Patents - ECET 400 - Capstone Project - Research Guides at New Jersey Institute of Technology

Inventions, Patents & Standards

An invention is:

any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and useful improvement thereof.
- Examples: hardware, software, business methods.

A patent is:

a right granted by government to inventors giving them total control of their invention - the inventors get to decide who, if anyone, can use their invention.
valid for 20 years from the date an inventor files an application, but is enforceable only from the date the patent is approved.

A standard:

is a published document that establishes specifications and procedures designed to maximize the reliability of the materials, products, methods, and/or services people use every day.
addresses a range of issues, including but not limited to various protocols to help maximize product functionality and compatibility, facilitate interoperability and support consumer safety and public health.
forms the fundamental building blocks for product development by establishing consistent protocols that can be universally understood and adopted.

Google Patents This link opens in a new window
Google Patents provides access to United States patents from the 1790s to the present. It also includes patents from around the world that have been translated. Searchers can easily download the pdf of a patent found in the database.
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) This link opens in a new window
United States Patents. The full-text of patents are available free of charge. The database can be searched using any number of fields, including keyword, title, patent number, applicant name, and assignee name.

Look up the following patent number using a patent resource.

Patent Number: 174,465 (U.S)

Who is the inventor? When was the patent issued? what is the name of the patent office?

United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) This link opens in a new window
United States Patents. The full-text of patents are available free of charge. The database can be searched using any number of fields, including keyword, title, patent number, applicant name, and assignee name.

IEEE Xplore This link opens in a new window
Provides unlimited access to IEEE journals, magazines, transactions, IEEE and IET conference proceedings articles, and active IEEE standards. Included are IEEE backfiles which extend back to 1884. Subjects range from aerospace systems, computer hardware, software engineering, AI, telecommunications, biomedical engineering, and electric power to consumer electronics.
ASTM Compass (ASTM International Standards) This link opens in a new window
- This link opens in a new window
Access to active (most current) ASTM standards documents that are updated weekly. ASTM standards provide consensus technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems, and services in areas such as metals, petroleum, construction, rubber, the environment and more.