This workflow is available on CORE plans, and processing related patent materials costs tokens to run.
Patent context is the part of &AI that helps you understand what happened around a patent, not just what appears on the face of the patent itself. From one target patent, you can move into related family members, review prosecution materials, and inspect any PTAB proceedings that affect the patent or its surrounding history.
Use patent context when you need to answer questions such as:
How did this patent evolve through continuations, divisionals, or related applications?
What arguments, amendments, and examiner interactions shaped the final claims?
Has this patent been challenged in IPR, PGR, or other PTAB proceedings?
Which related materials should I process next for charting, drafting, or deeper review?
Open the patent context area
Patent context is organized around a target patent inside a project. Once the patent is in your project, open the target patent and use the analysis sub-navigation to move between the context views. The navigation includes dedicated entries for Prosecution, Family, and PTAB, so you do not need to leave the target-patent workspace to keep moving through the patent's surrounding record.
If you are still building the project, the first prerequisite is usually adding the patent source itself. After that, patent context becomes the place where you gather supporting history and related records before moving into claim work, drafting, or charts.
Family, Prosecution, and PTAB
Family
The Family area is where &AI shows related patent family members for the target patent. This area supports Tree, List, and Claims tabs, so you can switch between a relationship view, a tabular review surface, and a claims-oriented family comparison workflow.
Use the Family view when you want to:
identify continuations, divisionals, and related applications
compare filing and issue timing across the family
decide which family members should be brought further into the project
jump from a family member into related history when the member supports it
Prosecution
The Prosecution area is where you review the file-history materials tied to the target patent. It includes List, Claims, and Summary tabs, so this is not just a document dump. It is the place where you browse the raw record, compare claim changes, and review a higher-level explanation of what happened over time.
Use the Prosecution view when you want to:
inspect office actions, amendments, and responses
understand how claims changed during prosecution
collect estoppel or claim-scope context before analysis or drafting
process specific prosecution documents so they can be used elsewhere in the project
PTAB
The PTAB area is where &AI surfaces Patent Trial and Appeal Board proceedings associated with the patent. This view starts from a proceedings table and then lets you open an individual proceeding to inspect the record in more detail.
Use the PTAB view when you want to:
confirm whether the patent has been challenged
see the status and major dates for each proceeding
open the underlying PTAB documents for review and processing
designate a key proceeding for project-level context when one challenge matters most
Connecting Family, Prosecution, and PTAB
Patent context is most useful when you move across the views instead of treating them as separate tools.
Start in Family when you need to understand the broader patent lineage. Move to Prosecution when you need to understand how the specific claims were argued or amended. Move to PTAB when you need to know whether the patent was later challenged and what arguments or outcomes emerged in that forum.
That sequence helps you build a full record:
Family explains where the patent sits in the larger filing chain.
Prosecution explains how the issued claims got there.
PTAB explains whether those claims were later attacked and how the challenge developed.
Before moving on, confirm that the right target patent is open, the family members you care about are visible, important prosecution documents are processed or queued, and any relevant PTAB proceeding has been identified. From there, continue into the specific view that matches your next question: Review patent family, Review prosecution history, or Review PTAB proceedings.