The basic layout of the Search window lets you perform:

1. Quick Search (previously discussed)
2. Fielded Search
3.  Query Builder (previously discussed)
4. Number Search
5. Patent Owners
6. Natural Language
7. Search Strategies
8. Search History

From the AcclaimIP Start->Preferences, you can set up which search tabs you want to see in your Search window. For example, you may never use the Fielded Search tab, so there is no reason to have this showing. Or you may only search a particular set of countries, so having this set of countries set up in your Default Search Options will save you time whenever you log in (i.e., you will not have to reset the Countries / Authorities / Collections to just that country set).

Fielded Search

The Fielded Search shows many of the core patent data fields inside of AcclaimIP. Scrolling down, you will see the fields that the Fielded Search offers. If you have a quick search to run, for example a string that you just want to search patent titles, the Fielded Search can be a good tool to use. To save room on the form, many of the searchable fields are grouped into "field sets" which you can open and close.

Do note that AcclaimIP automatically links these fields with the AND operator, and you cannot add any additional field codes to the ones that are already presented. You can, however, use some advanced syntax inside the fields, such as the boolean operators and the wild cards.

Number Search

The Number Search tab allows you to search for one or more specific patents.  For example, if you have a spreadsheet with 100 patents you would like to look up, you can copy and paste the numbers into the search box and search just for those patents, either with or without the Family Members included in the results. Note that the Number Search requires that the patent numbers be published patent numbers.

Patent Owners

The Patent Owners tab allows you to search for patents grouped by the patent's owner.  In this tab, you can search by either the Original Assignee or the Current Assignee.  As with the other tabs, you can include which collections you would like to search (USPT, JP, EP, etc.).

Natural Language

The Natural Language tab allows you to search for patents based on a text query of up to 5,000 words of text.  AcclaimIP will find documents similar to the source text that you supply.  For example, if you have a paragraph from a specification and you want to see what other patents are similar to the language in that paragraph, you can copy and paste the entire paragraph into the natural language search query and run the search.

Search History

The Search History tab is your saved search history.  For example, if you searched for "endoscope" in the Title, and "light emit" in the Abstract fields, when you came back to AcclaimIP at a later point, you would be able to find that particular search in the Search History tab and run the search again without having to retype anything into the proper fields.  

In the Search History tab you can also:

1) Combine searches

2) You can pop out the search history tab into its own separate box by clicking here. This may be useful if you're trying to build out queries and want to use search terms from a previous query, but not the entire query. You would not have to switch back and forth between tabs.

3) Search for a specific search. For example, if you ran a complex search months ago that you knew had the term "electric" in it, you could type that here and it would pull back just those searches with that specific term. This also works for the other columns (i.e., if you knew it had a specific number of hits or was in a specific jurisdiction).

4) Clicking "Search" will combine whatever searches and additional terms you put in. You can also download or clear your search history by clicking on the down arrow on the right side of the button, and selecting which action you would like to perform.

You can use Advanced Syntax inside of several of the search tabs, including the Quick Search, Query Builder, Search History, and Search Strategies.  In this example, you see that this will find patents where Steve Jobs and Jony Ive have collaborated on patents.

(jobs NEAR3 steve) AND (ive NEAR3 jonathan)  -->  Patents where the two collaborated

(jobs NEAR3 steve) OR (ive NEAR3 jonathan) -->  Patents by either inventor even if they didn't collaborate

(jobs NEAR3 steve) NOT (ive NEAR3 jonathan)  -->  Patents by Steve Jobs, but NOT Jony Ive

Notice I used the query "jobs near3 steve" for the inventor's name.  This is a proximity query.  It says find patents where the words "steve" and "jobs" appear within three words of each other.  This is a handy way to pick up instances like "Steve P. Jobs," in the Inventor field for example.  You can also use the search "jobs steve"~3 to return the same results.

You can also make sure that you find "steve" or "steven" or other variations by using wildcards. For example:

(jobs NEAR3 steve*)