The USPTO publishes patent applications every Thursday. Each week, approximately 5000 applications are released. These applications have generally been pending for 18 months, and have yet to go through the full patent prosecution process. They may not turn into patents, as they could be disallowed by the USPTO. But, whether they eventually issue as patents or not, applications are the most timely way to find new products and innovations, and so are often used for scientific and corporate intelligence research.