Google Advanced Patent Search

“Students rarely disappoint teachers who assure them in advance that they are doomed to failure.” --Sidney Hook
“In the Soviet army it takes more courage to retreat than advance.” -- Joseph Stalin (Russian Prime Minister, Communist leader and Political Dictator. Governed from 1929-53)

Still on the road, but here is today's post ... hope it is clear enough to be useful.

Google Patents (http://www.google.com/patents?hl=en) makes patent searching quick and easy.

Say, for example, that you wanted to get an idea of the kinds of research Saudi Aramco is currently interested in. A good starting point is to search for patent applications ... patents that have been applied for, but have not yet been accepted.

Name clarification exercise
As companies merge and change names, it can be difficult to be sure what name to look for in the "assignee" field
Example:
Saudi Aramco patents
First search:
aramco
Result: two items
Second search:
saudi
Result: many items
browse the list, noting that Saudi Aramco is also known as Saudi Arabian Oil Company
Third search:
Saudi Arabian
Result: many items, all tightly focused on Saudi Aramco as assignee
Fourth search:
Saudi Arabian as "Assignee" and check the "application" box
Result:
A manageable subset of the Third Search.

You can take the same approach for companies like Exxon, Mobil, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Texaco, ChevronTexaco