In numerous databases on CAS STNext, it is possible to conduct numerical searches for many physical properties that are mentioned in English text elements. These text elements include title, abstracts or - in patent full-text databases – also detailed descriptions and claims.
59 physical properties, for example, Energy (/ENE) and Pressure (/PRES), have been enabled for numerical property searching (NPS). Most of them are given in base or derived SI units (see www.bipm.org/en/measurement-units or physics.nist.gov/Pubs/SP811/appenB8.html). Additional units found in the text (particularly CGS-, imperial, and US customary units) are normalized to their respective base units for indexing purposes, e.g., bar or Torr to Pascal as base unit of Pressure. More than 20,000 variants of the base and additional units are identified, in particular, prefixes, spelling variants, and numerals.
Generally, the numerical property search feature builds up on the standard STN numerical search features. Therefore, features already in existence like SET TOLerance and SET UNIT are applicable; see HELP SET TOLERANCE and HELP SET UNIT for details.
Variations in the physical property units in the search statements are accepted by the online system and standardized as well. Permissible unit specifications and multipliers can be found in the documentation: www.cas.org/training/lesson/stn-units-system. A search for a temperature in the property /TEMP will find corresponding temperatures regardless of the unit specified in the text (e.g., Celsius, Farenheit or Kelvin).
Numeric Property Codes, Aliases, Property Names, Default Units, and Default Unit Abbreviations
Search Options
EXPANDing in the /PHP index provides a complete list of codes and spelled out names for all physical properties available for numeric property search.
=> E A/PHP
E4 362861 AMOUNT OF SUBSTANCE/PHP
E5 362861 AOS/PHP
E6 226973 AREA/PHP
E7 74488 BIR/PHP
E8 352554 BIT/PHP
E9 74488 BIT RATE/PHP
E10 36336 CAP/PHP
E11 36336 CAPACITANCE/PHP
E12 164092 CATA/PHP
…
An EXPAND on the numbers for each numeric property field is not available.
Combining the numeric search terms with the text search terms in the text field of interest, e.g., claims (/CLM) or basic index (/BI), using the standard text-based proximity operators, specifies the numeric property search.
Using just the /PHP index retrieves documents with any numeric value for the property of interest and restricts the number of retrieved documents considerably compared to a search without the numeric property:
=> S BARIUM SULFATE/BI
L1 49794 BARIUM SULFATE
=> S BARIUM SULFATE/BI (S) TEMP/PHP
L2 2606 BARIUM SULFATE/BI (S) TEMP/PHP
A search with the proximity operator (A) is even more specific:
=> S BARIUM SULFATE/BI (10A) TEMP/PHP
L3 323 BARIUM SULFATE/BI (10A) TEMP/PHP
With numeric values the results are of course even more precise:
Claimed method, antibody dosage of 1-50 mg/kg:
=> S ANTIBODY/CLM (S)1-50/DOS
Zirconium dioxide nanoparticles of size 1-100 nm:
=> S ZIRCONIUM OXIDE(S)PARTICLE SIZE (3A) 1-100 NM/SIZ
Alloys containing the following composition: Bi<60%, Pb>20%:
=> S ALLOY(S)BISMUTH (1A) PER<60 (S) LEAD(1A) PER>20
For a search with a property which has a squared or cubed number in its unit, two asterisks must be inserted between the character and the number: J/m2 for Surface Tension: => S 9-11 J/M**2/STSC
Volume of 1 cubic meter:
=> S 1 M**3/VOL
Decimals must be searched with E-notation:
Length of 5 x 10-3 m (= 0.005 m):
=> S 5 E-3 M/LEN
Length of 2 x 102 m (= 200 m):
=> S 2 E+2 M/LEN
Physical properties in patent documents are often given as closed or open ranges, e.g., "less than x unit". These are indexed as they come: as closed or open ranges. Since open ranges used with unspecific queries can yield unexpected results out of the realm of the intended target area, the queries can be specified to exclude the open ranges from the search scope but instead use the explicit value given. The default setting is to include the open ranges for most comprehensive results. An '.EX' extension added to the field code will exclude them.
See the difference for a search without and with the added extension. Although the records in L3 may be legally valid, they may be less interesting.
L1 20542 REACT? TIME/BI (5A) 2 HOURS/TIM
L2 18213 REACT? TIME/BI (5A) 2 HOURS/TIM.EX
L3 2328 L1 NOT L2
Overview: Numeric Property Search Options
Results of a numeric property search may be viewed with text display formats such as D HIT, D KWIC, D CLM, and D ALL. The hit part containing the numeric value of the physical property is highlighted.
All databases on STN which offer the numeric property search option are available in the NPS cluster.
STN Databases Offering the Numeric Property Search Feature
| Bibliographic patent files | DWPI files (WPINDEX, WPIDS, WPIX) | ||
|
Patent full text files |
AUPATFULL |
GBFULL INFULL JPFULL KRFULL PCTFULL RDISCLOSURE |
RUFULL |
| Bibliographic non-patent files |
1MOBILITY 2MOBILITY AGRICOLA ANABSTR CABA |
CEABA COMPENDEX FSTA INSPEC KOSMET |
NTIS PQSCITECH RAPRA TEMA |