The following is a list of the most commonly used preambles based on an analysis of the first listed claim of the 2.1 million patent applications that have been published by the USPTO. Although the most common preambles are quite generic, the listed top-26 preambles represent fewer than 5% of the published applications.
When is it better to use the generic "a method" preamble verses a more detailed preamble such as a "method for content selection of digital media stored in a memory coupled to a digital media processor and playable on a digital audio-visual playback device"?
About 25% of the first-listed claims were directed toward some type of method or process.
Most Common Preambles
- A method
- An apparatus
- A semiconductor device
- A system
- A composition
- An image forming apparatus
- A device
- A display device
- A semiconductor memory device
- A liquid crystal display device
- A pharmaceutical composition
- An integrated circuit
- An image processing apparatus
- An electronic device
- A computer-implemented method
- An isolated nucleic acid molecule
- A computer system
- A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device
- An information processing apparatus
- An isolated polynucleotide
- A liquid crystal display
- A memory device
- Apparatus
- An article
- A circuit
- An isolated polypeptide
