LexisNexis TotalPatent. Training Manual

Transcription

1 LexisNexis TotalPatent Training Manual March, 2013

2 Table of Contents 1 GETTING STARTED Signing On / Off Setting Preferences and Project IDs Online Help and Feedback 2 SEARCHING FUNDAMENTALS Overview of the Search Forms Creating a Search Using the Guided and Advanced Search Forms Choosing Boolean Connectors and Proximity Operators Using Truncation and Wildcard Characters Restricting Your Search Using Segments and Field Indexing Using the Syntax Converter Selecting Content Searching Machine Translations Removing Family Member Duplicates 3 SEARCHING FOR ASSIGNEES Creating an Assignee Search Using the Look Up Assignee or Inventor Feature Finding Subsidiary Companies 4 RETRIEVING PATENTS USING PUBLICATION NUMBERS Using the Publication Number Field Using the Publication Number Search Feature Using the Document Retrieval Feature 5 SEMANTIC SEARCH Creating a Word Cloud Editing a Word Cloud 2

3 6 DISPLAYING RECORDS Using the Results List Using Document Views Editing and Narrowing a Search Activating the Show Terms Feature 7 DELIVERING RECORDS Delivery Options Downloading Records Using the Download Manager Feature 8 SEARCH HISTORY Recalling Recent Searches Saving a Search Combining Searches 9 USING THE ALERT SERVICE Creating an Alert Managing and Editing an Alert 10 CREATING WORK FOLDERS Creating a Work Folder from a Results Set Viewing, Editing and Sharing Work Folders 11 ANALYZING RECORDS Creating a Citation Map Using the Compare Feature Using the Visualize Feature 3

4 1 Getting Started Welcome to LexisNexis TotalPatent, the most comprehensive patent research, retrieval and analysis system available. Signing On / Off 1. Go to the URL the following page will be displayed. ❸ ❹ ❺ 2. Enter your User ID and Password into the respective fields. 3. Chose Remember My Sign-In Information, if you want TotalPatent to remember your ID and Password, so that you will not have to re-enter each time you log in. 4. While your LexisNexis login information is always sent over a secure connection using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), if you checkmark Use a Secure Connection for Entire Session, your entire session will be transmitted using a secure connection. 5. Click Sign In and the TotalPatent search page will be displayed. 4

5 ❽ ❻ ❼ 6. In order to sign out the current ID from TotalPatent, click to the Sign Out link in the top right corner of the page. Setting Preferences and Project IDs 7. To display the Preferences page, click the Preferences link in the top right corner of the page. 8. Set the Project ID, click the Project ID link in the top right corner of the page Preferences There are a number of options within TotalPatent that can be configured within the Preferences page and maintained throughout the entire session. For example you can designate patent authorities, set the display and delivery options defaults and change your password and settings. When you click the Preferences link, in the top right corner of the page, the following page will appear. 5

6 Use the check boxes and drop-down lists to specify your preferences and click Save. Project ID Project IDs can be used to differentiate research projects. The IDs are associated with various activities within TotalPatent such as searches or setting up alerts and let you easily associate work with a task or project you were working on. 6

7 Online Help and Feedback TotalPatent offers a comprehensive context-related Help system that is available from every page. ❿ ❾ 9. To display the help page, click the Help link in the top right corner of the page. The Help system covers a wide range of topics and can also be accessed by clicking on any link located throughout the platform. 10. The Contact Us link will take you to the following page, where you can submit your feedback or comments regarding TotalPatent. 7

8 2 Searching Fundamentals Overview of the Search Forms There are four different search forms available on TotalPatent, which are listed under the tab Search. Guided Search Advanced Search Semantic Search Notes Search is a basic search form and is suitable for novice and occasional users. is a more robust form offering additional functionality and is created with expert users in mind. The Guided and the Advanced Search Forms are designed for searching with Boolean and proximity operators uses innovative semantic technology based on meaning of language and is to be considered when searching for relevant concepts allows searching for notes that have been added to documents. The system will remember the search form you have been using last and will automatically take you there next time you log in. Creating a Search Using the Guided and Advanced Search Forms Advanced Search offers all of the functionality available on the Guided Search and also contains a few additional features. We will therefore only describe the Advanced Search in this section which will cover all features available on both forms. 1. Click the Advanced Search tab, the following page will be displayed. 8

