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Nodes and edges explained
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After our abstraction process completes, you’ll be redirected to our Graph Editor:
The Invention graph is shown prominently on the right side of the Graph Editor with the Node and Outline Panels on the left. For purely physical inventions (with no inventive method or product), the graph will be shown in a single view showing Component Nodes in a tree along with the subcomponent relationships to other component nodes. However, for patent applications with an inventive method, other graph views or “slices” are available from the View Selector at the top of the Graph Editor, shown below:
From this View Selector, you can navigate to other Graph Views, which will show different combinations of the nodes in the Invention Graph. Generally, we break the Invention Graph into these slices to prevent the graph from cluttering the Graph Editor, and ease user-comprehension of various parts of the graph. Each of the Graph Views and Node Types are further described below.
In any of the Graph Views, nodes can be dragged and dropped around the Graph Editor. If you need to clean up your work area, you can use the refresh icon in the upper left corner of the Graph Editor to automatically rearrange the nodes in a less cluttered arrangement.
The System View shows all the Component Nodes in the Invention Graph. Component Nodes represent physical parts of the system invention. The Component Nodes of each Invention Graph are always arranged in a tree representing the hierarchy of components and subcomponents of the invention. Thus, edges shown in the System View are hierarchical edges representing a component-subcomponent relationship between nodes.
Because every invention in Patentext must have a physical system behind it, the System View will be present in every Invention Graph. However, for inventions without an inventive system (e.g., software inventions), the System View may show a generic or well-known system configured to execute an inventive method.
To access common actions that might be helpful to edit the graph, right click on a node to delete the node, add a subcomponent, or reparent the node.
Deleting Nodes
Deleting a node is somewhat self-explanatory. However, upon selecting the “Delete Node” option from the context menu, you’ll be prompted to select from between two delete options:
Selecting “Cascade Delete” will cause the selected Component Node and all subcomponents to be deleted from the Invention Graph.
Selecting “Reparent Delete” will delete the selected Component Node, and will reparent any child nodes of the selected Component to the parent of the select Component Node.
Reparenting Nodes