BobK,
That has been a struggle ... that special plug-in challenge at USPTO.
Even when I do use the TIFF image viewer plug-in, the feed from USPTO on patents is rarely a smooth experience.
I do have the TIFF plug-in with my Internet Explorer version browser; and when used there are some quality-of-image benefits; but for hobby publishing, I go to the third-party presentations:
So, instead, I depend on the feed from Google Patents and the presentation from
http://worldwide.espacenet.com/Beginning at
http://www.google.com/advanced_patent_searchseems to give a mix of both direct Google database and the expanding Espacenet service;
clicking on choices in those brings PDFs of original documents quite extensively.
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The apology UPTO gives is found on http://www.uspto.gov/patft/help/images.htm from which I just clip a part here: Quote:
PTO's full-page images, nearly four terabytes overall, are stored and delivered at full 300 dots per inch (d.p.i.) resolution in an image file format called "TIFF," using CCITT Group 4 compression. This is the format which is required by the international standards to which all patent offices must conform. TIFF is also the most used lossless image format in the world. Unfortunately, due to the volume of the image data, available funding, and other technical considerations, PTO cannot convert these images to a format more popular on the Web either permanently or by converting on-the-fly as they are delivered.
Another dimension to the patent space: There is a huge body of patents in other nations that are simply not US patents, though the US patent collection is huge.
Another launch point that is strong:
http://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/search.jsf
