TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Forewords
• How to activate SEP Search?
• Criterion offered by SEP module and use
• First contact with the histlist SEP
  • Standards tab?
• Specificities and limits of this SEP hitlist
• Coming soon: analysis module with SEP Data

Forewords

This article covers the dedicated SEP search when you have subscribed our SEP paid module. If you are looking for the SEP common data and filter, please jump on this article.

The data coverage and technologies included in this module are described by our SEP Coverage article. The present article intends to guide you through this new search & describe the data offered by Questel.

How to activate SEP Search?

Once the group Standard Essential patents associated with your logon (see Orbit Admin and your Orbit administrators), the SEP search shall be activated from the Advanced search form. 

At the very bottom left of the Advanced search, please use "Manage fields" :

and turn on the section "Standard Essential patents" (scroll list to bottom). 

Your Advanced search now includes the dedicated section as

Criterion offered by SEP module and use

Each criteria type is combined with operator AND. Technologies, status and standards covered are defined in article "Coverage", see introduction. 

We draw your attention on a particular point: multiple values within a criteria type like Status, are treated as an implicit OR condition.

Among these criterion, Questel has defined the patent claim type. In the context of SEP, particularly in telecommunications, the terms user equipment (UE), non-user equipment (non-UE), and system are used to describe different entities or components within a telecommunications network. These components are relevant when discussing the scope and implementation of standards that SEPs cover. Here's a breakdown of these terms:

1. User Equipment (UE): 
   • Definition: User equipment refers to devices that are used by end-users to access and interact with a telecommunications network. These are typically devices like smartphones, tablets, laptops, or any other devices that connect to the network to communicate, browse the internet, send messages, etc.
   • Examples: Smartphones, laptops, IoT devices, smartwatches, etc.
   • In the context of SEPs: The patents that are essential to the standards used by UEs in their operations (such as LTE, 5G, etc.) are often a key focus of SEP-related licensing and litigation, since these devices need to adhere to certain standards to function properly on the network.
2. Non-User Equipment (non-UE): 
   • Definition: Non-user equipment refers to the devices or components within a telecommunications network that do not directly interact with the end-users. Instead, these devices are involved in the operation and maintenance of the network itself.
   • Examples: Base stations, routers, gateways, core network equipment, and other infrastructure devices that enable the network to function but aren't used directly by end-users.
   • In the context of SEPs: Non-UE devices often rely on standard protocols for communication and interoperation within the network. SEPs may cover technologies used in these non-UE devices as well, especially in the case of network equipment that must adhere to specific standards to ensure compatibility with user equipment.
3. System: 
   • Definition: A system typically refers to the entire network architecture, including both the user equipment and the non-user equipment, along with the protocols, processes, and technologies that enable them to work together to provide telecommunications services.
   • Examples: A 4G/5G mobile network system, an internet service provider's (ISP) network, or a cloud-based system that integrates multiple devices and network components.
   • In the context of SEPs: Systems are the overarching structures that utilize both user and non-user equipment. Standards essential patents can cover not just individual components but also how those components interact within the system. For example, a SEP might cover how devices communicate within a 5G system (both UE and non-UE), ensuring interoperability between different manufacturers' devices and network components.

Once defined where your standard may apply, you can use the form with the following examples: 

One word about the standards name: our spelling rules fit are 

• ETSI names: AA DD.DDD where A is a letter and D a digit like TS 36.355 
• IEEE names: coming soon
  

First contact with the histlist SEP

Once you have done a search, as always the hitlist will appear. 

We strongly advise to configure your filter tab on the left "Filter options".  You can customise the criterion (same as search section) and organise them as well.  

If you are not familiar with this customisation interface, you can use arrows or do some drag&drop with items, from left to right or reorder them. Here a suggested configuration:

On right-hand side of the interface, you find your common configuration with Preview, images etc...

Please note the dedicated Standards tab : this tab will always open once you have done a SEP search or you current results are related to a SEP Search by any means. If you run a similarity search based on a family you have found out from a SEP search, the hitlist displayed afterwards will show the Standards tab by default.

In other words, to see this dedicated Standards tabs, you have to make a first search with SEP section.

Standards tab?

This dedicated tab is the main interface you will find the most important data about SEP :

• Technology: Is this family declared by ETSI, IEEE and other organisations ?
• Access to Declaration Data and Essentiality Analysis: Provides insights into patents declared in standards
• Retrieve without effort the different declarations related to above standards
• And more broadly the common elements associated with standards like the name, project, date etc....

Specificities and limits of this SEP hitlist

Questel added several columns to the hitlist, to better screen your results. Currently, the recommended view is "compact", as you can display the following elements:

For the moment, you cannot sort by clicking on the column headers. 

In order to proper show the SEP data and fit with the powerful Orbit Intelligence hitlist, we would like to precise some limitations:

• Data: Data is only available at the family level (FamPat).
• Export: Essentiality information is not exportable. Please note the STDN field (thus the standard name and declaration) is still available as exported field as well as other fields.
• Data display: Claim type is only displayed for essential patents. For patents essential in both EU and Non-EU, both are displayed.

Coming soon: analysis module with SEP Data