World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96

www.elsevier.com/locate/worpatin

China traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Patent Database

Yanhuai Liu *, Yanling Sun

Patent Data Research and Development Center, The Intellectual Property Publishing House, State Intellectual Property Office of the PR China, No. 6,

Xitucheng Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100088, China

Abstract

The deep indexed China Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Patent Database was established by the State Intellectual Property

Office (SIPO) of PR China. The purpose of creating this database was mainly to meet the need of patent examination. The database

has already been put to use in the patent examination department in SIPO since April 2002.

The Chinese version of the database covers TCM related patent applications published from 1985 to current in China. It contains

over 19,000 bibliographic records and over 40,000 TCM formulas. In order to present this database to WIPO, an English demo

version was created and opened to the world through the WIPO gate.

There are 29 search fields in the database that fall into four categories: bibliographic information, subject index terms, uses/

effects, TCM formulas. Rewritten titles and abstracts provide users with more searchable information. The system was built with

multiple search features: quick search, advanced search, TCM formula search, and search history tracing function. Moreover, two

special features created in the system are very useful for improving searching efficiency: cross-file search based on TCM dictionary

and TCM similarity search. The cross-file search enables users to locate a specific TCM in the TCM dictionary file and then cross-file

search that name in the patent bibliographic file for relevant records. TCM similarity search enables users to do one-stop searching

easily for complex search queries.

� 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Keywords: Chinese patent search system; Traditional Chinese Medicine Patent; TCM patent search; TCM Patent Database; Deep indexing; Herbal

medicine; Natural medicine

1. Introduction

China traditional Chinese medicines (TCM) have

more than 5000 years history. They have played an

important role in treating diseases for humanity. In the

modern world, the cost of developing a new chemical

medicine is very expensive: the average cost for devel-

oping one kind of drug can be from 80 million to severalbillion dollars. Moreover human beings are developing

growing drug resistance. In this situation, people began

to pay close attention to inexpensive and efficient tra-

ditional natural medicines or herbal medicines. The fast

growth of patent applications related to natural medi-

cines have shown this trend clearly. By 2001, the number

of traditional medicine patent publications has exceeded

50,000 in the world. Since the China Patent Law came

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +86-10-8203-4349; fax: +86-10-8203-

4354.

E-mail addresses: liuyanhuai@sipo.gov.cn (Y. Liu), sunyanling@

sipo.gov.cn (Y. Sun).

0172-2190/$ - see front matter � 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

doi:10.1016/S0172-2190(03)00110-8

into force in April 1985, the number of China TCM

patent publications has increased rapidly year by year.

By the end of 2002, its number is approximately 20,000.

At the same time, it is more and more difficult for

patent examiners to search traditional medicine related

patent documents efficiently in patent examination by

using existing databases. Because there are no proper

classifications in IPC for different traditional medicines,and there are lots of different names for each TCM

component, e.g. standard name, scientific name and

other synonyms, Latin name used for the same medicine

in patent documents. In order to solve this problem and

provide an efficient way for patent examiners or other

users to search TCM related patent documents, the

State Intellectual Property Office of PR China decided

to create a deep indexed China TCM Patent Databasewith greatly enhanced search functions. The database

was finished in March 2002 and has been used by patent

examiners in the Chinese Patent Office for one year.

With the user friendly interface and greatly enhanced

search functions, it achieves a high recall and precision,

and the patent examiners in SIPO were satisfied by using

Applicant country/province code PAC

Inventor name INR

Priority number PRN

Main international patent classifica-

tion

IC1

Secondary international patentclassification

IC2

International patent classification (IC)

(searching for IC1 and IC2

together, in �OR’ relationship)

IC

Field name Field code

Biological process BIO

92 Y. Liu, Y. Sun / World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96

the China TCM Patent Database in their patent exam-

ination work. In order to be able to present the database

at a WIPO Conference in 2002, 1 an English demo

version of the database was built and has been opened tothe world through the WIPO Web gate.

