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In 2006, the Quality Management System launched in 2005 was in place for the main key documentation processes and the benefits became visible, such as detection and correction of gaps and errors, leading to a higher documentation quality. The Global Patent Data Coverage report was published on the Internet in January and July.
Patent Applications:
In 2006 the EPO has published 126 600 patent applications broken down according to the 31 Technical units of the International Patent Classification (see Table 1 attached).
Since the opening, the EPO published the following number of patent applications (see Table 2 attached).
Granted Patents:
In 2006, the EPO granted 62 779 patents.
Since the opening, the EPO has granted the following number of patents (see Table 3 attached).
Publication services:
1. European publications API
The EPO applies WIPO standards extensively for electronic publication and patent information products. The relevant standards for the publication and for dissemination to end users of patent information are often different to those used for the exchange of raw patent data. This difference stems from the different underlying requirements of the users of exchange and end-user products.
Over the years there has been a great deal of progress in harmonising the exchange formats used by patent offices, and experience has shown that the similar data transformations from one WIPO standard to another are used time and again when creating different patent information and publication services. As a result, the Publication department has over time grouped the various electronic publications utilities that we use into a coherent structure that enables us to re-use elements with minimal effort. This framework is described in more detail below, and at its core lies a set of Java based utilities that are packaged together as an Application Programming Interface (API). This Java based API offers a wide range of commonly used functionality and is heavily based upon open source frameworks such as those available from the Apache foundation (www.apache.org)
2. European Publication Server
The European Publication Server became operational on 1 January 2005 and - in line with the decision of the President of the Office dated 22 December 2004 - has been the official medium for publication of all kinds of European patent documents since 1 April 2005.
A very simple interface allows users to view and download the documents from the date of publication across a secure connection on the internet. All the different types of documents (A1/A2/A3/B1/B2 and corresponding correction documents A8/A9/B8/B9) can be accessed via their application numbers, publication numbers, IPC classification symbols and the dates of publication.
Users can download documents published since 1 April 2005 in both PDF and SGML (2005) / XML (2006) formats. Documents published before 1 April 2005 are made available in the best available format(s).
The technical platform underlying the European Publication Server is a web application that was designed with one main task in mind: to facilitate the publication of patent documents via the internet or an intranet. It is a web application and makes extensive use of well known Java based open source technologies which are complemented by specific Java software components that have been developed on behalf of the EPO by an external contractor. The European Publication Server additionally uses elements of the European Publication Application Programming Interface (API).
Access to the European Publication Server across the internet is free of charge at:
https://publications.european-patent-office.org
The European Publication Server is an up-to-date way of publishing the increasing number of European patent documents and - by offering the publications free of charge - is an important contribution to the "knowledge-based society" in Europe.
Improvements of the system in 2006 included the uploading of the complete back-file of European patent documents, the introduction of links to the Patentscope system of WIPO for non-republished Euro-PCT documents and the implementation of a web service access.
Next step should be the conversion of the backfile to ST.36 and the improvement of the infrastructure to prepare for the expected load increase.
3. ESPACE series
Thousands of patent information users around the world continue to enjoy the professional features offered by the ESPACE series. In combination with the MIMOSA User Software, the ESPACE products provide a wealth of complex search, display, archiving and document delivery functions that make the contents of the vast databases readily accessible and rapidly retrievable.
For providers of patent information ESPACE and MIMOSA are a simple, cost-effective way of making large numbers of documents available on a variety of possible platforms, including optical disks and across the internet, in a manner valued by professional users.
Production of the wide range of existing ESPACE series, not only by the EPO, continued during 2005. It was joined by a new product at beginning of the year, ESPACE ACCESS EPC. This new series is an important tool for all users of the European patent system, containing the bibliographic data and English language abstracts of patent publications of almost all EPC member states since 1990.
The following products are currently in production:
EPO series:
ESPACE EP, ESPACE FIRST, ESPACE ACCESS EP-A, ESPACE ACCESS EP-B, ESPACE BULLETIN, ESPACE LEGAL, ESPACE ACCESS EPC, ESPACE WORLD
National series member states:
ESPACE AT, ESPACE BNL, ESPACE CH, ESPACE DK, ESPACE ES, ESPACE Fl, ESPACE GR, ESPACE IE, ESPACE IT, ESPACE MC, ESPACE PT, ESPACE SI, ESPACE UK, ESPACE PRECES Access, ESPACE PRECES
National series non-member states:
ESPACE ASEANPAT, ESPACE ID, ESPACE MY, ESPACE PH, ESPACE TH, ESPACE OAPI, ESPACE DOPALES
and other series from Australia, Canada, Commonwealth of Independent States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Taiwan, Russia.
Commercial providers:
Patent Gazette of the German Patent and Trademark Office, US Patent Images and other series.
In 2006 the ESPACE series produced by the EPO were adapted to the use of the new IPC 8. Furthermore additional features were introduced in some of these series like:
-citations and new DTD version 1.1 in week 32/2006 ( ESPACE EP)
-Master classification database import in I. Qu. 2006 and increment in III. Qu. 2006, (ESPACE ACCESS)
-prototype with claims for old B documents extracted from DPMA data (ESPACE ACCESS B)
-change in disc structure to allow a full year archive production on a single disc for 2005: (ESPACE FIRST)
In 2007 the main EPO ESPACE Series have to be adapted to make them EPC2000 compliant (ESPACE EP, BULLETIN, ACCESS, ACCESS B).
ESPACE series are stand-alone products used primarily by external users around the world.
