Overview
(Work in progress)
The user interface (UI) was designed to be intuitive. If something seems tedious, you are probably not doing it "naturally". Functions become available when you expect them and are just a click away. Many elements of the UI are clickable and give access to more detail and further functionality.
Upon logging in, you are directed to the home page. This page is also reached via the "Home" tab on the top right navigation bar.
This home page shows your (the connected user's) personal portfolio status and open tasks.
- Categories The top left box shows the different matter categories you have, and how many matters you have in each. Click in a category row to display the list of your matters.
From this box you will also create new matters. Either click the "+" sign next to a category row to add a new matter to that category, or click "New matter".
- Open Tasks Your open tasks for the next year are listed in the two boxes on the right (renewals at the bottom, and tasks other than renewals at the top).
Here you can check the tasks you wish to clear and set the date at which they are cleared.
Clicking on a matter reference opens the matter's detail view.
Clicking on a task name brings up a dialog allowing you to see related tasks and edit them.
Users can select task types that they wish to follow more specifically, such as tasks requiring substantive work (drafting applications, responding to examiner actions...). Those tasks are displayed upon checking "Mine".
More specifically, all tasks connected to a matter are by default assigned to the user responsible for the matter and displayed when "All tasks" is checked. However, tasks can be individually reassigned to other users (through an assigned_to field of the task). If the current user wishes to see a task in the "Mine" list, he will insert his user name in that task's assigned_to field.
A task can in fact be reassigned to any user. Thus reassigned tasks will appear in that user's "All tasks" list and "Mine" list.
The system can be configured to automatically reassign specific tasks to specific users (such as administrative tasks) or to the matter's responsible user (so that they display in the "Mine" list). This is set in the default_responsible and use_matter_resp fields of the event_name table.
- Users' tasks The bottom left box lists all the users who have open tasks (including reassigned tasks). The numbers represent the open tasks each user has. The date is the most urgent deadline.
Clicking on a user name switches to that user's personal home page, so that anyone can view anyone's tasks. (This system is meant to be transparent so that anyone can check that deadlines are met.)
This page is reached via the "Matter" tab on the top right navigation bar. The Matter tab offers several items, currently PAT (Patents), TM (Trademarks), LTG (Litigation), OTH (Others). Each item encompasses related IP categories, i.e. PAT also contains provisional applications, utility models, etc., TM also contains designs, LTG also contains oppositions - this is configurable in the matter_category table.
Just clicking on "Matter" displays all matter categories, sorted initially by case reference.
- Case reference and UID Related matters, for instance patents of a same family, should share strictly the same case reference. This is how related matters are grouped in phpIP. If you are used to suffixing case references with a country code and other elements, read on.
The "UID" column displays a unique "human-readable" identifier of the matter, which is the sequence formed by the case reference, the country code, the origin (another country code), the type (divisional, continuation...), and an eventual index. The last two or three elements will be null most of the time, and will thus not be displayed. See the matter table details.
- Filtering Note that you can type search terms in the "filter boxes" under the header names. The list will be dynamically updated to display only the matters that match the terms you type in the filter boxes. You can type terms in any number of filter boxes to further refine the displayed results - the conditions are ANDed. Except for the title field, the queries performed on the other fields are of the type "starts with...". The dates are therefore displayed in POSIX format (YYYY-MM-DD), so that you can easily filter by year and then month.
If you wish to filter on a term at any position in a field, first key in "%25", which is the URL-encoded version of MySQL's wild character "%".
- Show All/Show Containers By default, the "Show All" option is checked. The whole portfolio is displayed (or all matters corresponding to the specific item you clicked in the "Matter" tab).
Selecting the "Show Containers" option displays only the container matters (identified in the list by the darker rows). A "container" is usually the first matter created in the family - this matter "contains" all the information that can be shared with later created matters in the same family, like the client, inventors, applicants, title...
Preferably, although this is not compulsory, ensure that the container is the matter having the earliest filing date, i.e. the "first filed" matter. You will thus be able to identify your "first filed" matters by simply displaying the containers. (Note however that, in rare circumstances, a family may have multiple containers, for instance if you need to change the inventor list in a CIP patent application, and that the new inventor list is shared with a later filed continuation of the CIP application.)
- Bibliography/Status By default, the display is in "Bibliography" mode (previously "Actor view"). This mode displays essentially parties, i.e. the client, the agent, and the first inventor, and title or description. Note that, although only the first inventor is displayed, the search term entered in the filter box operates on all inventors in the patents.
The "Status" mode displays main event details, such as filing, publication, grant dates and numbers. The publication numbers, when available, link to the application information in Espacenet.
The "Status" column displays the last "status event" of the matter. Events you wish to show as "status events" are configured by setting the status_event flag in the event_name table.
Clicking on a specific matter in the list opens a view of the matter's details in a new window.
This frame gathers all the actors involved in the matter, grouped by roles. You can add as many actors under as many roles as you need. The actor information is summary - mainly their names (or shorter "display names" when they are set in the actor table), and another piece of information you can configure for the role (reference, company, ownership ratio, date). Clicking on the name of an actor opens a modal box with the actor's personal information from the actor table (full name, address, person type, company relationships...). You can directly update the information in that box if necessary.
Clicking on a role opens another modal box showing more information relating the actors to the matter, in particular the actor's reference, the actor's company, the ownership ratio, the date (for instance of entry into force of the ownership), and the sharing mode (i.e. if the actor pertains only to the current matter or if the actor is inherited by children matters). Note that the company is copied from the actor table upon adding the actor to the matter - changing the company later in the actor table will not affect this value, which allows tracing the actor's company at the date he was added to the matter. These elements can be changed in place, even the actor identity. If there are multiple actors under a role, this box also allows you to reorder them by drag-and-drop.
Clicking on the wrench icon next to the role name allows you to configure globally (in the actor_role table) what information is pertinent for the role. For instance, you may select to display the reference for clients and agents but not for inventors and applicants. You may set which roles are shared and which are not (you may wish the client and inventors to be shared among patents of a family, but not the agents and owners).
A "+" sign next to a role name allows you to add an actor to the matter under that role. To add an actor with a new role, use the "Add Actor" button in the actor frame header.
More to come...