What is a Cluster?

A Cluster is a collection of related patents. The Cluster is named using the most prevalent ideas contained within the related patents. A granted patent or patent application can be in one or more Clusters.

How are Clusters created?

Clusters are periodically created with a proprietary algorithm. Clusters are not created at the time of your search.

What is a Cluster Map?

A Cluster Map is a visual representation of related clusters. It is dynamically created at the time of your search and is used to visually represent a search result. A Cluster Map organizes the patents from the search result by their 'categories'. For instance, a search on 'Fuel' will find patents related to 'Fuel Injection' and 'Fuel Cells'. Patents related to 'Fuel Cells' will be organized and visualized within one Cluster Map. Patents related to 'Fuel Injection' will be organized into a different Cluster Map.

What is a Cluster Landscape?

PriorIP takes all the patents returned from the search and organizes them based on which clusters they belong. We then create a dynamic set of Cluster Maps and rank them by relevance to the search. We call the resulting visualization a Cluster Landscape. It is the set of all Clusters Maps, ordered 4 to a page. The Cluster Landscape page is the page seen when the 'Visualize IP Search Results' link is selected from the Search Results page.

How does the PriorIP search work?

The Search Results Page shows patents most closely related to the search terms. The 'Score' column shows a relative ranking of the strength of the match to the search terms. Selecting 'next' will show the next 25 highest ranking matches. Selecting 'Visualize IP Search Results' to the right of the search results will bring up the 'Cluster Landscape' page.

What is a Cluster Neighborhood?

In addition to viewing the Cluster Landscape from the search results page, you can also view the clusters in ’browse mode’. Start by searching for an interesting patent and viewing the patent detail page by selecting the link from the search results page. From the patent detail page, select the link on the right side of the page under ’Visually Browse Related IP’. The Cluster Neighborhood Map is presented. The central cluster, containing the just-viewed patent, is colored blue and related clusters are colored gold. To view all patents contained in the blue cluster, select the ’Patents’ tab above the map. To research related clusters displayed in the map, hover the mouse over an interesting cluster. Two choices are presented. View a pop-up window containing summary information about the cluster or re-center the map to the selected cluster.