Patent Search Help on SIPO English Web Site

Coverage of the Database

Range of date : From September 1985 onwards

Contents : Bibliographic data with abstracts of Chinese invention patents, and Bibliographic data without abstract of Chinese utility model.

Update : Monthly

Patent Search Help

The database provides two search modes: Quick Search and Expression Search.

§ Quick Search

There are six steps to using the Quick Search.

1. Enter a term in the text entry box labeled Term 1, for example, car.
   
   
2. Select which field to apply to Term 1 by using the Field 1 drop-down menu located to the right of the Term 1 box., for example, Title.
   
   
3. Select a Quick Operator (AND or OR) from the menu located between the two Term boxes.
   
   
4. Enter a term in the text entry box labeled Term 2, for example, engine.
   
   
5. Select which field to apply to Term 2 by using the Field 2 drop-down menu located to the right of the Term 2 box., for example, Abstract.
   
   
6. Click “Submit” button.

There is an example to search for “computer” in the title and for “IBM” in the applicant(s) name.

Type “computer” in the Term 1 box, then select Title from the Field 1 drop-down menu to the right of the Term 1 box. Then, enter “IBM” in the Term 2 box, select Applicant(s) Name from the Field 2 drop-down menu to the right of the Term 2 box, and select “AND” from the Operator drop-down menu. Click “Submit” button.

• Notes

1. If you want to search for a single term or expression, skip steps 1, 2, 6.
   
   
2. The search is not Case-sensitive. Searching for CAR and searching for car will produce the same results.
   
   
3. When a search query has been entered, the search results and a hit list of the 20 patents per page will be displayed, which is sorted ascending by application number.
   
   
4. For some terms, you must specify the field to search in to get the hits you expect. For instance, if you are searching for a application number or inventor name, you must select “Application Number” or “Inventor Name” from the “Field” drop-down menu. Searching the application number or inventor name in all fields will not retrieve hits in just this field, but rather anywhere in the body of the text.
   
   
5. If you are having difficulty searching for a specific field, please see the Special Field Search Help.
   
   
6. You can use Boolean operators “and”, “or”, “not” as needed. When you enter a expression which is consisted by more than two words in the term box, you can use Boolean operators between them. Along with these operators, you can use parentheses to further clarify your search statement, for instance, “gas and (machine or engine)”. If you enter this query and select all fields from the Field drop-down menu located to the right of the Term box, you will retrieve all patents which contain both the terms “gas” and either “machine” or “engine” somewhere in the document.
   
   
7. The Quick Search allows you to use wildcard characters in search query.
   
   The wildcard character “?” represents a single optional character. If you search for car?, you will retrieve words like car, card, care, etc.
   
   The wildcard character “%” is placed at the end of the sequence, it will return all words beginning with the sequence. This is known as right truncation. If you search for car%, you will retrieve words like car, card, care, carry, carrying, etc.