The Patent

The patent is divided into five important sections: The Front Page and Abstract, the Figures, The Background and Summay, the Preffered Embodiment, and the Claims.

The Front Page and Abstract

The front page of the patent is designed to inform the reader of the most important aspects of the patent in a consise manner. The front page contains:

The patent number
[54]The title
[76]A list of the inventors
[21] & [22] The application number and the date the application was filed
[51]The International Classifications
[52]The U.S. Classifications - The United States classifications are frequently modified and updated. The list of Classes and Subclasses on the patent is probably not valid
[58]The search conducted by the examiner - Again, the classes and subclasses searched may not be valid.
[56]List of prior art cited - This is an important list of patents. They are guranteed to be related in some manner to this patent.
[57]The Abstract of the patent
The number of claims and figures in the patent

The abstract is a paragraph that describes in minor detail the workings and novel features of the invention. In combination with other information on the front page of the patent, it allows the reader to summarize the major points of the invention.

The Figures

The figures used to describe the invention are found immediately following the front page. Each page may have one or many figures representing various views of the invention or possibly even alternate designs. The figures are referenced mainly from the "Preffered Embodiment".

The Background and Summary

This Background section is included in the patent as an overview of the existing art. It covers the advantages and disadvanteges of the prior art of the patented invention. The Summary lists the ways in which the patent is superrior to the prior art.

The Preffered Embodiment

This section contains a deatailed listing of the invention. The invention is described in detail where every part mentioned (and numbered) is also listed in one of the accompanying figures.

The Claims

The most important part of the patent is the claims. A claim os one gramatically correct sentance. This is where the novel art is protected. The Claims must describe the invention in a sequential manner, i.e. list and describe the elements of the invention in a sequential manner from some frame of reference. The claims focus on the interrelationship of elements. Can't use single means at point of novelty.
Indepentant: Stands on its own, does not refer to another claim.
Dependant: refers to Independent claim or other dependent claim. These claims carry all of the dependencies of the claims to which they refer.

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