Citation Explorer is an interactive module within PatBase which makes it easier to navigate and review the complex web of patent citations on a family or publication basis. The module includes the ability to review citations side-by-side, visualise citations on a timeline or tree and obtain relevant statistics.

The Minesoft development team has recently taken on-board customer feedback to enhance Citation Explorer. A new way to effectively track backward and forward citations for a family of interest has been added. The citations can be displayed by publication number or assignee, allowing users to get an easy overview and cross-reference citations within a family and from where they originate.

In addition, the Citation Tree, a means to follow and traverse citation paths from patent to patent, now shows forward and backward citations at the same time. As a result, it is easier than ever to examine patent citation information. Users can quickly identify which patents are being cited by or citing the family of interest. Hover over the publication number of interest to quickly scan through the title, assignee and excerpt of the abstract.

The development team have also added the following capabilities: Clicking on Assignee name from the Statistics tab will now run a new search in PatBase; Excel export now includes NPL data; XP numbers link to Espacenet; apply multiple filters at once: year, origin, categories, country, assignees, self-citations.

Citation Explorer is a comprehensive global patent citation database, ideal for unearthing new players or technologies in your area and to identify potential licensees. The module is included in all PatBase Subscriptions at no extra cost.