This custom Text Web Service (TWS) returns an application number-centric, merged representation of one or more CLAIMS Direct documents. This service:

  • offers a condensed view of multiple stages of an invention
  • establishes relationships between PCT and nationally filed documents
  • establishes relationships between nationally filed documents and translations filed with the EPO
  • introduces the concept of effective date (earliest applicable filing date)
  • algorithmically matches national application and document number formats to CLAIMS Direct ucids

Content

The content is represented by a 2-level tws_application structure. The first level contains all application-specific member information.

Note

Members denoted with  are not included in default output. See request and response below for parameters needed to include these members in the output.

MemberDescription
ucidThe CLAIMS Direct application unique character identifier (ucid)
countryThe country of filing
doc_numberThe CLAIMS Direct formatted application filing number
doc_number_originalThe original formatted, national application filing number
dateThe filing date
kindThe application kind code
langLanguage of application
formatfixed: ifi. The format of document numbers and ucids. For exceptions, see doc_number_original
famThe simple family identifier
origin
effectiveThe earliest filing date, which may be the date of the corresponding PCT filing, of an earlier non-provisional parent filing, or may be the same as the filing date listed in the application-reference when no earlier filing exists
entity_statusUS only; Description of filing entity based on number of employees, possible values are micro, small, large, or unknown
claims_totalTotal number of claims (if available)
patent_statusA simplified enumeration of the CLAIMS Direct patent status
relationEnumeration of relationship (continuation or division)
parentIf a continuation or divisional relationship (see relation), this will hold the parent application ucid
assigneeThe current assignee
ptaPatent term adjustment (extension) in days

abstract_en
abstract_original

An English-language abstract, where available, and the original-language abstract (as determined by language of publication)
description_en
description_original
Description (as described under abstract_en/abstract_original)
claims_en
claims_original
Claims (as described under abstract_en/abstract_original)


Additional members of the tws_application which contain substructures follows.

Note

 Members denoted with  are not included in default output. See request and response below for parameters needed to include these members in the output.

MemberSub-membersDescription
inventorsinventorAn array of all inventors
priority
MemberDescription
ucidCLAIMS Direct application ucid
countryPriority filing country
doc_numberPriority application number
kindPriority kind code
datePriority filing date
The earliest priority excluding provisional applications
publications
MemberDescription
ucidCLAIMS Direct publication ucid
countryCountry code
doc_numberPublication number
kindPublication kind code
datePublication date
langPublication language
An array of all publications tied to the root application number
grant
MemberDescription
ucidCLAIMS Direct publication ucid
countryCountry code
doc_numberGranted document number
kindGrant kind code
dateGranted publication date
langGranted language of publication
The published granted patent
national_grant
MemberDescription
ucidCLAIMS Direct publication ucid
countryCountry code
doc_numberNational granted document number
kindNational grant kind code
dateNational grant publication date
langNation grant language of publication
The published national granted patent
titles
MemberDescription
langLanguage of title
titleText content of title
The titles array condenses the title(s) of all stages into a language-distinct array
simple_familyucidAn array of ucids which make up a simple family
extended_familyucidAn array of ucids which make up the extended INPADOC family
classifications
MemberDescription
cpcAn array of all CPC
eclaAn array of all ECLA
ipcrAn array of all IPCR
ipcAn array of all IPC
The classifications array contains all classifications condensed into a unique set per classification type
claims_hierarchy
MemberDescription
numClaim number
typeType of claim (dependent or independent)
refsIf a dependent claim, a list of claim numbers on which this claim depends
The claims_hierarchy member outlines the claim dependencies

Technical Details

Request

There are two request endpoints to tws: an and dn (application number lookup and document number lookup respectively).

/custom/tws/[an|dn]

MethodGET
Path
Parameter
ValuesDescription

@idString: ex. US-5551212[,EP 0700000]One or more application or document numbers to retrieve. Multiple @ids are separated by commas.

@include-optionalInteger: ex. 1The default response contains a subset of available content. To include all available content (as denoted above under Content), set this parameter to 1.

@includeString: ex. inventorsInclude only a subset of optional content.

@excludeString: ex. publicationsExclude particular content.

@include-onlyString: ex. effectiveIncludes only the content specified. The top-level ucid member is always included by default.

