Boolean Searching and Filtering of AI Searches and Collections

Note: this document refers to the new BETA Boolean filters launched on June 30, 2023, and last updated on September 12, 2023. The old filters (Pre-May 2023) are deprecated and are/will be automatically converted to the new Boolean filters.

Background

Besides advanced Graph AI search capabilities, IPRally provides the capability:

to filter Graph AI search results and Collections using Boolean methods;
to search using Boolean methods.

This guide describes the syntax, gives examples and lists known limitations of the Boolean filters.

Syntax cheatsheet

Category	Operator/code	Description	Example(s)
Boolean operators	AND	Boolean AND	`car AND battery`
	OR	Boolean OR	`motor OR engine`
	NOT	Boolean NOT	`motor NOT combustion`
	,	same as AND	`car, battery`
Proximity operators	Wn	Within n words of each other	`filter W2 signal`
	NEAR	Within 5 words of each other	`filter NEAR signal`
	NOTWn	Not within n words of each other	`filter NOTW5 water`
Wildcards	*	Unlimited left or right hand truncation	`autom` `correction` `"multi* device"`
	?	Exactly one character	`analy?e` `"portable analy?er"`
	#	Zero or one characters	`auto#correction`
		Note: at least 3 consecutive characters needed in the word when using a wildcard
Phrases	"..." OR ...	Multi-word phrase	`"wind power plant"` `wind power plant` `"fib* board"`
Grouping / nesting	(...)		`(car OR automobile) AND (window AND (rear OR front))`
Field codes
Number fields	PN:	Publication number (auto-truncated)	`PN:US90000000`
	AN:	Application number (auto-truncated)	`AN:EP14735465`
Name fields	PA:	Applicant or original assignee	`PA:microsoft`
	PA_CUR:	Current assignee	`PA_CUR:(microsoft OR amazon)`
	PA_ALL:	Any applicant or assignee	`PA_ALL:(nokia NOT (netw* OR solut*))`
	INV:	Inventor	`INV:(kleuskens)` `INV:("sarah kleuskens")` `INV:("kleuskens sarah")` `INV:("kleuskens, sarah")`
Date fields	PD:	Publication date	`PD:[2022-01-01` to *]
	APD:	Application date	`AD:[2020-02-01 to 2022-01-13]`
	PRD:	Priority date	`PRD:[* to 2004-12-01]`
Class fields	CPC:	CPC Class (auto-truncated)	`CPC:(A61F13 OR A61F20)`
	IPC:	IPC Class (auto-truncated)	`IPC:(A63B AND A61H3/00)`
Text fields	TACD:	Any text	`TACD:(car OR automobile) AND (window NEAR (rear OR front))`
	TAC:	Title, abstract or claims
	TA:	Title or abstract
	T:	Title
	A:	Abstract
	C:	Claims
	D:	Description
Other fields	LS:	Legal status	`LS:(ACTIVE OR UNKNOWN)` other values: `INACTIVE`
	PBT:	Publication type	`PBT:GRANT` other values: `APPLICATION`
	PBC:	Publication country	`PBC:(US OR EP)`
Stemming	Supported for T/A/C/D/TA/TAC/TACD fields		`TACD:fisher` with stemming on finds fish, fishing
Tags	Supported	Combining Custom Technology Tag queries to Boolean searching
Fielded searching/filtering	Supported	Fields combined by AND operator by default
Advanced searching/filtering	Supported	Allows complex queries	`(PA:(daimler* OR mercedes)) AND (PD:[2020-01-01 to ]) AND (TACD:((car OR autom*) AND (window NEAR (rear OR front)))) AND (TA:vehicle) AND (LS:(ACTIVE OR UNKNOWN)) AND (PBC:(US OR EP))`
Case insensitivity	Supported	All text fields are case insensitive	`Motor` = `motor` = `MOTOR`
Relevance scoring / ranking	Supported	The results are scored and ranked by Boolean relevance, according to a nativeRank / nativeFieldMatch algorithm

Boolean scoring

If you use Boolean text fields (T/A/C/D/TA/TAC/TACD), you will get a Boolean score ("Bn" score) in addition to the AI score. The best match will get a Bn score of 100 and the other matches a lower score, using an advances text scoring algorithm. For forming the score, the prioritisation of the fields is T > A > C > D, but there are also other affecting factors, like the term count, term proximity and so on.

Limitations (as of 2023-09-12)

Limitation	Explanation	Plan
Number of supported documents for search result exports	The number of supported documents in exporting documents is limited to the number of paginated (loaded) documents in the user interface (and max 10k)	We're adding better result pagination and support for exporting of larger result sets adding larger result sets to Collection
Search speed with Wildcards	Search sometimes takes too long when there are Wildcards in the query	Investigating and improving during H2/2023
Combined Proximity operators	Combined expressions like `(a NEAR b) NEAR c` are not supported	Support is coming later
Wildcards need at least three consecutive characters in some part of the word	`mot?r` is a valid form `mo?or` in not a valid form	Let us know if this is too limiting in practice!
View customization	The FIELDED search/filtering view is not yet customizable (all fields shown always)	Customization possibility coming later.

Fielded search/filter vs. Advanced search/filter

Fields in FIELDED SEARCH/FILTER are combined in the background using AND operator. The following corresponds to (PN:US9) AND (PA:micro*):

Advanced search allows search for (PN:US9) OR (PA:micro*) too:

Above the SEARCH PATENTS button, one can easily see and copy the corresponding Full boolean query to clipboard.

Search field validation

The fielded search aims to capture incorrect/unsupported syntax automatically when the field is unfocused.

Note: not all incorrect syntaxes are captured yet, whereby you may get an error or empty result list when pressing the SEARCH / FILTER button.