Presentations

Schedule of Events

Abstract

Data editing and file output under the U.S. Patent Office's database contract constitutes an instance of very large-scale technical-document publishing, involving both page composition and database creation. Under this contract, Reed Technology and Information Services, Inc. (RTIS), a division of Reed Elsevier, produces per week over seven thousand mathematical, chemical, and tabular items for inclusion in printed patents and in the recently inaugurated SGML database. Mathematical items alone number over one thousand per week. From 1970 to 1999, tagging of structural data consisted of coding proprietary to the Patent Office. Recent changes in Patent Office requirements and goals have facilitated the use of new file-type outputs, including .mml for mathematical structures, a change that will have distinct benefits for end users of the patents database, particularly those interested in web-based review of patent data. Extensive customizations to Wolfram Research's Mathematica have made it possible for RTIS to 1) produce file types for math that enhance new PTO distribution goals and 2) increase the usability and accuracy of both the mathematical representation in printed patents and the content of files likely to be viewed online by the scientific community.