A patent is a set of exclusive rights which has been granted by a sovereign state (or sometimes as intergovernmental organization). Such rights are granted to an inventor, for a limited duration, in exchange for a detailed public disclosure of such invention. Patents typically exclude others from making or offering for sale those inventions.
This video provides assistance regarding taking a subject and locating relevant inventions and patents. This video also provides information regarding how to locate the full-text of a patent document.
Patents are generally granted from specific countries. Patent numbers often have prefixes that indicate which country granted the patent. For example, the patent US5577561A was generated from within the United States. Follow this link for a list of country codes That said, you may also encounter patents that have been generated from the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) which is an organization created by the United Nations in 1967.
Although the Roesch Library does not collect hard-copy patents they do subscribe to various electronic patent resources. Below is a list of resources which will assist you in locating patents.
Finding Patents Online
Google Patent Search - Not entirely comprehensive but Google does provide many full-texts of patents. IT is also very easy to use.
Derwent Innovations Index (Web of Science) - Provides access to over 15,000,000 patents with links to cited and citing patents, cited articles, and (some) full-text patent data sources. Divided by Chemical, Electrical and Electronic, and Engineering. Derwent is a Web of Science product. When using Derwent, make sure that "Select Database" is set to Derwent Innovations Index (see video above for example).
United States Patent and Trademark Organization (USPTO) - Includes full text of U.S. patents and patent application information.
European Patent Office Espacenet Patent Search - Provides full-text access of published European patents.
World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) - Searches over 69 million international and national patent documents. Includes more than two million published international patent applications (PCT). WIPO is affiliated with the United Nations.
LexisNexis Academic - Provides comprehensive U.S. patent data. You can limit the search results on the left side of the screen to display only patents.
SciFinder - Provides only abstracts and info for patents. Not full text. That said SciFInder has indexed 10 million searchable, full-text patents from 31 major patent offices across the globe. You will need to register upon your first time using.
Wright State University Patent and Trademark Center - WSU has a formal agreement to provide assistance to the general public in the use of patent and trademark resources provided by the USPTO.
Technical standards are agreed upon protocols that establish interchangeability between products. Standards can come from national and international organizations. In short, standards are the reason that we have compatibility of products across manufactures. There are a variety of both national and international standards organizations. Such agencies include (but are not limited to): The International Standard Organization (ISO), American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Acoustical Society of America (ASA), American Section of the International Association for Testing Materials (ASTM), and National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
The Roesch Library has a limited amount of hard copy standards. The collection includes American Welding Society and ASTM standards. You can search the library catalog and limit your search results to display only standards.
SAI Global - SAI Global is a very useful tool for locating information pertaining to standards. It can be used to do broad subject searches or to find a particular standard number or standards regarding a specific subject. Although SAI Global is a great starting point, it does not provide full text access to standards. For this, you will have to search the other standards resources available at the University of Dayton.
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore - Comprehensive index of standards. Searches can be limited to display only standards.
American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Standards - Provides technical guidelines for promoting safety, reliability, productivity, and efficiency across all areas of civil engineering.
ASTM Standards - Provides full-text of standards regarding a broad range of disciplines.
Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA)Standards - Contains links to all current OSHA standards and information on the rule making process used to develop workplace health and safety standards.
Purchasing Standards
If you are looking for other standards, you may be able to purchase them either from a vendor or the standards issuing agency. Unfortunately, standards can be extremely expensive depending upon the issuing organization. One recommended standards vendor is IHS. You can also ask for assistance from the Roesch Library staff.
Accurately citing resources is essential for the success of any engineer. Although there are many different citations styles, the standard citation method for engineers is the Institute of Electrical and Electronic's (IEEE) citation style. You can find the IEEE style manual here.
IEEE referencing - The Basics from Victoria University Library on Vimeo.
View full written transcript of this video via Victoria Universitysity
IEEE Citation Info
Generally speaking, IEEE in-text citations do not include the name of the author, date, or pages utilized. Instead, IEEE in-text citations uses numbers within brackets which will then correspond to a full citation listing within your reference section. For example, [1] will correspond to the first citation in your reference section.
Examples of IEEE in-text citations:
"...end of the line for my research [13]."
