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A Guide to Engineering Resources for Students at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications

A guide for students in the students in the 3+1 Electrical Engineering Dual Degree Program.

Patent databases:

According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a patent is an intellectual property right granted by the US government to an inventor:
  • "to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling the invention throughout the United States or importing the invention into the United States"
  • for a "limited time in exchange for public disclosure of the invention when the patent is granted."
 File:Dinsmoor Vehicle patent 351749 diagram excerpt crop.png  

Patent search help:

Searching for patents is called a patent search, a patentability search, or a prior art search. To learn more about searching and understanding patents, try these resources:

Reference data, tables, and tools

Data & statistics:

Start by asking, "If these data exist (and they may not!), which organization would be the most likely to collect them?" You might have to piece the data together from a number of secondary sources if no one collects the exact data you need.
Remember that data and statistics can often be found in journal articles, so don't forget to search article databases.
Statistics can help put your project in context -- for example, if you're working on a project to purify drinking water, you might want to know how many people in a particular country have access to clean drinking water.