General question; saving images from the Google Patents site

[Merv_P]

Basically, how do you do it? When I right-click an image on the site and choose "Save Image As..." I'm forced to save a file named "cleardot.gif", which as the name suggests is a 1-pixel transparent image.

I have the problem both in IE and Firefox. Does anyone have a way round this, or are screengrabs the only option?

 

[Merv_P]

I've realised they're not stand-alone images, they're embedded PDF files.

It's bizarre that I've been trying to figure it out on and off for a couple of days, and the answer pops up in my head the minute I post the question... :

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

1) Download the pdf
2) Note down the patent number and go to the patents website where you can download full res TIF images

They used to be gif images I think.

 

[Merv_P]

Thanks. Another solution I've just worked out is to run the PDF through an image extractor; the resulting files are hi-res black-and-white bitmaps, much larger than they appear on the site.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Yep, they are pretty much are the same quality as the TIFs from the patent site I think.