Google Patent Search is Hot
Google Patent Search was launched yesterday (Dec 14, 2006). This is hot. The search interface is classic Google simplicity although there is also an Advanced Patent Search page. It is incredible that Google has converted the entire image database of U.S. patents (7 million) into a format that is easy to search. When they say easy to search they not only mean easy to search for the patent, you can also search for text within the patent image. Google has done some incredible OCR magic!
I have not seen anything like this before. For example I was able to pull out a very old patent by Alexander Graham Bell by simply typing in "Alexander Graham Bell". Believe me I have tried this search with many database including USPTO and Espacenet with no luck. Here is Alexander Graham Bell's original patent on transmission of sound using optical signal - the grandfather technology of fiber optic transmission of data.
I searched for the word "transmitting" in the above image. You can see the word "TRANSMITTIMG" (which actually is an image) being highlighted in yellow. This is simply amazing!
How are hits being generated for a given search? As with all Google search strategy it is shrouded in mystery. It is disclosed that Google rank patent results according to their relevance to a given search query - whatever this means. Google does not disclose the algorithm being used or how they "use a number of signals to evaluate how relevant each patent is to a user's query".
Because of the uncertainty of the search strategy being used by Google, you can never be sure what you are missing. For the occasional quick and dirty search, Google Patent Search is unbeatable. Furthermore the search and retrieval of the image files are blindingly fast. Because of the lack of features to organize your search results, I would not use this as my preferred portal for formal patent due diligence.
Right now you can't save your search or print the retrieved patent. In the Google blog, it is mentioned that they are working on this.
WizPatent Manager has many search result and patent document management capabilities. It is perfect to integrate the Google Patent Search with this software. You bet we are working on this as fast as we can. Very shortly, we will also launch WizPatent Express which is an Internet Explorer add-on.
Links for more write up on Google Patent Search
