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# 📁 Patent Folder Ingest & Validation Module (MVP Part 1)

## 🎯 Purpose

To scan a local directory of patent folders, validate the file structure and content of each, and generate a structured JSON representation of each patent to be used for search, tagging, and future analysis.

---

## 🧩 What This Module Does

### 1. Folder Scanning

- Recursively scans a selected root directory.
- Identifies each patent folder by name format:  
  `[patent number] [patent name]`  
  e.g. `US_10101845_B2 Touch Activated Wireless Poster`

---

### 2. Expected Files Per Folder

Each folder may contain up to six files:

| File Name              | Required? | Description |
|------------------------|-----------|-------------|
| `Bibliographic_Data.md` | ✅ | Basic patent metadata |
| `Claims.md`             | ✅ | List of patent claims |
| `Description.md`        | ✅ | Technical description |
| `Legal_Events.md`       | ⚠️ | Grant, expiry, and renewal data |
| `Patent_Family.md`      | ⚠️ | List of related patents |
| `*.pdf`                 | ✅ | Original scanned patent (any `.pdf` in folder) |

- Missing files are logged.
- Optional files improve downstream functionality but aren't required for basic ingestion.

---

### 3. File Content Verification

Without using LLMs (yet), we validate content using heuristics:

- `Bibliographic_Data.md`: Look for fields like Title, Inventor(s), Applicant, Filing Date, etc.
- `Claims.md`: Should contain numbered claims (e.g., `1.` or `Claim 1.`). If missing or poorly formatted, flag for review.
- `Description.md`: Should contain common patent section headers (e.g., `Background`, `Summary`, `Embodiments`).
- `Legal_Events.md`: Check for date+event pairings or relevant keywords (e.g., `Granted`, `Expired`, `Lapsed`, `Renewed`).
- `Patent_Family.md`: Should contain one or more patent numbers.

---

### 4. Canonical Output: JSON per Patent

Each valid folder is converted into a JSON object:

```json
{
  "patent_number": "US_10101845_B2",
  "patent_name": "Touch Activated Wireless Poster",
  "folder_path": "/patents/US_10101845_B2 Touch Activated Wireless Poster",
  "files_present": [
    "Bibliographic_Data.md",
    "Claims.md",
    "Description.md",
    "Patent_Family.md",
    "US_10101845_B2.pdf"
  ],
  "validation_flags": {
    "missing_files": ["Legal_Events.md"],
    "format_warnings": {
      "Claims.md": "Claims unnumbered or improperly formatted"
    }
  },
  "extracted_metadata": {
    "priority_date": "2014-06-27",
    "filing_date": "2015-06-25",
    "inventors": ["Kate Stone"],
    "assignee": "Novalia Ltd",
    "status": "Granted",
    "family_id": "GB201411234"
  }
}
```

This JSON is stored either in memory, written to disk, or passed directly to a backend database or service layer.

---

### 5. Validation Report

A report is generated showing:

- Total patents scanned
- Valid patents vs invalid
- Missing or malformed files
- Common error types (e.g., inconsistent claim formatting)

This is output as a `.json` or `.log` file and optionally shown in the UI.

---

## 🏗️ Future Extensibility (Not part of MVP 1)

- LLM summarization of claims and descriptions
- Natural-language tagging and categorization
- Full patent family visualizations
- File repair / normalization tools
- Integration with Espacenet, USPTO, or Google Patents APIs

---

## 💻 Technical Summary

| Component              | Approach |
|------------------------|----------|
| Language               | Python 3.x |
| Modules                | `os`, `re`, `json`, optional: `markdown` parser |
| UI                     | Start with CLI, later expand to web or desktop UI |
| Output format          | One JSON object per folder, written to disk or passed downstream |
| Folder structure       | Flat or nested, scanned recursively |
| Error handling         | Graceful skips, per-folder logs, cumulative summary |
| Missing file tracking  | Per patent + overall |
| Format flexibility     | Handles various markdown quirks (e.g., carriage returns, lack of headers) |

---

## 🧠 Summary

This foundational module ingests a manually curated set of patent folders, verifies that they are complete and well-structured, and produces standardized, reliable JSON files for each. These form the basis for downstream tools: search, summaries, tagging, analytics, and UI presentation.

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