Correct me if I am wrong, Stephen, but I think that in any case Louise would
actually be able to have a look at the "preceding" abstract herself (without
referring to the printed version) by searching with the CAS accession number
of the patent she found minus one. So for example if her patent has the
accession number 97:34423, she could retrieve the patent with the accession
number 97:34422. That should give her at least an idea what this preceding
patent was about (even though she still could not see the drawing).
Regards,
Georg Richter
Patent Analyst
Current Patents Ltd
georg@cursci.co.uk
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Adams [mailto:stevea@magister.co.uk]
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2000 10:28 AM
To: intprop@earthlink.net
Cc: piug-l@derwent.tecc.co.uk
Subject: Re: STN
Louise Franco wrote:
> This is my first time using STN. I called the helpdesk to inquire about
> the "cf. preceding abstr."
The statement "cf. preceding abstract" was used in printed CAS (and hence
carried over into the online file) for a variety of purposes. The most
common one which I came across was when two patents issued from the same
company with very close or successive publication numbers and were on very
similar subjects. The CAS abstracts corresponding to these two documents
were then placed next to one another in the printed books, and the "cf.
preceding abstract" at the beginning of the second document's abstract was
used to highlight to the user that another potentially useful document could
be found just above (or on the preceding page). Abstracts in those days
could be several columns long, so the header information for neighbouring
abstracts was not always quickly visible.
> I'm assuming this means there is another abstract involved regarding this
> Japanese patent, and I would liike to
> obtain it.
The abstract which you have seen does belong to JP 42-011753 - anything from
the other abstract would only be related material.
> The lady who helped me said this simply meant a graphic was attached. She
> told me in this particular case, because the Japanese patent was issued in
> 1967, the graphic would not be online and she directed me to the document
> delivery service.
I'm puzzled by this explanation. It's possible (though I don't think very
likely) that the same figure was used in two successive abstracts, again
because the abstracts are from closely related documents. I would only find
this a convincing explanation if the phrase was buried in the abstract text,
such as "Compounds of type (I) [cf. preceding abstract] where R=Me..."
Your advisor is quite correct that in any event, there are no online
drawings (STN field GI) for abstracts this old, so if you want a drawing for
JP 42-011753 you will have to get the document.
-- Stephen Adams Magister Ltd. Crown House, 231 Kings Road, Reading, RG1 4LS, GB Tel: +44 (0)118 929 9515 Fax: +44 (0)118 929 9516 e-mail: stevea@magister.co.ukRegistered in England and Wales. Company No. 3407685 Registered address : Canada House, 272 Field End Road, Eastcote, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 9NA.
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