Tags and Tagging

Tagging - Overview & Concepts

Ways to create Tags:

1. Tagging Search Results
2. Quick Import to Search (with Automatic Tag Creation)
3. Tagging Patent Families in the Result List
4. Importing Patent Data for Tag Creation
   • Edit Mismatched External Patent Numbers
   • Advanced Use Case: Structuring Tags via Excel Upload (Folder/Tag hierarchy)
   • Handy Hints when importing Patent Data for Tag Creation

Using Tags for Analyses

Sharing Tags

Tagging - Overview & Concepts

Tagging in LexisNexis PatentSight+ allows you to group patent families by assigning them a label (tag). This makes it easier to analyze sets of patents that are not easily captured using standard search criteria, such as internal business units, technology categories, or custom classifications.

Tagging can also be used to add internal or external information to a patent family, such as internal reference numbers or labels, which can later be displayed to ease mapping of patents, supporting more structured analysis and reporting.

PatentSight provides multiple ways to create and manage tags depending on your use case, including tagging search results, using the Tagging Tool, and importing patent data.

Note: Please be aware that tags are static for example, if you have tagged a technology field and later new patents are filed in that field, these patents will not be added to your tag automatically.

It is also imperative to mention at this stage that Custom Fields in PatentSight+ are similar to Tags, in that custom fields allow you to map information to patents of your choice. In contrast to tags however, custom fields can be used not only as search fields and groupings in charts and tables they can also be used as measures such as numerical value, e.g. on chart axes, or in tables. For this reason, when using Custom Fields, multiple values can also be attributed per patent family. For more information on custom fields, click HERE.

Ways to create Tags

The PatentSight+ platform offers four ways to create tags:

• Tagging the results of searches, allows you to save your search results for later analyses.
• The option Quick Import Search Results allows you to import patent numbers directly into the search field. The tag will be saved automatically, however, there is no option to review or edit mismatched patent numbers during the import process.
• With the Tagging Tool in the Result List, you can create and edit tags while browsing through your search results in the Result List, tagging patent families as you go.
• The option Import Data to Tag allows you to import a large number of patents into PatentSight+, alongside internal or external information (optional). This option allows you to review and edit mismatched patent numbers for example.

1. Tagging Search Results

You may want to tag the results of a search you have performed in the search field in order to save them for later analysis. This allows you to capture a specific set of patent families regardless of how the search was created, such as through full-text queries, time filters, IPC selections, or AI Classifiers. You can then group them under a chosen tag name for future use.

To tag the result of search, click on "Tag" icon in the bottom menu of the search field:

From here, you can either create a new tag or add/remove patents to/from an existing tag.

Create new tag

	Click on “Create new tag …..”
	Select the folder in which you want to save your tag
	Name the tag
	Select “Confirm” to save your tag

Add/remove patents to/from an existing tag

	Select an existing tag
	Click here to add or to remove patents to/from an existing tag, e.g., “GSK”

2. Quick Import to Search (with Automatic Tag Creation)

Quick Import allows direct import of patent numbers into PatentSight's search panel, automatically creating a tag saved in the "Quick Imports" folder, which can be found in your user folder. Once imported, you can always rename the tag or save it in a different folder. 

NOTE: It does not support reviewing or editing mismatched numbers, so use it only with lists that are correctly formatted and importable into PatentSight. Click HERE to learn more on Importable Number Formats.

If you want to or need to review and edit mismatched numbers upon import, or to see how a list of patent numbers imported has been matched, we recommend using the Import Data to Tag option instead.

You can use the import option “Quick Import Search Results“ to add patent numbers to the search panel:

	Copy external patent numbers from the List
	Click on “Quick Import Search Results” from the 'Import' drop down menu of your workbook.
	Paste the copied numbers
	Select 'Proceed'.

The patent numbers will be added to your search as shown below. Note that you can 'Edit Tag' by clicking tag labelled 'Quick_Import_date' in the Field Search. The 'Edit Tag' window allows you to check the matched imported families, ability to rename the Tag Name and edit Sharing Settings:

The tag name is shown in charts and tables, where the measure 'Tag' is selected. Almost, all charts are grouped by “Owner” as a default:

3. Tagging Patent Families in the Result List

The Tagging Tool in the Result List enables you to review patent families and assign tags as you work through them. It allows you to manage up to ten tags simultaneously, making it easy to categorize patent families efficiently during your review.

To access the tagging tool in the Result List:

	Run your desired search
	Open Analysis Templates, and either click 'favourites' or search in the field.
	Search for the template “Result List.”

The Tagging Tool is embedded at the bottom of the Result List, and you can activate by clicking “Start Tagging.”

