After several months of waiting, with the full cooperation with the teachers of the patent firm, another invention patent in the field of cloud computing testing successfully passed the preliminary examination of the State Intellectual Property Office.
Passing the preliminary examination means that I can get a patent bonus from the company, and then if I pass the authorization of the State Intellectual Property Office, I can also receive a more generous company patent bonus. The real bonus falls into my personal pocket. While I have gained money, I have also gained the envious eyes of my colleagues. I can’t help but feel a little smug. I think this can be regarded as a kind of income other than salary. As a migrant worker, who would not want more What about income?
In fact, as early as two years ago, I had no contact with technical patents at all. What a patent is, how to write it, and how to write it, were completely blind to me.
In the past two years, through learning accumulation, review and imitation at work, after writing and authorizing a number of technical patents in the testing field, I gradually formed a "routine" for writing patents, and share some of my experience here. , only as a throwing bricks to attract jade.
Cognitive misunderstanding
Many colleagues around me stay away from writing patents. Even if the company strongly advocates adding cash incentives, few people participate. Among them, the prevailing psychology includes the following three points:
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First, it is believed that writing patents is a high-end game, which is unique to technology tycoons, and novice players dare not enter without permission;
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Second, I think that the content of my daily testing work is modeled and fixed, and there is no content worthy of analysis and transformation of results;
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Third, I think that writing patents is a very professional document writing, and I am not good at writing, so I dare not write.
Obviously, there are big misunderstandings in these three points of cognition, which is the main reason that hinders many testers from investing in patent writing.
Therefore, in the following, I will explain these misunderstandings one by one, and try my best to let every tester fully understand the basic way of writing technical patents, what content can be converted into patents, and the process of writing patent disclosure documents.
Types of Patents
When it comes to patents, most people are both familiar and unfamiliar. Invention patents are reflected in all aspects of daily life. Many new things, new consumption patterns, and new products are inseparable from inventions and creations. Whenever you feel that technological progress has brought convenience to life, there are thousands of people behind it. Invention patents are supported. In my country, patents are divided into three types: invention patents, utility model patents and design patents. The following is a brief explanation of these types with practical examples.
Patent
The so-called invention patent is defined by the State Intellectual Property Office as follows: an invention refers to a new technical solution proposed for a product, method or its improvement.
A patent, which represents a kind of exclusive right, is generally granted by the State Intellectual Property Office to the patent applicant after the invention-creation submitted for the patent application has passed the examination in accordance with the law. perpetual) the patent right enjoyed by the invention.
Invention patent, the four characters are disassembled and read, the invention comes first, and the patent comes after. In the official definition, two main objects of invention are included:
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The first object is that the subject of the invention is a product or method (including processes, techniques, theories, etc.);
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The second object is the technical solution. These two objects explain what the invention patent is aimed at as an output. When this output is innovatively proposed and applied for, it truly becomes a kind of intellectual property, that is, a kind of intellectual property belonging to a certain person or person. organization's invention patents.
Taking our actual software and hardware testing work as an example, the subject of the aforementioned invention can be a test tool, a test method, a test process, or a visual test platform or system, etc., and for this subject, the inventor Propose an innovative, feasible, and effective solution to the current industry's various drawbacks in the test operation before the invention was proposed.
This innovative technical solution to solve practical problems can be regarded as a technical invention. After the application and approval, a new type of patent is born. The technical value of this type of patent is the highest among the three types of patents, and of course it is the most difficult to apply for.
Utility model patents
A utility model patent refers to a practical new technical solution proposed for the shape and structure of a product or its combination, and is generally only related to the shape and structure of the product.
The fields covered by utility model patents generally belong to products related to substantiation, and most software testing practitioners have little contact with them, while some hardware testing personnel may be involved to a certain extent. For example, professional test equipment for measuring physical storage products, routers, etc., will not be described in this article.
Design patent
A design patent refers to a new design suitable for industrial applications made on the overall or partial shape, pattern or combination of a product, as well as the combination of color, shape, and pattern.
This patent type is the broadest in scope and covers all aspects of commercialized products in both the digital economy and the real economy.
From the perspective of the computer software industry, design patents are mainly distributed on the interfaces, layouts, buttons and patterns of products such as software (including mobile phone applications) and systems developed by enterprises.
For example, on the eve of the Spring Festival every year, the "Collecting Five Blessings to Welcome the New Year" activity in Alipay software has hundreds of millions of participants nationwide, which has a very wide influence and huge commercial value. It is necessary to apply for patent protection for the gameplay rules, interface and technical solutions behind the activity of "collecting five blessings to welcome the new year", and the application for design patents is also essential.