9 2. From the Search Within drop-down menu, choose in which part of the document your search has to be conducted. 9

10 ❸ ❹ 3. Type your search query into the command line box Search Terms. Consider using alternative terms such as synonyms. Place connectors (AND, OR, AND NOT) or proximity operators (W/n, W/p, W/s, etc.) between the search terms, otherwise your search string will be interpreted as a phrase. Use logical brackets for complex queries. 4. Choose the Publication Date range. ❺ ❻ 5. Select Authorities which have to be included in the search (see the section Selecting Content ) 6. Click to Search (to view results list see the section Displaying Records ) 10

11 Choosing Boolean Connectors and Proximity Operators TotalPatent offers a wide range of Boolean and proximity operators and search commands. Here are just some of them: W/n ATLEAST ALLCAPS to specify distance between terms in the retrieved document, e.g. (INJURY W/5 FOOTBALL) to identify how many times a term will appear in the document, e.g. ATLEAST10(PLASTIC) to find words in which all letters are capitalized, e.g. ALLCAPS(HIV) 1. Click the View Search Operators Help link to find all search connectors, commands and wildcards available. Using Truncation and Wildcard Characters TotalPatent supports wildcard characters and truncation to enable users to find variations of terms such as: * replaces one character and can be used in the middle and at the end of a word, e.g. CAPITALI*ATION will find capitalization and capitalisation! replaces an unlimited number of characters and may be used at the beginning and at the end of a word, e.g. REDUC! will find reduce, reduction and reducing Restricting Your Search Using Segments and Field Indexing You can specify your search and restrict it to certain fields (segments) of a document, such as Assignee, Inventor, Classification, Priority Date, Legal Status, Claims, etc. There are nearly 200 searchable fields indexed in TotalPatent. 2. Click on the View Searchable Fields link to see an alphabetically ordered list of fields together with the examples of their usage. You can search with segments either by using the Search Terms box or the Restrictions fields on the Advanced and Guided Search forms. 11

12 Search Terms ❹ ❸ 3. Enter segments with your key words in brackets. You can check the correct syntax under the link View Searchable Fields. Make sure that the option Full Text (incl. Biblio) is chosen in the drop-down menu Search Within. 4. Click Search. Restrictions Another way of searching with segments is using the options within Restrictions, where the most common searchable fields are listed. To conduct the same search as above, complete the following steps: ❸ 1. Enter the key words into the box Search Terms. 2. Within the Restrictions area, choose the required segment from the drop-down menu and enter the required value directly into the search line next to it. The key words entered into the Search Terms box will automatically be connected with the AND operator with the terms entered into the Restrictions fields. 3. Click Search. 12

13 Using the Syntax Converter The Syntax Converter is a tool that allows you to convert search queries from products such as Micropatent and Delphion into the correct TotalPatent syntax. 1. Click the Syntax Converter link next to the Search Terms box. ❸ ❹ ❺ 2. In the new window which appears select a product to Convert syntax from. 3. Enter the terms to be converted within the Syntax to be Converted box 4. Click Convert. 5. Once you are satisfied with the converted syntax, choose OK Add to Search and TotalPatent will populate the search form. 13

14 Selecting Content TotalPatent has the largest content coverage available from one single platform. The authority collection consists of 31 full text authorities and 69 authorities with bibliographic information and abstracts. 1. Click a Show Authorities Link to view all authorities within that section. ❸ 2. Choose an authority for your search by ticking the check box next to it. 3. To find complete coverage information for each authority click on the button. You can also view information for each of the 10 Major Full Text authorities by clicking on their associated hyperlink. A new window will appear detailing specific information for that authority. 14

