Re: "How hard is it to search for the words "ring oscillator" in a patent database? I imagine it is not hard at all. The first thing I would do, and most likely you would to, would be to search all patents that reference ring oscillators. They have been around for a long time and I would mark the ones that could be remotely related to the 148/336."- ease2002

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It's easy to search for the words "ring oscillator" but that's not the problem. It's a concept that you're searching for not the name it was given. The exact same concept could have be named "ease2002" and never mention the term "ring oscillator" anywhere in a former patent description.