…During the examination process, the examiner searches the pertinent portion of the “classified” patent file. His purpose is to identify any prior disclosures of technology …which might anticipate the claimed invention and preclude the issuance of a patent; which might be similar to the claimed invention and limit the scope of the patent protection….;or which, generally, reveal the state of the art of the technology to which the invention is directed…If such documents are found they are made known to the inventor and are “cited” in any patent which matures from the application…Thus, the number of times a patent document is cited may be a measure of its technological significance.