What is IFIALL and Why Search IFIALL?

Database composed of front page and bibliographic data, abstracts and claims from U.S. patents
- Replaced older databases of IFIPAT, IFIUDB and IFICDB
Provides US patent coverage from 1950 to present
Updated twice weekly
File includes:
- Assignee standardization and probable patent assignees (later updated weekly)
- Chemical indexing
- US and IPC patent classifications
- Examiner citations for both patent (REP) and non-patent literature (REN)

What Does the Collection of IFI Databases on CAS STNext Offer?

Database

Coverage

Content

Use for

IFIALL

1950 – present: Chemical patents

1963 – present: General, mechanical and electrical patents 12/1976 – present: Design and Plant patents

– present: Patent applications

Bibliographic data
Abstracts
Claims
Chemical Indexing, including Fragments

Text searches
Patent classification searches (IPC and USNCL; CPC)
Uniterm chemical searches
Chemical searches with fragments including rings

IFICLS

1980 to date

Post-issue actions, such as:

Reassignments
Reexaminations
Reissues

Current patent status
Current legal status
Expirations
Extensions
Adverse decisions
Disclaimers and dedications

IFIREF

Support file for IFIALL

IFI Chemical Index terms
USPTO Class Manual

Information on IFI’s General Terms and Compound Vocabulary Identifying search terms, including rings and fragments for substructure searching

S 2-4 5/SZ

What Value-Added Features Does IFIALL Provide?

Standardized and probable patent assignee information
- Probable Patent Assignee (PPA) is assigned when no assignee is provided
- Search both the PA and PPA fields for comprehensive patent assignee information
- Displaying the PA field also provides:
  - the patent assignee in non-standardized format (PAF) – may include additional geographical information
  - the PPA, when available
  - Backfile up until January of 2011 has additional value-add features such as:
    - Patent title enhancement for better indication of the patent’s content
- Chemical Indexing which includes when available:
  - - CA references and CAS Registry Numbers
    - Uniterms
    - Fragment codes (allow for substructure searching of chemical substances)
    - Role indicators for chemical substances
Uniterm indexing in IFIALL
- Uniterm indexing based on the complete patent document and consisted of:
  - General terms, e.g., CONDENSATION POLYMERS/CT/10201
  - Compound terms, e.g., SODIUM SULFIDE, NA2S 50598-70 90
  - Fragement terms, e.g., CARBOCYLIC RING (P) 30035
  - CAS Registry Number® synonyms for some chemical compounds
Control Terms (CT) in IFIALL
- Expand in the CT field to find Uniterms of interest and to discover their Uniterm code
IFIALL General Term Vocabulary indexed general concepts from US patents
- Properties of materials – e.g., impact strength and opacity
- Uses of the invention – e.g., emulsifiers, insecticides
- Chemical reactions – e.g., oxidation, copolymerization
- Physical processes – e.g., melting, hammer milling
- Polymer names – e.g., polystyrene, polyethylene terephthalate
- Biological concepts – e.g., leukemia, radioimmunoassay
- Apparatus and machinery – e.g., photoelectric cells, nuclear reactors
- Natural materials – e.g., cellulose, kaolin

Leverage separate database IFIREF to get more information on General Terms for helping create IFIALL search strategies
Similarly, IFIREF Compound Terms available in Control Term field can provide valuable information for optimizing IFIALL search
The Fragment Term vocabulary is used to index the structural characteristics of chemical compounds
- The IFI fragmentation system applies to Markush structures, generic classes of compounds, and specific structures not in the IFI Compound vocabulary
- Structural characteristics identified include:
  - Functional groups – e.g., amines, esters, ketones
  - Atoms present in the structure – e.g., holgens, metals
  - Ring structures – e.g., pyrazines, quinolines
In both IFIALL or IFIREF, use Expand to find rings or find fragments for your searching
- Example 1: EXPAND in the /CT field (either IFIALL or IFIREF) to find ring
Example 2: EXPAND in the /CT field (either IFIALL or IFIREF) to find fragments for your searching
IFIALL provides CAS Registry Numbers® as synonyms to terms in the IFI Compound Vocabulary
- Unique to CAS STNext
- SEARCH Registry Numbers in the /URN field
- CAS RNs are displayed in the Compound Uniterms portion of the IFIALL record when displayed in IIND format
Summary
- IFIALL covers US patents from 1950 to present
- Key value-added features within IFIALL are:
  - Standardized and probable patent assignee names
  - Chemical indexing (1950 – early 2011)
- User aids included updated HELP messages and the IFIALL Database Summary Sheet