Patents

hennbo
I see that there is a translator for freepatentsonline, but that does not work. I see no icon or anything. I NEED this, as >50% of my references and need for citations are patents. I see from other discussions, that collecting patent citations is elusive across the board.

Thank you!
  • adamsmith
    works for me - please post a sample URL (please always provide as much relevant information as possible when describing problems, i.e. also Zotero version, FF version and in many cases also OS, though I doubt that's an issue here)
  • aarondoylewilson
    edited July 27, 2009
    Take patent for example 4509539. It can be found in four places.

    http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=11&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=4509539&OS=4509539&RS=4509539

    http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=5fMvAAAAEBAJ

    http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4509539.html

    http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/4509539.html

    Zotero seems to cite uspto.gov fine but folks use the other sites for various reasons. Right now zotero doesn't seem to pull citation metadata from patentstorm or freepatentsonline, I don't use these URLs but I know some folks do. I do use google patents though. Currently Zotero has a problem with google patents for which there is a fix:

    http://forums.zotero.org/discussion/4740/site-translator-for-espacenet-not-working/#Item_4

    But the fix doesn't seem to be perfect. Beyond fixing how google grabs metadata from google patents it would be nice if Zotero also snagged the PDF.

    Currently when I search for patents on google patents where I download the PDF directly to Zotero unless google thinks I'm a "computer" at which point I have to key in a word to download the PDF to a folder and import the PDF into Zotero. Once I have the PDF I go to the uspto.gov to grab the citation metadata.

    I'm working on Firefox 3.0.12 with Zotero 2.0b6.3 on a WIindowsXP and Firefox 3.5 something with Zotero 2.0b6.3 on another Windows something machine.

    As always thanks for a great product and let me know if you need any more information.

    Aaron
  • adamsmith
    So to clarify - if you go to the freepatents link you give above -
    you do not see any Zotero related icon in the URL bar?
    It's a white page for me an it imports - thought it seems to me it may not import all relevant information, but that I can't tell.
  • aarondoylewilson
    I'm now on the machine running Firefox 3.5.1 and the Zotero icon is there for freepatents. I'm 90% sure it wasn't there when I was using Firefox 3.0.12 (I'll check tonight). When I acquire the metadata it only retrieves the title and application number. More metadata comes from the USPTO metadata retrieval although the USPTO (title, inventor, abstract, patent number, issue date) the USPTO leaves out the application number amusingly enough. I hope that helps and I'll get back to you on whether the icon shows on Firefox 3.0.12.
  • adamsmith
    OK - let us know.
    It looks like the freepatents translator could be improved easily. It is supposed to import the inventor, though.
    That works here: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0035109.html
    But no other data, although it looks like it's quite systematically displayed.
  • aarondoylewilson
    Sorry for the slow reply but it appears I was 90% wrong. Freepatents work on my Firefox 3.0.12 machine as well. My connection at home is slower and the icon is one of the last thing to pop up when loading a page combined with the fact that I didn't expect it to show lead me to I miss the Zotero icon on my first inspection. Sorry Hennbo the basic function is there for me although it looks like it be possible to improve how the metadata is imported. Thanks for Zotero again. As a scientist I'm incredibly jealous that historian showed us on such a fundamental technology.
  • hennbo
    I am currently looking at US Patent 6248823.
    The url is: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/6248823.html

    I have no means to capture any data automatically that I can tell. There is no icon appearing ever, and in this case not after 5 minutes and several refresh to see if that assisted.
    I am using Firefox 3.5.2 with Zotero 2.0b6.3 with OS of WIindows XP.

    My only means of doing anything automatic is to capture via webpage route obtaining the title with patent number, convert to "patent" document, and fill in desired fields manually by cut and paste ot typing. And then line via file to the pdf i download.

    Your help here is most desired. This site with its free access, rang of patents available, nice layout of information and ability to save searches and personal portfolios makes it my patent site of choice. If only I can capture the citation information automatically, at least a portion of life would be easier.

    Thanks Zotero for a great product! I wished I had run across it earlier.
  • adamsmith
    I actually do get an icon, but it produces an error. The relevant part seems to be:

    [JavaScript Error: "TypeError: pageContent.iterateNext() is null" {file: "file:///home/sebastian/.mozilla/firefox/wkxw8okh.default/zotero/translators/FreePatentsOnline.js" line: 0}]

    error ID: 853955209
  • hennbo
    Thank you for responding.
    Why do you think you see an icon and I do not?
    And how it the JavaScript Error relevant for me at this stage? What do I do about it?

    Thanks for you support.
  • Bionatsci
    And how it the JavaScript Error relevant for me at this stage?
    It isn't directly relevant to you, what Adam meant was that it is relevant to the developers, or to any community members who would like to have a go at fixing this.
  • adamsmith
    edited September 7, 2009
    @hennbo -
    what Bionatsci said.

    One reason I may see an item and you don't coud be that you're running an outdated Zotero version - we're at 2.0b6.5 - you should upgrade!
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