How to do an effective patent search?

[StephenWeinstein]

You don't have to go to the university library.

The entire database of every U.S. patent, for over 200 years, go back all the way to 1790 is online. Go to http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/sea...#heading-1

A patent search will not tell if he has a patentable idea. To see how to tell if he has a patentable idea, go to http://www.uspto.gov/inventors/patents.jsp#heading-4

If he still wants you to do a patent search, even though it won't tell if he has a patentable idea:

For a video on how to do a patent search, go to http://www.uspto.gov/video/cbt/ptrcsearching/

For step by step instructions, go to http://www.uspto.gov/products/library/pt.../step7.jsp