There are many tools available to help you search for publicly available patent applications or granted patent documents.
Google Scholar searches for scholarly materials such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and reports from many academic and technical fields. It is freely available to anyone searching the Internet; however, many of the links that lead to full text resources are not. On your first visit, go to Google Scholar Preferences and use the Library Links box to set UNLV as your source for no-fee access to many full text articles.