Relecura’s UI Gets a New Look and Feel
By Mamata Saha
While Relecura believes it’s critical to innovate consistently as there’s a constant stream of new technologies to adopt, it’s also imperative to pause periodically, reflect, and examine whether the product or the feature is serving its intended purpose for our users. In such situations, seeking feedback from customers is helpful for us to know whether our product is on the right track, or whether it needs modifications equipped to handle a range of user needs.
To that end, we have transitioned from our original user interface (UI) to a new one. The need for a simpler, more intuitive interface where the user could access all the information they required without losing time or going back and forth among several pages, was the primary reason for the move. It’s also important to add here that Relecura’s users have been instrumental in giving shape to the new UI through their meaningful insights and suggestions. When users find something worth their time, energy, and money, they offer authentic and constructive feedback.
In terms of the changes made to the new UI, there are a number of them. The most significant one includes streamlining different workflows and having a common platform with a single sign-in, where users looking for a range of data can gather and multi-task. The enterprise tool is integrated with AI Classifier, Novelty, Tech Tracker, and Tech Explorer in a seamless manner using modern UX designs.
Anyone looking to analyze their ideas or inventions or carry out prior art or invalidity checks can access Novelty from the left blue panel of the Relecura platform. Those keen on categorizing a multitude of their patent documents for more efficient data management, can click on the Classifier icon below Novelty and access the “Generate model” page, the first of the three crucial steps essential for patent classification. Suppose you’ve been struggling to find the technologies your competitors have created or invested in, or wondering what emerging technologies are likely to disrupt the market. In that case, your “go-to” option is fourth in line, i.e., TechTracker.
Similarly, patent documents might include tons of sub-technologies that are challenging to manage manually unless you have weeks or months to spare. Should you want them to be organized into simple categories, resembling a branched-out tree, for easier data extraction and visual appeal, click on the fifth icon on the blue panel titled “Taxonomy.” Finally, if your search for specific technical areas and associated patent and non-patent documents has been an exercise in futility, you can always expand your search using the last tool on the panel, TechExplorer. In a word, while tools such as Novelty, Classifier, and Taxonomy help you find what you’re looking for using the same browser, TechTracker and TechExplorer open up a new browser to guide you to the information you need.
For most of us, it becomes challenging to assimilate information unless we can visualize it. With that in mind, we have shared a few images of the crucial modifications to the interface to enhance the user experience.
To begin with, in the old UI, the Advanced or Fielded search option takes you to a different page with the left panel containing a gamut of different search parameters. At the same time, the new UI includes the Fielded and Expert search options with dropdowns including the same set of parameters. Again, the point is easy access to make the search process faster and less complex.
Another change worth mentioning includes graphs. In addition to the standard and custom graph types, and components of the old UI, the new UI has introduced two new graphs, i.e., animation and dashboard. A crucial aspect of visual data representation, the addition of these graphs will give users more choice and scope to experiment and find those suitable for the data they want to represent. Last but not least, data representation in the form of a branched-out tree, Taxonomy, has also undergone a change in terms of its aesthetics and is now more easy on the eye. Users are likely to find it easier to read and analyze topics as well as documents of interest and relevance.
As far as more minor changes go, some options present in the original UI, such as drill-down, bucketing, and trend, have been done away with as more powerful Refine and Taxonomy features are already available in the tool. Likewise, it also contained options like Concepts, US Classification codes, Country codes, IPC codes, and CPC codes on the left panel of the page. However, the revamped UI has incorporated these very options as part of the dropdown list on the Fielded search page of the Relecura platform, thereby changing its look and feel. Moreover, there are a few additions made to the new UI that were non-existent in the original one. For instance, on the Results page, you’ll find a new option under ‘Sort By’ known as the ‘Grant date,’ meant to fetch the date on which the patent body approved a particular patent. Users can access the information in ascending or descending order. Similarly, while you would find the ‘Browse’ option earlier on the Results page, you’ll now see the ‘Filter’ option. Technically, it’s just a different word used to express the same function.
While change is always a hard pill to swallow, at least in the initial stages, we are confident that the new interface will give all our users something to look forward to and to use with greater frequency and ease.
