TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction and generalities
• What's new with Orbit NG?
• The setup
• Where I can find my alerts?
• The alert history module

Introduction and generalities

Related article:  Using update codes in alerts

Alerts can be set up to monitor new or existing patents in Orbit Intelligence databases.

They allow you to be notified on new patent data within a certain technology field, from specific competitors, or to monitor selected patents for instance. Only the first 1000 results will be available for each execution of an alert.

Practically any search query can be run as an alert. However, certain searches like citations or similarity searches cannot be converted alerts by design, these searches are done on the entire database. An alert is technically an automated search strategy, limited to a batch of documents updated/created during a period.

Alerts can be set up on patents databases, designs database, or to monitor online legal registers (see our specific tool Legal Status Alerts). 

This article focuses on alerts in the patents databases. 

What's new with Orbit NG?

Thanks to the new search engine implementation, alerts' notifications can now be received on Saturdays (weekly or monthly configurations); thus no more need to wait for the following week to monitor the Orbit database updates.

This delivery schedule may vary depending on the size of the database update and on the delays of our data sources.

In any case, the results of your alerts should be available on your accounts on Mondays AM. 

The setup

To set up an alert:

1. Run a search on any of the three patent collections in Orbit Intelligence
2. Go to 'Search history' > click the Alert / Bell+ icon
   
   • As an alternative you can press the “A” key on your keyboard when you are viewing the hitlist
     

Now you have to define some parameters. Please find below a description.

 

General section 

You will here give the alert a Name and a Title + specify the frequency (weekly or monthly).    

• The Name of the alert must be unique within your account: it may contain your own codes to recognize the alert. Warning: RSS alert name does not include space character. 
• The Title will be the title received by all recipients: it can be a bit longer and more descriptive, or generic. 

• Run alert every:
  
   The default option is "Retrieve records once they have an English abstract". This will monitor new records (in the case of FamPat, new families) with enough content when created, and produce a hit only once an abstract is available. UMTA code indeed, please refer to this article.
  
  If you want to monitor more kind of event, or combine several, please deselect this default option.
  

It will allow you to enter update codes that match your needs.  Update codes are used to specify which types of new information should be monitored, for example new family members or new legal information. 

Without input from you (blank field), the code QW will be added. To not rely on this code, you have to type update codes you want to rely on. 

You can rely on several codes, separated by a space. Bear in mind, each code has its own definition (event tracked and frequency). UMTA UE is a good example, where we track new patent families with an abstract OR existing families receiving a new publication stage. 

Your strategy will be executed on each batch of document related to update codes ( 2025-04/UMTA OR 2025-04/UE to write in command line).

• Strategy section
  It contains your alert strategy - it is by default populated by the search you have carried out. 
  You can modify the strategy by adding or deleting search steps, or by making changes to individual steps. 
  
  
  
• Collections to survey
  The database that was used in your search is preselected - you can also modify it here. 
  If you change the database, don’t forget that the searchable fields may vary depending on the selected database.
  
  
  
• Delivery format
  3 delivery options are available:
   

1) PDF file (or any kind of export file)
The file formats available are the same as those of regular exports. The latest option used is preselected - you can change file format using the modify button. 

We suggest to use PDF - First page like format, as this export will satisfy most of your "clients" and ready-to-use for a Gazette. Many external ressources available via the hyperlinks on each family.

2) Workfile
Your alert will automatically populate a workfile. You can select an existing workfile or create a brand new one. This workfile will be targeted by the alert and documents added into it, every week or month according to your setup.

NB: This allows you to use the same workfile as recipient of several alerts. The dedupe system applies too, when several alerts are pointing to the same workfile. 

3) RSS reader flow

The link to the RSS feed is already available at the alert creation. No email will be sent : the objective is to retrieve results from your RSS reader software automatically. More details about RSS here.

The link is already present from the setup interface, please copy it in your clipboard.

Warning: RSS alert name does not include space character. 

• Delivery
  

Alert results are sent via email - you can add up to 23 recipients per alert:

Where I can find my alerts?

You can  manage your alerts under the section "My Alerts": 

As an alert is indeed an automated search, you can modify the script or other parameter at any moment. The button Execute will run the strategy and inject into your current search history. In a way, the strategy is always available to start a new search, like a saved search.

The alert history module

In addition to the emails notifications, alerts results are also stored in your alerts portfolio for one year from the last execution date. When a file is exported, you may access them and review the results again.

Please note for the workfiles alerts and RSS, you will only find here the results number per execution and a link to this workfile/feed. Alert history module does not store the results themself.