<p>If you want to find patents where the earliest member of the patent's simple family is from a certain country, use the <strong>PRICN</strong> field code.</p> <p>This is a funny little field, but it can be useful when you need it, and by golly we got it.</p> <p><strong>Consider this: </strong> ISD:2013 NOT PRICN:US</p> <p>This says of all the granted patents in 2013, which have priorities from countries other than the US? Would you believe that more than a third (115,783) of US grants in 2013 have priorities from previously field non-US applications. It just goes to show you how truly global the patent system is!</p>

<p>To search for US patents that reference a particular foreign document (patent or application), use the FREFN field code.</p>

<p>To search for patents by a particular examiner use the PEX field code.</p> <p>This field is helpful if you want to investigate the examiner who is examining <em>your</em> patent. Look up the patents, view the file history and get an idea of the examiner's mentality.</p> <p>PEX has a companion field code ASEX for searching the Assistant Examiner field.</p>

<p>To search for patents where the agent is in a particular state, use the AGTS field code. Use the standard two letter codes for the state or province.</p>

<p>To query patents where at least one named inventor lives in a particular city, use the <strong>IC</strong> field code. If you are searching for cities and town with common names like Greenville, Franklin or Bristol, be sure to include the <strong>ICS</strong> or <strong>ICN</strong> field code as well.</p> <p>This field code is interesting when doing geo searches and charting patents using the multi-series charting options.</p>