So far, the Chinese version of the database covers

TCM related patent applications published from 1985 to

current in China. It contains over 19,000 bibliographic

records and over 40,000 TCM formulas that were pub-

lished from April 1985 to December 2002. The English

demo version of the database contains 1761 biblio-

graphic records and 4177 TCM formulas. It covers TCMrelated Chinese patent applications published from 1993

to 1994. A sample database record from the English

version is shown in Fig. 1. The English and Chinese

demo versions of the database have been opened free of

charge on the Web site: http://pharm.cnipr.com. 2

Chemical process CHE

Analytical process ANAExtraction process EXT

Physical process PHY

Formulation process GAL

TCM formula composition MIX

New therapeutic use NUS

Index terms (used to search ANA,

EXT, BIO, CHE, PHY, GAL, MIX,

and NUS together, in �OR’ relation-ship)

IT

2. Features of the China TCM Patent Database

There are 29 search fields in the database, which fall

into the following four categories: bibliographic infor-

mation, subject index terms, uses/effects, and TCM

formulas. These fields were designed for different

searching need, and include the following.

2.1. Bibliographic information

Field name Field code

Title TI

Abstract AB

Application number AP

Publication number PN

Application date AD

Publication date PD

Applicant name PA

Applicant address ADDR

Field name Field code

Therapeutic effect THEF

Side effect TOXI

Diagnostic effect DIAGInteractive effect DINT

Similar effect ANEF

Effect (EFF) (used to search THEF,

TOXI, DIAG, DINT, and ANEF

together, in �OR’ relationship)

EFF

1 The third session of the Intergovernmental Committee on

Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge

and Folklore held in Geneva June 2002.2 To use the Demo Database on this site, the user name is patentN,

here the N is a number from 1 to 99. The password is also patentN,

here the N is a number from 1 to 99. When logging in to the database,

the same number code should be used in the user name and in the

password. For example, if the user name is patent1, the password is

also patent1. The authors welcome feedback about the database, at

their email addresses (liuyanhuai@sipo.gov.cn and sunyanling@

sipo.gov.cn) or at patentdata@cnipr.com.

2.2. Subject index terms

2.3. Uses/effects

2.4. TCM formulas

The database provides special interface and entry for

searching TCM patented formulas (see Section 3.3).

3. Search approaches

There are several approaches for searching and usingthe database: quick search, advanced search, TCM

formula search, and search history.

Fig. 1. Sample record of the China TCM Patent Database.

Y. Liu, Y. Sun / World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96 93

3.1. Quick search

The ‘‘quick search’’ facility provides a simple searchinterface with a text search for the entire contents of the

database. Users, especially unprofessional users can use

this interface to conduct searches easily and efficiently.

For instance, to search patents that related to the

medicines for treating hypertension and containing

radix ginseng, one can input hypertension and radix

ginseng into the query box (with comma(s) to separate

keywords/phrases) (see Fig. 2). There are two logicselections for different keywords/phrases: AND/OR.

Users can make logic selections by clicking the buttons

below the query box. Default is AND.

Time range selection can be used to search patents in

a specific time period. There are three types of date:

application date, publication date, and database update

date. Default date type is publication date, and default

time range covers the whole time range from beginningto current.

At the bottom of the page, there are 45 frequently

used TCM names, which can be reset by users. Clicking

on the TCM names will make them appear in the query

box automatically.

The search history can be recalled and used later to

refine the searches.

3.2. Advanced search

The ‘‘advanced search’’ enables users to makenested Boolean searches and field searches. Users may

use keywords/phrases, Boolean operators, and paren-

theses to express complex search query (see Fig. 3).

For instance, to search for medicines containing Aloe

for treating cancer, the query syntax can be as follows:

ðcancer=thef OR A61P035=00=ICÞAND aloe

The functions of logic selection, time range selection,

and frequently used TCM name list are the same as in

the quick search.

The search history can be recalled and used later to

refine the searches.

3.3. TCM formula search

The ‘‘TCM formula search’’ facility includes TCM

formula logic search and TCM formula similarity

search.

3.3.1. TCM formula logic search

TCM formula logic search enables users to search

TCM formulas with nested Boolean search queries. For

example, �Radix Angelicae Dahuricae and Fructus

Fig. 3. Advanced search.

Fig. 2. Quick search.

94 Y. Liu, Y. Sun / World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96

Evodiae and Radix Aristolochiae and (Cortex Moutan

or Lignum Santali Albi)’.

TCM formula logic search also features a limit

function which specifies the number range of compo-

nents that are contained in the target formulas.

The search history can be recalled and used later to

refine the searches.

Users may choose to display the search results by

TCM formula or by application number.

3.3.2. TCM formula similarity search

One problem the patent examiners often face is how

to search, for example, all formulas containing any 7 out

of 10 components. With Boolean search, one needs to

Fig. 4. TCM formula similarity search.

