Easier patent searches
Technological industries and patent searches go together like bread and butter. While numerous search systems exist, some free and others not, all rely on the same centralised index architecture. The architecture has certain performance limitations. The EU-funded PERFEDPAT (Pluggable platform for personalised multilingual patent search) project aimed to develop an improvement. The proposal involved devising a new framework, called a federated search, for integrating multiple online data sources. Other goals included creating new search tools and user interfaces. For users, the benefit is simplicity. The three-year undertaking concluded in late 2014. Work began with interviews with patent search experts to define the system's components. The prototype was also reviewed and evaluated by experts. Initial evaluations indicated a high degree of acceptance and usability. Second-year work integrated additional components and search tools. The project successfully demonstrated both the feasibility and user acceptance of its proposed patent search system. Such outcomes may benefit the patent search industry and other technologically reliant sectors.
Keywords
Search framework, pluggable platform, patent search, federated search
