This document provides an overview of the INSPEC and Ei Compendex databases and how to search them. It discusses the content and coverage of each database, how to access them through the Patent Examiner's Toolkit, tips for developing effective search strategies using Boolean operators and wildcards, how to work with search results including viewing records and saving searches, and additional search options such as limiting by publication date, IPC codes, classifications, and author searches. The document aims to outline the "five essentials" for finding and making use of non-patent literature in these databases.

1. 1
INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
The 5 Essentials to Finding Non-Patent Literature
For Electrical and Mechanical Arts

2. 2
Agenda: The Five Essentials
• Overview of INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
2

3. 3
Agenda
• Overview of INSPEC®
and ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
3

4. 4
Overview of INSPEC®
• Comprehensive science engineering and
technology research database of more than 11
million prior art abstract and index records
• From almost 5,000 journals and serials, more
than 2,500 conference proceedings and 1000’s
of books, reports and dissertations
• Represents more than 1000 publishers: societies
like IEEE & SPIE and commercial publishers like
Elsevier & Springer, plus many more…
• Global, peer-reviewed content from 68 countries
in English and non-English sources
4

5. 5
Overview of INSPEC®
(cont.)
• IPC codes are included for about 75% of the non-
patent content
• Archives back to 1898 (Dialog File 2)
• PDF links available
5

6. 6
Overview of Ei Compendex®
• 12 million records from 1970-present
• Focus on “applied” engineering in all technologies
• Index of over 5,600 journals, trade magazines and
conference proceedings
• Publications from over 55 countries
• Approximately 30% overlap with INSPEC
• PDF links available
6

7. 7
Agenda
• Overview of INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
7

8. 8
Access to INSPEC®
& Ei Compendex®
Start menu >
Patent Examiner’s Toolkit >
Non-patent Literature >
Click the link for your EIC >
Click the Databases link and look for INSPEC or
Dialog Ei Compendex in the alphabetical list.
Enter your Art Unit to log in to the database.
8

9. 9
Access to INSPEC®
& Ei Compendex®
To search DialogClassic on the Web:
INSPEC is File 2
Ei Compendex is File 8 (1884-present), File 288
(1990-present), or File 278 (1970-present)
9

10. 10
Agenda
• Overview of INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
10

11. 11
Developing your search strategy
The “building block” approach
• Identify your concepts and the synonyms.
• Search each concept as a separate query.
Why do you think this is important?
• Combine each concept search using “set number”.
e.g.: 1 AND 2 AND 3
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12. 12
Developing your search strategy
Tips to think about
• Remember spelling variations.
e.g.: color OR colour, color or colour
• Think of the various synonyms for your art.
e.g.: aerial OR antenna, aerial or antenna
• Remove punctuation.
e.g.: cd rom OR cdrom, cd rom or crdrom
• Translate your EAST searches.
12

13. 13
Developing your search strategy
Proximity connectors (similar to EAST)
• ADJ- find the terms adjacent to each other in exact order.
• NEXT- find terms within 5 words in exact order.
• NEAR- find terms within 5 words in any order.
• WITH- find terms in the same sentence.
• SAME- find terms in the same paragraph or subfield.
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14. 14
Developing your search strategy
Boolean Operators
• AND- both terms must be in record.
• OR- either term can be in record.
When would we commonly use OR?
• NOT- term following NOT can not be in record.
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15. 15
Developing your search strategy
Wildcard (same as in EAST)
• Use the $
• Control truncation to avoid incomplete processing due to too many
variations.
e.g.: card$ will retrieve card, cards, cardiologist
card$1 will retrieve card, cards, but not cardiology
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16. 16
Developing your search strategy
Limiting to Priority Date
• Click the button at the top of search history
• Select relevant set with radio button
• Choose Publication Year and Less Than from the menus and type
in publication year
Should we include publication day and month as well?
• Click button at bottom of page to run search
16

17. 17
Agenda
• Overview of INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
17

18. 18
Working with your output
18
View your results
Click the show titles
link to view titles
from the relevant set.

