AI Chat — Ask Questions About Patent Office Actions, Claims & Prior Art

Chat with Documents lets you have natural AI-powered conversations about any document in your patent analysis. Ask questions about patent examiner rejections, explore arguments to overcome prior art, find specification support for claim amendments, and get instant answers grounded in the actual patent prosecution documents.

Opening Chat

1. Look for the "Workspace" section in the document sidebar
2. Click "Chat with Documents"
3. The chat panel opens — full-width by default, or in the left pane if split view is active

@ Mentions — Targeting Specific Patent Documents

Use @ mentions to tell the AI exactly which patent prosecution documents to focus on. Type @ in the message input to see an autocomplete dropdown of all available documents:

• @Office Action — Focus on the patent examiner's rejection
• @Application — Focus on the patent specification
• @Strategy — Focus on the generated office action response strategy
• @[Kim | US20230024358A1] — Focus on a specific cited prior art reference
• Patents the AI fetches during chat (e.g., when you ask it to look up a patent) — these appear in the Fetched References category in the sidebar and can be @ mentioned once fetched

You can mention multiple documents in a single message. The AI will draw context from all mentioned documents to answer your question about the patent claims, rejections, or prior art.

Chat interface showing prompt type selector, @ mentions, and message input

Tip: @ mentions are the most precise way to direct the AI's attention. When you mention a specific document, the AI uses that document's full content as context for its response.

Auto Context Selection

When you don't use @ mentions, the AI uses auto context selection to determine which patent documents are most relevant to your question:

• A fast context-routing model reads your question and selects the most relevant documents
• It considers the prompt type you've selected (see below) to make smarter choices
• You can see which documents were selected in the debug panel

Auto context works well for general patent prosecution questions, but for maximum precision, use @ mentions.

Prompt Types

The prompt type selector at the top of the chat lets you choose a conversation mode optimized for different patent prosecution tasks:

Selecting a prompt type helps the AI use the right patent prosecution expertise and document context for your question.

Example Questions

About the Patent Office Action

• "What is the basis for the §103 obviousness rejection of claim 7?"
• "Which figure in Smith is the patent examiner citing for the 'sensor' limitation?"
• "Does the examiner provide a motivation to combine Jones and Smith in the prior art rejection?"

About the Patent Application

• "Does paragraph [0023] of the specification support adding 'temperature sensor' to the patent claim?"
• "What does Figure 3 show about the mounting bracket?"
• "Where is the 'wireless communication module' described in the patent specification?"

About Prior Art

• "Does Smith disclose a wireless connection between the controller and sensor?"
• "What is the difference between Smith's Figure 2 and our Figure 3?"
• "How many sensors does Jones teach, and where are they disclosed?"

About Office Action Response Strategy

• "What alternative arguments could we make to overcome the rejection of claim 1?"
• "Is there a way to narrow claim 3 through a patent claim amendment without losing the wireless aspect?"

Chat in Split View

When split view is active, chat opens in the left pane with a source document in the right pane. This is ideal for:

• Asking questions about a patent office action or prior art reference you can see in the right pane
• Verifying AI responses against the actual patent document text
• Following references the AI cites in its responses

Knowledge Base Integration

You can bring additional context into the chat by attaching files from your Knowledge Base:

1. Click the Knowledge Base icon in the chat header
2. Browse or search your uploaded files
3. Select files to include as context
4. The AI will consider those files when answering your patent prosecution questions

This is useful for providing additional prior art references, invention disclosures, or previous office action responses that aren't part of the standard analysis.

Chat History

Your conversations are automatically saved:

• History is maintained per patent analysis session
• Scroll up to review previous questions and answers
• History persists across browser sessions
• Use "Clear" to remove the current conversation
• Use "Clear All" to remove all chat history for this analysis

Note: Clearing chat history never affects your patent claim amendments or analysis documents.

Copying Responses

Click the copy button on any AI response to copy it as formatted text. The copied content preserves formatting (headings, lists, bold text) and can be pasted directly into your office action response, email, or other applications.

Related Guides

• Prompt Library — Explore specialized prompt types for §102, §103, §101, §112, strategy, and claim discussions
• Claim Amendment Workspace — Draft patent claim amendments with AI feedback while chatting
• Knowledge Base — Upload prior art, invention disclosures, and previous responses for additional context
• Understanding Results — Learn what each analysis document contains before diving into chat
• Exporting Your Work — Copy formatted chat responses into your office action response