@originString: ex. EP or WO

When the origin of an application input is either EP or WO, this parameter should be specified. If there are multiple @ids, input of origin-per-id is accomplished through subscripts. For example, assume two input ids

/custom/tws/an?id=US13/123456,FR12345678

You could specify origin specifically for the FR document as follows:

&origin.2=EP

If origin is specified without a subscript and there are multiple input ids, the origin specified applies to all inputs.


@dateInteger: ex. 19960101

If given, this parameter increases performance and confidence in the input-matching process. The same method of explicitly targeting a specific input with origin applies to date as well, e.g.,

&date.1=19900101

Response

The tws response comes in two formats: JSON (the default) and XML (HTTPS header: Accept:text/xml). For illustration purposes, the examples below show only JSON. The structure of the response is identical, with the exception of the following JSON-specific constructs:

  • underscores in JSON identifiers are replaced with hyphens, e.g.

    { tws_application.doc_number : "12/123456"} => <tws-application doc-number="12/123456" />
  • Anonymous JSON arrays have singular child elements in XML

    { inventors: [ 'Joe', 'Carl' ] } => <inventors><inventor>Joe</inventor><inventor>Carl</inventor></inventors>

Structure

Meta Information

The response structure is outlined as follows

/custom/tws/dn?id=US-5551212

{
   "method" : "custom/tws/dn",
   "time" : "0.444",
   "status" : "success",
   "content" : { }
}

The response container contains meta information pertaining to the result of the request.

MemberDescription
methodThe endpoint used to create this response
timeTime in seconds of the entire request/response
statusEnumeration: success or error
errorIn the case of status=error, a message will describe the error.

content Container

The content member of the response contains the body. It is an anonymous structure whose key is the input id. When multiple ids are given as input, this structure will have multiple keys. The value of the structure is an anonymous structure containing meta information and the core object, the tws_applications array.

   "content" : {
      "US-08/25828" : {
         "iid" : "US-08/25828",
         "lookup_status" : "found",
         "confidence" : 100,
         "tws_applications" : [ ]
      }
   }
MemberDescription
iidThe exact input given (input-id)
lookup_statusEnumeration of foundnot-found or found-duplicate
confidenceA confidence level (0-100) of the input <=> output match. This is currently fixed at 100.

tws_applications Container

The tws_applications container is an anonymous array of distinct tws_application structures. Please see content description above for a detailed listing of all members.

Examples

The following are full example requests and responses.

Default US Application Number Lookup

https://cdws21.ificlaims.com/custom/tws/an?id=US-08/25828

{
   "time" : "0.226",
   "status" : "success",
   "content" : {
      "US-08/25828" : {
         "tws_applications" : [
            {
               "priority" : {
                  "country" : "DE",
                  "kind" : "A",
                  "date" : "19900901",
                  "doc_number" : "4027762",
                  "ucid" : "DE-4027762-A"
               },
               "date" : "19930303",
               "doc_number" : "2582893",
               "ucid" : "US-2582893-A",
               "assignee" : "OSTMA Maschinenbau GmbH",
               "kind" : "A",
               "titles" : [
                  {
                     "lang" : "EN",
                     "title" : "Method of packaging articles"
                  }
               ],
               "country" : "US",
               "parent" : "US-74719691-A",
               "patent_status" : "LAPSED",
               "lang" : "EN",
               "format" : "ifi",
               "relation" : "continuation",
               "fam" : "6413406",
               "effective" : "19910816",
               "grant" : {
                  "country" : "US",
                  "kind" : "A",
                  "lang" : "EN",
                  "date" : "19960903",
                  "doc_number" : "5551212",
                  "ucid" : "US-5551212-A"
               }
            }
         ],
         "confidence" : 100,
         "lookup_status" : "found",
         "iid" : "US-08/25828"
      }
   },
   "method" : "custom/tws/an"
}

