IT Modernization at the USPTO Drives Productivity and Creates New Jobs
Guest blog by Chief Information Officer John Owens
Information Technology (IT) is fueling our work in an era of escalating demand for patents and trademarks, and to face this challenge, our team is continuously looking for ways to operate more nimbly and deliver services rapidly. This year, we have been working to modernize the systems that support patent and trademark examination and fee processing by using “agile” development. Many successful technology companies use agile, an IT development method which emphasizes user involvement and ongoing feedback. (Read more about USPTO’s initial rollout of agile into its processes.) By working to provide our examiners with enhanced examination tools, we are striving to improve the way that examiners work.
One new system, Patents End to End (PE2E), is already in beta use by some examiners and is targeted for a wide introduction to the examiner corps late this year. PE2E creates a more streamlined way for examiners to process patent applications, enhancing the way they view documents, search, take notes, and complete tasks. Another landmark project is Trademarks Next Generation, a faster, more feature-rich Trademarks system for both examiners and the public to use.
Systems such as PE2E and Trademarks Next Generation follow industry best practices, which include:
- Build shared IT services and tools to support global customers and maximize cost effectiveness.
- Use web-based systems with open technology standards that scale.
- Write code once and deploy everywhere for more stable, portable, and cost effective tools.
- Provide easily searchable IP information by converting all information into searchable technology formats.
As one employee said, the new tools are designed “by examiners for examiners.” We are designing and testing our systems incrementally, and gathering input throughout the process; and this iterative development and constant interaction ensures that the end product has the necessary features. In addition, our expert team in the User Experience Division is ensuring that our products are always created for optimal engagement and efficiency, in order to deliver value to the public. Finally, cloud and open source technology will be used extensively so that we can concentrate on what we can’t buy – a Patent and Trademark examination system.
To meet our aggressive IT goals this year, we plan to continue to hire the most qualified technical staff. Attracting the right talent is critical to our mission, and so far in fiscal year 2014, we’ve already hired more than 60 new staff members. We are hosting an IT Veteran Hiring Fair on our Alexandria, Virginia campus June 13th and 14th and encourage veterans with top IT skills to join the USPTO, recently voted the #1 Best Places to Work in the Federal Government®. The registration deadline is June 10, so sign up quickly. I look forward to sharing more updates with you in the future as we continue to use the latest technology to support innovation.
Posted at 07:21AM Jun 06, 2014 in USPTO |