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Boolean operators
You can combine your search terms with the Boolean operators AND, OR or NOT to help you get the results you want. A maximum of three operators can be used per input field, and a total of 20 within the search mask as a whole.
The OR operator
To increase your chances of finding a patent that matches your query, you can use the OR operator in combination with synonyms or related terms. For example, enter car or automobile or vehicle in the title
/abstract
field.
The OR operator finds patents that match at least one, if not all, of the terms in the query . You may, for example, find patents containing car, but not automobile or vehicle.
For the publication number, publication date, application number and priority number fields, the default operator is OR.
The AND operator
You can narrow down a search by combining search terms using the AND operator. The AND operator finds patents that match all the terms in the query (eg solar powered car). If one or more of the search terms is not contained in a particular patent, that document does not appear in the result list.
For the title, abstract, inventor, applicant, ECLA and IPC fields the default operator is AND.
The NOT operator
If you use a term with more than one meaning, you may generate a result list containing patents that are not relevant to your search, even though they match the query term.
To exclude irrelevant patents from a search, you can use the NOT operator as part of the query. NOT cannot be placed at the beginning of a search field, it should be entered after a search term. For example, if you are looking for patents about fixing devices and a search for the term nail produces a result list with patents relating to fingernails as well, you can exclude those documents by entering nail NOT finger in the title/abstract field.
For more information on patent searching, see the following pages:
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