To add tags to the Tagging Tool, click on "Add":

Select the tag(s) you want to add to the Tagging Tool or create a new tag:

	Alternatively, you can always create a new tag
	Select an existing tag to add to the Tagging tool
	Confirm your selection by clicking 'Close'
	You can give your tag an alias name if you want it to be named something else whilst using it in the tagging tool.

You can add up to 10 tags to the Tagging Tool at once:

	Select up to maximum of 10 tags
	Confirm your selection by clicking 'Close'

The tags selected will be added to the Tagging Tool:

The tags added to the Tagging Tool are identified by numbers:

How to Use the Tagging Tool in the Result List

The interface of the Tagging Tool in the Result List allows you to add or remove tags at any time:

	Click on “Add” to add further tags to the Tagging Tool
	Click on “Remove” to remove a selected tag from the Tagging Tool
	Click on “Clear all” to remove all tags from the Tagging Tool
	Click on “Save as default” to save your selection of tags as default selection for now and for next time too.

Handy Hints: You can change the numerical order of the tags in the Tagging Tool by dragging a tag to another tag position. Moreover, you can use the gear wheel to hide or show the Tagging Tool options:

Click on the tag number to add a patent family to a tag, and click on the same number again to remove the respective tag from the patent family. In this case, we have shown tag 1 as an example.

How can I work quickly in the Tagging Tool?

Alternatively, you can use the arrow keys of your keyboard to navigate through the Result List and the number keys to add or remove tags from/to patent families:

Finally, you can select and tag multiple patent families at once:

To select multiple patents, all you need to do is make your selection and then press the respective tag number on your keyboard:

By pressing e.g. the number "4" on your keyboard, all patents selected will be added to the tag with displayed with the number 4 in the Tagging Tool. If you press the same number again, the patents selected will be removed from the tag with the number 4.

Note: The tags in the Tagging Tool are updated automatically as you work with the tool – thus, there is no need to save your changes.

4. Importing Patent Data for Tag Creation

Tags are also useful to match external information, e.g., categorization based on your internal IP dept or other search tools for third-party IP.

You can use the import option “Import Data to Tag“ to add patent numbers, whether via copy and paste of patent numbers or via an 'Upload from File'.

	Copy external patent numbers from the List
	Click on “Import Data to Tag” in the Import drop down in your Workbook.
	Paste the copied numbers

Note: Make sure to import either application numbers or publication numbers or patent numbers. Avoid importing different types of numbers at once. For more details on the importable number format, click HERE.

Verifying patent numbers have been matched

	Paste the patent numbers and click “Proceed”
	Check all your patents matched PatentSight or not.

You can create a tag and save into the desired folder:

	Click on “Create New Tag”
	Select a folder in which you want to save your tag and name the tag
	Click here to “Confirm” your tag

You can use “Organize” option to organize and view your tags.

Edit Mismatched External Patent Numbers

In some cases, a list of external patent numbers might include patent numbers, which cannot be matched. PatentSight will detects these mismatched numbers and allows you to edit them.

All the mismatched numbers will be highlighted in different colors and you can choose those numbers to edit.

Once a number has been matched, it's row will be highlighted in green:

Now that all imported numbers have been matched, you can select “Proceed” to create your tag and finalize the tagging.

Advanced Use Case: Structuring Tags via Excel Upload (Folder/Tag hierarchy)

With the function “Import Data to Tag” you can add internal or external information to patent families, sort them into different tags (and folder hierarchy if required), and have them saved in a specified folder. In the example below, we assign 'Business Unit' tags to patent families, but you could also assign technology categories, custom classifications or internal references or labels.

In the process below we explore how to do this via en excel upload to create a folder and tag hierarchy. This is a quick and easy way to upload a slightly more complex tag structure.

Assigning Patents to Business Units

Business Unit 1 has two Subunits: Subunit A and Subunit B. Each Subunit has five patents. We want to analyze Business Unit 1 as a whole. We also want to analyze Subunit A and Subunit B individually and to compare these Subunits to each other, and to Business Unit 1.

Put simply, we want to create a folder hierarchy of tagged patents, that we can analyze in a number of ways.