15 Searching Machine Translations ❸ If you are looking for patents published in a non-native English language, this option will allow you to search for the specified terms within the English machine translated full text of those patents. The option is only available on the Advanced Search form. 1. Enter your search terms into the command line box. 2. Choose the option Also search for terms in English machine translations. 3. Click Search. Removing Family Member Duplicates The default setting in TotalPatent, where more than one family member is retrieved by a search query, is to keep all family members within the results list. You can also choose to remove patent family duplicates within TotalPatent and prioritize the authority from which the remaining document is selected. 1. Select the Remove family member duplicates check box. (Please note that there is a display limit of 3000 and this will return one family member for each document within this It is therefore recommended that you don t use this for broad or exploratory searches, only once you have a refined strategy. For searches with more than 3000 results please transfer up to 20,000 to a Work Folder and use the Remove Dulplicates option there.) 2. Click the Check Settings link to get to your personal preferences (This can also be accessed via Preferences in the top right corner of the page). 15

16 ❸ 3. Scroll to the section Family Removal of Duplicate Documents. Here use the up and down arrows to move the authorities into your preferred order. An authority higher in the list will be kept, after family de-duplication, in preference to one lower in the list. 16

17 3 Searching For Assignees Creating an Assignee Search To search for a specific assignee, enter the assignee name into the Search Terms box with the appropriate segment, e.g. ASSIGNEE(SIEMENS) or choose the field Assignees/Applicants under Restrictions (see Restricting Your Search Using Segments and Field Indexing ). The searchable filed Normalized Assignee NORM-ASSIGNEE() allows you to perform broader, more comprehensive searches than the Assignees/Applicants option. TotalPatent organizes alternative names and the various subsidiaries of each company into a logical hierarchy and allows you to find all these variations under one normalized name. 1. Click on the link Look up normalized assignees (available within Advanced Search). 2. Enter the assignee name into the search line of the window that appears. 3. Click the Find button and normalized assignees associated with this name will be listed. ❸ 4. Once you have found the appropriate name, click the Add hyperlink next to it. 5. Click OK and the name/s selected will appear in the Assignees (Normalized) search line. ❹ ❺ 17

18 Using the Look Up Assignee or Inventor Feature Use the tool Look Up Assignee or Inventor to make sure that you are searching the correct corporate or individual name associated with the patent. 1. Enter the assignee or inventor name you would like to search for into the Look Up tool on the right side of the search page. 2. Click the Find button to check the correct spelling and to find the different variations of that name. TotalPatent will search for the name you have entered, and bring back a result list of Assignees or Inventors that contain this. 3. If you see an appropriate name, within the returned list, select the check box next to it. 4. Click the Add button and selected names will be transferred into the Search Terms box on the search form. If you have more than 10 results, you can page through the results until you see the term you are looking for. ❸ ❹ Finding Subsidiary Companies The feature Find Subsidiary Companies on the right side of the search page allows you to lookup a company s hierarchical structure. 1. Enter the name of the company. 2. Click the Find button. 18

19 TotalPatent will do a preliminary search and bring up the top 3 results of companies that most likely match your search criteria. 3. If the appropriate name is not listed there, click the View All Results link to see the rest of the search results. 4. Click to the name of the company which matches your search. ❹ ❸ A second window will appear with the hierarchical information for that company. ❻ 5. Click on to expand the list and show a particular group s subsidiaries. 6. Click the Expand All link to bring up the complete corporate structure of a company. ❺ 7. Click on a hyperlink of a company name to transfer it into the Search Terms box. ❼ 19

