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I have a design for a modified sensored blushless dc motor and a method to control this modified motor. This modification along with the control method improves the BLDC motors power density, torque profile, and efficiency while only slightly increasing the cost of the motor. The problem I have is the fact that I do not have the resources to develop this system or get it patented. I am currently doing a prior art search(which I'm most likely doing wrong), and I am getting about 17k patent results in espacenet using the keywords "hall sensor brushless dc motor". So far, I am only on the 200th... where can I learn about how can I improve doing patent searching or who can I ask to assist me with patent search for free(cause I'm broke)?

My current plan is to finish the prior search, get a patent license, then find a sensored BLDC manufacturer to sell my designs to. A plan that I'm not even sure is viable or sound. What I really want is to get my research funded so I can develop the system myself because I love working on bldc motors. Anyways, what should I do?

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4 Answers 4

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Don't bother trying to read 17,000 documents. You need to get the number down to a couple of hundred at most. Use more key words and patent classifications. I find The Lens a really good resource for searching. Unfortunately using the terms "brushless DC motor" is useless as many patents that are completely unrelated to what you are doing will refer to brushless DC motors. They are exceedingly common in all sorts of equipment.

Now once you are down to a couple of hundred documents, don't just start reading them start to finish. Go directly to the claims. Read the independent claims. Those are the ones that don't refer to other claims. This should get you a quick idea if the patent is relevant or not. You can usually reject a lot of patents as irrelevant this way. When you see a claim that seems similar to your invention then it is time to read the whole document. Also check into the patents citing or cited by the patent.

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  • @ Eric S I was able narrow it down to 808 patents by using cpc search, where I found that cpc = "H02K29/06/low" is what my patent idea is under. I then added an "AND" operator to narrow it down even further. TY for your answer, I was going to sort through 3.4k patents, but after you told me I had to get it down to a few hundred that made me restart my sorting process. Hopefully I'll be able to narrow it down even further, but this is so much more doable now.
    – Mister Moron
    Commented Jun 7 at 6:00
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My recommendation is to start saving money if possible (i.e., avoid being broke if you plan to invent stuff for a living). You need to have a minimum amount of funds to be able to (A) prototype your design until you are confident it works to the extent that you are describing the right details and (B) prepare and file at least a provisional patent application.

I believe it is still theoretically possible to disclose first and patent file after (within 1 year), but such a maneuver carries great risks in my own personal view.

Note that (B) doesn't absolutely require a patent attorney/agent (since you mentioned you are broke). If you've already read 200 patents in your field of endeavor you must have gained some idea of how a patent is put together, and you may be able to benefit from reading the Patent It Yourself book. Assuming you have spare time, this may allow you to assemble a provisional patent application without incurring great costs.

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    Disclosing first and patenting later does not work in every country. For example, European Patent Office allows a disclosure of the product only at a specific trade fair and only maximum 6 months before filing a patent.
    – picibucor
    Commented Jun 6 at 8:29
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    @picibucor That's true. I admit my answer is somewhat U.S.-centric. OP didn't actually specify which countries he/she is interested in obtaining a patent in.
    – bhuff36
    Commented Jun 6 at 8:40
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Doing a search is a specialized skill. There are professionals who can do a very good search for a few hundred dollars.

Getting some patent protection, even by a U.S. provisional application, is important before you start disclosing. It would take a lot of studying to be able to do that with any degree of confidence in the result.

You could then contact potential licensees to judge interest.

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  • ♦ It's my second attempt at patenting. I think I'm getting pretty good at it. I'm still not 100% confident but I'm able to narrow it down better now thanks to CPC search. After sorting through CPC search I found my patent idea under cpc = "H02K29/06/low". Just currently adding "AND" and "OR" operators to narrow it down or add the same device with a different name.
    – Mister Moron
    Commented Jun 7 at 6:07
  • Sounds like progress. This is anecdotal but I have seen a couple examples of experienced searchers not being able to find good prior art for their own ideas. A professional earns their money when they find killer art and can then move on to the next client’s search. They want to find it, the inventor hopes they don’t.
    – George White ♦
    Commented Jun 7 at 19:27
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I was able to narrow my search down to 808 patents using CPC search and then adding condition. I found that my patent idea is under cpc = "H02K29/06/low". I then added an AND nftxt = "keyword" to decrease the number of patents even further. I might switch around the keyword or just add an "OR" operators along with a keyword to include the other names for the keyword.

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  • You have posted this comment in the place for an answer. Please either use a comment, or better yet edit your question if you have information that improved the question.
    – George White ♦
    Commented Jun 8 at 6:24

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