Featured Resource: Thomson Innovation
Posted on Tue, Jun 14, 2011
Last week, we discussed CiteSeerX, a great resource researchers
can use for prior art searches. Today, we continue on that theme, looking at another fantastic search engine for research, Thomson Innovation.
Designed for Patent Research
Thomson Innovation is not just a scientific database. It is specifically designed for intellectual property research and analysis. It contains a wide assortment of patents from all around the world, with a special focus on hard to find translated documents from the Asia-Pacific region. Thomson Innovation is also run by Thomson Reuters. This means that in addition to having a vast collection of scientific literature to draw upon, the database syncs extremely well with Reuters’ news records. This connection allows researchers even more opportunities and places to find non-patent literature – which is often the most helpful and useful type of prior art in Article One Studies.
Advanced Search Tools
Thomson Innovation’s search engine is one of the most helpful available. One of the most impressive ways that Thomson Innovation helps improve research is with its operators. Operators are the conjunctions and general syntax included in database systems that help facilitate searches. Common operators are AND, OR, and NOT. However, Thomson Innovation also allows for many other operators, such as SAME, which looks for terms that appear together in the same paragraph. There are other extremely helpful tools such as the ability to weigh keywords in the search, ensuring more specific results. These helpful additions to Thomson Innovation’s search process lead to greater precision and efficiency in your research.
Constant Improvement
Thomson Innovation is not a static entity. Many of the tools laid out above are very new, and were released with the most recent update to the site. There were also many other improvements, such as upgrades in the ability to save your work and increased support for migrating data between databases. These improvements not only make searching easier, but also show Thomson Innovation’s dedication towards creating the best product and resource for intellectual property researchers.
Overall, it is clear that Thomson Innovation is one of the leading databases and tools available to patent researchers. It is accessible for full-time use by researchers on a subscription basis. The site also has some free resources, such as search engine training designed to improve your research skills.
Remember, for additional search tools, visit our Resources & Tools page.