20 4 Retrieving Patents Using Publication Numbers LexisNexis provides several methods to retrieve patents using publication numbers. To retrieve a single patent by its publication number, use the field Publication Number under Restrictions. If you want to search for patents using multiple publication numbers or import publication numbers from a CSV file, use the Publication Number Search or Document Retrieval Feature. Using the Publication Number Field 1. Choose the field Publication Number from the Restrictions drop-down menu on the Guided or Advanced Search form. 2. Enter the publication number into the search line. If you enter several publication numbers connect them with the OR operator. Note to ensure that you select a Publication Date range and Authorities which include the Publication Number/s that you are searching. 3. Click Search. Using the Publication Number Search Feature The Publication Number Search is designed for searching with multiple publication numbers. It is located on the right hand side of the search page and functions independently from the other search forms. Enter up to 500 publication numbers into the Publication Number Search box using one of the following methods: 1. Select the Enter a List tab to type the numbers directly into the search box or copy them from a document file. You do not have to use logical operators; the numbers can be separated by space, comma or semicolon and entered in a line or in a row. You may specify the kind codes. All available dates and all authorities will automatically be included in the search. 2. Select the Upload a List tab to upload a CSV formatted list of publication numbers. 20

21 3. Click the Browse button, within the Upload a List tab, to locate the CSV file to import. 4. Click the Search button. ❸ ❹ Using the Document Retrieval Feature Document Retrieval allows you to quickly search a large number of patents at once based on publication number and download, save or analyze the set of results. ❸ ❹ 1. Open the tab Document Retrieval. 2. Enter the publication numbers directly into the search field by separating them with comma or semicolon (up to 10,000 characters) 3. Or click the Browse button to import a CSV file containing up to 20,000 publication numbers. 4. Click Retrieve. 21

22 After searching, TotalPatent will display a Summary of Available Documents. This will contain numbers of exact and similar matches as well as numbers of any documents which could not be found. Similar matches are typically the same publication numbers with different kind codes. ❺ ❽ ❾ 5. Click on View Availability Report to view the status information on each publication number submitted in the search and so to find out which documents exactly can be retrieved (including similar matches) and which cannot. ❼ ❻ 6. You can choose whether or not to include a document found from the search by deselecting the checkbox next to the publication number. 7. Click the Resubmit button. 8. Select whether you want to Download, Analyze or file documents to a Work Folder 9. Click the Retrieve button. 22

23 5 Semantic Search Semantic Search uses the meaning of words to find related documents. It complements Boolean search methods and helps to identify results and concepts which might not otherwise have been retrieved. When conducting semantic searches the system does not look for the exact / literal search terms (as it does with a Boolean search), but analyzes the search query and offers results based on related concepts. You can refine the search query, review and edit the results of the semantic analysis displayed in a word cloud before getting to a final result list. Creating a Word Cloud 1. Open the tab Semantic Search. 2. Type your key words, or paste an ideal description of the technology you are interested in, directly into the search field without using search operators. You can enter key words, phrases or entire text passages which represent a single or multiple concepts. 3. Select the date range 4. Select Authorities You can also make other restrictions if necessary. 5. Click Preview Results to view and edit the results of the semantic analysis. ❺ ❻ 6. Click Search Now to be forwarded directly to the search results. ❸ ❹ 23

24 Editing a Word Cloud After you have chosen Preview Results, the following page will be displayed. TotalPatent semantic search is transparent and controllable. It gives you the possibility to manipulate the word cloud built on the basis of the semantic analysis and so to influence the final results. The terms listed on the left are concepts which the system has extracted from the search query. The terms are placed within areas Required, Optional and Excluded. Terms within these areas will be considered at search in the following way: Required each document should contain all of the terms. Оptional each document should contain at least one of the terms. Excluded documents containing these terms will not be retrieved. Holding Area is populated with further possibly relevant terms which are not currently included within the search query. 1. If there is a term in the Holding Area which you consider as relevant, you can click it and move it to one of the upper fields using drag and drop. 24

25 ❸ ❹ 2. A pop up will appear warning that there are already more than 20 terms in the query (the maximum amount) and that at least one of the existing terms has to be deleted before you could add the new one. 3. Select the check box for the least relevant term(s). 4. Click the Apply button. The terms are assigned with importance (High, Medium and Low), which can be recognized via the different font size and colors. Terms with higher importance are placed higher in the page or field. You can change the importance of a term, if necessary, simply by dragging the term to another part of a field or between different fields. 25

