The complete scanned image of a patent can be displayed. Images are available for patents issued from 1974 to present. No helper application is needed. There is a summary of missing or incomplete patent data and a list of what's new. The patent references are hyperlinked, allowing users to locate and view prior art by navigating through all the cited patents.
Users can also access later patents that reference the existing document.
This provides users information about renewal status of patents. The database can be searched by 27 fields, including title, number, date, assignee, inventor, abstract, class, and examiner. Users must have a TIFF viewer to view the full image of patents. Espace, IPN and PTO databases are freely accessible to all web users.