in your query are highlighted in the colors defined in text boxes of the
search assistant, or not highlighted if you have selected that option.

Claims and Description Tabs

The Description and Claims tabs let you view the respective claims and the description of the
document.
While searches are conducted across all family members, the display of the claims and the
descriptions applies to a single family member. Shown below is the country and publication order by
which the selection of what claims and description are displayed:

US Patents since 1920

US Published Applications since 2001
PCT Applications since 1978
European Patents since 1980
European Published Applications since 1978
Canadian Patents and Patent applications since 1978 (Claims only)
French Published Applications since 1920
German Patents and Patent Applications since 1987
German Utility Models since 2004
United Kingdom Patent Applications since 1920
Austrian Patent Applications and Utility Models since 1902
Belgian Patent Applications since 1925
Swiss Patents since 1920
Japanese Patent Applications and Utility Models since 2006
Spanish Patent Applications and Utility Models since 1980
Chinese Patents, Utility Models and Patent Applications since 1985
Swedish Patents since 2009
Russian Patents and Utility Models since 2008
Brazilian Patent Applications and Utility Models since 1983
When the information is not available, the following messages display: No claims available for this
document or No description available for this document.

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Example: Claims Tab

Example: Description Tab

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9 - Displaying Documents Key Content Tab

Key content is extracted from the full text of select patents. By clicking on the Key Content tab the
following displays:
The Patent Object
The Advantages and Drawbacks
The Independent Claim
While searches are conducted across all family members, the display of the Key Content applies to a
single family member. Shown below is the country and publication order by which the selection of Key
Content is displayed:
European Published Applications (excluding Euro-PCT) since 1988 *
US Published Applications since 2001
US Patents from 1971 to 2000
PCT Published Applications since 2000 *
* You can find older documents until 1980 for EP and 1984 for WO.
Example: Key Content Tab US Patent

9 - Displaying Documents Full Text Tab

The tab contains the text of information also found under the Biblio, Claims and Description tabs.

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9 - Displaying Documents - KWIC Tab

Unlike other display tabs, KWIC displays the text from all family members. The family information,
displayed in the left frame, Field Names and three lines of text show where in the document the
keywords appear.

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9 - Displaying Documents - Legal Status Tab

The Legal Status tab displays information on legal thousands of types of actions affecting the legal
status of patents after publication or issuance.
The information concerning the legal status of publications following offices:
- Austria (AT) since 1975
- Hong Kong ((HK) since 2004
- Australia (AU) since 2000
- Ireland (IE) since 1993
- Belgium (BE) since 1984
- Israel (IL) since 1996
- Brazil (BR) since 1995
- Italy (IT) since 1989
- Switzerland (CH) since 1958
- Lithuania (LT) since 1995
- Chile (CL) since 1990
- Monaco (MC) since 1972
- Czech Republic (CZ) since 2000
- Republic of Moldova (MD) since 1994
- Former East Germany (DD) since 1992 - Netherlands (NL) since 1973
- Germany (DE) since 1978
- Norway (NO) since 2001
- Denmark (DK) since 1982
- New Zealand (NZ) since 2001
- EAPO (EA) since 1996
- Portugal (PT) since 1991
- Estonia (EE) since 2004
- Sweden (SE) since 1995
- EPO (EP) since 1978
- Slovenia (SI) since 2004
- Spain (ES) since 1992
- Taiwan (TW) since 2000
- Finland (FI) since 1993
- United States (U.S.) since 1968
- France (FR) since 1969
- Portugal (PT) since 1991
- United Kingdom (UK) since 1968
- WIPO (WO) since 1978
- Hungary (HU) since 1990
Each office lists different types of statuses. The "positive" actions have the POS code, the "negative"
actions are coded NEG. The following actions are categorized into Event Groups by Questel:
ADM - Administrative Notices
CCL - Changes classification
COR - Corrections, changes
OE - Entry into national phase, translation (AP, EA, EP, OA, WO)
EXM - Requests for review procedures and review process, research reports
LIC - Licensing and Operation
NIF - Not in force, forfeitures, expirations, refusals, withdrawals
NMC - Change of name of assignee, owners, Inventors and other exporters opponents, assignees
OPP - Opposition review
PIF - Payment of annuities in force, registered, issued
RES - Restitution recovery restoration: current
RLW - Refusal, forfeitures, expirations, withdrawals, expiries national offices (AP, EA, EP, OA)
SPC - Privacy complementary, extending the term of protection
The last event determines the documents status as Dead or Alive.