26 Alternatively, you can click on a term and the following scale will appear. 5. Move the pointer up or down the scale to change its weighting. 6. Click Apply. ❺ ❻ You can also add your own terms to the query. ❿ ❼ ❽ ❾ 7. Enter a term you would like to add into the line on top of the query cloud. 8. Click the Add button. The added term will automatically be considered as important and will appear in the Required area, from where it can be moved as described above. On the right side of the page you will find the list of the 20 most relevant hits of all documents found. 9. Click the Refresh Preview button, after you have made changes in the query cloud, to update the list of most relevant hits. 10. Click the Retrieve All Results button to get to the complete results list. The results of semantic search will be sorted according to relevancy by default. 26

27 6 Displaying Records Using the Results List After you have clicked to the button Search, you will be forwarded to the page with the search results. The total number of hits returned from the search will be shown on the top left side of the results. You can browse through the results using the navigation arrows or jump directly to a specific range of documents. The number of results displayed per page could be defined under Preferences -> Search Results (s. page...). 27

28 1. Click on the Fields link, at the top right hand side of the results list, to select which fields are displayed in the result list. This will bring up a new window. Select the check boxes for fields you require or deselect the check boxes for fields that you do not require and click on the Apply button. The appropriate changes will then be reflected in the results list. The next time you run a search, TotalPatent will remember your configuration of the fields. 2. Click on the Sort link, at the top right hand side of the results list, to sort your results list according to different criteria. This will bring up a new window. ❸ ❹ ❺ 3. Select the required field from the Sort by: drop down menu. 4. Select a radio button to sort by Ascending or Descending order. 5. Click the Apply button. ❸ The default sorting of the results is by publication date, descending. 28

29 There are four Layout options available in the results list. View results in a list format View results as one full document at a time View results as both a list format and full document view, side-by-side View the same document side-by-side, e.g. in two different formats or languages Using Document Views Click a document title or click the layout icon to get to a document view. Apart from a full text there are other views available. You can jump to different document views by clicking on one of the following icons. The view you select will be maintained as you navigate through patents. For example, if you choose Claims in the current patent, you will see the claims part when you click to go to the next patent. CLAIMS IMAGE KWIC This view will only show the claims information available for the patent. All clipped images and drawing sheets submitted for the patent will be displayed. Click on an image to view it in original size. KeyWords In Context. This shows 25 words on either side of each highlighted search term that is hit, as it appears through the document. FAMILY The view will give you family information associated with the patent. 29

30 TotalPatent supports 3 patent family views: Main, Extended and INPADOC. Main Family is a collection of publications, describing the same invention applied for in different countries and/or published in different stages during the application process. All publications having exactly the same Priority Number(s) belong to the same main patent family. For publications without a Priority Number, the Application Number should be read as the Priority Number. Extended Family is a collection of Publications, somehow related to each other by common Priorities. All publications having directly or indirectly a Priority Number in common belong to the extended patent family. For publications without a Priority Number the Application Number should be read as the Priority Number. The Extended Family is built internally by TotalPatent. INPADOC Family information is received from the INPADOC patent family database maintained by the EPO. Although it follows the same rules as the TotalPatent Extended family, there can still be differences due to data coverage and timeliness. TotalPatent covers a wider collection of authorities than INPADOC and updates to the patent families often appear in TotalPatent before they are added to INPADOC. Legal Status information is also available on the INPADOC family view. LEGAL If legal information is available such as reexamination, withdrawal or fee payment, it will be displayed under Legal Status. COURTLINK This view is only provided for US patents and will show a list of cases involving the specific patent, if available. Clicking on the Docket Number will bring up the case description, involving that particular patent, in a new window. PDF This icon will take you to the original patent document in PDF format. The vast majority of PDFs are bookmarked and searchable, which allows you to navigate through them quickly and highlight important information as part of your work flow. 30

