Save and Organize the Contents of Patents

Patents may contain important figures, columns, or claims that you would like to access quickly when working in a case. The Patents Explorer allows you to save these components to subfolders for improved efficiency and organization. By saving needed figures in the Figures subfolder, needed columns in the Columns subfolder, or needed claims in the Claims subfolder, you can quickly locate and open these important sections of the patent without having to navigate through the entire document. Each individual patent contains its own subfolders. A list of the subfolders available in the Patents Explorer appears in the screenshot below.

Add Items to Subfolders

You can add items to subfolders in the Patents Explorer by following the instructions below. Note that you can only add full pages to these subfolders. If a page in a patent contains a claim that you need, you would save that entire page to the Claims subfolder.

To add an item to a subfolder of a patent, complete the following steps:

1. Click the EVIDENCE tab in the left navigation panel.

   

2. Open the needed case by double-clicking the case name in the Cases table. Alternatively, you can select the appropriate case name, then click the Open Case button in the ribbon bar above the table.

   

3. Open the Patents Explorer by selecting the Patents tab on the left-hand side of the page.

   

   If the explorer is hidden, you can use the Explorers dropdown in the main menu to view it.

   

4. In the Patents Explorer, locate the needed document. Expand the document by selecting the   icon to the left of the name. A list of subfolders expands beneath the selected patent. The Pages subfolder is populated manually with all the pages included in the document. All other subfolders must be added to manually.

   

5. To add an item to a subfolder, expand the Pages subfolder by clicking the   icon to the left of the name. A list of all pages in the document appear.

6. Locate the page that contains the figure, column, or claim you would like to add to a subfolder. If needed, you can confirm you have the correct page in the list by opening it in the Patent Work Area. Double-click the item to open it.

7. Once you have located the correct page, right-click on it to open the context menu. Options appear that allow you to add the page to one of the available subfolders.

   

8. Select the needed Add option depending on the item you would like to add. You have the ability to add a figure, column, or claim.

9. After choosing one of the Add options, a dialog box displays. You must provide a name for the new item. You have the option of creating a custom name or using the name that auto-populates in the field. The name field auto-populates with the document ID associated with the page, plus a suffix corresponding to the type of item being added. For example, claims are represented by the letter C. A number is also generated at the end of the name corresponding to the number of other items of the same type that have already been added to that subfolder. If this is the first claim you're adding to the Claims subfolder, the auto-populated name would read "DocumentID-C1."

   

   For a list of the suffixes applied automatically to each item type, see below.

   Suffixes auto-populated for each item type

   Item Type	Suffix
   Figure	-F
   Column	-COL
   Claim	-C

10. If needed, add a description for the new item in the description box. This field is not required and may be left blank.

11. When finished, click the Save button.

    There are two save options for your convenience:

    • Save - Saves the item to its respective subfolder, does not close the dialog, and clears the fields so you can add another item to the same subfolder right away.

    • Save & Close - Saves the item to its respective subfolder and closes the dialog.

    Once the item is saved, it appears under its respective subfolder in the Patents Explorer.

Open Items in Subfolders

You can open subfolder items in the Patent Work Area by following the instructions below.

1. Open the Evidence module and enter your needed case. Then open the Patents Explorer by selecting the Patents tab on the left-hand side of the page.

   

2. In the Patents Explorer, locate the document containing the subfolder you would like to access. Expand the document by selecting the   icon to the left of the name. A list of subfolders expands beneath the selected patent.

   

3. To open an item saved to a specific subfolder, expand the subfolder by selecting the   icon to the left of its name. The   icon only displays beside subfolders that contain items.

4. Locate the needed item in the list. Double-click on the item to open it in the Patent Work Area.