Report:TotalPatent/Import, Export, and Download/Downloads

Downloads

There are many ways to order document copies via TotalPatent. Obtaining patent documents found during a search can be accomplished via the Download, E-mail and Print icons that appear at the top of the results page. From the full record view, users can view PDFs directly in the TotalPatent window (or choose to open the PDF in an outside PDF viewer). Alternatively, obtaining patent copies from a known list of document numbers can be accomplished using the "Document Retrieval" tab, accessible at the top of the screen at any point when using the service. Finally, patent PDFs may be viewed at any point using the "Publication Number Search" interface. All recent downloads are viewable under the "Download Manager" tab. The section below describes all of these options in detail.

This section will also briefly discuss the option to download reports on multiple selected documents from the Work Folders interface.

Options from the Search Results page

Options for purchasing Reedfax file histories and translations and for e-mailing, printing and downloading patent documents appear at the top of the search results page, shown in the figure below. According to a March 2012 TotalPatent update, the current download limits are as follows:^[1]

• Download up to 5,000 documents in XML-ST.36 standard format
• Choose up to 500 original PDF documents for delivery and download

Icons for e-mailing, printing and downloading patent documents, as well as ordering options for file histories and translations, are available from the top of the search results set.

There are three types of documents that may be ordered via TotalPatent’s online interface: patent copies, patent file histories, and human translations. File histories and human translations are provided by a LexisNexis subsidiary company, ReedFax. While patent copies may be e-mailed, printed, or downloaded from the TotalPatent interface, an order for Reedfax file histories and translations may only be initiated by selecting those options from the “purchase” hyperlink, which appears at the top of the screen on the results page. The figure above shows the "purchase" pop-up menu; selecting one of these links will initiate the ordering process in a new window.

Downloading Documents

“Downloading documents” in TotalPatent can mean downloading the original patent images, or exporting pre-defined bibliographic fields for a set of documents into another file format such as an RTF or HTML format. The figure below shows the available options when using TotalPatent’s downloading feature.

The Download dialog window as it appears when “Custom Selections” is chosen from the drop-down menu options.

In the figure above, the “Original Document (PDF)” option can be used to download patent facsimile images in PDF format. As of March 2012, users can also choose to only download the first page of each original document in PDF format.^[1] Other menu options enable bibliographic and full text data export into pre-defined reports, including Full Text, Front Page, KWIC, Claims, Legal Info, Family Report, Images, Results List, Spreadsheet, or BizInt Smart Charts (through the Work Folder interface only). Results can be delivered in the following file formats: Word, RTF (Rich Text Format), HTML, PDF, Plain Text, XML, and for spreadsheets, CSV (Excel), TSV (Excel), and BPD (a format compatible with BizInt Smart Charts). If the available pre-defined data format options are not suitable for the project at hand, the user may also choose “custom selections” to create his or her own export format. Patent text data can be exported in its original language of publication or as the TotalPatent English machine translation when available.

To download PDF facsimile image copies of the original patent documents, the user selects the “Original Document (PDF)” option from the drop-down menu. The file format automatically defaults to PDF, since patent images are only available in PDF format from TotalPatent. Once the document order is complete, the user can save the .zip file to a local directory. The .zip file contains a single PDF document for each document requested, even if a particular document was not available. If the PDF document is not available, the .zip file will instead contain a placeholder PDF that displays the following text (as displayed in the screenshot below):

ERROR: Unable to retrieve attachment for delivery. If your delivery request included other documents, they completed successfully

Example of a placeholder PDF that was included in a .zip file of downloaded PDF documents.

Many of these PDF patent copies are already searchable and do not need to be treated with OCR software.

E-mailing Documents

Using the e-mail option is another way that users may obtain patent copies as an alternative to downloading them in bulk. The figure below shows the e-mail dialog window.

The E-mail dialog window.

In the figure above, it is evident that most of the various file formats and export options described in the “downloading documents” feature are also available in the e-mail feature, including the option to select a PDF copy of the original document image. From the Results List, the following formats available by download are not available by E-mail: Family Report, BizInt Smart Charts, and Original Document (Front page only). From the Work Folder interface, the following formats available by download are not available by E-mail: KWIC, Results List, Family Report, BizInt Smart Charts, and Original Document (Front page only).

The downloaded exports or PDF patent images can be sent as a zipped attachment (with separate documents), as a single document attachment, or if the data is text, placed into the body of the e-mail message. When ordering patent PDF facsimile images, the only allowed delivery method is to receive the patent copies as “separate attachments;” these documents will still arrive as a single .zip attachment with multiple files inside. As with the downloading option, users can choose to e-mail documents in their original language or as TotalPatent machine translations when available.

