search-patents-ip

Build and validate expert patent-search branches for Stage 1/4 of a patent-landscape program. Use when starting create-patent-landscape-overview-ip or when a user needs a reusable, field-scoped, anchored, classification-assisted, de-noised patent search configuration with precision/recall validation, a traceable family-aware candidate pool, a lightweight core-recall set, and a preliminary taxonomy export for later human review.

Search Patents for a Landscape

Role in the suite

Act as Stage 1/4 of create-patent-landscape-overview-ip. Translate the confirmed decision question into auditable search branches, validate their boundary, and hand traceable artifacts to analyze-patent-search-results-ip.

This stage owns search quality. It does not produce landscape statistics, competitor profiles, patent-value conclusions, a final taxonomy, or the final report.

Read references/query-and-taxonomy-methodology.md completely before constructing queries or exporting the preliminary taxonomy.

Verified MCP services

Advanced Patent Search — required

• Connector key: advanced_patent_search
• Marketplace: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-search
• Official marketplace page: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-search
• Use for live-schema fielded searching, result counts, filters, and reproducible retrieval where the active contract supports them.

Patent Briefing — recommended

• Connector key: patent_briefing
• Marketplace: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-briefing
• Official marketplace page: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-briefing
• Use for seed, near-miss, and representative-record claims, descriptions, family, status, translations, and images where supported.

Deep Patent Mining — optional

• Connector key: deep_patent_mining
• Marketplace: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-mining
• Official marketplace page: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/patent-mining
• Use for controlled concept expansion when the retrieved evidence supports it.

Global Core Patent Database — optional

• Connector key: global_core_patent_database
• Marketplace: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/core-patents
• Official marketplace page: https://open.patsnap.com/marketplace/mcp-servers/core-patents
• Use for deeper seed/family/citation evidence where exposed.

Inspect the live schema before use. Do not assume source product fields, proximity operators, rankings, or endpoint aliases exist globally.

Step 0 — Initialize and confirm scope

Capture:

• decision objective and audience;
• technology/domain boundary;
• products, applications, problems, means, effects, inclusions, and exclusions;
• known relevant and irrelevant records;
• organizations, languages, transliterations, and terminology;
• jurisdictions and geographic meaning;
• exact date range and date basis;
• publication/application/family unit and family definition;
• population completeness requirement;
• validation acceptance criteria;
• confidentiality boundary; and
• connector/schema/version and data cutoff.

Do not copy fixed CN/US/EP, 2020–2026, competitor-versus-industry, or counting defaults. Choose each setting from the decision and record the rationale.

Write run_config.json as a source-authorized reproducibility companion. Store the same authoritative scope/provenance in search_config.json; downstream Stage 2 must not depend on run_config.json alone.

Step 1 — Construct expert search branches

Apply Parts A and D of the methodology reference.

1. Layer concepts

Separate:

• strong distinctive terms;
• weak/context-dependent terms;
• short/polysemous terms;
• structures/materials/processes/functions/effects;
• product/application terms;
• language variants and transliterations; and
• noise indicators.

2. Assign verified fields and proximity

Map each concept to fields/operators available in the live advanced_patent_search schema. Record source-intent-to-live-schema mappings. If the necessary field or proximity operator is unavailable, redesign the branch and disclose the precision/recall trade-off.

3. Build the constant anchor

Create one versioned topic anchor reused in every branch. Test the anchor independently and keep it stable through branch comparison.

4. Derive classification paths

Use confirmed seed patents and official IPC/CPC definitions. Record codes, hierarchy, definitions, seed evidence, and query role. Never fabricate or guess a code.

5. Build staged exclusions

For each NOT rule record false-positive evidence, reason, scope, before/after count, known-positive impact, and near-miss result. Prefer narrow exclusions.

6. Complete the four-part skeleton

For every branch record strong terms, weak terms plus classification, self-sufficient classification path, constant anchor, exclusions, filters, exact request, and version.

7. Validate

Use reproducible samples, known-positive controls, near misses, and alternative recall paths. Report precision, uncertainty, recall evidence, and unresolved blind spots. Do not release merely because a universal 80% target or three iterations were reached.

Step 2 — Write search_config.json

Include:

• project/scope/version identifiers;
• objective, jurisdictions, languages, dates, date basis, unit, and family method;
• live connector/operation/schema provenance;
• concept dictionary and translations;
• constant anchor and version;
• branch definitions and A6 paths;
• classification evidence;
• exclusions and impact;
• exact queries/requests;
• counts, caps, and completeness state;
• validation sample method/results;
• known positives, near misses, and blind spots;
• accepted/provisional/rejected branch status; and
• generated artifact inventory.

Validate JSON and write atomically when possible. Do not write a partial report_manifest.json; Stage 4 owns that filename.

