Crafting Search Strings
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      Search Operators and Fields Cheat Sheet

      An overview of Quartet commands

      Table of Contents

       

      Boolean Operators

       AND

      All terms must be present

      boat AND propeller

       OR

      At least one of the terms is present

      car OR vehicle OR truck

       NOT

      The term(s) following NOT is excluded

      bass NOT fish

      Boolean operators can be used to combine or exclude results from multiple search lines in the timeline.

      Example, the combination of lines 1-5 of the timeline: (1 OR 2 OR 3) AND 4 NOT 5

       

      Proximity Operators

       nD

      Order Non-Specific Proximity

      Terms are within n spaces of each other, in any order, & n must have a value of 1 or more.

      (power 4D battery)

       nW

      Order Specific Proximity

      Terms are within n spaces of each other, in the order as written, & n must have a value of 1 or more.

      (anti 1W aging)

       nS

      Sentence Proximity

      Terms are within n sentences of each other, in any order, & n must have a value of 1 or more.

      (battery 1S charging)

      ((proportion? 2W solid?) 3S acid?)

      nP

      Paragraph Proximity

      Terms are within n paragraphs of each other, in any order, & n must have a value of 1 or more.

      (cupped 1P jaw)

      ((insulat* 2w ring?) 1P (alkaline 2D dry))

      ((batter* 2D charg*) 4P ( electric* 10D (car OR vehicle)))

      "   "

      (Double Quotes)

      Phrase Proximity without Wildcards

      Searches for exact text, exactly as written within double quotes, however, wildcard operators will not be recognized.

      Double quotes will prevent search operators and truncation limiters from operating – example, searching for 3D technology

      "cell phone"

      (Results include: cell phone; cell-phone; & cell. Phone)

       '     '

      (Single quotes)

      Phrase Proximity with Wildcards

      Searches for exact text, exactly as written within single quotes, however, wildcard operators will still be recognized.

      '3D goggle?'

      (Results include: 3D goggle & 3D goggles)

       _

       

      (Under-score)

      Optional Space Proximity

      Text is searched as a single term and as two terms separated by a space or hyphen.

       

      A maximum of 5 underscores may be used per word.

      anti_lock

      (Results include: antilock, anti lock, & anti-lock)

       

      Underscores do not require parenthesis around the words to function properly

      Hyphens are treated as spaces within Quartet.

      Same sentence (nS) and same paragraph (nP) operators cannot be stacked. For example ((LAPTOP 1S SCREEN) 1P CHARGER)  would not be an accepted input.

       

      Wildcard Operators

        ⁎

      Unlimited Truncation

      Represents zero or any number of additional characters (letters or numbers).

      Can be used both at the beginning, middle or end of a word.

      deploy⁎

      (Results include: deploy, deploys, deployment, & deploying)

       ?

      Optional Single Character Truncation

      Represents zero to one additional character.

       

      NOTE: Multiple ?s can be stacked to represent multiple characters

      ??? represents zero to three additional characters

      phone?

      (Results include: phone & phones)


      comput???

      (Results include: computer, computes, computing, computed)

       #

      Single Character Truncation

      Represents exactly one character that must be present.

      analy#e

      (Results include: analyze & analyse)

       +

      Class Code Stemming Operator

      Specific for IPC or CPC search fields.

      The operator returns results for the classification code queried and any of its subordinate classes.

      IPC=G01N33/00+

      (Results include: G01N33/00 and its subordinate class codes, i.e., G01N33/02 & G01N33/558)

      The asterisk ( * ) operator allows for end truncation. Its meaning and use are the same anywhere within Quartet.

      The plus sign ( + ) operator is a unique wildcard that can only be used with classification code searching and is used for searching the hierarchy of a classification schedule. For example, whereas CPC=(G07F19/20*) will search for all classifications that start with G07F19/20, for example G07F19/201-209 will all be captured, but it will miss indented subgroups such as G07F19/21 that would be captured by CPC=(G07F19/20+).

       

      Text Field

      TI

      Title

      TI=(personal 2W computer)

      AB

      Abstract

      AB=flow?

      DES

      Description

      DES=(laptop OR tablet OR notebook)

      CLM

      Claims

      CLM=(plane 3W (engine OR motor))

      FT

      Full Text

      FT is equivalent to TI/AB/DES/CLM

      FT=(short_cut AND project)

      TA

      Title and Abstract

      TA is equivalent to TI/AB

      TA=translation

      TAC

      Title, Abstract, and Claims

      TAC is equivalent to TI/AB/CLM

      TAC=(GPU OR processor)

      none

      If no field is given and the user has not specified a default field in their settings, then the default field is FT.

      (personal 2W computer)

      Fields may be combined using /, for example, TI/AB/CLM=(personal 2W computer)

       

      Number Fields

      PNUM

      Publication Number

      PNUM=(US2001023123A1 OR KR20049312*)

      ANUM

      Application Number

      ANUM=(US74094800A)

      FNUM

      Family Number (DOCDB Family Number)

      FNUM=(3467725 OR 987542?)

