The following fundamental changes have been made to the IPC itself and methods of its revision and application: the IPC has been divided into two levels to better satisfy differing needs of users of patent information; IPC Master Files have been generated and used for the production of an Internet version of the IPC enhanced by various electronic means to facilitate classification and search; a new revision procedure providing rapid introduction in the IPC of changes required by technological developments has been established; and, a worldwide bibliographic database of patent documents – the Master Classification Database containing patent documents classified according to a new edition of the IPC – has been created.
Les fichiers maîtres de la CIB, créés à l’aide de ce système, ont été utilisés dans la mise au point d’une version Internet de la classification.