Another Go at Patent Searching

“Education is the path from cocky ignorance to miserable uncertainty.” -- Mark Twain (American Humorist, Writer and Lecturer. 1835-1910)

Thanks to hyperlinks, finding interesting patents is easier than it used to be.  And thanks to the U.S. Patent Office Classification System, you don’t have to rely on key words to produce the best results.

Here is an example of a path to the right classification number

Click on a classification number link
Study the definition
Decide whether it seems promising
Copy the classification number and paste it into the appropriate box on the patent search form.

STEP ONE: Suppose you have found the following patent …
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Crude oil desulfurization Bruce E. Reynolds  Overview Abstract Drawings Description Claims Application number: 09/896,224 Publication number: US 2003/0000867 A1 Filing date: Jun 28, 2001 Issued patent: US6841062 (Issue date Jan 11, 2005)

This invention relates to a crude oil desulfurization process which comprises hydrodesulfurizing a crude oil feed in a crude desulfurization unit. The desulfurized crude oil is then separated into a light gas oil fraction, a vacuum gas oil fraction and a vacuum residuum fraction. The vacuum gas oil is hydrocracked to form at least one low sulfur fuel product. The light gas oil fraction is hydrotreated. The vacuum gas oil may be hydrocracked in one or more stages. Hydrocracking in the second stage, if present, will convert of at least 20% of the first zone effluent, to create a low sulfur light gas oil fraction. The light gas oil fraction may then be hydrotreated. Inventor: Bruce E. Reynolds Original Assignee: Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Current U.S. Classification: 208/89; 208/58; 208/59 International Classification: C10G069/00 View patent at USPTO Search USPTO Assignment Database Download USPTO Public PAIR data

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STEP TWO: Click on each of the U.S. Classification links and read the description.  Choose one or more of the classificatios.

In this example, there are three (3) classification numbers.

Current U.S. Classification: 208/89; 208/58; 208/59

STEP THREE: Do a Google® Patent Search on one of the U.S. Classifications

Let’s say that the description of classification number 208/58 looks interesting.

STEP FOUR: Scroll to the bottom of the results page and click Advanced Search

STEP FIVE: In the Advanced Search form, cut 208/58 and paste it into the box labeled Current U.S. Classification.

This produces about 700 hits.

STEP SIX: Modify by adding “desulfurization” in the box labeled With All the Words.

STEP SEVEN: Focus the search even more by using the Publication Date feature in the left column of the results page.

One of the resulting patents …

Hydrocarbon conversion process
www.google.com/patents/US7906013
Grant - Filed Feb 12, 2010 - Issued Mar 15, 2011 - Peter Kokayeff - UOP LLC
A process is provided to produce an ultra low sulfur diesel with ...

The beauty of this approach is that the U.S. Patent Office has done a lot of the work for you.  Once you know the system, you can save yourself a lot of time.