"This theory was first postulated in 2015 [1]."
"Hause [2] has argued that..."
"Multiple studies [3], [4], [5], [12] have suggested that...."
"Research has shown [3], [6], [8] - [12]"
A reference section will appear at the end of your research paper and will provide the full citations for all the in-text references (e.g. bracketed numbers) that you have used within you paper. When creating a reference section, list the references numerically in the order they've been cited within your research paper. Make sure to include the bracketed number at the beginning of each reference.
Here are some tips when creating IEEE reference section:
Title your list as References either centered or aligned left at the top of the page.
Single-space entries and double-space between different references.
Place reference number [1] on the left margin (enclosed in brackets).
The author's name is listed as first initial than last name. Example: J. Smith
The title of the article will be listed in quotation marks.
The title of a journal or book will be listed in italics.
The below examples are from the IEEE Citation Reference Guide and Murdoch University's IEEE Style LibGuide.
Examples of citations for different materials:
Taken from the University of Pittsburgh Library Course & Subject Guide, the Murdoch University IEEE Style Guide, and the IEEE Editorial Style Manual
|
Material Type |
Works Cited |
|
Book in print |
[1] B. Klaus and P. Horn, Robot Vision. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1986. |
|
Chapter in book |
[2] L. Stein, “Random patterns,” in Computers and You, J. S. Brake, Ed. New York: Wiley, 1994, pp. 55-70. |
|
eBook |
[3] L. Bass, P. Clements, and R. Kazman, Software Architecture in Practice, 2nd ed. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley, 2003. [E-book] Available: Safari e-book. |
|
Journal article |
[4] J. U. Duncombe, "Infrared navigation - Part I: An assessment of feasability," IEEE Trans. Electron. Devices, vol. ED-11, pp. 34-39, Jan. 1959. |
|
eJournal (from database) |
[5] H. K. Edwards and V. Sridhar, "Analysis of software requirements engineering exercises in a global virtual team setup," Journal of Global Information Management, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 21+, April-June 2005. [Online]. Available: Academic OneFile, http://find.galegroup.com. [Accessed May 31, 2005]. |
|
eJournal (from internet) |
[6] A. Altun, "Understanding hypertext in the context of reading on the web: Language learners' experience," Current Issues in Education, vol. 6, no. 12, July 2003. [Online]. Available: http://cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number12/. [Accessed Dec. 2, 2004]. |
|
Conference paper |
[7] L. Liu and H. Miao, "A specification based approach to testing polymorphic attributes," in Formal Methods and Software Engineering: Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2004, Seattle, WA, USA, November 8-12, 2004, J. Davies, W. Schulte, M. Barnett, Eds. Berlin: Springer, 2004. pp. 306-19. |
|
Conference proceedings |
[8] T. J. van Weert and R. K. Munro, Eds., Informatics and the Digital Society: Social, ethical and cognitive issues: IFIP TC3/WG3.1&3.2 Open Conference on Social, Ethical and Cognitive Issues of Informatics and ICT, July 22-26, 2002, Dortmund, Germany. Boston: Kluwer Academic, 2003. |
|
Newspaper article (from database) |
[9] J. Riley, "Call for new look at skilled migrants," The Australian, p. 35, May 31, 2005. [Online]. Available: Factiva, http://global.factiva.com. [Accessed May 31, 2005]. |
|
Technical report |
[10] J. H. Davis and J. R. Cogdell, “Calibration program for the 16-foot antenna,” Elect. Eng. Res. Lab., Univ. Texas, |
|
Patent |
[11] J. P. Wilkinson, “Nonlinear resonant circuit devices,” U.S. Patent 3 624 125, July 16, 1990. |
|
Standard |
[12] IEEE Criteria for Class IE Electric Systems, IEEE Standard 308, 1969. |
|
Thesis/Dissertation |
[1] J. O. Williams, “Narrow-band analyzer,” Ph.D. dissertation, Dept. Elect. Eng., Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA, 1993. |
| Website | There are various ways to cite a website depending upon the structure and authorship of the materials. Here's a nice quick reference guide from Monash University. |
IEEE Style and Documentation Quick-start Guide
University of Pittsburgh Libraries IEEE Style Guide
