Engineering Support for Patents

Engineering support for patents: the work under the application

A patent attorney turns an invention into claims. First, someone has to put it on paper in a form an attorney can use: the problem it solves, how it works part by part, what already exists that does a similar job, and evidence that it works. For hardware, every one of those is an engineering deliverable, and most inventors bring a sketch and a video. Engineering support for patent applications closes that gap. Some call the role a patent technical consultant; for hardware it takes engineers who design boards, write firmware and build enclosures, so the figures match something buildable and the prototype works on a bench.

We are an engineering firm, not a law firm and not a patent agent. We do not draft claims, we do not file, and we do not give opinions on patentability, validity, infringement or freedom to operate. Those belong to your patent attorney; we work from the attorney's list, in the attorney's order, to the attorney's deadlines. No attorney yet? Bring the engineering questions to the free call anyway. Nothing on this page is legal advice.

What the engagement includes

Six pieces; your attorney decides which ones your filing needs.

Invention disclosure help

The disclosure is the document your attorney reads first. We write it with the inventor, as engineers: the problem, how it is solved today, how the invention works step by step, each part and what it does, and the variations an engineer would consider equivalent: other materials, other sensors, other sequences, other mountings. Inventors describe the one embodiment they built; an engineer who has designed boards and enclosures sees the five they did not, and your attorney decides what matters. One name and one number per part, so the disclosure, the figures and the prototype agree.

Technical drawings for a patent application

Formal patent drawings follow strict rules and are usually produced by your attorney's drafter. We make the source material the drafter works from: dimensioned CAD with exploded and section views, assembly drawings with numbered parts, block diagrams and schematics with the parts labeled, firmware flowcharts and state diagrams. Every figure agrees with every other and with the disclosure; a part drawn but never described becomes a question your attorney has to answer later. Files go out as native CAD, STEP, DXF or SVG line art and PDF.

A prototype for a patent application

Whether your filing needs a working model, and what reduction to practice means for it, is a question for your attorney. The engineering reasons are strong: a prototype proves the mechanism does what the disclosure says, exposes details that only appear when real parts touch, and gives you something to measure. We build it as a works-like unit: a custom or module-based board from our PCB design work, the firmware that drives it, and an enclosure engineered around the real board by mechanical design, printed and machined on our own Silicon Valley bench by rapid prototyping. It demonstrates the invention cleanly and repeatably, with a dated build record. One rule without exception: ask your attorney before the prototype is shown outside the NDA, because the timing of a public demonstration affects your options.

Technical prior-art search

A prior art technical search maps what already exists, as engineering: products and how they are built, datasheets, papers, standards, and published patents read as engineering documents, for what they teach rather than what they claim. You get a written landscape: what each approach does, how it does it, and where yours differs. What it is not: a legal search or an opinion on patentability. A technical search can never prove that nothing exists, and your attorney decides whether a professional search firm should run one too.

Test data that supports the description

If the application says the invention is faster, cooler, more accurate or lower power, someone should have measured it. We run the measurements with the method written down first: setup, instruments, conditions, number of runs, and the same test on the prior approach when a comparison matters. You get the raw data and a short report your attorney can quote from. We report what the data says; a number smaller than hoped for is better found before it is written into a filing than after.

Design-around engineering

When someone else holds a patent near your product, your attorney reads the claims and tells you where the boundaries are. Our job is the other side of that line: engineer a different route to the same function, a different mechanism, sensing principle or sequence of operations, and document why it is different in engineering terms, with figures and, if wanted, a prototype. The alternative has to be a product you would actually ship; a paper design no factory could build is not a design-around, it is a delay. Whether the result clears the claims is your attorney's opinion to give, never ours.

How it runs with your attorney

The engagement opens with a call that includes your attorney whenever possible: what they need, in what order and by when. We work to that list. Everything is versioned, dated and delivered in files that open without us. If an examiner raises a technical question during prosecution, we explain the engineering to your attorney, who decides how to respond. We also record which engineer contributed what: inventorship is a legal determination your attorney makes, and the record lets them make it on facts.

Confidentiality comes first. A mutual NDA is signed before any technical detail is exchanged, senior engineers alone handle the work, and every document, drawing, CAD file, dataset and prototype is yours: you keep 100% of the IP, and we never take equity. Nothing is reused or published without your written permission.

What you receive from a patent engineering engagement

• The invention disclosure package: written disclosure, numbered parts list and alternative embodiments, dated and versioned.
• Engineering figures: native CAD and STEP, exploded and section views, DXF or SVG line art, block diagrams, schematics, flowcharts and state diagrams.
• A working prototype when wanted, with its build record, bill of materials, firmware sources and dated photographs.
• A technical prior-art landscape with sources: what exists, how it works, where yours differs.
• A test report: method, raw data and results, written so it can be quoted.
• For a design-around: the alternative design, the rationale for each difference, and the figures or prototype that show it.
• A senior engineer available to your attorney for technical questions through drafting and prosecution.

How a patent engineering engagement is priced

Engineering support for patents is priced in engineering hours; you get a written quote with phases before any work starts. Each deliverable is a phase, quoted on its own, so your attorney can ask for them one at a time. The disclosure and the figures are usually days of work. The prototype is the largest phase; the hour counts we publish from delivered hardware work, 48 engineering hours for a module-based BLE tracker prototype and about 85 for a wireless alert light with hardware and firmware, are a fair calibration. For a planning number before the call, use the free project cost estimator.

Where we do patent engineering work

We are based in Silicon Valley and work with teams across the United States. Disclosure, figures, search and test report are remote work, reviewed on video with the CAD on screen; the prototype ships by carrier or is demonstrated on video with a camera on the bench, and in-person sessions in the Bay Area run by arrangement. How a nationwide engagement runs is on working with us from anywhere in the US. The product timeline the patent work has to fit around is in the hardware startup roadmap from idea to FCC certification.

How a patent engineering engagement starts

With a free 30-minute call, with your attorney on it if you like. We sign the mutual NDA, you share the attorney's list, and we come back with a written quote for a bounded first step, usually the disclosure package and the figures: a few days of engineering with an output your attorney can use at once. A prototype, test data or a design-around is quoted when it is scoped, not guessed at the start.

Book the free 30-minute call and bring whatever you have, from a sketch to the questions your attorney asked. If the invention includes a printed part, the free 3D printing instant quote gives you a price band and printability findings tonight; the STL is parsed in your browser and never uploaded, which matters when the part is the invention.