The picture below is one of the interfaces of the Alipay app CIMC Wufu event in 2021, which was applied by Alipay in advance as a design patent in that year.
The value of patenting by testers
Many small partners will ask: Why do you need to apply for an invention patent? What is it worth to me personally?
In fact, there are many benefits for testers to apply for patents. I personally think it includes the following three aspects:
Realization of personal value
The first is the enhancement of personal value and sense of accomplishment brought about by invention patents.
Everything is difficult at the beginning. For those who have never participated in the writing of technical patents, if you want to independently export a patent of your own, there are countless hurdles that you need to cross. The process is painstaking and requires some extra energy and time on your part. The result is wonderful. When you see that your invention patent is finally approved by the State Intellectual Property Office, the sense of accomplishment that emerges from the bottom of your heart allows you to experience the joy of rewarding your efforts at that moment, thereby motivating yourself to continue to accumulate and develop in the workplace. Show your own strength.
award
Second, many software and Internet companies, especially some unicorns or major manufacturers, have introduced a series of reward systems internally in order to encourage employees to actively apply for invention patents.
For example, cash rewards are given to employees who successfully apply for invention patents during the period, and employee performance scores are more prominent, and even linked to personal job promotion.
personal growth
Finally, under the current wave of artificial intelligence technology changes, artificial intelligence will be a powerful productivity aid in future work scenarios, and even be able to undertake some tasks that need to be completed manually, which will give testing positions reliable Substitution presents challenges.
Of course, artificial intelligence is not omnipotent, at least its innovative thinking is currently lacking, so testers can purposefully cultivate the ability of independent and in-depth thinking in their careers , and add innovative thinking to ordinary work To better complete a certain task, and in this process, continue to review and iterate thinking, and then apply it to work to form a virtuous circle. This is also the most fundamental underlying logic for generating invention patents.
When you have a good way of thinking and working, writing a high-quality invention patent is a matter of course.
What content can be converted into patents?
For the group of testers, the focus is on the type of invention patent, which is born out of method improvement and technological innovation in daily testing work, and has a high technical content. So in the tedious testing work, what work content and results can be converted into invention patents?
In the software and Internet industry, the commercial products of most companies exist in the form of software, so these companies mainly apply for software-type invention patents, covering a wide range, including but not limited to code operation and optimization processes, algorithms, Technical solutions and architecture, product design logic, etc., the inventors of these patents are generally software developers or product managers.
For most testers, the core of their work is to ensure software quality, and they do not manufacture products themselves. Therefore, when testers dig out the patents that they can generate in their work, they can think from several common elements in the test process management. That is, test procedures, test methods, test cases and test tools.
The essence of an invention patent is an innovative good idea or idea, which is also the most difficult part of writing a patent, but a good idea does not come out of thin air. Any innovation comes from the accumulation and discovery of daily work, and most of the tests The four test elements listed above are the ones with the most human contact.
Test Process and Method
Mining points that can form patents from the testing process and methods.
All things are forewarned, and it is an essential link for the test team and testers to formulate test plans, processes and methods before performing test tasks.
Many people may have such doubts. Every test team will formulate testing processes and methods. Although they are different due to different businesses, scales, and environments, these processes and methods are relatively fixed in essence. How can they generate innovation? What about the change?
In traditional cognition, the test methods of different test types are relatively clear. For example, many people know what methods and tools will be used for interface API testing. To do performance stress testing, many people also know that open source or commercial performance tools can be used to complete step by step.
Well-known things, can't they be changed and optimized? the answer is negative.
In fact, testing procedures and methods, especially the improvement of testing methods, account for a large proportion of the invention patents that have been applied for in China .
The following is a simple example to understand the different testing methods used in completing a certain testing task, and which points can be used to mine patents.
Assume that testers need to complete a test task and use a well-known test method (such as method 1). This method is divided into 3 steps, namely A, B, and C. After completing these 3 steps, the test goal can be achieved .
In the day-to-day testing work, you find that there are some defects or disadvantages in step C, such as low test accuracy, excessive time cost, complicated process, etc., and you propose a method that can optimize and improve step C through practice. Defective idea, this idea can solve some or all of the defects in the original step C, we will call the improved post-step C as step D.
Combine the original steps A and B to form a new test method (for example, method 2). At this time, step D in method 2 is an innovative technical point, and method 2 is the object that can be tried to apply for a patent.
