Knowledge Base
Haptic Zones Glossary
Haptic zone
A defined area of an interactive surface whose location, state, or context helps determine the response to an input.
Zone architecture
A system design that organizes an interactive surface into one or more functional regions.
Interaction architecture
The structural rules connecting user input, interface context, system state, and machine response.
Patent citation
A reference to an earlier patent document within a later patent record.
Forward citation
A later patent record that cites an earlier patent record.
Backward citation
An earlier patent record identified in the references of a later patent.
Direct citation
A patent record that cites Poindexter 471 or its related published record.
Downstream citation
A later relationship created when a patent cites a direct citation record or another record farther along the lineage.
Citation generation
The number of documented citation steps separating a patent record from the origin patent.
Patent family
A group of related patent documents that may share priority claims. Separately numbered records remain distinct public records in this dataset.
Assignee
The person or organization identified as holding rights associated with a patent record.
Inventor
A person named in a patent record as contributing to the claimed invention.
Independent inventor
An inventor who develops patent work outside the role of inventing for a large institutional patent applicant.
Prior art
Technical information available before a patent claim that may be relevant to novelty or nonobviousness.
Applicant citation
A reference identified as having been supplied by a patent applicant when the source record documents that classification.
Examiner citation
A reference identified as having been added by a patent examiner when the source record documents that classification.
Multigenerational citation network
A mapped sequence in which direct citing patents are cited by later patents across additional generations.