Generating filled out IDS forms

ClaimMaster lets you quickly populate IDS forms (either SB08 or 1449) with the bibliographic and application data downloaded from the USPTO/EPO. 


Getting Started

  • From the ClaimMaster Ribbon, click on the USPTO Office Actions, Shells, and Forms menu, then Generate IDS Forms:


Feature Options

Once this operation is selected, you will be prompted with the following menu, which will allow you to generate IDS form that are filled with bibliographic data downloaded from the USPTO and EPO:



Step 1:        Specifying prior art listings

 

To use the IDS feature, you need to specify a list of the patent/publication prior art to be included in the IDS (in item 4).  The list should include US and/or foreign patent or publication numbers in standard formats that are understood by the USPTO/EPO websites, such as US7891588, 2009/0098753, or SI1985728, etc.  Prior art #s should be separated by spaces or semicolons.

    1. You can import prior art listings from the currently open Word document. Only U.S. and foreign patent/publication #s will be imported, not NPL listings.  Select this option and press "Click to import" button to import.
    2. Select this option and press "Click to import" button to import patent #s from another file. Supported formats are .txt, .Word, .ZIP (from Patent Center), and PDF files with text, such as native SB08a forms.  When you import from ZIP files downloaded from the Patent Center, both patent and NPL listings will be imported (if available).  For all other file formats, only U.S. and foreign patent/publication #s will be imported.
    3. You can also directly specify a patent/publication # and have ClaimMaster download all cited references in IDSs (both patent and NPL items) from Google Patents/Free Patents Online/EPO.
    4. This section shows a list of the patent prior art that has been imported or that you've typed-in or copied & pasted. This will be the patent prior art that you'll look up bibliographic data for when you click on the "Download IDS info ..." button below.  The list should include US and/or foreign patent or publication numbers in standard formats that are understood by the USPTO/EPO websites, such as US7891588, 2009/0098753, or SI1985728, etc.  Prior art #s should be separated by spaces or semicolons.
    5. This section specifies a list of NPL literature to be inserted into the SB08 or 1449 form. Each NPL entry should begin on a new line.
    6. Press this button to sort the NPL listings alphabetically.
    7. Click this button to begin the download process for the bibliographic IDS data specified it the window above (item 4). The download progress will be shown in the log window (item 8). If the lookup fails for any items, you'll see a warning message next to the button.  
    8. Switching to "Download Log and Settings" tab allows you to review the download log/status and also specify additional download settings/operations:

       A.   Shows download progress and any issues.

       B.   If this checkbox is enabled, you'll be able to preview front pages on the US references.  If you have a large IDS to fill out, you may want to uncheck the box as rendering the images may be slow, so disabling the preview will speed up the process.

       C.   Press this button to test connectivity to the public databases for US and foreign patents (Google Patents, Free Patents Online, EPO).

       D.   The IDS tool uses a local cache file to store data from previous downloads, which may help speed up the processing for IDS forms that share some common numbers.

       E.   Press this button to clear the IDS cache.

F.   Press this button to export the downloaded IDS data to a CSV file.

Step 2: Downloading information for the IDS header


    1. Use this section to you enter your application number(s), which will be used to access Patent Center and look up various bibliographic information for the SB08/1449 header (see e.g., a sample header below).  To do so, simply type in one or more application numbers and click Lookup biblio data button below (item 8).  ClaimMaster will download biblio information for each of the specified application numbers, showing the results in a table (item 12).  Each row corresponds to the provided application number

    1. Here, using a pull-down menu, you can  select a frequently used application #  from all of the entries loaded in the biblio cache.
    2. Press this button to download bibliographic information for the specified application number from either Patent Center, depending on the desired Biblio Source that you can set in the Biblio Source tab (item 13). 
    3. If this checkbox is selected, ClaimMaster will proceed to download the bibliographic data directly from Patent Center rather than loading it from cache.  The newly downloaded bibliographic data for this application will then be stored in biblio cache.
    4. This table lists the bibliographic data for one or more applications that will be used to fill-out the header of the IDS form (see item 6).  Each row will be used to generate a separate IDS form. If you do not want to generate an IDS form a particular application, simply unselect the row - only selected rows will be used to generate separate IDS forms. You can select multiple rows by dragging the mouse across each row.
    5. Press this button to clear the list of applications #s with available bibliographic data in case you want to generate an IDS form without header being filled out.
    6. This tab shows the source for pulling bibliographic data for the header of the IDS form. It can be be Patent Center (automatic), Patent Center (manual scraping/import)


Step 3: Generating IDS Forms


    1. Click this button to generate an SB08 pdf document with filled-out inventor/application data.  If you need to download kind codes for the older USPTO patents, make sure to check  item # 4.B, because USPTO does not provide kind codes for older patents issued before 1970s.  However, this data is still available from the EPO.  Note that connections to the EPO site are typically slower for the users from the U.S.
    2. Click this button to generate a 1449 document with filled-out inventor/application data
      • Note that the template for the 1449 form is located in %APPDATA%/ClaimMaster/Settings/1449_template.dot file. You can change this file to make it compatible with the 1449 forms used in your firm. %APPDATA% points to the Windows application directory for the current user. Please ask your IT department if you are not sure about its location.
    1. Click this button to export the downloaded bibliographic data to a Microsoft Excel's CSV file
    2. If this checkbox is selected, the IDS form will be filled with the inventor names, not assignee names.
    3. If this checkbox is selected, the IDS form will be filled with the assignee names, not inventor names.
    4. If this checkbox is selected, the IDS form will be filled with the assignee names for foreign references and inventor names for US references.
    5. If this checkbox is selected,  all downloaded IDS data will be saved as an XML Data package file, which can then be imported into the official USPTO SB08 form in Adobe Acrobat. This may be helpful for systems with restricted settings that do not allow to automatically populate pdf forms. If this option is selected, a pdf will not be generated - rather, the XDP file will be saved to the Save Directory, as explained in the section on downloading patent data.
    6. If this checkbox is selected and you are generating an SB08 form, then ClaimMaster will fill out the signature section with the attorney name, registration number, and date.  See configuring replacement fields for more information.
    7. This field specifies the location of the save directory.  Is the location is not blank, generated IDS forms will be stored in that directory. 
    8. The bibliographic information for the currently reviewed patents is shown in this section
    9. Press these buttons to move back and forward between the downloaded documents.
    10. Press this button to open a tool for batch downloading the list of publications specified in item 4.
    11. Export all downloaded front pages of publications to a single pdf document.
    12. The front pages of the prior art references are shown here. Click and hold on the figure with the left mouse button to bring up the magnifier for smaller images. You can export all of them in a single file, by clicking on item 26.