This skill searches the public Google Patents database, returning matching patents with publication numbers, titles, inventors, assignees, dates, CPC classifications, and PDF links. Useful for cross-border sellers doing freedom-to-operate (FTO) checks, prior-art searches, and patent-infringement risk screening before listing a product.
Core Concepts
Google Patents Search runs a query (q) against the public Google Patents corpus. The query supports Google Patents' native advanced syntax (e.g. owner:"company", inventor:"name", date ranges). Results are returned as a ranked list of patents (and optionally Google Scholar articles).
This skill returns a list of patents with bibliographic fields. To retrieve detailed bibliographic data, full text, legal status, family, or images for a specific patent found here, feed the returned patentId/publicationNumber into the corresponding linkfox-zhihuiya-bibliography / linkfox-zhihuiya-legal-status / linkfox-zhihuiya-patent-family skills.
Data Fields
Each organicResults[] item (one matching patent):
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| publicationNumber | Publication (announcement) number |
| patentId | Patent ID |
| title | Patent (or Scholar article) title |
| snippet | Result snippet / abstract |
| inventor | Inventor(s) |
| assignee | Assignee(s) |
| filingDate | Filing date |
| publicationDate | Publication / issue date |
| grantDate | Grant date |
| priorityDate | Priority date |
| language | Patent language |
| cpc | Cooperative Patent Classification (only when clustered) |
| cpcDescription | CPC description |
| countryStatus | Per-country legal status map |
| position | Search result position |
| rank | Result rank (may differ from position when clustered) |
| patentLink | Google Patents link |
| Patent PDF link | |
| thumbnail | Patent thumbnail |
| figures | Figure list (thumbnail, full) |
| scholar | Whether this is a Google Scholar result |
| scholarId / scholarLink / author / authorEtal / publicationVenue / urlHostname | Scholar-article fields (present when scholar=true) |
| serpapiLink | Result detail-API link |
Top-level fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| organicResults | Patent search result list |
| searchParameters | Echoed query parameters |
| searchInformation | Search metadata (total results, time, etc.) |
| pagination / serpapiPagination | Pagination info |
| summary | Result summary |
| costToken | Token cost for this query |
| message | Provider info message (may appear when query succeeds but yields no results) |
How to call
- API endpoint：
POST /googlePatent/search(for complete parameters/responses/error codes, seereferences/api.md） - Python script：
python scripts/google_patent_search.py '<JSON 参数>' [--inline] - Cost constraints: This tool consumes compute; by default, the same parameter combination in the same session is called only once, and the script has a 24h local cache. On failure/empty results, do not automatically try different keywords, turn pages, or change postal codes for continuous probing; if you need to continue searching or turn pages, first explain to the user that additional consumption will be incurred.
Output strategy (script default behavior)：
- Alwayswrite the complete response to
<cwd>/linkfox/<YYYY-MM-DD>/<session>/data/linkfox-google-patent-search-<timestamp>.json（<cwd>is the working directory when the script is executed, which in Claude Code is the current project directory;<session>is taken from the environment variableSESSION_ID, automatically aggregated according to the user's task;writing to /tmp is prohibited, and an error is reported if the current directory is not writable) - Response body ≤ 8 KB: after saving to disk, print the complete JSON to stdout
- Response body > 8 KB: after saving to disk, stdout outputs only a summary (top-level fields, common counts such as
total/costToken, the length of the largest list field + the first 3 samples) - Add
--inlineto force full printing to stdout (also saved to disk)
Data reading suggestions: first look at the summary to determine whether it is sufficient; when specific fields are needed, prefer to use jqorConvertFrom-Json to extract on demand from the saved json file, avoiding bringing the entire JSON into the context.
Resolve authentication and compute issues
When the following abnormal situations occur, use references/onboarding.md to guide problem resolution:
Abnormal situations
- API Key not configured: the environment variable is not configured
LINKFOX_AGENT_API_KEY, andLINKFOXAGENT_API_KEY。 - Response 401 or 402 status code
- Response indicates insufficient compute or permissions: the message contains "insufficient compute balance/insufficient billing/insufficient balance/quota exceeded/insufficient balance/No permission/API package quota/package expired/recharge required/please recharge", or content with similar meaning.