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9 - Displaying Documents - Drawings, First Page, Complete Tabs

The Drawings and First Page tabs display the PDF facsimile of those sections in the right frame of the
document display. The Complete tab orders the full PDF copy of the document. Unlike downloading
PDFs, the full text is not added to your portfolio (see Chapter 10 Download (PDF))

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9 - Displaying Documents - INPADOC Family and Similarity

Shown on the far left of the page, is the list of FamPat family members, This display may be hidden
by clicking on the sign.
Placing the cursor on a publication number displays the kind code.
Clicking on a publication number displays the details of the selected publication and the full set up
display tabs. To return to the Family View , click on Patent Family

Under the list of Patent Family publications, two search options are available:
Find similar patents
Find INPADOC Family
These features are detailed in Chapter 6, "The Search by Number".

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9 - Displaying Documents - Tools

Translation
A translation tool is available from within the document displays or from the results list displayed with
Preview. Click the Translate option available on the top toolbar.

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User Defined Highlighting

This tool is very useful for analyzing the details in the text of the document. It allows you to highlight
any additional terms, beyond the original search terms, in a variety of colors. These additional terms
appear highlighted with the chosen background color
If you have not specifically requested no highlighting of the keywords you used in your search, the
highlighted results will display in the list, as well as the contents of the display tabs.
By clicking on the

icon, a separate window opens and your highlighting scheme is displayed.

The color selections apply to all records and formats in the result set. This highlighting functions with
simple terms. It does not function with expressions or phrases, i.e. highlighting is not restricted to
where the search terms are adjacent
.
Separate words with spaces, e.g. SIGN LANGUAGE, if you want them to be highlighted only when the
search terms are adjacent in the order specified.
Separate words with commas, e.g. TOY?, DOLL? If you want them to be highlighted when used as a
phrase or separately.
If you want to cancel a portion of highlighting, uncheck the box opposite the color and click OK. The
Cancel button does not alter or remove the settings.
You can enter multiple terms in one color box, which allows for synonyms to be highlighted in the
same color. Click OK to apply the defined highlights.
Separate words with commas, e.g. TOY?, DOLL? If you want them to be highlighted when displayed
as a phrase, or separately.
Separate words with spaces, e.g. SIGN LANGUAGE, if you want them to be highlighted only when
they are displayed in the order specified.

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All truncation symbols may be used with the highlighting: left-hand, right-hand and internal
truncation.

+
?
#

Unlimited
0 or 1 character
Exactly 1 character

The ? and # symbols may be used several times.

The highlighting parameters are saved after logging off. However, highlighting is not retained after
exporting the documents.

10 - Download PDF - Facsimiles of Original Documents

Facsimile patent copies are available from the German, US, Australian, Canadian and European
Patent Offices collections. The availability of documents is dependant on the contents of the archives
of these offices. There may be gaps in PDF coverage for some countries.
The download PDF feature is available in three areas of orbit.com :
Add to My patent copies, located on the list display toolbar
Clicking on the PDF icon in the document displays
Download (PDF) in the left orbit.com Menu bar.

In all three cases, the requested PDFs are stored in your patent portfolio.
Note that if you have used a sub-account when logging in to orbit.com, the PDFs will be placed under
that sub-account in the patent portfolio.

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10 - Download PDF - From List Display

Select the documents for which you would like PDF copies by ticking the boxes to the left. You can
select everything by clicking the Select all records, or select all the documents on a page by checking
the box available at the top of the list to the left of the "Title" column.
Click on the Add to button at the top of the toolbar, and select Add to my patent copies. The limit is
200 documents per order.

A new window opens with the following template options:

Representative member only. The representative member is the publication number

displayed in the results list. The representative member selection is dependant on the User
setting preferences (see Chapter 16 Preferences)
All stages of the representative member. Orders PDFs of all published documents (A, B, C,
etc) of the representative family member
Entire family. Orders PDFs of all family members countries covered by Patent Delivery
Service

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Click on View portfolio to access your patent copies.

