OR: Broadening searchesOR: Broadening searches
Sometimes a simple search produces a disappointing result list. The query may not locate any matching patent applications, the result list may be too short, or the documents in the result list may not contain the information you are looking for. In these instances, the OR operator is a better choice.
If your simple search has not produced a useful result list, you may have used the wrong term in your query. To increase the chances of finding a patent application that matches your query, you can use the OR operator with synonyms or related terms.
Applicant: John OR James OR Smith
The OR operator finds patent applications that match at least one of the terms in the query. You may find documents that match John, but not James or Smith. The documents may also contain more than one term.