ResponseGen Patent App

ResponseGen organizes and streamlines communicating with the patent office during patent prosecution. Users create a document structure comprising different parts of the response to office actions, including special sections responsive to each reason for rejection given by the patent examiner. The sections are templated for ease of use, and fill in the correct data based on the specific patent application.

ResponseGen is a single-page application that runs in a browser for desktop use, and has server-side and relational database components to store the data.

Built With

Uses React, Redux, Node.js, Express, Passport, PostgreSQL, Slate.js (rich-text editor), and DOCX (Word-compatible file generation). (A full list of dependencies can be found in package.json.)

Getting Started

First, ensure that you have the following software installed on your computer:

• Node.js
• PostgreSQL
• Nodemon

Installing

To get the development environment running:

Download this project. npm install npm start

Create database, tables, and needed records

ResponseGen stores data in a database in PostgreSQL.

To make the initial database, execute the SQL commands found in the database.sql file. Use a tool like Postico (https://eggerapps.at/postico/) to execute the commands.

The commands will create the database and tables, and will also populate some tables with needed data.

Initial admin account

Only an authenticated adminstrator user may register and edit user accounts. Because of this, an initial administrator user account must exist.

The SQL commands create an adminstrator user account with the following credentials:

username: admin
password: admin

Be sure to immediately make a new administrator account and mark this account as inactive upon deployment.

Screenshot

Documentation

How to perform common tasks:

Log In and Update Admin Account

For security, the first user must inactivate the built-in admin account. Log in as described in the Initial admin account section, above, and follow the instructions to inactivate this user, below.

Add User

This feature in only available to admin users. To add a user:

1. Log in using an admin account.
2. Choose Users from the navigation bar.
3. Press the Register User button.
4. Add fields as appropriate and press Register. To make the new user an admin, find the user in the resulting list click the checkbox in the admin column.

Change user's active status

This feature in only available to admin users. To add a user:

1. Log in using an admin account.
2. Choose Users from the navigation bar.
3. Click the checkbox in the Active column. If you make the user account that you're loggin in with inactive, you will immediately be unable to operate the application. If no admin-level user accounts are active, then you will be unable to use the functions of the Users page.

Add Application

All users may add an application. To add an application:

1. Choose Dashboard from the navigation bar.
2. Click the Add Application button.
3. Choose the user who will be the application's owner. This affects whether that application will appear in a given user's list. Non-admin-level users may only add applications for their own user.
4. Enter the application number in the Application Number field.
5. You may press the Search button to query the USPTO PEDS database. If the application number is available, the fields will be populated.
6. Review, update, or enter any fields and click Add Application.

Find Application

All users may find applications. Admin-level users may find all applications. Non-admin-level users may only find ones that they own. Applications are viewed in the Dashboard, available from the navigation bar.

Add Office Action

All users may add office actions, but non-admin-level users may only add office actions for their own applications. To add an office action:

1. Select the application from the Dashboard.
2. Press the New Response button.
3. Enter fields in the form and press Add Office Action.

Add Issues

All users may add issues, but non-admin-level users may only add issues to their own application's office actions. To add an issue:

1. Select the application from the Dashboard.
2. Select an office action to which to add an issue.
3. Press the Add Item button on the left-hand side of the view at the bottom of the Office Action Issues list.
4. Choose a Template, enter relevant claims, and click Add Issue.

Add/Edit Responses

Only non-admin users may add responses. To add a response:

1. Select the application and then the office action to make a response for.
2. Select the issue in the left-hand side of the view in the Office Action Issues list. Issues without responses are shown in gray text.
3. Select the desired Template and press Add Template. You may edit the text either in the Template Preview, later in the Document Preview.

Add Template

Only admin-level users may add templates.

1. Select Templates from the Navigation Bar.
2. Press the Add Template button.
3. Enter the Template Name.
4. Select the user for which the Template will appear. Selecting All makes it available to all non-admin users.
5. Select the Template Type. The Template will be available for that type.
6. Type the Template text in the Type Here... box. You will only be able to add the Template if the Template text has valid syntax.

Adding a field to a template

You may insert a text field that will be automatically filled in with data related to the user, application, office action, or issue, depending on the field.

To add a field, position the cursor at the point to insert the field, press the Insert Field button, and choose the field from the list.

Deployment

Authors

This project was authored by David Mayou, Josh Byron, Phia Thao, and Travis Lang.

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the inspiration of Brian Wallenfelt, and technical assistance of the the staff and instructors at Prime Digital Academy.