Tables

Hundreds of patents and a handful of products make thousands of mappings, and you will not read them all. A table is your lens. Every research database starts with two, a Patents table and a Products table, and you can add more. Each table lists one kind of record: rows are either patents or products, never both at once.

A table at a glance#

Here is a Patents table for a research database. Each row is one patent; the first columns carry its own fields, and every product you are checking it against adds a column of mapping scores. Your eye goes straight to the color.

In a single look: the Toyota row matches the Aurora cell column outright, a couple of other patents score high, and most rows sit lower and can wait. That coloring is the whole point of the table. It turns thousands of scores into something you can scan.

When to reach for a table#

• To read row by row: where a dashboard shows the shape of the whole field, a table is for working one record at a time.
• To find the dangerous few: filter the scores down to the rows whose claims actually threaten a product, and ignore the rest.
• To check a single patent: pull up one publication number and read every claim score and field side by side.
• To build a shortlist: narrow to the handful worth a closer look, then open them or export the list.

The anatomy of a table#

A table is rows and columns, and both mean something specific. Every row is one record, a patent or a product, never a mix. Columns come in two kinds.

Attribute columns#

Attribute columns show the fields of the record itself. A patents table can show titles, applicants, dates, classifications and status; a products table can show websites, categories, manufacturers and the other product attributes. Add the ones you need and hide the rest.

Mapping columns#

The other kind of column holds a mapping. Where a patent and a product have been compared, the cell shows that mapping's per-claim score, colored by its risk band. That score cell is where your product meets each patent, and it is the reason the table exists. Click a cell to open the full mapping behind the number.

Four bands sort the scores: critical for an exact 100% match, high from 81 to 99%, medium from 61 to 80%, and low at 60% and below.

The same cell reads from either side. On a Products table the rows are your products and the patent columns carry the scores, but a 100% is a 100% whichever way you came at it.

Filtering#

A table is meant to be worked, and filtering is how you work it. Pick a column, choose an operator, and the rows that fail the test drop away. Every option carries a count, so you can see how many rows it keeps before you commit. Add a filter from the toolbar, or open any column's header menu and filter by that column directly.

The move that matters is filtering a mapping column down to the critical and high bands. The thousands of rows collapse to the few patents whose claims actually threaten your product, and those are the ones worth opening.

Layer on a second filter, a single applicant or in-force status only, and the shortlist sharpens further. When the list is right, export it to CSV or Excel and the rows and columns travel with it.

Sorting#

Where a filter removes rows, sorting reorders the ones you keep. Open a column's header menu and sort ascending or descending; a small arrow on the header marks the active direction, and you can clear it just as quickly. Sort a mapping column from the top down to float the patents that match your product to the head of the list.

Searching#

Search jumps straight to a record you already have in mind. Type a publication number, a title or an applicant into the search box and the table keeps only what matches the text. Where a filter narrows by a rule, search narrows by free text, so it is the fastest way to pull up one patent without building a filter at all.

Visualize a column as a chart#

Any column can become a chart without leaving the table. Open the column's header menu, choose "Visualize as chart", and a preview appears, binned the way that column deserves: a status column as a breakdown, a date as a trend, an applicant as a ranking. Add it to a dashboard to keep it around.

Showing and hiding columns#

You will not want every column on screen at once. Hide one straight from its header menu with "Don't show on page", or open the display settings to manage them all: reorder the columns, switch between a compact and an expanded row height, and add any column back when you need it again.