31 NOTES NEW WIN If you have added any notes to a patent, they will be displayed here. The notes feature allows you to share information across your entire user group. You can also add notes to the current patent by clicking on the Add Notes link. The current patent will be opened in a new window in reader mode. This is a useful feature if you would like to view more of the patent at once without all the search terms and delivery icons. Editing and Narrowing a Search You can narrow, or search within, your search results by entering further search terms into the Narrow Search field. Within the Narrow Search field you can either restrict your additional search terms to certain document segments, use Boolean connectors and proximity operators, or refine your search by using Semantic Concepts. The results of the original search query can be viewed on the Recent Searches page within the History & Alerts tab. Activating the Show Terms Feature 1. Click the On hyperlink within the Show Term Hits: area at the top of the results to see all of your search terms, within the results list, as they appear throughout the whole document. This (or KWIC view) allows you to see the frequency and context of different search terms so you can quickly assess the relevancy of a document, without necessarily having to go into the full text view. The default results list view will only display search terms when they appear in title or abstract. 31

32 7 Delivering Records Delivery Options TotalPatent allows you to , print or download documents from the Results list or from Work Folders. There are multiple view options and types of formats available. So for example you can deliver a single document in PDF or multiple documents in CSV, create a family report or specify which parts of the documents have to be included in your delivery. The documents can be delivered in the original language of publication or in the English translation. Click to the appropriate icon to , print or download documents. The delivery process is similar whether you , print or download documents. The process of how to download records described in the next section can therefore also be applied for the and print delivery options. Downloading Records In case you do not want to download the complete results list, checkmark the documents you want to select first. 1. Click to the floppy disk icon on the top left side of the page. The following window will appear: 2. Select the desired Document View 3. Select the Document Format. 4. Select the Document Language. ❸ 5. Click the Download Button. This will bring up a new pop up window.. ❹ ❺ 32

33 Formatting a larger set of documents might take a few minutes. In such cases you may choose to close the Document Delivery pop up and to access the download results later on from the Download Manager page (see the next section Using Download Manager Feature ). When TotalPatent has finished formatting your request, the following window will appear. ❻ ❻ ❻ 6. To view or save the documents click to the Patent hyperlink or the Open and Save button. See below for the range of different document delivery options: Document View Document Format Document Language 33

34 Using the Download Manager Feature ❸ ❹ The Download Manager records your download activity and allows you to access previously downloaded documents for 72 hours, or to come back to large downloads you didn t wish to wait for formatting. 1. Click the History & Alerts tab. 2. Click the Download Manager sub tab. A list of all your download activity from the past 72 hours will appear. Here you can locate the download job you're looking for. The information below each entry shows the type of download, the date it was launched, the number of documents it contains, and the download format. 3. If the status of the job is Complete, click to Save Documents 4. Or to View Report. 34

35 8 Search History Recalling Recent Searches ❸ ❹ The Recent Searches section temporarily stores searches performed within the past 24 hours. 1. Click the History & Alerts tab. 2. Click the Recent Searches sub tab. A list of all your download activity from the past 72 hours will appear. Each individual search will be shown as a separately numbered entry, as seen above. 3. Click the Run link associated with a search to conduct the search again 4. Click on the hyperlinks to the right hand side of each search to respectively View, Edit, Save the search query, Analyze or create Alerts from this page. 35

36 Saving a Search You can save searches permanently either from the Recent Searches page, the Results list or from the Search forms. To save searches within the Recent Searches page: 1. Select the check boxes for the searches that you wish to save. 2. Click the Save button. ❸ ❹ 3. Select a folder from the drop down list that you would like to file your search, or select to create a new folder. 4. Click the Save button. The search will appear on the Saved Searches page. 36

37 The left hand side of the Saved Searches page contains the Saved Search Folders. You can choose which saved search folder to view the contents of and also create new folders. Combining Searches Combine allows you to merge existing search sets and so to create more specific results. You can combine searches both within Recent Searches and Saved Searchers sub tabs under the History and Alerts main tab. 1. Select the check boxes next to at least two searches that you wish to combine out of the list of searches. 2. Once the searches are selected, click on Combine. 37