The EPO’s Mission Statement calls for it to remain a global leader in the provision of patent information. ESPACE products and the accompanying MIMOSA Software play a crucial role in this. They enable the Office to disseminate patent information products easily and cheaply to other patent offices, their libraries and to the general public.
Ongoing development of the MIMOSA Software ensures that ESPACE products around the world remain compatible, thereby supporting their use as documentation exchange media.
4. ESPACE collections online
With the release of MIMOSA User Software version 5 in the middle of 2005, and the transition to GTI v. 5 database structure in MIMOSA Authoring, it is now possible to publish ESPACE collections on line without any additional effort.
The EPO decided to put most of its own ESPACE products on line for a test period during 2006 to gauge user reaction. Existing subscribers can access these ESPACE collections with the same MIMOSA User Software by means of a secure, encrypted https: connection across the internet.
ESPACE ACCESS, ACCESS EP-B, BULLETIN and EP series were available on line during the test period.
The user registration and administration module, and the MIMOSA User Software need to be further improved before the test can be held under real production conditions. This is planned for beginning of 2007.
After completion and acceptance of these developments the EPO will be also put ESPACE ACCESS EPC on line, as it complements perfectly the other ACCESS series.
5. MIMOSA
The two components of MIMOSA provide a software package for content providers to author ESPACE series and the user software for accessing the ESPACE series. This ensures compatibility between products worldwide and supports their use in documentation exchange.
In addition to patent information products of the EPO, the MIMOSA software has been successfully used to create compatible intellectual property information products in the framework of EPO co-operation activities in member states (AT, CH, LI, BE, NL, LU, DK, ES, FI, GR, IE, IT, MC, PT, SI, UK, PL, RO, BG, HU) as well as by other patent offices, including Australia, the CIS, Canada, Cuba, Japan, Korea, Russia, Taiwan and the United States. The authoring software is also used by commercial data providers to prepare patent information products, e.g. Bundesdruckerei, MicroPatent.
MIMOSA Authoring Software
MIMOSA Authoring Software has become the de facto worldwide standard for the publication of patent information on optical media. In the course of 2005, it was brought up to date by modifying it to handle XML data (according to WIPO St. 36) and the new IPC 8 classification symbols introduced in January 2006.
At present there are two versions of MIMOSA Authoring Software in use:
•version 3.2
(based on GTI v. 3 database structure, running under HP and SUN UNIX)
•version 5
(based on GTI v. 5 database structure, running under MS Windows. UNIX and LINUX versions were added during 2006).
For the production of most national ESPACE series, the performance and capacity
of MIMOSA Authoring Software version 3.2 is still sufficient. It was adapted to handle IPC 8 classification symbols introduced in January 2006. However, it will not be modified to handle XML input; changing the publication format to XML therefore necessitates a move to MIMOSA Authoring Software version 5.
Workshops and training were organised with interested national patent offices and patent information centres to address issues relating to the use of MIMOSA authoring for the preparation of patent information services (RO, EAPO, RU, CL, GR, TW, HU, BY, KR, MX, CA, JP)
The EPO strives to base further developments of MIMOSA software on standard programming concepts like JAVA as far as possible and to increase modularisation which would facilitate the re-use of modules. Many production steps were combined under the "JTASK" graphical user interface and can now be configured just by checking boxes or editing the default settings. Also new modules to manually correct wrong or missing bibliographic data elements or to automatically enrich bibliographic data by downloading data through the OPS interface of ep@cenet.
One of the first benefits has been in the use of GTI v. 5 in the EPTOS (EPOLOC), which allows use of MIMOSA or JViewer as interfaces to access big databases on a mainframe or ESPACE databases on optical discs, hard discs or across the internet/Intranet. This means that a single data preparation process can serve as the data resource for different distribution channels, such as ESPACE online products and a publication server.
MIMOSA User Software
The MIMOSA User Software is distributed free of charge with ESPACE products, on the ESPACE demo disc and via the MIMOSA website.
The latest version – labelled version 5 – was made available in mid-2005.
It contains a number of enhancements over the previous versions, including the ability to display, print and export XML data according to WIPO St. 36 and to access to GTI V5 databases across the internet / intranet. It has also been modified to handle IPC 8. Other improvements enable the MIMOSA User Software to offer completely transparent database consultation on a range of media, as well as even bigger databases.
Together with the ESPACE products, MIMOSA offers essential searching, archiving and document delivery tools. It permits full-text searching in a local environment through a single multi-lingual interface with a very complete range of features, as well as access to databases in an Intranet / LAN or internet environment.
6. MIMOSA website
The MIMOSA Website was developed to support the users of MIMOSA Authoring Software around the world (the Office is aware of users in Europe, Australia, the USA, Canada, Russia and Korea, among others).
Registered developers can download the latest version of the MIMOSA Authoring Software from the site. It also gives them a very practical way to upload configuration files for new ESPACE series they have created. They then obtain verification from the EPO’s contractor, which in turn makes them available for distribution to all MIMOSA users with future official releases of the MIMOSA User Software.
The MIMOSA User Software can also be downloaded from the website, together with the latest updates, including configuration files for new ESPACE products and software patches. A forum gives an opportunity for direct exchange of information between users. It is regularly checked by EPO experts and the EPO’s contractor to ensure that difficult questions raised by users get answered.
Update procedures, content management and the layout have been aligned to procedures being implemented for the EPO website in order to facilitate the transfer of the MIMOSA website to an EPO server. Advantages of the home-page are also to be found in the product registration offered, which enables the EPO to ensure proper version control and maintain a full product inventory.
Table1.docTable2.docTable3.doc
III. Matters concerning abstracting, classifying, reclassifying and indexing of technical information contained in patent documents
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