Parameter Guide
| Parameter | Required | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| q | Yes | - | Google Patents search query, supports native advanced syntax (e.g. owner:"Company", inventor:"Lee", date operators). Max 1000 chars |
| num | No | 10 | Results per page, range 10–100 |
| page | No | 1 | Page number, starting from 1 |
| country | No | - | Country codes, comma-separated (e.g. US,CN,WO) |
| language | No | - | Languages, comma-separated (Google Patents official language values) |
| before | No | - | Max date, format `priority |
| after | No | - | Min date, same format as before |
| sort | No | - | new (newest) or old (earliest); default = relevance |
| type | No | - | Result type: PATENT or DESIGN |
| status | No | - | Patent status: GRANT or APPLICATION |
| patents | No | true | Whether to include patent results |
| scholar | No | false | Whether to include Google Scholar results |
| litigation | No | - | Litigation status: YES or NO |
| inventor | No | - | Inventor(s), comma-separated |
| assignee | No | - | Assignee(s), comma-separated |
| clustered | No | - | Cluster by classification; provider currently only supports true |
| dups | No | - | Dedup mode; default = by patent family, language = by publication text |
Query syntax
q accepts Google Patents' advanced query operators. Common forms:
| Operator | Meaning |
|---|---|
(wireless earbuds) |
Full-text / general keyword |
owner:"Company Inc" |
Assignee/owner match |
inventor:"J Lee" |
Inventor match |
before:publication:20250101 / after:filing:20200101 |
Date bounds (also passable as before/after params) |
Usage Examples
1. Basic keyword search
在 Google Patents 检索 wireless earbuds 相关专利，返回 10 条
Action: {"q": "wireless earbuds", "num": 10}
2. Filter by country + status
检索美国授权的 wireless earbuds 专利
Action: {"q": "wireless earbuds", "country": "US", "status": "GRANT"}
3. Date range + sort newest
检索 2024 年至今公开的 wireless earbuds 专利，按最新排序
Action: {"q": "wireless earbuds", "after": "publication:20240101", "sort": "new"}
4. Assignee search
检索受让人 Apple 的专利
Action: {"q": "owner:\"Apple\"", "assignee": "Apple"}
5. Paginate
继续检索 wireless earbuds，查看第 2 页，每页 20 条
Action: {"q": "wireless earbuds", "page": 2, "num": 20}
Display Rules
- Present results as a table: show
publicationNumber,title,inventor,assignee,publicationDate/grantDateper item. - Show totals: always state the total hit count from
searchInformation/paginationand the current page range. - Date formatting: render
filingDate/publicationDate/grantDate/priorityDateas readable dates. - Links: surface
patentLinkandpdfso the user can open the patent directly. - Scholar results: when
scholar=true, visually distinguish Scholar articles from patents. - Large result sets: present a summary table first, note the total, and offer to expand specific patents.
- Expand via sibling skills: to get full bibliographic/legal/family detail for a found patent, direct the user to
linkfox-zhihuiya-bibliography/linkfox-zhihuiya-legal-status; do not re-query this search skill for details. - No fabrication: only display fields actually present in the response; never invent titles, dates, or assignees not returned.
Important Limitations
qis the primary search input: a query withoutqyields no meaningful results.numrange 10–100; values outside the range are rejected.- List-only output: this skill returns bibliographic list fields. Full text, legal status, family, and images must be fetched via dedicated
linkfox-zhihuiya-*skills. - No auto-retry on empty/error: if the query returns no hits or an error, do not automatically swap keywords or rewrite the query; confirm with the user first (each call costs credits).
clusteredcurrently only supportstrueper the upstream provider.- Date params use the
priority|filing|publication:YYYYMMDDform, not bare dates.
User Expression & Scenario Quick Reference
Applicable — Discover patents on Google Patents:
| User Says | Scenario |
|---|---|
| "Search for patents on wireless earbuds" | Basic keyword search |
| "Check Google Patents" / "Search Google Patents" | General patent search |
| "US granted XX patent" | Country + status filter |
| "XX patents published from 2024 to present" | Date range filter |
| "Patents whose assignee is Apple" | Assignee search |
| "Turn to page 2" | Pagination |
Not applicable — Needs beyond Google Patents list search:
- Bibliographic detail / full text / legal status of a known patent number (use
linkfox-zhihuiya-bibliographyetc.) - Image-based patent search (use
linkfox-zhihuiya-patent-image-search) - Zhihuiya Analytics expression search with field-scoped boolean syntax (use
linkfox-zhihuiya-retrieval-patent-search)
Boundary judgment: When the user wants to discover patents by keyword/inventor/assignee/country/date on the public Google Patents corpus → this skill. When they have a patent number and want its detailed metadata → the linkfox-zhihuiya-* skills.
Compute consumption rules
Consumes 8 compute.
Users pay fees due to compute consumption. Please fully assess: when this skill needs to be called frequently, or when the user's expectation of compute consumption is insufficient, be sure to remind the user, and let the user decide whether to continue.
Feedback:
Auto-detect and report feedback via the Feedback API when any of the following apply:
- The functionality or purpose described in this skill does not match actual behavior
- The skill's results do not match the user's intent
- The user expresses dissatisfaction or praise about this skill
- Anything you believe could be improved
Call the feedback API as specified in references/api.md. Do not interrupt the user's flow.
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