We still take the above method one as an example. Suppose, through practice, you find that although the original method 1 can achieve the expected test goal, if you add a link, assuming it is step K, using innovative ideas in this step can effectively improve the achievement rate of the test goal and make the test result More accurate and more compatible, combined with the original steps A, B, and C to form a new test method (for example, method 3), at this time step K in method 3 is an innovative technical point, and method 3 It is also an object that can be tried to apply for a patent.
Have you found any commonalities between the above method 2 and method 3? They are all improvements made based on method 1. In fact, invention patents do not mean that the ideas and solutions proposed by the inventors must be unprecedented. Most invention patents are formed on the basis of original technical solutions. As long as a certain improvement you propose can lead to an improvement in the overall method, then this method can be used to try to apply for patent protection.
After the above example, has it opened the door to the world of patents for many small partners? In fact, mining patents does not require the inventor to conceive from 0 to 1, from scratch, but can realize it from 1 to 2, from existence to better.
Of course, there are indeed many invention patents in the world today that have never been discovered before. Many people may also have such technical experts around them. After completing the same test task, they can propose a test method that has never been proposed before.
For example, method 4 in the figure above is different from A, B, and C in method 1, but starts from 0 to design new steps E, F, and P. This new test method can also try to apply for patent protection.
test case
Mining points that can form patents from test cases.
For testers, test cases are all too familiar. Generally speaking, the life cycle of a test case includes processes such as writing, review, management, screening, and execution. In these processes, many ideas that can generate patents can also be mined.
First of all, what can be innovated in the writing and review of test cases. If you want to find innovations in the early stage of test case writing, the most critical point is to find pain points.
For testers with different experience, they generally encounter many problems when writing test cases, such as insufficient experience of testers leading to insufficient requirement analysis which affects test coverage, short test case review time or too many test cases leading to review efficiency Low, or even omit to review key demand points, and the methods or tools used to write test cases are not flexible enough to cause writing efficiency problems, etc.
If there are pain points, there must be something to be solved, so in the process of writing and reviewing test cases, you can think and dig in this direction. The figure below shows some innovative ways to address these pain points, just for starters.
Second, try to dig out the points that can form patents in the process of test case management.
Completing the writing of test cases is just the beginning, followed by processes such as execution, management, and maintenance. Taking the phenomenon often encountered in the work as an example, most of the test cases are written manually by the test engineer. This means that the test scenarios are easy to miss, which leads to the problem of large modification range, error-prone and low efficiency when the use case is improved later. What method is used? Can effectively solve the above problems?
If you can come up with effective solutions, then at this point you can analyze and unearth innovative solutions for patent applications.
For another example, regression testing is one of the common software testing activities. When the code changes or bugs occur, it is necessary to filter out the test cases related to the function of the changed code from the test case set to return to confirm whether the modification introduces new problem or cause other code errors.
Based on the conventional method of screening use cases, it generally consumes a lot of manpower and time costs, and the efficiency is naturally not high. To solve this pain point, it is possible to design a method that associates test cases with code interfaces in a form of identification. When screening use cases The description information of the test case can be obtained and matched with the keyword set.
Third, invention patents have great potential in the field of automatic test case generation. Nowadays, in the field of testing, there is more and more pursuit of automation and intelligence. Just imagine how cool it is when you are sleeping soundly at night, and the automated testing platform is automatically executing tests and finding bugs.
For patent mining in the direction of automatic test case generation, it is taboo to pursue large and complete, one-off results, which is out of reality and cannot be well implemented. For most small and medium-sized teams and ordinary businesses, it is necessary to assist in the completion of test cases and scenarios. The semi-automatic generation scheme of is a better starting point.
Test tool development
Mining the points that can form patents from the development of test tools.
Testing tools are often encountered by every testing practitioner and cover a wide range, such as testing process management tools, interface testing tools, performance testing tools, and various types of open source and commercial benchmarking tools.
Judging from the distribution of existing patent applications by the State Intellectual Property Office, invention patents related to testing tools (including test frameworks and automated test scripts) are showing an increasing trend year by year, and account for a relatively high proportion of the entire software and hardware testing invention patents , the phenomenon explained is that in different software development and Internet companies in my country (including information departments of state-owned enterprises such as finance and communications), the value of automation is getting more and more attention, and more and more teams are unwilling to pursue "taking "Lightism", but to carry out innovative secondary development or completely independent design.
Let’s solve a common cognitive misunderstanding first. Many test engineers may think that the independent research and development of test tools or frameworks is not a must for technical experts. They artificially set boundaries for themselves and limit themselves to a fixed scope of work. There are disadvantages but no advantages in career development. Try to get out of your comfort zone and get in touch with unfamiliar job content. Maybe you can discover what you are good at. What is often lacking from Xiaobai to Da Niu is the first step.
