Graphs are the way IPRally's AI reads a patent document. You can build a search graph on your own or let the computer parse a free text input or claim text through the publication number search with a claim. A well-constructed search graph will lead to higher accuracy results. Similar to Boolean keyword search, it is a skill to learn and intuition to develop. To make the learning easier, we compiled following checklist:
Are all essential features and relations identified?
Do they exist somewhere in the graph?
If not, add them manually
Is the graph logically formed?
Imagine "comprises" / "is" / "has the function of" / "relates to other features such that..." between the nodes
If not, edit manually
Are the key features (close to the tree root) descriptive enough?
E.g. "system" -> "bio diesel refining system"
E.g. "method" -> "method of producing renewable fuel"
If not, edit the graph directly
Are there redundant items or duplicate items?
Remove them manually
Let's see the checklist in action. We start with following claim text which IPRally will parse: "A coffee cup comprising a bottom, a cylindrical sidewall and a handle, whereby the handle is attached to the sidewall and there is also provided a liquid level sensor."
This will provide the following graph (with parser version 3/2021):
The graph will as such provide quite good search results, but the feature "liquid level sensor" is not positioned as under the "coffee cup" due to the wording "there is also provided..." in which a human reader interprets "there" as referring to the "coffee cup" but the machine doesn't. Thus, the sensor is unnecessarily written in the relation under the "handle" and as a feature separated from the root feature "coffee cup".
Let's fix that through deleting "and there is also provided liquid level sensor" completely from the handle's relation (via Backspace) and indenting via TAB the "liquid level sensor" to become part of the root feature:
A list of all keyboard shortcuts for editing the graph is available under the keyboard icon in the low right corner of the editor. In addition to indenting and editing items, you can outdent, delete and create new items.
Shifting items vertically up and down will not affect search results but can make the graph more logical and readable. So if you want to keep the order of the Coffee cup's parts you can move the "bottom" and the "cylindrical sidewall" up through Shift+UP:
As of the last item on the checklist: If you decide to remove one of the features, for example "bottom" you can do it via Backspace from your keyboard. You can also right-click on the dot in front of the feature and choose "Delete feature":
You may notice that "Delete feature" is not possible for "cylindrical sidewall" - the reason is that it is part of a relation. Removing it will break the logic of the graph. Through pressing on a feature you see where else it is referred inside the graph:
"Skip feature" on the other hand will keep the feature as part of the search graph and it'll provide context to the AI for the search while at the same time signalling to it to not concentrate on it too much.
New product versions will gradually improve the automatic graph quality, but a human supervision is still advisable. Learn more about editing a graph in this detailed Video tutorial.