A new generation of patent and scientific information
search tools
The Semantic Web
The semantic Web will make searching much easier. Today, good
searches still involve Boolean operators and classification schemes. In a near
future, it is likely that natural language searching will make it easier for
laymen to retrieve relevant information or even allow automated searching. The
machine will understand patent claims and be able to translate these claims
into successful search operations. This new generation of tools is often
referred to as Web 3.0, in which complex human search requests will be easily
conducted using new types of search engines. Today, some initial attempts are
made both in the patent and academic fields. The examples presented below show
that the quest for new tools has started and is very promising.
Some examples to follow-up
IP
Century tool provides automatic results for prior art,
invalidity, freedom to operate searches. The results are not yet up to what
humans can achieve. However, one cannot exclude that in a near future better
results will be possible with new search technologies and more powerful
computers.
It is in the academic field that most of those new engines can be
found. Medline data are used in both following examples.
GoPubMed developed by the University of
Dresden is an Ontology-based Literature search tool for biomedical research
articles. The search is submitted to PubMed and the resulting abstracts are
classified using Gene Ontology and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH). Additional
graphic tools offer all possible statistical information display.
MEDIE developed by a Japanese University
is an intelligent search engine built to retrieve biomedical correlations from
MEDLINE. You can find abstracts/sentences in MEDLINE by specifying semantics of
correlations, for example, "What activates p53" and "What causes colon cancer".
This is one of the most impressive semantic scientific search tools.
These 3 tools represent only a small section of the efforts made to
develop easier to use search tools. Killing search applications may appear
sooner than expected.
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