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Espacenet application and priority numbers to DOCDB format

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 11:25 am
by ilan
I am trying to figure out how to change the Espacenet search results application numbers to a DOCDB application references, so I could use them with OPS. Is there any universal, reliable way to do that?

For example, publication EP2603737 gives EP20110760755 as application number on Espacenet, but I can't use that as such on OPS. If I use the publication number in OPS, it works, and I see that the DOCDB application reference is EP.11760755, which seems to be the same number, but centuries and leading zero after years removed.. But I have not really found any definite statement that I could use to make a universal script to do that.

Re: Espacenet application and priority numbers to DOCDB form

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 12:40 pm
by EPO / OPS Support
Hi,

My first question would be why you want to use Docd number if OPS also allows search in Epodoc format (format that you find in Espacenet)?
It is true that it can depends of the database/service you are using; sometimes docdb format can be better than epodoc format, but almost every database allows search in both.

But if you still want to have Docdb format, you can use two tables that we offer on our website:

Number format concordance - application number and Number format concordance - publication numbers:
https://www.epo.org/searching-for-paten ... gular.html

Or you can make use of Number service in OPS: http://ops.epo.org/3.1/rest-services/number-service
This service is also described in our OPS documentation.

But there is no universal way unfortunately, because if the transformation would be that simple we would not need two different number formats in our databases.

And transformation of publication numbers into application is anyway impossible because different offices use different ways of numbering every publication step.

I hope this helps,

OPS support

Re: Espacenet application and priority numbers to DOCDB form

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:20 pm
by ilan
OPS support wrote:Hi,

My first question would be why you want to use Docd number if OPS also allows search in Epodoc format (format that you find in Espacenet)?
It is true that it can depends of the database/service you are using; sometimes docdb format can be better than epodoc format, but almost every database allows search in both.
Because I tried, and it didn't work. Default Family search just says Entity Not Found. Of course, now I found a mention in the FAQ that Family search doesn't support EPODOC application/priority numbers. ( Why doesn't the documentation PDF mention that..)
OPS support wrote: Or you can make use of Number service in OPS: http://ops.epo.org/3.1/rest-services/number-service
This service is also described in our OPS documentation.
Except number service doesn't support EPODOC -> DOCDB.

So should I use published-data services to get a number I can use on family service? Seems kinda cumbersome. But thanks, at least I can make it work now.

Re: Espacenet application and priority numbers to DOCDB form

Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 1:49 pm
by EPO / OPS Support
Hi,

This is not mentioned in OPS technical documentation because its not technical feature of OPS. Epodoc and Docdb number formats are basic formats used by the EPO and apply for many other other services and databases as well and that is a reason why this information was not mentioned in the PDF.

Many of our services require combination of different search queries and several steps, that is something we can not avoid because OPS is not a functional database with business rules as Espacenet is. OPS is a way to retrieve raw data from specific databases that are not connected.

This is the reason why Family service (which is Inpadoc patent family, so extended family and not simple patent family, for those users who read this) can not support application numbers in Epodoc. Epodoc/Epoque is a database with patent publications bibliographic information and Family service is a business rule that on-a-fly combined all available patent publications in the database and it has Docdb as a basis for building a family.

As far as Number services, you are correct, although theoretically, our API Console offers conversions from Epodoc into Docdb, the system does not support it. Still, Number service is very useful to figure out how we convert numbers from different offices into Docdb or in Epodoc format.

Regards,
OPS support



I hope thsi makes it clearer.