Verification Standard
Citation Methodology
What counts as a separate patent record?
Each distinct published patent or publication number is one record. Separately numbered records remain separate even when they share titles, priority claims, continuation relationships, or family connections.
What is a direct citation?
A direct citation is a patent record that identifies Poindexter 471 or its related published record in its cited technical record.
What is a downstream citation?
A downstream relationship exists when a later patent cites a direct record or another later record in the mapped lineage.
How are generations calculated?
Citation distance is the shortest currently documented path from Poindexter 471. Distance one is direct, distance two is second generation, and the pattern continues outward.
How are assignees normalized?
Formatting and jurisdiction suffixes are standardized for grouping while the source patent record remains linked and unchanged.
How are citation types handled?
Applicant-supplied, examiner-added, and unspecified citations are labeled only when that classification is documented by the source.
How are duplicates handled?
Exact duplicate database entries are removed. Distinct patent numbers are never removed as duplicates or erased through patent-family consolidation.
How are corrections published?
Corrections update the visible record, verification date, and methodology notes. The network remains a dated snapshot that may expand as patents are published.
Technical counting rule
Nodes are unique published patent numbers. Edges are documented parent-child citation relationships. The displayed distance is the shortest verified path currently mapped from U.S. Patent No. 10,225,471 B2. A citation relationship does not by itself establish copying, licensing, commercial use, infringement, or legal liability.