Report:Thomson Innovation/Viewing Results/Viewing Patent Drawings

Viewing Patent Drawings: The Images Panel

Representative Drawings in the Result Set

Users are able to view images within the hit list if they select from the Display and Sort Options Panel to include the Drawing field in the listing for each record in the result set. See the screenshot below for an example of a result set where the DWPI Drawing is included for each record in the hit list (when available).

Representative drawings included in the result set.

The Images Panel

All images associated with the record are available in the Images panel, a collapsible panel on the right-hand side of the Record View window under the Images tab (in both Quick View and Full View). Users may switch between the Images Panel and the Highlighting Panel using the tabs labeled Images and Highlighting. Hide the full panel by selecting the "X" icon in the upper right corner, and expand the panel again by selecting the arrow icon (which replaced the "X" icon when the panel is collapsed). The panel may also be turned on indefinitely in Preferences (see Setting Preferences for more information). The Images Panel may also be expanded/contracted in size by dragging the dividing frame to the left or right.

The enlarged version of the image is displayed in a window within the panel, and a set of thumbnails for all available images is displayed in a window beneath the enlarged image. According to the help file, the number of drawings/images is displayed in the upper left corner of the Images panel. The number of images in a patent record view can be one greater than the number shown on the PDF/image because, when a DWPI clip is available, it is shown as the first image in the record view in addition to the other images.^[1]

The Images Panel, with the larger set of images in the top window and a set of thumbnails in the bottom window.

Use the scroll bar in the top window of the Images Panel to scroll left-to-right through all available images, or select the thumbnail image in the bottom window to jump directly to that image. Click Zoom (+) in the top window of the Images panel to enlarge the current drawing/image (you will no longer be able to scroll through all other images in the top panel if you're viewing a zoomed-in image). Selecting Zoom (+) will double the size of the image, and the user can click and drag the image to view the enlarged portions. The help file suggests that you can also resize the image panel to view more of the image at once.^[1] The help file also states that you should use the recommended minimum screen resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels for optimal performance of the image zoom tool.^[1] Select the Zoom (-) option to reduce the image size.

The user is zoomed in on an image in the top window.

Note that a single image may contain more than one figure. Each image represents a single page of the document. The applicant determines which and how many figures appear on a single document. Thomson Innovation displays the figures grouped as they were submitted by the applicant.

Editor's Note:

Innovation’s ability to display images alongside the record text, as well as being able to quickly scroll through enlarged images with virtually no load delay, is a very valuable feature for patent searchers, especially those searching in the mechanical arts. Notably, the drawings in the Images Panel load directly in the browser window and do not require an external PDF viewer, representing a substantial advantage over other systems; the user also has the added option of zooming in on individual images in the upper window. Also note that the exact coverage for patent drawings is unknown (see the Images coverage section for more information), and that Espacenet mosaics are not available through Innovation. The lack of Espacenet mosaics can be seen as a disadvantage when Thomson Innovation is compared to other systems, such as Orbit.com and PatBase, where external links to these mosaics are included.