       

      Date Fields

      PUBD

      Publication Date

      PUBD=2002-01-28

      (Results include documents with a publication date of January 10, 2002)

      APPD

      Application Date

      APPD<2001-03

      (Results include documents with an application date before March 31, 2001)

      PRID

      Priority Date

      PRID=<2003

      (Results include documents with a priority date on or before December 31, 2003)

      Date formats accepted are YYYY, YYYY-MM, and YYYY-MM-DD

      Date fields are searched using =, <, >, =<, and => followed by the desired date.

       

      For "Greater than or equal to" and "Less than or equal to," the order of the equal sign and greater and less than signs are interchangeable.

      Ex. PUBD=>2024-02-01 is the same as PUBD>=2024-02-01

      Greater than ( > ) and less than (< ) are exclusive of the entered date while greater than or equal to ( => ) and less than or equal to ( =< ) are inclusive of the entered date.

      When searching for a range, a colon ( : ) can be inserted between two dates in any of the accepted formats.

      Ex. PUBD=2003-01-01:2008-12-31 searches documents published between 2003-01-01 to 2008-12-31.

       

      Country and Kind Code Fields

      CC

      Country Code

      CC=(CN OR FR)

      KC

      Kind Code

      KC=(B1)

      CKC

      Country code & kind code

      CKC=(CNB? OR JPB2)

       

      Classification Fields

      IPC

      International Patent Classification Codes

      IPC=(C07K16/28 OR C07K16/42)

      CPC

      Cooperative Patent Classification Codes

      CPC=(C07K16/2812 OR C07K16/4275)

      USPC

      United States Patent Classification Codes

      USPC=(340/2.2)

      JPFI

      Japanese File Index Codes

      JPFI=(G06F7/535_520 OR H04B7/26_109@M)

      JPFT

      Japanese F-Term Codes

      JPFT=(5B016_FA05)

      Classification systems can be combined in one command if a code is common to multiple systems. Here are some examples:

      • CPC/IPC=G06F1/03
      • IPC/CPC/JPFI=G06F1/03

      Party Fields

      PA

      Applicants and assignees

      PA='Intel Corp⁎'

      IN

      Inventors

      IN=(Jane 2D Doe)

      Legal Status Fields

      LGL

      Legal status

      Can take both short and long form of legal statuses (see table below)

      LGL=Alive 

      LGL=(alive OR rlaps)

      Searchable Legal Status Terms

      The legal status terms are searchable in both a long and short form.

      Long form Short form
      alive  
      dead  
      pending pend
      granted grant
      lapsed laps
      recentlylapsed rlaps
      longlapsed llaps
      revoked rev
      expired exp

      Examples: 

      LGL=Alive 

      LGL=recentlylapsed

      LGL=(alive OR rlaps) 

      LGL=(dead NOT alive)

      Boolean legal status expressions only allow one level. A query such as LGL=(alive NOT (lapsed OR exp)) is not allowed. However, statements combining multiple Boolean expressions like LGL=Alive AND LGL=(rlaps OR llaps) are allowed.

       

      Citation Search

      CIT

      Forward and backward citation search for DOCDB families on a search query or line number.

      CIT(5)

      forward & backward citation search of the results in line 5

      CIT(PNUM=US10000000)

      forward & backward citation search of US,10,000,000

      CITF

      Forward citation search for DOCDB families on a search query or line number.

      CITF(5)

      forward citation search of the results in line 5

      CITF(PA=(Netflix))

      forward citations search of patents where Netflix is the assignee

      CITF.X(PA=(Netflix))

      same as above, however only citations categorized as X or 102

      CITB

      Backward citations search for DOCDB families on a search query or line number.

      CITB(4)

      backward citation search of the results in line 4

      CITB(IN=("Deng Han"))

      backward citations of patents where John Smith is the inventor.

      PUBCIT

      Forward and backward citation search for domestic families on a search query or line number.

      CIT(5)

      forward & backward citation search of the results in line 5

      CIT(PNUM=US10000000)

      forward & backward citation search of US,10,000,000

      PUBCITF

      Forward citation search for domestic families on a search query or line number.

      PUBCITF(5)

      forward citation search of the results in line 5

      PUBCITF(PA=(Netflix))

      forward citations search of patents where Netflix is the assignee

      PUBCITF.X(PA=(Netflix))

      same as above, however only citations categorized as X or 102

      PUBCITB

      Backward citation search for domestic families on a search query or line number.

      PUBCITB(4)

      backward citation search of the results in line 4

      PUBCITB(IN=("Deng Han"))

      backward citations of patents where John Smith is the inventor.

       

      Available categories

       Category  Description
       A  Technological background
       X - also  searches 102  Relevant on it's own

       Y - also searches 103

       Relevant in combination with others

       

       

      Text Field Modifiers

       SFLD:

      Single Field Modifier

      Terms appear within the same field within a family.

