Kontakt

Chat Module: The AI PDF Reader for IP Professionals — Ask Instead of Search

Patent documents, briefs, and technical materials are long, dense, and often use coined terms for technical features that do not match everyday terminology. For patent attorneys, in-house IP teams, patent engineers, and examiners, the pattern is usually the same: you have a relevant document, you know which feature you are looking for—but not where it is stated or whether it is disclosed using different wording. Classic PDF search fails on coined terms and “soft” disclosure.

The Chat Module turns long PDFs into a source you can “interview”: upload a document (or select one), ask questions in natural language, keep conversational context—and get answers that you can verify via smart jump links directly at the original text passages with one click.

Important: the Chat Module is not “just a chat.” It combines a PDF viewer, OCR extraction, chunking for long texts, and—depending on the document mode—optional retrieval (vector search for documents that are not uploaded and are stored server-side).

The result feels like a single, consistent workflow for patent attorneys, examiners, in-house counsel, and patent engineers: ask questions, get relevant passages, verify the passages—and do it in a user-friendly, intuitive way.

In this article

Why PDF work eats time in IP practice

  • You know which feature you need—what’s missing is the disclosure passage: In day-to-day work, the problem is rarely “understanding the topic,” but rather finding the relevant feature and assessing how it should be construed.
  • Coined terms & invented wording: Patent language intentionally differs from everyday terms. Example: instead of “motor,” you’ll find “drive unit.” A search for “motor” then returns nothing—whereas a well-configured AI can surface similar passages and guide you to the relevant section.
  • Scans & “PDFs without text”: If the text exists only as an image, Ctrl+F won’t help—OCR becomes a prerequisite. But waiting minutes for OCR processing is frustrating.
  • You read a lot—and often for nothing: You check passages, skim paragraphs, discard them, and keep searching. This costs less “time” than attention—and that’s exactly what you need later for solid argumentation.
  • Skimming without context: When you see a document for the first time, you lack orientation: what is it about, which terms matter, where are definitions and embodiments? Getting “up to speed” consumes time and focus.

What you gain with the Chat Module in practice

The same bottleneck shows up again and again in IP work: the information is probably in the document—but access is expensive. “Expensive” doesn’t just mean minutes; it also means attention: if you land on the wrong passages ten times and have to re-orient yourself each time, you lose speed, make mistakes more easily, and have less capacity for the work that actually matters.

It is far more effective to read the passages an AI flags as most relevant first: they are “mathematically” closer to the feature you’re looking for than random skimming—and they reduce unnecessary reading.

The Chat Module is especially useful for getting up to speed: with a short intro, an automatic reference numerals list, and claim construction plus feature search—so you understand faster what matters in the document.

The Chat Module shifts your workflow from “search & scroll” to “understand & verify”:

  • The perfect complement to research tools: Research tools help you find documents. The Chat Module accelerates the substantive analysis of documents you already know—e.g., when analyzing office actions and prior-art documents where the document is fixed and needs a clean, thorough read.
  • Relevant first: A well-tuned AI shows you the passages most likely to matter first. That increases the chance you read less irrelevant text and reach the disclosure passage faster.
  • Go straight to the source: Answers can include references (e.g., page/paragraph) to make verification in the viewer fast.
  • Clickable citations (jump links): Click a citation or reference in the chat window and jump directly to the passage—no manual searching or scrolling.
  • One workflow instead of tool ping-pong: PDF viewer and Q&A are connected, so you don’t have to bounce between a PDF app, notes, and chat.
  • Claims & figures as a starting point—even without a list: For many patent attorneys, claims and figures are the first entry point. However, many documents do not contain a (clean) reference numerals list. With “Create reference numerals list”, you can conveniently review the list, follow it along the figures, and assess embodiments in context.
  • Reference numerals with jump links: Reference numerals are equipped with jump links so you can jump to the relevant passage and review the embodiment context—without manual scrolling.

Typical use cases by role

  • For patent attorneys & in-house counsel: Get oriented faster, reach the disclosure passage faster, and get to claim construction and the “what does it actually say?” quicker—ideal for analyzing any prior art, whether from office actions, opponent submissions in opposition/nullity proceedings, prior art from a searcher, etc.
  • For examiners: Identify and assess features faster, determine construction more easily, recognize alternative embodiments, and follow figures more reliably with an automatically generated reference numerals list—without searching for a needle in 80 pages. Example: “Does the document describe an alternative to an electrical mechanism?”

How to use the Chat Module as an AI PDF Reader (best practices)

  1. Select a document: Upload a PDF to Patentraum.
  2. Press the “Intro” button: Generate a quick starting point by clicking the Intro button. It also helps confirm that the AI is referencing the correct document.
  3. Press the “Tasks/Goals” button: Use the quick button to list the problem statement and objective of the document, so you understand what the patent document is trying to solve.
  4. Press the “Reference numerals list” button: Generate a reference numerals list—even if the document itself does not include one.
  5. Jump to claims or figures: Jump directly into claims or figures and work along the generated reference numerals list.
  6. Clarify unclear features with “Construction”: Use the Construction button to understand terms/features better in document context. The AI is configured to quote the relevant passages first and only then provide a summary.
  7. Find features & alternatives with “Feature search”: Use the Feature Search input field to locate features, synonyms, and alternative phrasings.
  8. Ask detailed questions (chat): Ask concrete verification questions (“Where does it say …?”) and use the jump link to go straight to the original passage to check context.
  9. Verify passages in the original: Verify the cited passages directly in the original text via smart jump links.

Quick demo (video)

If you’d like to see the workflow in action, here is a short demo:

YouTube: Watch the Chat Module demo

Summary

If you regularly work with long patent PDFs, exhibits, or technical reports, the Chat Module is the direct path from “I need to get oriented first” to “I know exactly where it is.” The most important effect is getting up to speed faster: start with an intro, work along references/reference numerals, and verify with one click directly at the original passages.

Try the Chat Module now. In Word, simply search for the Patentraum add-in and add it. The Chat Module is included in the three-week free trial. Enjoy!

  • #AIPDFReader #PatentPDF #DocumentAnalysis #OCR #LegalTech #PatentAttorney #InhouseIP #PatentEngineering