PDF copies are automatically stored in your patent copies portfolio

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10 - Download PDF - From Document Display

A PDF icon is available in the links column of Published As table. Click this icon to order the PDF.
The facsimile will be stored in Your patent copies portfolio.

10 - Download PDF - From Download (PDF) Module

Clicking on the Download (PDF) option shown in the left Menu bar. This takes you directly to the
order form. You can order up to 200 documents at once and the PDFs are automatically retrieved and
stored in your patent copies portfolio.

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PDF files are kept in your portfolio for 30 days.

Note: Country coverage and functionality of the Download (PDF) module are detailed in the
Patent Delivery Service User's Guide.

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11 Lists
The List features allow you to save relevant documents from a search. Adding to a list permanently
stores the documents. The documents contained in the lists are then available for you to: Display or
Export, Download PDFs, Add to workfile, Conduct statistical analysis or use as a query in a search
strategy.
This feature is available from the list display and is limited to a maximum of 5000 records.

11 Lists - Adding to the Quick List

From the results list display, select the documents you want to save by checking the boxes. You can
select everything by clicking the Select all records, or select all the documents on a page by checking
the box at the top of the list to the left of the column Title."
From the list display, only the publications displayed will be added to the list.
the top of the toolbar, select Add to "Quicklist" to store in the standard list.

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In this example, we selected and added 7 documents found in a citation search. In the left Menu, the
number 7 appears to the right of Quicklist.

Display the content of the Quick List

To view the contents of the Quicklist, click on Quick List in the left Menu. Quicklist displays as a
results list. Display, Print, Export and Analyze options are available.
Please note that highlighting is not retained from your original results.
However, you can apply highlighting by clicking on the

icon available on the top toolbar.

The More Actions Menu and Relevance ranking are not offered.
An additional feature appears in the toolbar when viewing a list: Delete.

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You have the opportunity to "clean up" the contents of the list by removing documents. To do this,
select the documents you want to remove from the list. Click Delete on the top toolbar.

Viewing the contents of a list automatically generates a search statement in your Search History.

You can integrate the list into your search strategy by combining it with a previous or new query.

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11 Lists - Creating lists

You can create up to 150 named lists. To create a list, click the Add option available in the left Menu
opposite the My Lists Heading. An additional text box appears.

Name the list. A new name is used for each new list. Enter the unique name, maximum of 12
alphanumeric characters without accents or spaces and press the "Enter" key on your keyboard or
click outside the text box. The new name appears in brackets with the number 0, since this new list
does not yet contain documents.

To add documents to a list that you created, select Add to a list in the Add Menu on the top toolbar. A
new window opens, select the Name, and click OK

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11 Lists - List Management

Rename list: To rename a list, you must first display the contents of the list. Then you can enter a new
unique name of your choice, maximum of 12 alphanumeric characters without accents or spaces.
Confirm by pressing "Enter" on your keyboard or clicking outside the box.
Empty list: To clear a list, click the Empty option to the left of the list you wish to clear. You will be
asked to confirm the action. Click on OK or Cancel.
Delete list: You can only delete empty lists. The Quicklist may not be deleted, but can be emptied.
Click on the Delete option to the left of the list you want to remove. You will be asked to confirm the
action. Click on OK or Cancel.

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11 Lists - Analyze Results

To conduct quick statistical analysis on a result set, the Analyze feature allows you to locate the most
frequently occurring assignee names or classification codes. The results may then be used to further refine
your search strategy. Analyze performs a frequency count of 500 randomly selected records from your result
set. If your set is less than 500 records then all records will be included in the analysis.
You can identify the names of Assignees or Classification codes that occur most frequently in results
of your search then reuse these names or codes to refine your search strategy.
Check documents to analyze and select one of the four analysis options available:
Assignees
ECLA Codes
USPCL Codes
IPC Codes
Analyze performs a frequency count of 500 randomly selected records from your result set. If your set is less
than 500 records then all records will be included in the analysis. If the result contains more than 500
documents, the sample size is increased proportionally up to a maximum of 1,000 documents.

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11 Lists - Analysis of Assignees:

This option displays the list of top 15 assignees in order of decreasing frequency. By checking each
box to the left of the name of an assignee and clicking the OK button, you can refine your previous
search. If you uncheck Refine previous search, a new search is created.