      SFLD:TAC=(personal AND computer)

      (Results include families where personal and computer both appear in the Title, Abstract, or Claims)

       SPUB:

      Single Publication Modifier

      Terms appear within the same publication.

      SPUB:TAC=(personal AND computer)

      (Results include publications where personal and computer both appear in the Title, Abstract, and/or Claims of the same publication)

       

      SPUB can also be used across multiple fields. Enclose the fields using brackets [ ]

      SPUB:[CLM=(automobil*) AND PUBD=2020-01-01]

      (Results include families with automobile in the claims published on January 1, 2020)

      SFLD and SPUB must be combined with at least one of the text fields listed above.

       

       

      Date Field Modifiers

       .L

      Latest Date

      Searches the most recent date of a date field.

      Must be combined with a date field.

      PUBD.L=2003:2008

      (Results include families having a most recent publication date within the range of years from 2003 to 2008)

       .E

      Earliest Date

      Searches the oldest date of a date field.

      Must be combined with a date field.

      APPD.E<2001-03

      (Results include families having an earliest application date before March 2001)

       .CC

      Country Code Specified

      Limits the search of a date field to a desired jurisdiction that is specified by the two-letter country code, where CC is the country code.

      Must be combined with a date field.

      PRID.US=<2002-01-10

      (Results include US publications having a priority date on or before January 10, 2002)

       

       

      Legal Status Modifiers

      .CC

      Country Code Specified

      Limits the search of a legal status field to a desired jurisdiction that is specified by the two-letter country code, where CC is the country code.

      LGL.US=Alive

      (Results include all US publications that are live)

       

      LGL.US=Alive AND LGL.EP =Dead

      (Results include families with live US US publications but dead EP publications)

      /

      Combining two fields

      Allows the combination of two modified legal status fields

      LGL.US/LGL.EP=Alive

      (Results include all US and EP publications that are live)

       

       

      Assignee Field Modifiers

      Assignee field modifiers allow the user to search original and current assignees. By default, Quartet would search both fields for an assignee match without current or original assignee being specified.

       .C

      Current assignee

      PA.C=(University 2D California)

      (Results include families with a member assigned to the University of California)

       .O

      Original assignee

      SPUB:[PA.O=(University 2D California) AND PUBD=2020]

      (Results include publications originally assigned to the University of California and published in the year 2020)

       

       

       

      Greek Letters

      Greek letters may be searched by symbol (β) and by spelled out name (beta), as the system uses them interchangeably.

      Examples:

      ta='π/2'

      ab='α β unsaturated'

      ta=("α" and "β")

       

       


      Symbols

      %

      Percent

      ‰

      Permille

      ‱

      Permyriad

      °

      Degree

      < 

      Less than

      > 

      Greater than

      Less than “<” and greater than “>” can be shown in the system as “lf” and “gt” respectively 

       

       

      Non-Latin Language Inputs

      Quartet can further accept input in non-Latin languages.

      Examples:

      pa=オンソンフル

      pa=ほんだ

      pa=本田

      pa=혼다

       

       

      Special Characters

      Quartet accepts the following special characters:

      é, á

      ˊ

      Accent Acute

      è, à

      ˋ

      Accent Grave

      ê, â

      ˆ

      Circumflex

      ë, ä

      ̈

      Umlaut or Diaerisis

      ñ, ã

      ˜

      Tilde

      ě, č

      ˇ

      Caron (Háček, Wedge)

      ĕ, ă

      ˘

      Breve (Crescent)

      ċ, ġ

      ̇

      Overdot

      ē, ā

      ˉ

      Macron

      ç, ş

      ̧

      Cedilla

      ø

      Ø

      Streg

      ð

      Ð

      Eth

      å

      Å

      Angstrom

      æ

      Æ

      Ligature

      œ

      Œ

      Ligature

       

       


      Hotkeys

      System Wide

      Esc

      Closes popups/boxes

      Command Line

      Enter

      Executes command

      Timeline

      Up and Down Arrows

      Highlights different search queries

      Space and Enter

      Opens selected string

      Results View

      Up and Down Arrows

      Scrolls through references in results list

      Space and Enter

      Enters Detail view of highlighted reference

      Detail View

      Up and Down Arrows

      Scrolls through references in results list while remaining in Detail view

      Space

      Brings up Figure Popup

      Left and Right Arrows

      Cycles through figures in the right page

      R

      Rotates figure

      Home and End

      Moves to the beginning and end of the document, respectively

      Page Up and Page Down

      Scrolls up and down a page at a time, respectively

      Figure Popup

      R

      Rotates figure

      Up/down arrow

      Scrolls through references in results list while remaining in Figure Popup

      + and –

      Changes image size

      Left and Right Arrows

      Cycles through figures

      Space

      Closes Figure Popup