Step 3 — Export candidate_pool.csv

Deduplicate under the declared family method when the downstream analysis is family-level. Preserve sufficient traceability. Recommended columns:

text

record_id,publication_number,application_number,family_id,representative_publication,
branch_rule_hits,query_version,retrieved_at,screening_state,source_connector

Use only fields actually returned and verified; retain nulls where unavailable. Do not reduce the pool to publication_number,branch_rule_hits when that prevents family, version, or source reconciliation.

Rules:

• distinguish publication-level rows from family representatives;
• preserve all valid branch hits for multi-label search logic;
• escape CSV safely and neutralize formula-leading values for spreadsheet use;
• reconcile row/family counts with the search configuration;
• mark capped/partial retrieval; and
• never call Top-K or sampled records the complete candidate population.

Step 4 — Export core_recall.csv

Build a lightweight recall set for downstream review. Consider citation, family breadth, technical relevance, organization diversity, date coverage, and other available signals, but do not combine them into patent value.

Recommended columns:

text

branch_id,record_id,family_id,publication_number,recall_source,raw_rank,
signal_definition,signal_as_of,verification_state,query_version

The source suggests cited/family Top 10 per branch. Treat that as a planning option, not a quota. Select enough records to inspect the branch and preserve sparse branches honestly. State whether rankings are server-returned, locally calculated, or proxies.

Step 5 — Export tech_taxonomy.txt

Create the source-authorized preliminary hierarchy after candidate-pool validation. Follow Part C exactly.

• Use one >L1\L2\L3 or justified >L1\L2 path per line.
• Use only hierarchy content—no header, numbering, comments, or blank grouping lines.
• Validate UTF-8 encoding, delimiter safety, uniqueness, and parent/child logic.
• Label the artifact in search_config.json as preliminary_search_taxonomy.
• State that Stage 3 and human review own validation and revision.
• Describe it as ready for schema review/import into an approved tagging tool, not a specific regional SaaS product.

Output contract

Core downstream artifacts

File	Consumer	Content
search_config.json	Stage 2 and later	Authoritative scope, queries, provenance, validation, counts, and artifact metadata
candidate_pool.csv	Stage 2 and later	Traceable deduplicated candidate records and branch hits
core_recall.csv	Stage 2	Lightweight branch recall candidates and signal provenance

Source-authorized companion artifacts

File	Role
run_config.json	Human-readable/reproducible initialization companion; not a substitute for search_config.json
tech_taxonomy.txt	Preliminary hierarchy for Stage 3/human review; not validated tags

Do not produce Stage 2 statistics or Stage 4 report files.

Handoff to Stage 2

Before handoff:

1. validate all five runtime artifacts;
2. reconcile scope/version/counts/checksums where recorded;
3. identify accepted and provisional branches;
4. identify capped retrieval and unresolved blind spots;
5. distinguish preliminary taxonomy from validated tagging;
6. list connector/schema provenance; and
7. preserve rollback paths.

Return:

text

Stage 1 complete: [accepted/provisional branch counts], [candidate row/family counts],
[core recall count], query version [id].
Core handoff: search_config.json, candidate_pool.csv, core_recall.csv.
Companions: run_config.json, tech_taxonomy.txt (preliminary).
Unresolved: [summary].

Then route to analyze-patent-search-results-ip.

Quality gate

• Objective, scope, date, language, jurisdiction, unit, and family method are explicit.
• Every branch uses a stable anchor and auditable four-part skeleton.
• Every field/operator exists in the active schema or has a disclosed fallback.
• IPC/CPC codes have official-definition and seed evidence.
• Every exclusion has evidence, rationale, impact, and recall check.
• Precision samples are reproducible and uncertainty is stated.
• Known positives and near misses test recall boundaries.
• Counts identify complete, capped, sampled, and deduplicated states.
• Candidate rows preserve stable identifiers, query version, and source.
• Core recall ranks/signals are defined and dated.
• Preliminary taxonomy is syntactically valid and not misrepresented as validated.
• No fixed regional/date/mode default or quota drives the result.
• No Stage 1 partial report manifest is created.

Stop conditions

Stop or narrow when:

• the business/technology boundary is not confirmed;
• the required global search connector or field/operator is unavailable;
• seed classifications cannot be verified;
• precision remains unacceptable or recall controls reveal material gaps;
• retrieval caps prevent the required candidate-population claim;
• family identifiers cannot support requested deduplication;
• confidential terms cannot be processed safely;
• an artifact cannot be validated or reconciled; or
• producing a clean-looking output would require invented records, codes, counts, or taxonomy paths.

Return completed branches, failed criteria, residual risk, and exact next step. Do not silently pass a provisional branch to Stage 2.