11 Lists - Analysis of ECLA Codes:

This option displays a list of the top 15 ECLA codes most frequently used in documents of your last
results set

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Clicking on a code opens, in a new window, the classification definition

Use One or More Codes in a Search:

Check the appropriate box or boxes.

Select the appropriate text box in the Wizard. With the Extend to the selected classes, you can
refine your last query by selecting the OR operator in the wizard.
With the Limit to selected classes option you can refine your last query by selecting the AND
operator in the wizard.
By default, your selection will add the codes in the wizard without deleting the terms of your last
search. If you want to create a new search, uncheck the option Refine previous search.
Click the OK

11 Lists - Analysis of USPCL and IPC Codes

This feature will produce a list of the most frequently occurring Original US Patent Classifications or
International Patent Classifications from your previous search results. As with the ECLA feature you
may then look up the definitions by clicking on the class in the table. By checking the box next to the
code you may Extend to the selected classes, you can
refine your last query by selecting the OR
operator in the wizard or With the Limit to selected classes option you can refine your last query by
selecting the AND operator in the wizard.
By default, your selection will add the codes in the wizard without deleting the terms of your last
search. If you want to create a new search, uncheck the option Refine previous search.
Click the OK

Printing the TOP 15 Results Page:

To print a list of the results page; click on the Print option, available on the toolbar. Clicking this option
opens a new window with the lists displayed. You may also save the list as an html document

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11 Lists Citing and Cited Patents

There are three analysis options:
Citing Patents

Cited Patents

Citing and Cited Patents

Analysis on a result set may be conducted on citing patents, cited patents or both.
Select the documents for which you would like to run the analysis by ticking the boxes to the left. You
can select everything by clicking the Select all records, or select all the documents on a page by
checking the box available at the top of the list to the left of the "Title" Column.
Analysis is limited to a maximum of 1000 documents.

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Cited Patents: Orbit extracts, from the selected documents in your result set, the patent
numbers found in the Cited Documents field. The patent numbers are then searched as
Publication Numbers

Citing Patents: Orbit extracts all publication numbers in your result set from the Publication
Number field. The Publication Numbers are then searched as Citation Numbers

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Citing and Cited Patents: With this third option, Orbit executes the two operations
described above and then combines the results.

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12 Exporting Documents
Exports must be executed while online. Documents may be exported from the Results List, and
Document Display

12 - Export Documents From Results List

Select the documents for which you would like to export by ticking the boxes to the left. You may
select everything by clicking the Select all records, or select all the documents on a page by checking
the box available at the top of the list to the left of the "Title." column Using the navigation tools, you
can select records on several pages and the export will apply to the entire selection.
Exports are limited to a maximum of 2500 documents.
Click the Export feature available from the toolbar and select the file type.

This opens the Export window that displays a menu with several options.
Export Data formats:
PDF and RTF
First Page Style or Classic. First Page Style includes bibliographic information, Title, FamPat
Family, Assignee, Inventor, Classifications, Abstract and the 1st page drawing. The Search Strategy
can be added to the export. Listed under DATA are the additional fields that may be included. Key
Content, Description, Claims, and Citations. Legal Status may also be included in the export, but not
in addition to the other fields shown under Data.
The Classic Template allows you to export selected documents without a predefined layout. Specify
if you would like the field identification labels in Detail (spelled out) or Short (code). You can include
the Search Strategy and a page break between documents. Two Data options are available; both
require you to include the Front Page Image
Complete exports all the Biblio, Key Content, Descriptions and Claims.
Custom allows you to specify the information you want included in your export. Click the Radio Dial
button to open the window listing the fields available to include in your export

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TXT, XLS, CSV or XML

The Classic template allows you export documents without a predefined format. Specify if you would
like the field identification labels in Detail (spelled out) or Short (code). You can include the Search
Strategy and a page break between documents. Two Data options are available.
Complete exports all the Biblio, Key Content, Descriptions and Claims.
Custom allows you to specify the information you want included in your export. Click the Radio Dial
button to open the window listing the fields available to include in your export
XLS Specific Option: One member per line
XML Specific Options: DTD: XML Full and XML Light
PERMALINKS
Delivery by e-mail. The body of the mail lists publication numbers and titles. Clicking on a
number, opens the Biblio and Front Page Image only.
After choosing the file type, template and data format, click the Next button to access the Delivery
menu.
Delivery Options

Zipped file is available for all export types and delivery methods. XML exports and TXT exports with
Images are automatically compressed.
Download: Opens the file immediately or you can save to disk. Right click on the link, then Save
Target As.
Send by Email: Enter the email addresses for the recipients, separating each address by a
semicolon. You can change the return address by entering your own e-mail and add a comment
which will appear in the email body. Recipients will receive the file as a link that will remain active for
30 days, or as an attachment. The selection can be changed in your preferences (see Chapter 17
"preferences"). For large files, the attachment is automatically replaced by the link (limit for
attachments 3000 KB).

