Script to retrieve the Number of total patents granted at the end of the year(1980-2012)

TotalGrantsAtYearsEnd.py

# Script to retrieve the Number of total patents granted at the end of the year
# for several years using the USPTO's search site
import urllib2
import re
import datetime
import pprint
import time 

# Choose the range of years
years = range(1980,2012)
results = []

#Loop over years
for year in years:
  #Find the last Tuesday of the Year
  current = datetime.date(year,12,31)
  if current.weekday() == 0:
    #if New Years Eve falls on Monday, go back into previous week
    current = current - datetime.timedelta(days=1)
  current = current - datetime.timedelta(days=current.weekday()) + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
  month = str(current.month)
  day = str(current.day)
  year = str(current.year)

  # Create Search Address with Correct Search Options
  search_address = "http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.htm"
  options = "&r=0&p=1&f=S&l=50&Query=+ISD/%s/%s/%s+AND+APT/1&d=PTXT" % (month, day, year)
  the_add = search_address + options

  # Query USPTO search
  response = urllib2.urlopen(the_add)
  html = response.read()

  # Extract Patent Numbers and Sort
  nums = re.findall('(\d),(\d\d\d),(\d\d\d)', html)
  nums2 = []
  for num in nums:
    nums2.append(''.join(num))
  sortednums = sorted(nums2)
  highest = sortednums[len(sortednums)-1]
  result = (year, highest)
  results.append(result)
  
  #Print out result
  print "The Total Number of U.S. Patents issued as of the Year %s is: %s" % \
         (year, highest)
  #Let's not flood the patent office
  time.sleep(3) 
        
#Save to File
outfile = open('PatentsGrantedbyYear.csv', 'w') 
for result in results:
  line = "%s, %s\n" % (result[0], result[1]) 
  outfile.write(line)      
outfile.close()