19. 19
Working with your output
19
Select records and then display them.
#1
#2

20. 20
Working with your output
20
Save your records and search history for your e-red
folder.

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Working with your output
21
Full-text PDF availability and Order Document link.
Many records in
INSPEC and Ei
Compendex will have a
link for full-text.
All records will have a
link to Order the
document from the
STIC.

22. 22
Agenda
• Overview of INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Accessing INSPEC®
and Ei Compendex®
• Developing your search strategy
• Working with your output
• Additional Search Options
22

23. 23
Additional Search Options
Search using IPC codes
23
1) Search set #5 has our
combined concepts.
2) Once we have a relevant
IPC code, we’ll enter it here.
3) Then we select Int patent
classification from the drop
down menu and click Search.
4) Finally, we combine our IPC
code search with the concept
search set for a new set of
results.
1
2
3

24. 24
Additional Search Options
Sources for IPC codes
1) There are IPC codes listed on 75% of the INSPEC records (eventually
available for all records).
2) WIPO publishes a guide to IPC codes and you may find it helpful to
search IPC codes for your art
www.wipo.int/classifications/ipc/ipc8/?lang=en
3) The U.S. class code to IPC concordance on the patents classification
search page
http://ptoweb:8081/searches.htm?2
4) Look for assigned IPC codes on every Pre-Grant Publication
(PGPub).
24

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Additional Search Options
25
Format for searching
IPCs is B41J-0002-01.
The search engine
does not recognize the
“/” (back slash), so use
a hyphen instead.

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Additional Search Options
INSPEC classifications
INSPEC is composed of 5 major subject areas or subfiles:
– Physics
– Electrical engineering and electronics
– Computers and control
– Information technology for business
– Mechanical and production engineering
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27. 27
Additional Search Options
27
Limit your search to a
specific classification within
a subfile. The Classification
codes are groups of
technologies within each
record.
You may browse
Classification codes by
selecting the arrow next to
the Classification field for a
subfile.
INSPEC Classification codes

28. 28
Additional Search Options
Limit your search to a
set of documents
where the author
has taken a specific
approach to the
subject by using
Treatment codes.
28
Treatment codes

29. 29
Additional Search Options
Adding a thesaurus descriptor
or subject term to your
search can help you find
the most relevant
documents for a concept.
What is a thesaurus?
29
There is a searchable
thesaurus at the bottom of the
INSPEC search screen. Just
click the blue arrow.
INSPEC Thesaurus

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Additional Search Options
30
Enter a word, phrase, or part of a
word to search the thesaurus.
INSPEC Thesaurus

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Additional Search Options
31
In the thesaurus list:
1)You can click the
yellow post-it to get the
details of this
term/descriptor.
2)You can select the
terms you wish to add to
your search.
INSPEC Thesaurus

32. 32
Additional Search Options
Author/Inventor searching
32
Search the author (inventor)
using the format lastname-
initial$. (e.g., hallberg-j$)
Qualify by selecting the
author(s) field.

33. 33
Assistance for INSPEC & Ei Compendex
33
DIALOG SUPPORT
Kimberly Bastian
Sr. Customer Education Specialist
kimberly.bastian@proquest.com
Vicki Sullivan
Training & Application Consultant
vicki.sullivan@dialog.com
Dialog Knowledge Center
(800) 334-2564
EIC REFERENCE DESK
EIC 2100
STIC-EIC2100@uspto.gov or 571-272-4225
EIC 2600
STIC-EIC2600@uspto.gov or 571-272-4235
EIC 2800
STIC-EIC2800@uspto.gov or 571-272-2540
EIC 3600
STIC-EIC3600@uspto.gov or 571-272-3488
EIC 3700
STIC-EIC3700@uspto.gov or 571-272-4240