Databases

Patent research produces a lot of loosely connected material: search results, product brochures, claim charts, spreadsheets with your own classifications and a memo at the end. To work on the same study together, people and research agents need one place that holds all of it. In Patalyze, that place is a database.

In general, one database answers one question. Clearing a single product for launch is one question, and scanning the market for products that might infringe a patent family is another. So simply name a database after the question it answers and start a new one for the next question.

What a database holds#

A database holds the patents you gather, the products you track and the technical standards, scientific papers and court decisions you read the patents against. A mapping compares a patent with one of these records, claim by claim, and attributes enrich the records with whatever your analysis adds, e.g. a reviewer's verdict.

On top of the data sit the pages that present it, i.e. the tables, dashboards, notes and apps. You add records and pages with the plus button after the page tabs, or you let a research agent do it for you.

Each database is fully isolated, so data never crosses from one into another.

Creating and organizing databases#

Most databases start with a question you hand to a research agent. Simply click "Start research..." in the library and describe what you want to find out, and the agent starts a database as soon as it has something to store. Folders keep related databases together, and sharing a folder shares everything inside it.

Attributes#

An attribute is a data field on a record. Think of attributes as the light, sortable metadata of a record rather than its deep content. A patent's claims or a product's description are what you read one record at a time. Attributes are what you want to know at a glance, so you can scan, filter and chart a whole set of records at once.

• System attributes are built in, e.g. a patent's title, applicants, dates, status and classifications or a product's name and websites.
• Custom attributes are the ones you create, or an agent creates as it researches. A product's categories and manufacturers live here, next to a reviewer's verdict or a priority.

Attribute types#

Every attribute has a type, which decides what its values look like and how they sort, filter and chart. For custom attributes you can choose one of the types below:

Most types need nothing beyond a name. A select or multi-select carries a list of options that you label and color, and a note attribute gives every record a rich-text note of its own. The type is the one thing you can't change later. Everything else, i.e. the name, the description and the options, can change at any time.

Creating an attribute#

You add a custom attribute from a table, and it lands there as a new column.

To change an attribute later, open the menu on its column header and choose "Edit attribute". You can also delete it from there. Be aware that deleting an attribute removes its values from every record in the database, while "Don't show on this table" only hides the column.

Setting values#

You set a value right in a table cell. Click the cell and type, pick an option or choose a date, depending on the type.

The same attributes also line up under the title when you open a single record. That is the comfortable place to fill in several at once while you read.

Filling a column with AI#

Typing a hundred values by hand is the part nobody wants. So select the rows on a table and click "Ask agent" in the footer, or simply ask a research agent to fill the column. The agent works from each record's own material, e.g. a patent's claims or a product's doc.

The agent reads the attribute's description to know what belongs in the column, so write one wherever the name alone would not settle it.

Filtering, sorting and charting#

A custom attribute filters and sorts like any built-in column. You find both in the menu on its column header.

Any attribute can also become a chart. Choose "Visualize as chart" in the same menu, and from the preview you can add the chart to a dashboard.

Sharing and access#

Most patent studies are teamwork, e.g. a searcher collects the prior art and an attorney reviews the claim charts. A new database is private unless you create it inside a shared folder. To share it, click Share in its header. There you give your whole organization or single members one of these levels:

You can also let "Anyone with the link" read the database without signing in. Be aware that this can make its apps public too.

Where a database is stored#

By default, a database is stored in our cloud, where your team works on it together and agents keep working when you close the window. If your research has to stay off our cloud, e.g. because a client requires it, choose Local under Settings > Storage location. New databases are then only kept in your browser or, in the desktop app, on your device. Owners and admins can also set this for the whole organization under Settings > Policies.

Files and downloads#

Every database has its own files, e.g. the screenshots and PDFs an agent saved while browsing and the files you attached to a conversation or uploaded into a note. To see them all, click the name of the database in the header and choose "Browse files".

To take your data with you, click Share on a table and choose "Download as CSV" or "Download as Excel". A single patent downloads as Excel, Word or PDF and a claim chart as Word or PDF, each with the Download button above its title.

Undo and the trash#

When something goes wrong, e.g. you overwrote a value or deleted the wrong product, you can simply take it back. Press Ctrl+Z, or Cmd+Z on a Mac, to undo your last change. That also works for changes a research agent made for you.

Whatever you delete moves to the trash first, whether it is a whole database or something inside it, such as a record, a page or an attribute. You find the trash in the sidebar and can restore everything in it for 7 days. After that it is deleted for good.

Limits and storage#

These are the limits of a single database:

Cloud storage is shared by your whole organization, and your plan sets how much you get, as listed on the pricing page.