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
effectivedate (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.
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| ucid | The CLAIMS Direct application unique character identifier (ucid) |
| country | The country of filing |
| doc_number | The CLAIMS Direct formatted application filing number |
| doc_number_original | The original formatted, national application filing number |
| date | The filing date |
| kind | The application kind code |
| lang | Language of application |
| format | fixed: ifi. The format of document numbers and ucids. For exceptions, see doc_number_original |
| fam | The simple family identifier |
| origin | |
| effective | The 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_status | US only; Description of filing entity based on number of employees, possible values are micro, small, large, or unknown |
| claims_total† | Total number of claims (if available) |
| patent_status | A simplified enumeration of the CLAIMS Direct patent status |
| relation | Enumeration of relationship (continuation or division) |
| parent | If a continuation or divisional relationship (see relation), this will hold the parent application ucid |
| assignee | The current assignee |
| pta | Patent term adjustment (extension) in days |
abstract_en† | 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.
| Member | Sub-members | Description | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| inventors† | inventor | An array of all inventors | ||||||||||||||
| priority |
| The earliest priority excluding provisional applications | ||||||||||||||
| publications |
| An array of all publications tied to the root application number | ||||||||||||||
| grant |
| The published granted patent | ||||||||||||||
| national_grant |
| The published national granted patent | ||||||||||||||
| titles |
| The titles array condenses the title(s) of all stages into a language-distinct array | ||||||||||||||
| simple_family† | ucid | An array of ucids which make up a simple family | ||||||||||||||
| extended_family† | ucid | An array of ucids which make up the extended INPADOC family | ||||||||||||||
| classifications† |
| The classifications array contains all classifications condensed into a unique set per classification type | ||||||||||||||
| claims_hierarchy† |
| 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]
| Method | GET | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Path | |||
| Parameter | Values | Description | |
| @id | String: ex. US-5551212[,EP 0700000] | One or more application or document numbers to retrieve. Multiple @ids are separated by commas. | |
| @include-optional | Integer: ex. 1 | The default response contains a subset of available content. To include all available content (as denoted above under Content), set this parameter to 1. | |
| @include | String: ex. inventors | Include only a subset of optional content. | |
| @exclude | String: ex. publications | Exclude particular content. | |
| @include-only | String: ex. effective | Includes only the content specified. The top-level ucid member is always included by default. | |
| @origin | String: 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
If | |
| @date | Integer: 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
| |
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.
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| method | The endpoint used to create this response |
| time | Time in seconds of the entire request/response |
| status | Enumeration: success or error |
| error | In 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" : [ ]
}
}
| Member | Description |
|---|---|
| iid | The exact input given (input-id) |
| lookup_status | Enumeration of found, not-found or found-duplicate |
| confidence | A 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"
}