Index

Different types of help are provided within Espacenet.

Before using our new website, we recommend that you read the following articles on the Espacenet home page:

In addition to the assistance provided by these articles, a 'quick help' is displayed for each different search screen and results screen in the form of frequently asked questions where you can find explanations about the screens you are viewing.

For in-depth information a general help is also provided. It contains definitions of terms and complements the 'quick help'. If you have any comments or suggestions, please write to espacenet@epo.org.

Glossary of words and terms included in the general help:

• Abstract
• "Also published as" documents
• Applicant
• Application number
• Bibliographic data
• Boolean operators
• Cited documents
• Claims
• Classification search
• Corresponding documents
• Country codes
• Coverage of the EP database
• Coverage of the WIPO database
• Coverage of the worldwide database
• Date Formats and ranges
• Default operators
• Description
• European Classification (ECLA)
• Entering queries in Smart search
• Field identifiers
• Full-text search
• INPADOC kind codes
• INPADOC legal status
• Inventor
• International Patent Classification (IPC)
• Kind codes
• Legal status data correctness
• Limitations
• Limitations in Smart search
• Mosaics
• Non-patent literature (XP documents)
• NPL Reference number
• Number searches
• Original documents
• Patent families
• PATLIB
• Priority number
• Publication date
• Publication number
• Result list
• Smart search operators
• Title
• Truncation
• Updates
• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
• WO (PCT) publication number