| Pro Tip | Why It Helps | Example |
| Give the Chatbot a Role | Establishing the AI’s role and expertise level primes it to respond with the right knowledge and tone, leading to more relevant and professional outputs. | You are an experienced patent attorney with 15 years of experience drafting utility patents in [technology field]. |
| Provide Specific Steps | Step-by-step instructions guide the AI through complex tasks, improving accuracy and completeness. | Step 1: Review the invention disclosure and identify the core technical problem.
Step 2: Summarize the minimum features that might be included in an independent claim. Step 3: Provide a list of features to cover with dependent claims. |
| Include Specific Instructions | Clear instructions about what to do (and not do) help avoid errors, ensure compliance, and maintain consistency. | Use traditional patent language. Avoid patent profanity. Do not create new ideas not mentioned in the document. |
| Use Prompt Chaining | Breaking complex tasks into sequential prompts allows for more nuanced and accurate results, building on previous outputs. | First, summarize the technical problem and solution. Next, draft three independent claims with different scopes based on your summary. |
| Give Feedback and Request Corrections | Iterative feedback enables refinement of style, scope, and technical accuracy, resulting in higher-quality drafts. | Revise the above claims using more formal patent terminology. Broaden the scope by removing implementation-specific details. |
| Use Delimiters | Using delimiters in prompts helps clearly separate instructions from input, reducing ambiguity and improving the chatbot’s ability to interpret and follow the intended structure. | ### Instructions: …
### Output: … |
| Provide Examples | Providing both positive and negative examples helps the chatbot distinguish correct patterns from incorrect ones, reducing ambiguity and improving response accuracy. | Do not use patent profanity. For example, do not say, “must” or “essential.” Instead, say “In one example…” and “may.” |
| Build a Prompt Library | Reusing effective prompts saves time and ensures consistency across projects and users. | Maintain a text document with useful prompts. Consider sharing a prompt library document with your team. Programs exist for prompt sharing, but a simple text document can suffice. |
| Ask a Chatbot to Generate or Refine a Prompt | Chatbots are good at suggesting clear, targeted instructions. | Can you improve this prompt? [PROMPT]. I am trying to achieve [GOAL]. |
| Try Different Chatbots | Each chatbot may interpret, process, and generate responses differently, offering a variety of perspectives and solutions. | |
| Try Using Dictation and Employing a Chatbot to Refine the Transcribed Content | Dictation makes it easier to get your ideas down, and even if the transcribed text lacks organization, chatbots can effectively edit and improve it. |
