The Double-Lens Method: A Smarter Way to Perform Prior Art Searches

When inventors talk about prior art searches, they often imagine a detective hunt: finding documents that look exactly like their invention. That’s important, yes—but it’s only half the story. A truly powerful prior art search doesn’t just examine your proposed solution. It also digs into the problems your solution addresses.

This dual approach is what I call the Double-Lens Method—a way to see your invention from two perspectives:

1. The Proposed Solution (the “what”) – What inventions already exist that look or function like yours?

2. The Problem Being Solved (the “why”) – What prior disclosures describe the challenge your invention tackles, even if their solutions look completely different?

Looking through both lenses transforms a standard novelty search into a strategic evaluation of your invention’s place in the innovation landscape.

Why Traditional Prior Art Searches Fall Short

Most prior art searches focus narrowly on solution keywords—technical features, functional descriptions, or components of the invention. That’s useful, but risky. Why?

Because patent examiners don’t think only in terms of solutions. When reviewing applications, they also ask: “Has this problem already been recognized and solved—by any means?”

If an examiner finds art that highlights the same problem your invention addresses, they can use it to argue that your solution is an “obvious” variation. In other words, even if no one built your exact design, your patent could still be rejected.

This is where the Double-Lens Method shines.

How the Double-Lens Method Works

Think of it as running two parallel search tracks:

1. Searching for the Solution

• Focus on keywords that describe the structure, components, or process of your invention.

• Use classification codes to capture technical fields where similar solutions might live.

• Look for patents, publications, and products that resemble your invention in form or function.

This gives you the baseline: who else has built something that looks like your idea.

2. Searching for the Problem

• Identify the core pain point your invention addresses.

• Translate that pain point into search terms—phrases like “reducing friction,” “preventing data loss,” or “improving battery efficiency.”

• Explore not just patents but academic papers, technical blogs, and industry reports—because problems are often well-documented before a “best” solution emerges.

This reveals whether your problem is already recognized, how others have attempted to solve it, and whether your approach is genuinely new.

Example: A Simple Case Study

Imagine you’ve invented a new type of ergonomic keyboard that reduces wrist strain.

• Solution-focused search: You’d look for other ergonomic keyboards, novel key layouts, or wrist-support designs.

• Problem-focused search: You’d look for documents discussing carpal tunnel syndrome, typing-related strain, or workplace injury prevention—even if their solutions involve voice recognition, wearable tech, or posture correction chairs.

By combining both, you get the full picture: not just who else is making keyboards, but whether the underlying problem of wrist strain has already been tackled by alternative solutions.

This dual insight helps you assess whether your keyboard is truly inventive, or if it’s just one of many incremental attempts at the same long-standing problem.

Strategic Benefits of the Double-Lens Method

1. Prepares You for Examiner Challenges
   Patent examiners often combine multiple references: one that identifies the problem, and another that shows a similar solution. Anticipating this approach makes your arguments stronger.

2. Strengthens Patent Drafting
   When you know how others have framed the same problem, you can write broader, smarter claims that highlight why your solution is uniquely effective.

3. Reveals Market Opportunities
   Problem-based searching exposes alternative industries or technologies tackling the same issue. Your invention might apply beyond your original field.

4. Guides R&D Investment
   Seeing failed or abandoned solutions tells you what not to waste time on, while highlighting where your approach could succeed.

Turning a Search into a Strategy

The Double-Lens Method elevates prior art searching from a legal formality into a strategic innovation tool. Instead of just asking “Is my widget new?” you begin asking:

• “Has this problem been solved before, and how?”

• “What makes my solution truly inventive in this context?”

• “How do I position my claims to withstand examiner scrutiny?”

That’s the kind of thinking that separates patents that survive from patents that stumble.

Final Word

A prior art search shouldn’t be a checkbox on the way to filing. Done right—with attention to both solutions and problems—it becomes a powerful lens on the entire innovation landscape.

The Double-Lens Method is about seeing the whole picture: where your invention stands, where competitors have gone, and where your IP strategy can take you next.