To do so, we want to create two folders and three tags:

• Top level folder called “Business Unit”,
  • a Tag called “Business Unit 1” (containing all 10 patents of both subunits and saved in the folder “Business Unit”)
• A subfolder called “Subunits” (within the folder “Business Unit”)
  • a Tag called “Subunit A” (containing the 5 patents of Subunit A and saved in the subfolder “Subunits”)
  • a Tag called “Subunit B” (containing the 5 patents of Subunit B and saved in the subfolder “Subunits”)

To create the desired tags and folder structure, first, it is necessary to create an Excel sheet that contains the information you want to import:

	Column A contains the list of external patents to be imported
	Column B indicated the name of the folder (“Business Unit”) to be created and the name of the tag (“Business Unit 1”) to be saved in this folder.
	Column C indicates the name of the folder (“Business Unit”) to be created, the name of the subfolder (“Subunit”) to be created within this folder and the names of the tags (“Subunit A” and “Subunit B”) to be saved in the subfolder

Note: Click HERE to download Sample Data (Excel) for Import Patents To Tag. You can find the above formation, in the tab 'Folder & Tag Name'. Other use case for an excel upload to tag (Import Data to Tag function) are shown in the other tabs of the excel with instructions in each.

In PatentSight+, Hashtags (“#”) are used to indicate the tags (and folders) to be created. Backslashes (“\”) are used to setup a folder structure including subfolders.

• In Column B shown above, the term before the backslash is the name of the folder. The term after the backslash is the name of the tag. 
• In Column C, a second backlash is inserted to create the subfolder “Subunits” within the folder “Business Unit”. You can use as many backslashes as necessary to create more subfolders. 
• The last term is always the tag name. You can create your tags in folder structure as described above

Click on “Import Data to Tag”

Paste all the three column in and click “Proceed”

Look at the matching results and finalize on the matched output

Note: If there are mismatched patent numbers, you can edit them as described above. For an overview of importable number formats, click HERE.

	Click on Workbook from the menu bar and select “Organize”
	You can see the folder “Business Unit” and it contains the tag “Business Unit 1”
	You can see the subfolder “Subunit” and its two tags “Subunit A” or Subunit B”

You can share your tags with your colleagues and give them read/write/admin rights.

	Select “Organize” using Workbook from the menu
	Choose “Business Unit 1”
	Click the pencil icon to edit the settings.
	Open the Sharing settings
	Choose the colleagues name to share the tag

Handy Hints when importing Patent Data for Tag Creation

Easy way of sharing Tags

If you want to share a workbook that contains tags with a colleague, you can save and give them the read/write/admin rights for both workbook and tags, and send them the URL. This will allow them to view/edit the workbook according to the rights given by you, to see the detail of tags you made and to keep working upon your work.

Importing Tags Without Reformatting Your Excel Data

When preparing your Excel file to import data to tag, you do not necessarily have to use one cell per piece of information.

Example 1

For example, using semicolons you can list all patent numbers that should have the same tag within one cell:

Importing the information shown above (A1 to B3) will create the folder "Departments" with the three tags (Department 1, Department 2, Department 3) each containing the patents stated in the respective row.

Example 2

You can also place the information on the tags and folders, into the same cell as your patent number(s):

PatentSight will recognize the hashtag as a divider without having to split this information into different cells.

Example 3

Moreover, you can use the above principle to include information on both multiple patents and multiple tags in one cell:

Importing the information shown above will create three folders that contain the respective tags with the respective patents:

Using Tags for Analyses

You can also work with tags in the Search Field. 

	Select Tag from the Tool bar
	In the 'Select Tag' window, make your selections to add all the relevant tags to the search.

	Next, expand the Analysis Template area.
	Choose the desired template for your analysis.

Almost, all charts are grouped by “Owner” as a default. To analyze the patents in your tags, you need to select “Tag” as grouping. Click 'Owner', to change this to 'Tag' from the drop down list:  

	If “Tag” is not in the list, click on “More” to search for it.
	Enter “tag” into the search field.
	Select “Tag” as grouping for your chart
	Make sure to mark “Tag” as a favorite by clicking on the star icon. That way it will be displayed as grouping later on.

Now you can analyze IP performance as defined by your tags, in your charts and tables. Click HERE to learn how to add 'Tag' as a verticle measure in a table.

Sharing Tags

You can share your tags with your colleagues and give them read/write/admin rights. You can do this from the 'Workbook' menu, or directly from the Search Field.

	Select “Organize” using Workbook from the menu
	Select the folder that the tags sit in. In this example, it's “Business Unit 1”
	Click the pencil icon to edit the settings of the selected tags.
	Open the Sharing settings
	Choose the colleagues name to share the tag

Note: If you want to share a workbook that contains tags with a colleague, you can save and give them the read/write/admin rights for both workbook and tags, and send them the URL. This will allow them to view/edit the workbook according to the rights given by you, to see the detail of tags you made and to keep working upon your work.

Directly from the Search Field

Alternatively, edit and share any tag group by clicking the tag label in the Field Search. Then follow the same steps above to share tags with others.

For any questiions relating to the use of tags, or if you have any difficulty with upload from file, please reach out to a member of the support team on support@lexisnexisip.com.