The patent search by a professional patent searcher is generally made up of two major parts, or (as I will metaphorically refer to them) “tiers”:
the data mining tier, followed by the reporting tier.
During the “data mining” tier, various distinct “phases” can be identified, such as selecting database(s), formulating a query, reviewing documents for relevancy, and using classification codes.
To the person who orders the patent search, it must be understood that the report does not necessarily present an absolute survey of relevant documents. There are several reasons for this, including misclassified documents, or documents that are relevant, but that will not be uncovered with the queries used in the search. That is why the person who orders the patent search must understand the various aspects of the search and review the report carefully to acertain that the seach effort was properly conducted to uncover the most relevant documents.