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Links to original documents will be included in RTF, PDF, XLS and XLM exports. This option can
be changed in your preferences. (See Chapter 17 preferences)
Once the selections have been made, click Next. A Summary Wizard showing the details of your
export will display. To confirm, click Finish. To change any settings, click <Back. To cancel your
request, click Cancel.
Export - First Page Style

Links to the facsimile of

the original patent
documents

Links to the drawing

mosaics

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12 - Export Document - From the Document Displays

When you've viewed a document and click Export only the document displayed on the screen will be
exported.
If you want to export the entire FamPat family record, tick the Patent Family box on the top left corner
of the document display. Use the navigation tools to select records from all results.

Use the navigation tools to select records from all results.

Then click the Back to the list in the toolbar. Then click the Export feature and then follow the
procedure explained above.

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13 - Adding Documents to a Workfile

Workfiles assist in the organization of patent information facilitating patent analysis and strengthen
collaboration between research experts, engineers and attorneys. The function of adding documents
to a folder you can store in your portfolio folder families FamPat accompanied by text and facsimile.
Select the documents you want stored, click on the Add menu and select Add to a workfile.
A maximum of 5 000 documents may be sent to a workfile

When you use the Add a workfile, Orbit asks you to select or create the directory and workfile in
which you want to store documents. To create a new directory and workfile, click the New option and
select Create Directory. To add documents to this folder, select the folder and click OK.
Name the workfile and
provide a description,
Click OK. Your
documents will be
stored in the new
workfile

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To access your workfiles, click on the Workfiles module in the left menu.

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Attention Clients with Existing Portfolios

If you already have a portfolio of directories and workfiles created in PatentExaminer from QPAT or
QWEB, that Portfolio will not be available in the Workfiles module on orbit.com
Clicking on the Portfolio module in the left menu, the message below displays:

If you click Yes, your sales representative will contact you to schedule the migration. Once your
portfolio is migrated, it will no longer be accessible from QPAT or QWEB PatentExaminer.
If you click No, your portfolio will not be migrated and you will have two portfolios. Workfiles created in
orbit.com are not accessible from QPAT, QWEB or PatentExaminer. Only through orbit.com.
Once the migration of the two portfolios is complete, the contents will be merged.

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14 Saved Searches Saving Searches

After conducting a search that you want to rerun later, you can save using save search option.
Searches may be saved from two areas of orbit.com
From the Results List. Click on Other Actions and select Save Search
From the Search History Menu. Click on Save Entire Strategy
Results List:

Search History:

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Click on Save, and name the search. The search name must be alphanumeric characters only. No
spaces or special characters

To view a list of your saved searches, click My saved searches in the left menu under My Searches

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On the Saved Searches Page three options are available:

Execute: Displays the strategy as a script. You can view the search strategy and select the
limitations by updates (most recent and last 4 updates). Click Run to start the search.
Edit: Displays the strategy as a script. Here you can make changes to the search strategy.
You may also limit by updates. Click Save to save only the changes, or click Save & Run to
save the changes and start the search.
Delete: Deletes the search

14 Saved Searches Multiple Search Queries

Available in the Search History Menu, the Save Entire Strategy allows you to save a comprehensive
strategy consisting of a series of searches
You can "clean up" strategy by deleting unnecessary queries. Once complete, click Save entire
strategy.

Name the search. The search name must be alphanumeric characters only. No spaces or special
characters. Click Save

To view a list of your saved search strategies, click on the My saved searches available in the left
menu under "My Searches".

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15 Alerts - Create an Alert

The Alert feature is available after signing a contract amendment Orbit Search Service.