In the field of automated testing, there are many directions that can be tapped to form patents. From the test types: UI, interface, function, performance, pressure, stability, compatibility and reliability, each type can realize partial or complete automated testing, and The industry itself does not have a unified standard for automated testing, which leaves plenty of room for innovation.
For example, if you and your team are independently developing interface testing tool platforms, performance stress testing tools, etc. for business testing, you can consider innovating in these directions:
Preparatory work before drafting a patent
The core of a patent is an innovative concept, derived from the accumulation and discovery in daily work. One day, you suddenly have a good idea at work, congratulations, you have successfully taken the first step, but it is still far from being able to form a patent. So there is still some preparatory work to be done before writing a patent.
Creativity is preempted by others
One thing that needs to be admitted is that there are many smart and excellent engineers in the IT industry, and most of them may be just ordinary members.
So, the good ideas and ideas that we have racked our brains to come up with may have been discovered and patented long ago. If your idea has never been proposed by anyone, then congratulations on successfully taking the second step. step.
Therefore, the first thing to do is to conduct a patent search to see if any of the currently submitted patents have the same or similar ideas as yours.
How to carry out patent plagiarism check
To search for patents, you usually log on to the patent search website of the State Intellectual Property Office (https://pss-system.cponline.cnipa.gov.cn/conventionalSearch). New users must first complete the registration, and then they can search for free through keywords. For example, if you want to know about patents related to interface testing + automation, just enter it directly, as shown in the figure below.
How to refine and refine your own ideas
Searching and reading existing patents is a very important link. On the one hand, you can check whether existing patents are consistent or similar to your idea through searching. On the other hand, reading existing patents is a good learning process, such as learning from others. Ideas for filing and writing patents.
Has your idea or idea been patented? There is no need to get frustrated and give up. Unless it is a talented person, the thinking of ordinary people has certain limitations and defects. The next thing to do is to deeply analyze other people's patents, and list the invention logic and design principles of existing patents, as well as the similarities and differences with your ideas.
The purpose of doing this is to find and amplify the differences between your idea and existing patents, to find breakthroughs for improvement and improvement, and to solve a certain drawback of existing patents through the improved solution, and to realize the benefits of existing patents. unattainable effect. Then this improved solution is innovative, and you can also try to apply for a new invention patent.
Components and Examples of Patent Technology Disclosure Document
After completing the preparatory work, you are one step closer to applying for an invention patent, and then you come to the most core link of writing a patent technical disclosure document.
If your company has an independent patent engineer or person in charge, you only need to write a patent technical disclosure document to apply for an invention patent, and the rest will be completed by the patent engineer connecting with an external patent firm.
The patent technology disclosure form is filled out by the applicant for the invention. It is the technical information provided by the applicant for the invention, which reflects the written material of the technical solution you have invented. At the same time, this material is also the basis for the agent of the patent firm to write the patent application document.
The content of the patent technical disclosure document shall include the title of the invention, the technical field involved in the invention, the background technology related to the invention, the content of the invention, the drawings and their descriptions, and the practical examples of the applied technology.
Invention name
The title of the invention is the first part of the patent technical disclosure document, and the title should be simple and clear to reflect the technical content of the invention. This seems simple, but many people may have difficulty in choosing and come up with many alternative names, either the names are very lengthy, or the characteristics of patents cannot be seen at a glance.
The title of an invention patent should be closely related to the application field where the invention is located. For example, if the invention you apply for is related to the innovation of test cases, then the name should directly indicate that this is a method of writing or generating test cases; if the invention you apply for is a new method or new platform for testing tools, then the name Indicates the direction of test tool application (performance, stress or stability, etc.).
The table below is some examples of invention patent titles from the State Intellectual Property Office, for reference only.
technical field
Part 2 requires the inventor to fill in the technical field to which the invention is applied, that is, to describe its technical field or application field, in order to facilitate classification, retrieval and other patent activities.
Filling in this part of the technical field should be concise and to the point, without too much text to describe.
For example, if the content of your invention patent is an innovation based on interface testing tools and testing methods, then the content in the technical field only needs to indicate that the invention relates to the field of software testing, especially interface testing methods and devices.
The following table is an example of the technical field content of existing patents from the State Intellectual Property Office, for reference only.
