Exploratory Search is an AI-enhanced search option that helps users find the most relevant patent and non-patent literature references without the use of traditional STN search commands. This new feature set is designed to complement (not replace) the robust search capabilities available in STNext.
Using the Search
Search Text
Enter at least 200 characters of natural English text (not Boolean operators) relating to the novelty of your invention or topic of research. For best results, provide a clear, concise description and avoid the use of abbreviations and short-hand notation.
Notes:
- The text entry field accepts up to 10,000 characters.
- All user-entered text is handled as plain text.
Priority Date
If you want to see anything that has been published that may be relevant to your text, leave the Priority Date at the current day default. If you only want to see results before a certain date, set the priority date accordingly (documents newer than your priority date will not be shown). The system will also use this date as one of many factors in determining result relevance; documents with priority dates close to the priority date that you designate may be determined to be of higher relevance than older documents.
Adding a Substance Structure (Additional Criteria to Emphasize)
Add an optional substance structure from My Files > Structures, or draw your own. Note: Adding a substance (via the Structure Editor tool) to include with your search text provides input to the system to find and boost the relevance of documents that involve your substance and/or substances that are structurally similar to your structure of emphasis.
Viewing Results
View Details
Click a result title to view its details in the right-most column:
- Abstract
- Claims
- Indexed Substances
- CAS Concepts
Refine Search
Refine your search by emphasizing Suggested Key Terms identified by CAS language analysis tools. After selecting some key terms and clicking the Search button, it will rerun your entire search input text, but will emphasize the selected key terms while doing so in order to retrieve better results.
View Results in File
To view all or selected results in the CAplus file, click the Send to Command Line button, and then select All Results or Selected Results (results with checked boxes).
View Non-Patent Results
Click the Non-Patent Literature tab to display results with non-patent references like journals.
Download Results
Select all or individual results by checking the appropriate box, click Download Results, and then select the appropriate option to download the results an an .xls file.
Expand/Collapse Section
In the right detail column, click a section arrow/name to expand or collapse the displayed information.
View Full-Text Source
Click a result's Full Text button to display source links where you may access the full text for a document.
Frequently Asked Questions
See Exploratory Searching FAQs for more information.