Alerts are notifications, sent by email, to you or designated recipients. The email notification alerts
you to new patent publications, worldwide, that meet your predefined search criteria.
After you create an alert, you receive a weekly file containing the bibliographic details of all new patent
publications, including abstracts and drawings, if available. Full text records are available for the new
publications.
Alerts can be set up to monitor new publications assigned to your company or a competitor. Monitor
new publications in US, ECLA, IPC and Japanese Classifications. Keyword searches retrieve new
publications in your area of interest. Monitor Patent Families to know when a new application or
granted patent is issued.
After conducting a search, from the results list display, create an alert by clicking on Other Actions in
the top toolbar. Select Create an alert.

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The following parameters display when creating an alert:

1 - General
Name: This field is mandatory. The name is used by orbit to identify your alert. The name may be up
to 30 alphanumeric characters, without spaces or special characters. Also the first character must be
alpha, numbers will not be accepted. The name must be unique. It cannot be a name in use by a
saved search or another alert. .
Title: This field is mandatory. The title will appear in the subject line of the email notification. Up to
60 characters may be used. Spaces are accepted in the title.
Subaccount: This field is optional. The subaccount is most frequently used by the client for
managing the alerts. Up to 30 characters may be used, alphanumeric only, no spaces or special
characters.
Run the alert: Alert results can be received weekly or monthly. By default, the Weekly option is
checked, as is Receive alert only when an abstract is present. If this parameter is kept, the alert
will be run on the UAB, the abstract update. By un-checking, the alert will be run Weekly, monitoring
the QW update. The monthly frequency using this parameter Documents monitors the UAB4 update.
If the parameter is not included the alert will run on the QM update.

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Specific Update Codes:

This option is only available when Receive alert only when abstract is
present is selected. Selecting the specific code updates enables you to specify the frequency and
type of updates that will be monitored.
UP:

Weekly all documents added to the collection

UP4: Monthly corresponds to UP

QW: Weekly all new documents added to the collection, excluding references prior to 2006 and D0
documents. Documents receiving a title, abstract, assignee, ECLA code or FI/F-Term for the first time
are included as are those documents that receive the Official English abstract
QM: Monthly corresponds to the QW
UAB: Weekly all documents receiving an abstract for the first time and those documents that
receive the Official English abstract.
UAB4: Monthly corresponds to UAB
UMTA: Weekly new documents added to the collection with an English abstract (human or machine
translated). Documents receiving an English Abstract for the first time (human or machine) are also
included.
UMT4: Monthly corresponds to UMTA
UABA: Weekly new documents with abstracts (regardless of language) and documents receiving
an abstract for the first time (regardless of language)
UAA4: Monthly corresponds to UAB
UEC: Weekly New documents with ECLA codes as well as documents receiving an ECLA code for
the first time.
UE: Weekly Equivalents update. Also includes changes on publication stage.
UE4: Monthly corresponds to UE
2 - Strategy
The search strategy is displayed as a script. You may make modifications to the search criteria
3 - Template
Select the format of documents and the file type.
Classic: Alert results are sent without a predefined format. For PDF and RTF formats you may
specify if you would like the field identification labels in Detail (spelled out) or Short (code). You can
include the a page break between documents
Excel: Alert results are sent as .XLS or .CSV files.
XML: DTD template alert result may be sent in XML Full or XML Light

First page style: Alert results displays are similar to the front page of a patent. PDF and RTF formats
are options
Add to a workfile: Alert results are delivered and stored in a specified directory and workfile. This
model allows you to receive your result warning in your portfolio folder.
RSS Feed: Alert results are sent via an RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

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4 - Data
Available for Classic, Excel and XML templates, this menu allows you to specify the additional fields
in your alert results.
Select one of four different formats.
Document: Title, Abstract, Inventor, Assignee, Publication Numbers and Dates Application Numbers
and Dates, Priority Numbers and Dates and the Front Page Image.
Max: Title, Abstract, Inventor, Assignee, Publication Numbers and Dates Application Numbers and
Dates, Priority Numbers and Dates and the Front Page Image, Classification Codes, Abstract,
Citations, Patent Object, Advantages and Drawbacks, Independent Claims
KWIC: Publication Numbers and Dates, Title and Key Words in Context
Classification: Publication Numbers and Dates, Title, Assignee and Classification Codes
Key Content, Claims, Descriptions, Images OR Legal Status can be included

5 - Delivery
Enter the recipients e-mail addresses.
separated by semicolons.

