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bigquery-patent-search

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Fast, cloud-based patent searching across 100 million+ worldwide patents using Google BigQuery - keyword search, CPC classification, patent details retrieval

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Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/RobThePCGuy/Claude-Patent-Creator/blob/HEAD/skills/bigquery-patent-search/SKILL.md

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BigQuery Patent Search Skill

Fast, cloud-based patent searching across 100 million+ worldwide patents using Google BigQuery.

When to Use

Invoke this skill when users ask to:

  • Search for prior art patents
  • Find patents in a specific technology area
  • Search by CPC classification code
  • Look up patent details by publication number
  • Conduct freedom-to-operate searches
  • Research patent landscapes

What This Skill Does

Provides access to Google's public patent dataset:

  1. Keyword Search across 100M+ patents:

    • Full-text search of titles, abstracts, claims
    • Filter by country (US, EP, JP, CN, etc.)
    • Filter by filing/grant date ranges
    • Fast cloud-based queries (< 5 seconds)

  2. CPC Classification Search:

    • Search by CPC code (e.g., "G06F16/", "H04L29/06")
    • Browse patent classifications
    • Find patents in specific technical domains

  3. Patent Details Retrieval:

    • Get full patent text by publication number
    • Access title, abstract, claims, description
    • View CPC codes, inventors, assignees
    • See filing and grant dates

Required Setup

This skill requires Google Cloud authentication:

Prerequisites:

  1. Google Cloud Project (free to create)
  2. BigQuery API enabled (free for reasonable usage)
  3. Application Default Credentials configured

Setup Commands:

# Install Google Cloud SDK (if not installed)
# Visit: https://cloud.google.com/sdk/docs/install

# Authenticate
gcloud auth application-default login

# Set project (get ID from console.cloud.google.com)
export GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=your-project-id

Environment Variable: Set in .env file: GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT=your-project-id

How to Use

When this skill is invoked:

  1. Initialize BigQuery searcher:

    import sys
sys.path.insert(0, os.path.join(os.environ.get('CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT', '.'), 'python'))
from python.bigquery_search import BigQueryPatentSearch

searcher = BigQueryPatentSearch()

  2. Search by keywords:

    results = searcher.search_patents(
    query="blockchain authentication",
    limit=20,
    country="US",  # Optional: filter by country
    start_year=2020,  # Optional: filter by year
    end_year=2024
)

  3. Search by CPC code:

    results = searcher.search_by_cpc(
    cpc_code="G06F16/",  # CPC prefix
    limit=20,
    country="US"
)

  4. Get patent details:

    patent = searcher.get_patent(
    patent_number="US10123456B2"  # Publication number
)

BigQuery Dataset

Uses patents-public-data.patents on Google BigQuery:

  • 100M+ worldwide patents
  • 12M+ US patents with full text
  • Updated weekly
  • Free to query (no billing for reasonable usage)

Search Result Format

Each result includes:

{
    "publication_number": "US10123456B2",
    "title": "Method and system for...",
    "abstract": "A system for...",
    "filing_date": "2019-01-15",
    "grant_date": "2020-06-30",
    "country": "US",
    "cpc_codes": ["G06F16/245", "H04L29/06"],
    "inventors": ["John Doe", "Jane Smith"],
    "assignee": "Example Corp"
}

Full patent details also include:

  • claims: Full text of all claims
  • description: Complete description section
  • priority_date: Earliest priority date
  • family_id: Patent family ID

Presentation Format

Present search results as:

PATENT SEARCH RESULTS
====================

Query: "blockchain authentication"
Found: 247 patents (showing top 20)
Date Range: 2020-2024
Country: US

[1] US10123456B2 - System for blockchain-based authentication
    Assignee: Example Corp
    Filed: 2019-01-15 | Granted: 2020-06-30
    CPC: G06F16/245, H04L29/06

    Abstract: A system for authenticating users using blockchain
    technology with distributed ledger verification...

[2] US10234567B1 - Method of secure authentication using blockchain
    ...

---

Top 5 Most Relevant:
1. US10123456B2 (95% relevance)
2. US10234567B1 (92% relevance)
...

Advanced Search Techniques

  1. Boolean Operators in queries:

    • "blockchain AND authentication"
    • "encryption OR cryptography"
    • "(mobile OR wireless) AND security"

  2. Phrase Search:

    • "distributed ledger technology"
    • "public key infrastructure"

  3. CPC Code Hierarchies:

    • "G06F" = Computing
    • "G06F16/" = Information retrieval
    • "G06F16/245" = Structured query language

Common CPC Codes

  • G06F: Computing, calculating, counting
  • H04L: Digital communication
  • G06Q: Business methods
  • H04W: Wireless communication
  • G06N: Computer systems based on specific models
  • G06T: Image processing

Error Handling

If BigQuery is not configured:

  1. Check if google-cloud-bigquery is installed
  2. Verify authentication: gcloud auth application-default login
  3. Confirm project ID in environment: GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT
  4. Test with: python scripts/test_bigquery.py

Cost Considerations

BigQuery pricing:

  • First 1 TiB/month: FREE
  • After 1 TiB: $6.25 per TiB queried (on-demand)
  • Typical query: 10-50 MB per search
  • Bytes-billed ceiling: enforced per-query via PATENT_BIGQUERY_MAX_BYTES_BILLED (default 350 GiB)

Tools Available

  • Bash: To run Python BigQuery searches
  • Read: To load saved search results
  • Write: To save patent search results
  • Grep: To search through saved results