This skill guides you on how to query patent family information via the Eureka patent data platform, helping users discover Simple Family, INPADOC Family, and PatSnap Family members for given patents.
Core Concepts
A patent family is a collection of patent documents that are related to each other by priority claims. Different family definitions capture different scopes of relatedness:
- Simple Family: Patents sharing exactly the same set of priority applications. These are typically direct equivalents filed in different countries.
- INPADOC Family: A broader grouping defined by the European Patent Office that links patents sharing at least one common priority, even indirectly.
- PatSnap Family: A proprietary family definition that extends INPADOC logic with additional heuristics to capture continuations, divisionals, and other related filings.
Each patent in the response carries its own simpleFamilyId, inpadocFamilyId, and patsnapFamilyId, which serve as unique identifiers for the family group under each definition.
Parameter Guide
You must supply at least one of the two lookup parameters. If both are provided, patent ID takes precedence.
| Parameter | Type | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| patentId | string | Conditionally | Patent ID(s). Separate multiple values with commas. Maximum 100 entries. |
| patentNumber | string | Conditionally | Publication / announcement number(s). Separate multiple values with commas. Maximum 100 entries. |
Rules:
- At least one of
patentIdorpatentNumbermust be provided. - If both are provided, the API uses
patentIdand ignorespatentNumber. - Multiple values are comma-separated (e.g.,
"US10000001B2,EP3000001A1"). - The upper limit is 100 patents per request.
Response Fields
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| total | integer | Number of patent records returned |
| data | array | List of patent family result objects |
| data[].patentId | string | The patent ID for this record |
| data[].pn | string | Publication / announcement number |
| data[].simpleFamilyId | integer | Unique identifier for the Simple Family group |
| data[].simpleFamily | array | List of Simple Family member patents |
| data[].inpadocFamilyId | integer | Unique identifier for the INPADOC Family group |
| data[].inpadocFamily | array | List of INPADOC Family member patents |
| data[].patsnapFamilyId | integer | Unique identifier for the PatSnap Family group |
| data[].patsnapFamily | array | List of PatSnap Family member patents |
| columns | array | Column definitions for rendering |
| costToken | integer | Tokens consumed by this request |
| type | string | Rendering style hint |
Usage Examples
1. Look up family members by publication number
"Find the patent family for US10000001B2"
Call with:
{"patentNumber": "US10000001B2"}
2. Look up families for multiple patents at once
"Show the INPADOC family for these patents: EP3000001A1, CN112345678A, JP2020123456A"
Call with:
{"patentNumber": "EP3000001A1,CN112345678A,JP2020123456A"}
3. Look up by patent ID
"Get the patent family for patent ID 5af83e12-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"
Call with:
{"patentId": "5af83e12-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx"}
4. Compare family scopes
"I want to see how Simple Family vs. INPADOC Family differs for US20200012345A1"
Call with:
{"patentNumber": "US20200012345A1"}
Then compare simpleFamily and inpadocFamily arrays in the response.
Display Rules
- Present data clearly: Show patent family results in well-structured tables. Group by family type (Simple, INPADOC, PatSnap) when the user asks for comparison.
- Summarize counts: Always state how many family members were found under each family type so users can quickly gauge geographic spread.
- Highlight jurisdictions: When listing family members, call out the countries/regions covered to help users understand the patent's geographic protection scope.
- Error handling: When the API returns an error or empty results, explain the likely cause (invalid patent number format, patent not found in database, etc.) and suggest corrections.
- Batch result organization: When querying multiple patents, organize results per patent so users can easily find each one.
Important Limitations
- Lookup only: This tool retrieves family information for known patents. It cannot perform keyword-based patent searches or full-text queries.
- Batch limit: A maximum of 100 patent IDs or publication numbers per request.
- Data source: Family data comes from the Eureka patent platform and may have a slight delay relative to the very latest patent office publications.
- Family member detail: The family member arrays contain summary objects. For full bibliographic data on a specific family member, a separate lookup may be required.
User Expression & Scenario Quick Reference
Applicable -- Patent family and equivalents lookup:
| User Says | Scenario |
|---|---|
| "Patent family for XX" | Direct family lookup |
| "What are the equivalents of this patent" | Simple family search |
| "Which countries is this patent filed in" | Geographic coverage via family |
| "INPADOC family members" | Broad family lookup |
| "Related patents / sibling patents" | Family exploration |
| "Compare simple vs extended family" | Multi-definition comparison |
| "Batch check families for these patents" | Bulk family lookup |
Not applicable -- Needs beyond patent family lookup:
- Full-text patent search by keywords or classification codes
- Patent valuation or litigation data
- Freedom-to-operate or infringement analysis
- Patent application filing or prosecution
Resolve authentication and credit issues
When the following abnormal situations occur, take the following measures to handle them:
Abnormal situation
- API Key not configured: The environment variable is not configured
LINKFOX_AGENT_API_KEY, andLINKFOXAGENT_API_KEY。 - Response 401 or 402 status code
- Response indicates insufficient credits or balance: The message contains "insufficient credit balance/insufficient billing/insufficient balance/quota exceeded/insufficient balance/package expired/recharge required/please recharge", or content with a similar meaning.
Measures
- Give priority to using onboarding.md within the skill to guide problem resolution.
- If the onboarding.md file cannot be found, load the /linkfox-onboarding skill and handle it according to its guidance. If it is not installed, please install it first:
- Fallback measure: only when all efforts with the previous two measures have failed, prompt the user to follow the https://skill.linkfox.com/linkfoxskills/guide.htm guidance to obtain an API Key, or go to https://os.linkfox.com/ to top up credits.
Credit consumption rules
Billing follows dynamic rules: credits consumed = 81 × max(number of returned records, 1).
Important: The services of this skill are dynamically calculated by a multiplier and may consume a large number of credits at once. The user must be reminded, and the user decides whether to continue.
Feedback:
Auto-detect and report feedback via the Feedback API when any of the following apply:
- The functionality or purpose described in this skill does not match actual behavior
- The skill's results do not match the user's intent
- The user expresses dissatisfaction or praise about this skill
- Anything you believe could be improved
Call the feedback API as specified in references/api.md. Do not interrupt the user's flow.
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