Report:PatAnalyst/Usability
From Intellogist
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| The PatAnalyst search system has been discontinued by JOUVE. The company is now focused on providing IT services to the EPO and other national patent offices such as services related to publication and patent data management (digitalization, publication, patent procedure management interface). |
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Usability
The following section contains subjective comments about the system that represent our editor's opinions, and should not be viewed as fact. Editor's opinions include positive and negative judgments about the product written in consideration of wider context, including related products and the industry at large.
PatAnalyst is a full featured patent search system with many workflow hiccups that may slow down users.
To access a full text document or full document image, users must first input a query, display the results in a list format, choose to send a specific result to the working list, and then finally access the working list and navigate to the desired record. This sequence requires a non-negligible loading or processing step at each phase, further delaying the user. Since the document image is the only way to see patent drawings, this process must be repeated many times for users wishing to view the figures of a patent.
The workflow aside, the user interface is well laid out and completely customizable. From the amount of fields shown in the search form layout to the positioning of the documents in the document view, the user has complete control over the work environment. This increases usability, since different users will of course have different needs and preferences when it comes to layout.
PatAnalyst also has quirks that may be initially unknown to the user. Since PatAnalyst is a first publication oriented system, the full text of many granted patents is unavailable. To find the related first publication, users must enter the patent number into a separate field than they would normally enter patent numbers when searching.
Once these quirks and inefficiencies are overcome and compensated for by the user, PatAnalyst can be a useful all-in-one-type command line interface and document viewer for the target user, the professional searcher.
