20100174698 | METHOD FOR A CUSTOMIZED AND AUTOMATED FORWARD AND BACKWARD PATENT CITATION SEARCH - The present invention relates to a method for efficiently searching a patent database using patent search software. A target patent or group of patents are identified and utilized through a forward and backward citation search (FNB search) to identify patent references closely related to the patent search subject. The FNB search may be customized by a plurality of user selectable options to manipulate the results of the FNB search, and the results may be output in a variety of formats depending on the preferences of the user. | 07-08-2010 |