F-term (patent Law) - Fictional Example

Fictional Example

Below is a fictional example of classifying a patent application within the F-term system. The fictional example of a cooking recipe database will be used as this avoids the need for any subject-specific knowledge.

The fictional IPC-style classification of recipes may be as follows:

X99Y 1/00 Dishes X99Y 1/02 . Meat dishes X99Y 1/04 . . comprising beef X99Y 1/06 . . comprising pork X99Y 1/08 . . comprising lamb X99Y 1/10 . comprising seafood X99Y 1/12 . comprising vegetables

This classification of recipes is based on a single viewpoint—the main ingredient of the dishes. Hence we can browse all recipes of meat dishes by selecting recipes labeled X99Y 1/02, X99Y 1/04 and X99Y 1/06, and likewise we can browse all recipes of beef dishes by selecting recipes labeled X99Y 1/04.

However, the system does not allow the user to find all Chinese recipes, or all halaal lamb recipes, because the system is based on a single viewpoint. This is solved by the F-term system by the use of multiple viewpoints.

A fictional F-term classification of recipes may be as follows:

9Z999 Dishes (X99Y 1/00—1/12) AA INGREDIENTS AA11 Meat AA12 . Beef AA13 . Pork AA14 . Lamb AA21 Seafood AA22 . Fish AA31 Vegetable BB CUISINE BB41 Asian BB42 . Chinese BB43 . . Cantonese BB44 . Turkey BB51 European BB52 . French BB53 . Italian CC COOKING CC11 Boiled CC21 Fried CC31 Roasted CC41 Steamed DD SPECIAL DD11 Halaal DD12 Vegetarian

9Z999 identifies an F-term sheet, or theme. X99Y 1/00--1/12 in the parentheses indicates that the sheet covers the IPC range X99Y 1/00–1/12. AA, BB, or CC identify the different viewpoint of the theme and the combination of two letters and two numbers AA11 etc. identifies features viewed from a specific viewpoint. This 4-symbol construction is known as an F-term. We can therefore find all Chinese recipes by selecting recipes having an F-term of BB42.

Since all applicable F-terms are applied to a given document a boolean-logic search can be used to find combinations of features—for example to find halaal lamb recipes a search can be made for recipes having both AA14 and DD11 F-terms. The latter search is conducted by calculating the intersection of set AA14 and DD11.

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