Y. Liu, Y. Sun / World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96 95

conduct 120 queries for this particular search. Obvi-

ously, this is not feasible for patent examiners. Similarity

search has been developed to fulfill the request with a

single flexible query. So, the TCM formula similarity

search facility is particularly popular with patentexaminers at SIPO (see Fig. 4).

Additionally, the search can be limited with certain

words/phrases which could be defined as curative effect,

international class, Pharmsearch classification, or all

fields. This function makes it possible for patent exam-

iners to do both the novelty search and creativity

(inventive step) search at the same time.

Other functions such as a limit for the number ofmedicines included in the target TCM formulas, display

method, and frequently used TCM name list are also

available.

Search history cannot be saved for TCM formula

similarity searches.

3.4. Search history

Search histories can be saved automatically with the

search history function except for TCM formula simi-

larity search. Users can further define their searches with

this function by using search set numbers, Boolean

operators, parentheses, and other words/phrases to

construct new queries.

For example, a new query of ‘‘#1 and #2 andhypertension/thef’’ would search for all patents that

fulfill both query #1 and query #2, and also have a

keyword ‘‘hypertension’’ in the field of thef (therapeutic

effect).

4. TCM dictionary

The TCM dictionary is an assistant tool for TCM

patent search or TCM formula search. In this file, a

unique record is created for every TCM, which includesTCM’s Latin drug name, English drug name, Latin

plant/animal/mineral name, Chinese standard name,

Chinese synonyms, Chinese pinyin name (see Fig. 5).

Users can find a specific TCM by any of these accesses,

and then using standard Latin drug name (for English

version) or Chinese standard names/Chinese syno-

nyms (for Chinese version) to search the bibliographic

patent file or the TCM formula file. The file crossoversearch function can be implemented by clicking the file

crossover search button after selecting the TCM names.

For example, the phrase ‘‘ground beetle’’ will only

bring out one patent record from the demo database by

using quick search/advance search/formula search.

However, a total of 51 patent records and 153 formula

records can be retrieved by using file crossover search to

search ‘‘Eupolyphaga seu steleophaga’’ which is thestandard Latin drug name for ‘‘ground beetle’’ according

to the dictionary.

5. Conclusion and on going project

After one year’s practice of search application in the

patent examination department in SIPO, our examiners

are well satisfied with its value and the good results

obtained. In addition, the database has been well re-

ceived externally, for instance from attendees at the

conference referred to in Section 1; for example the

Fig. 5. TCM dictionary.

96 Y. Liu, Y. Sun / World Patent Information 26 (2004) 91–96

experts from WIPO and the USPTO commented favour-

ably, based on the English Language Demo Database.

The deep indexed China TCM Patent Database isprovided with high search efficiency, search quality and

powerful search functions. It is one of the world’s ad-

vanced TCM patent databases. We are now translating

the whole database from Chinese into English. The

whole translation work for the English version of the

database will take several months.

In addition to China TCM Patent Database, a more

powerful database search system with worldwide tradi-tional medicine patents, is being planned in China. More

traditional medicine patents, published in Japan, Korea,

India, America and other countries, will be deep indexed

and will be merged to one unified database system. Also

one unified searching system will be built and connected

to all TCM related databases distributed in China. It is

expected that this TCM related databases platform will

provide a new friendly searching interface and powerfulsearch system for both patent examiners and the

worldwide public in the near future.

Acknowledgements

This article has been developed from a presentation

given by the corresponding author, Yanhuai Liu, at the

annual conference of the Patent and Trademark

Depository Library Program (PTDLP), organized by

the USPTO in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia, USA,in March 2003.

Yanhuai Liu is a researcher and Director atthe Patent Data R&D Center, IntellectualProperty Publishing House, SIPO of PRChina. She started research work in patentdocumentation indexing in 1985 and leadindexing work to Chinese Patent AbstractDatabase during 1987–1993. She is the orga-nizer of a research project for deep indexingChinese chemical patent information and is incharge of establishing deep indexed ChinaTCM Patent Database and China ChemicalMedicine Patent Database. As an Editor-in-Chief, she published the book ‘‘A Guide for

Patent Database Searching in China and Other Countries’’.

Yanling Sun received degrees in Biology andInformation management from Peking Uni-versity in China and is a researcher and dep-uty director at the Patent Data R&D Center,Intellectual Property Publishing House, StateIntellectually Property Office of PR China.She is a specialist in patent data processingand database building. She is leading theChina TCM Patent Database Building, andhas presented the database at meetings orga-nized by WIPO. As an Editor-in-Chief, shepublished the book ‘‘Search Patent Informa-tion on Internet’’.