38 The following box will appear. ❸ ❺ ❹ ❻ ❼ The searches you selected will be combined using the AND operator 3. If you wish you can edit the way your searches are combined within the Enter Saved Search Numbers field. 4. You can add further terms to the searches selected by typing the terms into the field Enter Additional Terms. If you only wish to combine two saved searches into one, leave this field blank. 5. If you are entering additional terms, you can select the search connector to use, to combine these with the searches, by clicking on the drop-down list (AND / OR / AND NOT). 6. You can also optionally add a Project ID to your combined search. 7. Click on the Create button. If you combined searches within Saved Searches you will see the newly created combined search in the current folder. If you combined searches within Recent Searches you will see the newly created combined search at the top of the Recent Searches list. 38

39 9 Using the Alert Service Alerts are designed to monitor status changes of a particular search result or patent. After the search is saved as alert, it will be conducted automatically at specified time and date and you will be notified via about the search results. Creating an Alert Alerts can be created from the Recent Searches, Saved Searches, or the Results page. 1. If you are on the Results page, click on the Create Alert link in the top right corner. The following form will appear 2. Select the radio button to Choose Alert Type. Search Terms This will monitor any changes from the results of the search terms and will keep you notified of new patents found. Monitor Changes to Patent(s) You can choose to monitor changes to individual patents rather than the search terms. Selecting this will bring up a new set of options. Choose what kind of changes in patents you want to be notified of from the drop down list Type of Change. 39

40 ❸ ❹ ❺ ❻ ❼ 3. Provide your alert with a name. 4. Select how frequently the alert runs, when it runs and when it expires. 5. Enter the addresses of the recipients, how the alerts are to be sent, the view and format. 6. Choose the option Alert me only if there are new results if you do not want to receive alerts with zero results. 7. Click the Create button to save the alert. 40

41 Managing and Editing an Alert Alerts you have already created can be accessed and customized under the History & Alerts tab. You can view the current status of an alert by looking at the Status field for each entry. The alert status will be shown as either Active or Paused. A paused alert will skip its scheduled run date and do nothing until it is resumed again. To set an alert on pause, complete the following steps. 1. Select the check box next to the alert you want to temporarily stop running. 2. Click on Pause. A new box will appear with the following set of options. Now This will pause the alert immediately. Pause On This will pause the alert based on the specified date. ❸ From-To You can set to pause the alert within a specific date range. 3. Once you have chosen one of the options, click on OK to confirm the setting. 41

42 ❺ ❻ ❼ ❹ If you have set an alert to Pause, you can resume it at any time. 4. Selecting the check box next to the alert you wish to Resume. 5. Click the Resume button. 6. Click on the hyperlinks to the right hand side of each alert to respectively Run Now, Edit Search, Change, Schedule or Forward to the address of another user. 7. Click the Show Previously Run link will list the number of results previously found with a link to View Results. 42

43 10 Creating Work Folders You have personal workspace within your account to store and organize online documents into manageable folders. You can permanently save up to 100 Work Folders within your account and store up to 20,000 documents per folder. You are also able to create a hierarchy of folders by creating subfolders within the 100 top level Work Folders and further subfolders within these. Creating a Work Folder from a Results Set If you want to file certain documents out of the results list into a work folder, select the check boxes next to these documents first. 1. Click to the Work Folder icon on the top left side of the results page. The following pop up will appear. ❸ ❹ 2. Open the drop down menu Select Folder. If you have previously created any folders they will get listed. You can either add records to one of the existing folders or create a new folder. 3. Select the Document Range you want to save in a folder. You can download All results, Tagged Document - which you already selected check boxes next to in the results list, or specify individual and/or ranges of Documents - using their numbering in the results list. 4. Click the File button. 43