Up to 23 addresses may be entered, separated by

Click Save to save the alert.

Email notifications options are shown in your Preferences (see chapter 17 Preferences):
Never receive an email
Receive an email for each alert
Do not receive email if no event or result

Regardless of the email preferences, alert results are stored in your Alerts Portfolio
for one year. The portfolio is accessed by clicking on the Monitor Module on the left
menu pane

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15 Alerts - Modify or Delete an Alert

Click My Alerts found under My Searches on the left menu bar. A list of your alerts displays. You
can sort the list by creation date or name by clicking on the header of the columns.
For each alert, four options are available:

Execute: Runs the alert

View: Displays the alert strategy and delivery parameters. From this page you can run your
saved search alert or delete the alert, but you cannot make changes.

Edit: Displays the alert strategy and delivery parameters. Changes may be made.

Delete: Deletes an alert

Example - Edit Display:

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16 Preferences
Go to your preferences by clicking the character icon at the bottom left menu frame or by clicking on
your name in the top right corner of the window

General
My Profile
Your first name and surname are displayed
E-mail: Enter your email address here and it will be automatically included in email text boxes for
exports, alerts and downloads.
Subaccount: Selecting Mandatory from the dropdown menu will require you to enter a subaccount
prior to logging in to orbit.com

Exports & Alerts

Links: Includes in exported results and alerts icons for direct access to PDF copies, Mosaics, Citation
Graphs and links to the Patent Office Registers
Alert notifications: Manage your email notifications. Three options are available:
Do not receive an email: If alert results are sent directly to your workfiles, you may elect not to be
notified each time the workfiles are updated.
Receive an email: Email notification of alert results can be sent for every alert. Or notifications of all
alert results may be sent weekly or monthly
Do not receive an email in the absence of an event or hit: If your alert has zero results, you may
elect not to receive notifications when this occurs
Warning: If your alerts go to multiple recipients be aware that the choices made in your preferences
will be applied to all email addresses listed on the alerts. This is the case for orbit alerts as well as
Legal Status Alerts.

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Regardless of the email preferences, alert results are stored in your Alerts Portfolio for one year. The
portfolio is accessed by clicking on the Monitor Module on the left menu pane
Preferred format: Select the format of the emails sent. Text or HTML. Select how you would like
receive results, as a Link or an Attachment.
For large files, the attachment is automatically replaced by the link (limit for attachments 3000 KB).

Display

Results List Settings

Results per page: Select the number of records per page (25, 50, 100 or 200)
Family Representative Publication Number: Sets which family member will display in the results
list. This also impacts PDF ordering from the Family Results list.
Earliest publication (default),
Most recent publication
Favorite Country: The user can specify which country is preferred to display first in the results list.
If that country is not represented in the results list, the Orbit default is used:
US EPA WO FRA DEA EP DE GB GBA
Hit List: The results list display can be folded or unfolded
PDF: Clicking on the PDF icon opens the document (on the fly) or stores the document in the patent
portfolio (portfolio).

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Click on Image: Enlarge the picture (zoom) or access to mosaics (mosaic)

Field format: Displays the field identifiers in full (Detailed) or code (Short)

Hit Count Hit List

After search show: Results List or Search History
Ignore the machine translation in the worldwide collection: When this option is checked, the
search is conducted on Machine Translated English Abstracts (MTAB).

Search/Search Express
Search module: Sets the default Search Module, Advanced or Express. This option is useful for
clients who have access to both versions.

Default Module after login: User preferred search Module.

Available Modules: Search, Workfiles, Download (PDF), Watch, Watch Legal Status, Search
Designs, Chemical Structures, User Settings, Home, Last Visited Module.

Document Viewer
Determines which application to use for PDF documents.
Options: Acrobat Reader or Google Document viewer

Change Password
You can change your password by clicking Change Password.
You must first enter your current password. Enter your new password and again enter the new
password in the re-enter new password box. Click Confirm.
The password must be between three and 8 alphanumeric characters.
Warning: You must be signed in to change your password.

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17 - Disconnecting
To disconnect, click Logout located in the top right of the screen.

Searches are automatically saved until the system maintenance downtime that occurs each night at
3:00 GMT.
If you reconnect before the maintenance time, Click on Search History to display your queries.

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