This page, and those which follow, we provide a roadmap of U.S. Patent No. 6,871,616 with explanatory text of the purpose and goals of each section. The U.S. patent is used as a model because of its well-ordered structure and because its format is similar to patents in other major jurisdictions (e.g., Europe). You should know that the format of issued US patents has changed many times over the years, but the basic content has remained more or less the same. This guide will refer in detail to the most current printed patent format, but you can expect to find the same elements in older patents (if not necessarily in the same places).
If you're not sure what a patent is, or if you have questions about basic patent principles, read our "Patent FAQ" page first - it has lots of information about patents and the patent process.
Now that you've done that, let's look at the main sections of a patent:
If you need help understanding any of the terms found within this tutorial, we have a patent glossary to help define the most commonly used words. |