44 Viewing, Editing and Sharing Work Folders 1. Click on the Work Folders tab to access documents that have already been filed. The page above will be displayed, with the folder you last used opened by default. 2. Click the Change Folder icon on the top left side of the page to select a different folder from the work folders list. ❸ ❺ 3. Click on the Create Folder button to create a new folder. ❹ 4. Click on the Delete Selected link to deleted folders that you no longer require, having first selected the check boxes corresponding to these. 5. Click the Sort link to sort the work folders. ❻ 6. In the box that appears select the corresponding radio button to sort Alphabetical, by Date Created or by Entry Count. 44

45 ❽ ❼ 7. Click the Copy or Move hyperlinks at the top of the results to respectively copy or move selected documents to another folder. 8. Click on the Remove Duplicates link at the top left hand side of the page to remove identical documents or additional family members out of a work folder. The following window will appear. ❾ 9. Select the corresponding radio button to remove Exact Duplicates or Family Duplicates. 10. Select the corresponding links at the top left hand side of the page to Rename, Delete, Copy, or Forward a folder. Rename will also allow you to add comments to the open folder. 45

46 The Forward link will open the following window, where you can enter the address of another user you would like to send the work folder to. Within the Work Folders, you also have the same delivery options as within the Results list. Click to the appropriate icon to , print or download records. These also contain the additional option of xlsx format, for the spreadsheet view, which supports images and hyperlinks. The Generate Report link, at the top left hand corner of the page, also contains the additional option options for downloading information from Work Folders. 46

47 11 Analyzing Records Within TotalPatent you have different possibilities to analyze your results. You can create a Citation Map based on the references cited forwards and backwards, evaluate a set of documents according to different criteria or compare different result sets. Creating a Citation Map Citation Map graphically displays the similarities among patents based on their citation references. You can use this feature to see if patents cite similar patents and so to trace the flow of technology from patent to patent. You can analyze from 1 to 20 documents selected from a results list. Note that, to analyze a predefined list of documents, these results could be from a document number search. 1. Click on the Citation Map link at the top left hand corner of your results to analyze documents you have preselected using their corresponding check boxes. A similar diagram the one below will be displayed. 47

48 ❺ ❹ ❹ ❸ 2. Look at the main left and right hand columns to find the documents you have selected for analysis. These will be displayed in green boxes and with both their cited and citing documents (backward and forward citations) shown. 3. Look at the middle column to see if your selected patents have common citations. These will be displayed in the middle of the page in yellow boxes andlines connecting patents with shared citations. 4. Look at the smaller white boxes at the far left and right hand sides of the window to find citations related to one particular patent that are not in common with any others displayed. Patents without any common citations will be towards the bottom of the page. 5. Click on the corresponding links at the top right hand side of the page to Print or Save the citation map diagram or show the Key (shown below for further details). 48

49 Clicking on one of the yellow or white boxes within the Citation Map will open up a list of links to open the document view pop up of the patents represented by that box. If there is just one patent cited it will appear directly. Using the Visualize Feature The Visualize feature allows you to analyze document sets according to different criteria and graphically display the results of the analysis in various multi-coloured charts. So for example you can analyze your patent portfolio, view on which technology areas your competitors have been focusing on or in which countries specific inventions have been filed. 1. Click on the Analyze link at the top left hand side of your results, either within a Results list or within a Work Folder. Please note that the analyze feature is only available for whole sets of results. If you want to analyze selected documents, file them into a separate Work Folder first. The following pop up will appear. 49

50 ❸ 2. Select Go to Analytics now to visualize these results 3. Click on Save. This will open the Analytics tab with the Visualize sub-tab selected. You will see a list of results sets, which you have previously added to Analytics, with those to be analyzed selected ❹ ❻ ❺ 4. Choose the Field(s) by which you would like the documents to be analyzed, e.g. Authority, Assignee, Inventor, Classification or Publication Date, from the dropdown menu. 5. Choose Chart Type, e.g. Bar Chart or Pie Chart, from the dropdown menu. 6. Click on Create Chart. 50