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Classification search
You can access the relevant ECLA classification symbols to help you carry out more efficient searches on a given technical subject.
If a particular ECLA symbol is known, or you have found it on some documents after a quick search based on keywords, you can check its description by entering the symbol in the "Find description for a symbol" field and clicking on "Search".
In order to see if an ECLA group is aligned with the IPC or not, tick the box next to "Show notes".
You can also search for relevant ECLA symbols by starting with a simple query in the "Find classification(s) for keywords" search field, followed by a click on "Search". The underlying algorithm makes use of the statistical relevance of the symbols that have already been allocated to documents classified using ECLA. The more boxes are displayed to the left of the description of the group, the more frequently the search query occurs in the documents of this group. A symbol with a large number of boxes is potentially relevant, in statistical terms. By way of example, the simple search query tennis racket? shows that A63B49 is likely to be relevant.
After carrying out a classification search by keywords and consulting the description for the statistically more relevant symbol(s), you can use the result to continue searching in this direction. To do so, click on the text or the classification symbol to view the subdivisions, and repeat to view details of a particular subdivision.
It is easy to export the results of a classification search to the "Advanced search" mask. All you have to do is tick the checkbox next to a symbol and the symbol will be copied into the mask, where you can then (re-)start a search combining multiple search fields. Optimum search results are achieved by combining queries in the ECLA and abstract fields.
For more information on patent searching, see the following pages: