European Patent Classification Thesauri Added to DWPI
April
24th,
2011
Thesauri for ECLA (European patent classifications) and ICO (In Computer Only) are now available in the Derwent World Patent Index (DWPISM) databases on STN (WPINDEX/WPIDS/WPIX).
The European Patent Classifications are indexed in the search fields /EPC (for ECLA codes) and /ICO (for in-computer-only codes). Both thesauri will be updated on a monthly basis subject to availability of the data.
Hierarchies of terms in the thesaurus can be displayed using the EXPAND command followed by a plus symbol (+), a Relationship Code and /EPC or /ICO, e.g., e A01B+all/epc.
To use the thesaurus to automatically include additional Narrower, Broader, Related, and other terms in a search, the SEARCH command should be entered with a term followed by a plus symbol (+), a Relationship Code, and /NCL, e.g., s K01B+nt/ico.
The thesauri can be used with the EXPAND and SEARCH command in the EPC and ICO fields. The following relationship codes are available:
Relationship Code Description ---------- ----------- ALL All usually required terms AUTO Automatic relationship BT Broader terms CODE Classification Code DEF Definition HIE Hierarchy terms (all broader and narrower terms) KT Keyword terms MAX All associated terms NEXT Next classification within the same class NEXT(n) Next n classifications within the same class NT Narrower terms PREV Previous Code within the same class PREV(n) Previous n classifications within the same class TI Complete title including broader terms