Getting started

Nodes-IP is an AI-powered platform for patent drafting and prior art research. You create a matter for each invention and work through four areas in any order: prior art search, claims drafting, figures, and application composition. An AI assistant with full context on your matter works alongside you in all four.

Signing in

Sign in with Google, Microsoft, or your email address. Email sign-in sends you a one-time code; enter it on the next screen to continue. You return to whatever page you had open last, sidebar and all; the first time, or after a while away, you land on the assistant, ready to ask a question or set up your first matter.

Your first matter

A matter is the container for one invention. The Matters tab covers matters in full; the short version:

  1. Open Matters in the left sidebar and click New matter. The reference and name are both optional, so you can fill them in later.
  2. Add an application to the matter and pick its jurisdiction (US, EP, or PCT). The application is the filing you draft: its title, claims, sections, and attached parties all live on the application.
  3. Open the matter. The workspace switches to it: the sidebar names the matter and its application, and the pages under them fill with its content.

From here you can draft claims, write sections, run a prior art search, collect sources, and manage figures, in whatever order suits the case.

A tour of the workspace

The shell has three columns that run the full height of the window and stay in place while you navigate: the left sidebar, the page, and the right rail.

Where you are

The row above the page shows where you are: Home and the current page. What you are working on is named in the left sidebar.

The Nodes-IP logo at the top of the sidebar takes you to the home page. Below it, the navigation is grouped by scope, from account-wide down to a single filing, with a line between the groups:

  • Patents, Classifications and Parties: patent database search, classification lookup, and your reusable list of inventors and applicants. They work with or without an open matter; see Prior art.
  • The open matter, then Sources, Figures and Reference signs. The first row names the matter you have open and leads to the list of all your matters. The pages under it are shared by every application in the matter.
  • The open application, then Claims, Sections and Versions. The first row names the filing you are drafting and leads to the matter's applications. The pages under it belong to that filing.

Every page stays in place even without an open matter; the ones that need a matter or an application are greyed out until you open one. The Matters tab explains how to switch.

Click the line along the sidebar's right edge to collapse it to icons and give the page more room (Ctrl+B does the same). Collapsed, the lines between the groups stay and hovering an icon shows its label, or for the matter and application rows, what you have open. Your choice is remembered between sessions.

The sidebar remembers where you were. Returning to a page you have already visited reopens it with its search, filters, and open item intact, so you can move back and forth between pages without losing your place. Clicking the button for the page you are already on resets it to a clean view, and so does switching to another matter or application.

As you write anywhere in the workspace, mentions like claim 1, FIG. 2, or a reference sign become linked chips that survive renumbering; see References.

The AI assistant

The right rail is an icon strip. The speech-bubble icon opens the assistant panel: a docked chat that reads your entire matter and can search prior art, draft claims, and edit your application on your behalf. Edits arrive as pending changes you review and approve. Drag the panel edge to resize it, or maximize it to fill the screen. The Assistant tab covers it in depth.

Preview

The eye icon opens the Preview panel, a live rendering of the assembled application document exactly as it exports to Word. It appears once a matter is open. See the Preview tab.

Help and settings

At the bottom of the right rail sit Help (this dialog, also opened by pressing ?) and Settings (theme, editor preferences, and the assistant's AI model). Your subscription and profile live under Account.