Explicitly Requesting Certain Content

https://cdws21.ificlaims.com/custom/tws/an?id=US-08/25828&include=simple_family
{
   "time" : "0.166",
   "status" : "success",
   "content" : {
      "US-08/25828" : {
         "tws_applications" : [
            {
               "priority" : {
                  "country" : "DE",
                  "kind" : "A",
                  "date" : "19900901",
                  "doc_number" : "4027762",
                  "ucid" : "DE-4027762-A"
               },
               "simple_family" : [
                  "AT-96388-T",
                  "AU-636238-B2",
                  "AU-8174591-A",
                  "CA-2050271-A1",
                  "CA-2050271-C",
                  "DE-4027762-C1",
                  "DE-59100535-D1",
                  "DK-0477487-T3",
                  "EP-0477487-A1",
                  "EP-0477487-B1",
                  "ES-2046827-T3",
                  "JP-2113465-C",
                  "JP-H054613-A",
                  "JP-H0825524-B2",
                  "NO-913030-A",
                  "NO-913030-D0",
                  "TR-25401-A",
                  "US-5551212-A",
                  "ZA-9106183-A"
               ],
               "date" : "19930303",
               "doc_number" : "2582893",
               "ucid" : "US-2582893-A",
               "assignee" : "OSTMA Maschinenbau GmbH",
               "kind" : "A",
               "titles" : [
                  {
                     "lang" : "EN",
                     "title" : "Method of packaging articles"
                  }
               ],
               "country" : "US",
               "parent" : "US-74719691-A",
               "patent_status" : "LAPSED",
               "lang" : "EN",
               "format" : "ifi",
               "relation" : "continuation",
               "fam" : "6413406",
               "effective" : "19910816",
               "grant" : {
                  "country" : "US",
                  "kind" : "A",
                  "lang" : "EN",
                  "date" : "19960903",
                  "doc_number" : "5551212",
                  "ucid" : "US-5551212-A"
               }
            }
         ],
         "confidence" : 100,
         "lookup_status" : "found",
         "iid" : "US-08/25828"
      }
   },
   "method" : "custom/tws/an"
}

Excluding Certain Content

https://cdws21.ificlaims.com/custom/tws/an?id=US-08/25828&exclude=priority

{
   "time" : "0.169",
   "status" : "success",
   "content" : {
      "US-08/25828" : {
         "tws_applications" : [
            {
               "date" : "19930303",
               "doc_number" : "2582893",
               "ucid" : "US-2582893-A",
               "assignee" : "OSTMA Maschinenbau GmbH",
               "kind" : "A",
               "titles" : [
                  {
                     "lang" : "EN",
                     "title" : "Method of packaging articles"
                  }
               ],
               "country" : "US",
               "parent" : "US-74719691-A",
               "patent_status" : "LAPSED",
               "lang" : "EN",
               "format" : "ifi",
               "relation" : "continuation",
               "fam" : "6413406",
               "effective" : "19910816",
               "grant" : {
                  "country" : "US",
                  "kind" : "A",
                  "lang" : "EN",
                  "date" : "19960903",
                  "doc_number" : "5551212",
                  "ucid" : "US-5551212-A"
               }
            }
         ],
         "confidence" : 100,
         "lookup_status" : "found",
         "iid" : "US-08/25828"
      }
   },
   "method" : "custom/tws/an"
}

Using Origin and Date Parameters

https://cdws21.ificlaims.com/custom/tws/an?id=US-14/240125&origin=WO&date=20120820'
{
   "time" : "0.096",
   "status" : "success",
   "content" : {
      "US-14/240125" : {
         "tws_applications" : [
            {
               "date" : "20120820",
               "doc_number" : "201214240125",
               "ucid" : "US-201214240125-A",
               "kind" : "A",
               "titles" : [
                  {
                     "lang" : "EN",
                     "title" : "Bicycle, modifiable for uphill, downhill and/or trail conditions"
                  }
               ],
               "doc_number_original" : "14/240125",
               "publications" : [
                  {
                     "country" : "US",
                     "kind" : "A1",
                     "lang" : "EN",
                     "date" : "20140731",
                     "doc_number" : "20140210180",
                     "ucid" : "US-20140210180-A1"
                  }
               ],
               "country" : "US",
               "patent_status" : "ALIVE",
               "lang" : "EN",
               "origin" : "WO",
               "format" : "ifi",
               "fam" : "50382849",
               "effective" : "20120820",
               "grant" : {
                  "country" : "US",
                  "kind" : "B2",
                  "lang" : "EN",
                  "date" : "20150616",
                  "doc_number" : "9056644",
                  "ucid" : "US-9056644-B2"
               }
            }
         ],
         "confidence" : 100,
         "lookup_status" : "found",
         "iid" : "US-14/240125"
      }
   },
   "method" : "custom/tws/an"
}
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