The “Send To” text box at the bottom of the window allows users to enter recipient e-mail addresses, and even to select a previously entered address within the last 20 times the e-mail feature was used.

Printing Documents

The print option in TotalPatent may be used if search results are needed in hard copy. Unlike the download and e-mailing options described above, there is no “Original Document (PDF)” option from this menu, but there are a number of options that allow users to print “reports” of their search results. The print dialog window is shown below.

The "print" dialog window.

The pre-selected formats for printed reports are Full Text, Front Page (choose to include abstracts and/or images), KWIC, Claims, Legal Info, Family Report (choose to include legal status information for each family member), Images, and Results List (choose to show term hits). These reports can present the patent data in its original language of publication, or users may choose to download the text sections with TotalPatent English machine translations. The figure below shows an example of a printout done in “results list” format; when this option is chosen, users may choose to keep hit terms bolded on in the final printout, or to turn it off.

A sample printout using the “Results list” format.

Editor's Note:

Restrictions on downloading are usually imposed by search service providers to prevent massive data harvesting that could increase computational demands on their system, and allow users to obtain entire sub-sets of the provider’s data to create their own external database. While the need to limit patent downloading is understandable, TotalPatent’s limit of 500 PDF documents is on the low side (although users can download up to 5,000 documents in XML format).^[1]

The Publication Number Search Window

If a user simply wishes to view a single document copy, the “Publication Number Search” field which appears on the upper right of the search tab will allow this. It can recognize between 1-500 publication numbers at a time, or the user can upload a list of numbers (in CSV format only). The output must be chosen by the user before executing the command; the options are Results List, Full Text (in text format), Family Report, or PDF. In March 2010, TotalPatent changed the search algorithm to optimize the loading time of a results set.^[2] A March 2010 update also improved the Publication Number Search so that it "can search customized authorities."^[1]

The Publication Number Search interface for uploading one or multiple patent numbers.

The window does not initiate the downloading or e-mailing of any file. It navigates the user straight to the PDF, full text or family information pane of the TotalPatent record. If the user wishes to obtain a document copy, the next step is to select the download, e-mail or print options described above (or they can choose from the PDF view to save or or open the PDF document within a separate PDF viewer, as shown in the screenshot below).

The result of entering a patent number into the Publication Number Search window and selecting PDF (the user can select to open the PDF in a separate PDF viewer).

Download Manager

Under the "History & Alerts" tab, there is a section called the "Download Manager," where users can view their most recent download activity (from the past 72 hours).^[3] Each download listed under the "Manager" section includes:

• The search query, folder title, or report title
• Date
• Number of documents
• Format
• Status ("in progress" or complete)^[3]
• Link to re-save documents (or open text documents in a new window)

The "Download Manager" screen.

Reports from Work Folders

The TotalPatent User Guide explains that "instead of downloading patents for offline viewing, you can create a report for a set of patents."^[4] This option is only available while viewing the list of records from a Work Folder. Under the Work Folder interface, the user must first select (using the check boxes beside each record) which documents they want to include in the report. Then, the user can select the "Generate Report" link at the top of the page to open the "Generate Report" window (shown in the screenshot below).

The "Generate Report" window.

The window allows the user to select:

• The range of documents to include in the report (an option to include the tagged documents is available if documents are already selected)
• Which sections of each document to include in the report (front page, bibliographic data, abstract, claims, description, legal status, images (all or clipped only))
• Document format (RTF, HTML, plain text, PDF, Word)
• Font (Verdana, Courier, Times New Roman) and Font Size (10 or 12)
• Document Language (Language of publication or English (Native or MT))
• Line Spacing (single or double)
• Any notes to include, which will be displayed on the first page of the generated report.

After selecting the "Get Report" option from the window, a loading window will appear temporarily. When the document is done loading, the user can right-click the "Patent" link to save the document or select the red button to open and save the document. The final report will include a cover page with delivery information (time of request, project name, number of lines, job number, and research information) and a data report sheet with a list of document numbers and titles (as shown in the screenshot below).

A "Data Report" sheet for a Work Folder report.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3} "Enhancements to TotalPatent™." LexisNexis website, http://www.lexisnexis.com/total-patent-enhancements/ . Accessed March 23, 2012.
2. ↑ "Total Patent Enhancements." TotalPatent website http://www.lexisnexis.com/total-patent-enhancements/. Accessed on April 14, 2010.
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} "Download Manager Page." LexisNexis website, http://help.lexisnexis.com/tabula-rasa/totalpatent/downloadmanagertips-field?lbu=US&locale=en_US&audience=online. Accessed June 22, 2012.
4. ↑ ""LexisNexis® TotalPatent™ User Guide." LexisNexis website, https://www.lexisnexis.com/totalpatent/retrieveHelpManual.do?lang=EN (restricted). Accessed June 22, 2012.