Related technical background
The third part is actually the existing implementation plan with the background of the related technology most similar to the present invention, which is more important and is divided into two small parts:
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First, the inventor briefly describes the technical background related to the invention, such as the role of test cases in the process of software testing, the traditional way of writing test cases, or the value of a certain test tool in performance and stability testing, etc.;
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The second is to describe in detail the technical solutions and deficiencies of existing patents, which are based on "preparatory work before writing patents". Before writing this part, inventors should spend more energy to understand and carefully read existing patents , especially the similarities with your ideas in the existing patents, and then fully understand the design logic, invention principles, similarities, and differences of the existing patents. If necessary, you can make the operating steps of the existing patents into a flow chart. Visually compare with your own invention ideas.
After that, you need to explain the shortcomings and deficiencies of the existing patents for the technical problems that your invention is to solve.
Please note that this is a relatively important link. You need to clearly understand the difference between the existing patent and your idea, point it out in detail, and focus on the description of the shortcomings of the existing patent.
Detailed elaboration of the technical solution of the present invention
The content of the fourth part is the core of the patent technology disclosure document. In this part, the inventor needs to elaborate on the purpose of the invention, the complete technical solution, the description of the drawings, the beneficial effects brought by the technical solution of the present invention, etc.
Implementation case
The content of the fifth part is about the implementation process of invention patents. Simply put, it is based on the above-mentioned technical solutions, which can be implemented by personnel (such as software test engineers) who understand the relevant technical knowledge of the industry according to the solutions.
This part of the content is indeed a bit difficult for students who are new to writing invention patents. It can be understood that if the technical solution in part 4 is an innovative theory, then in part 5, the inventor needs to make a concrete implementation process that can be realized under the guidance of the theory, so as to prove your proposed The invention is achievable, not a fantasy far away from reality.
Example 1, if the content of the invention is a Jmeter-based interface automation testing method, it is necessary to operate from the very first steps in the embodiment. Start from setting up the tool environment, run the tool, configure interface parameters and request types, add thread groups and set the number of concurrent requests, configure protocol types, ip port numbers and request types, configure csv data files, add and set listeners, execute tests, etc. .
Example 2, if the content of the invention is a self-developed performance testing tool or platform, then in the embodiment it is necessary to elaborate on the way the tool operates and the function of each module. Starting from the preparation before tool operation, configuration parameters, module 1 starts to work (and explain the operation mechanism), module 2 starts to work (and explains the operation mechanism), module 3 starts to work (and explains the operation mechanism), the tool execution ends, and the result output wait.
are there alternatives
Part 6, whether there are other alternatives that can also achieve the purpose of the invention.
In most cases, this part of the content can be filled out directly. What if there are other alternatives to your inventive idea?
key point
- What are the technical key points and protection points of the present invention?
Part 7 requires you to extract the most critical technical points and cores from the invention ideas, and briefly describe what technical points need to be included.
Subsequent to patent filing
Completing the writing of the patent technology disclosure statement is not everything is smooth sailing. After that, you need to communicate with the patent engineer of your company. On the one hand, you need to inform the patent engineer of your invention that you want to submit an application to the Intellectual Property Office; on the other hand, you need to answer the patent engineer. Some questions about your technical disclosure, such as whether the inventive idea you proposed overlaps with existing patents, and points out that some parts of your technical disclosure are not standardized, etc.
After completing the review of the technical disclosure within the company, the patent engineer will generally communicate with the agent of the external patent firm. The patent attorney will read your technical disclosure in detail, and on this basis, write a final submission to the state. The patent documents of the Intellectual Property Office, the content of the patent documents is the elaboration of the patent claims, which is the result of abstraction, extension and standardization of the patent attorney on the basis of understanding your technical invention scheme.
After that, submit the first draft of the patent document to the inventor for review. If the content of this patent document meets the requirements of your technical invention content, then the patent agent will formally file an application with the State Intellectual Property Office.
Completing the application is only the first step. Your invention patent will be published on the website of the State Intellectual Property Office, and then the substantive examination will be conducted by the patent examiners of the State Intellectual Property Office.
Regarding the results of the examination, the examiners will raise some questions about technical details, and these questions will be forwarded to you by the patent attorney. At this time, you need to take them seriously and answer the corresponding questions carefully, preferably in the form of documents. Attorneys, who answer patent examiners.
The patent document will go through the first review and the second review. If all reviews are passed, your invention patent will be granted with the invention patent right from the State Intellectual Property Office, and you're done. The road is long and difficult, and taking the first step is the best start.
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Software Testing Interview Documentation
We must study to find a high-paying job. The following interview questions are the latest interview materials from first-tier Internet companies such as Ali, Tencent, and Byte, and some Byte bosses have given authoritative answers. Finish this set The interview materials believe that everyone can find a satisfactory job.
All data acquisition
