Natural Language Processing in the Patent Domain: A Survey
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Abstract (arXiv)
Patents, which encapsulate crucial technical and legal information in text form and referenced drawings, present a rich domain for natural language processing (NLP) applications. As NLP technologies evolve, large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated outstanding capabilities in general text processing and generation tasks. However, the application of LLMs in the patent domain remains under-explored and under-developed due to the complexity of patents, particularly their language and legal framework. Understanding the unique characteristics of patent documents and related research in the patent domain becomes essential for researchers to apply these tools effectively. Therefore, this paper aims to equip NLP researchers with the essential knowledge to navigate this complex domain efficiently. We introduce the relevant fundamental aspects of patents to provide solid background information. In addition, we systematically break down the structural and linguistic characteristics unique to patents and map out how NLP can be leveraged for patent analysis and generation. Moreover, we demonstrate the spectrum of text-based and multimodal patent-related tasks, including nine patent analysis and four patent generation tasks.
Key facts. Cited by 20 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 52 of its 210 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 6 Mar 2024.
Builds on
52 of 210 references.
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50 most cited of 52 All 52 (JSON)
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Citing papers per year: 2024: 4; 2025: 9; 2026: 7.
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- 2024Can Large Language Models Generate High-quality Patent Claims?cited by 19
- 2024AutoPatent: A Multi-Agent Framework for Automatic Patent Generationcited by 16
- 2025Towards Better Evaluation for Generated Patent Claimscited by 8
- 2025Enriching Patent Claim Generation with European Patent Datasetcited by 5
- 2024Patent-CR: A Dataset for Patent Claim Revisioncited by 4
- 2024EvoPat: A Multi-LLM-based Patents Summarization and Analysis Agentcited by 4
- 2025Self-Filtered Distillation with LLMs-generated Trust Indicators for Reliable Patent Classificationcited by 4
- 2025PatenTEB: A Comprehensive Benchmark and Model Family for Patent Text Embeddingcited by 4
- 2025MK2 at PBIG Competition: A Prompt Generation Solutioncited by 3
- 2025AutoSpec: An Agentic Framework for Automatically Drafting Patent Specificationcited by 3
- 2026FlowPlan-G2P: A Structured Generation Framework for Transforming Scientific Papers into Patent Descriptionscited by 1
- 2026Is It Novel and Why? Fine-Grained Patent Novelty Prediction Based on Passage Retrievalcited by 1
8 more
- 2025Can Large Language Models Understand As Well As Apply Patent Regulations to Pass a Hands-On Patent Attorney Test?cited by 0
- 2025A Hybrid Ai Framework For Strategic Patent Portfolio Pruning: Integrating Learning To-Rank And Market Need Analysis For Technology Transfer Optimizationcited by 0
- 2025ERA-IT: Aligning Semantic Models with Revealed Economic Preference for Real-Time and Explainable Patent Valuationcited by 0
- 2026Anticipating Innovation Using Large Language Modelscited by 0
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Embeddings: A Multi-Task Evaluation of 22 Models Across Retrieval, Classification, and Clusteringcited by 0
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Drafting from Inventor-Style Disclosurescited by 0
- 2026BLANC: Discovering Patent White Space via Changes in Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information Between Multi-View Clusterscited by 0
- 2026LogicTree-RAG: Logic Tree-guided Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Long-form Patent Draftingcited by 0
- 2026LogicTree-RAG: Logic Tree-guided Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Long-form Patent Drafting25 Sep 2026
- 2026BLANC: Discovering Patent White Space via Changes in Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information Between Multi-View Clusters27 Aug 2026
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Drafting from Inventor-Style Disclosures21 Aug 2026
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Embeddings: A Multi-Task Evaluation of 22 Models Across Retrieval, Classification, and Clustering22 May 2026
- 2026Anticipating Innovation Using Large Language Models6 May 2026
- 2026Is It Novel and Why? Fine-Grained Patent Novelty Prediction Based on Passage Retrieval4 May 2026
- 2026FlowPlan-G2P: A Structured Generation Framework for Transforming Scientific Papers into Patent Descriptions5 Jan 2026
- 2025ERA-IT: Aligning Semantic Models with Revealed Economic Preference for Real-Time and Explainable Patent Valuation14 Dec 2025
- 2025PatenTEB: A Comprehensive Benchmark and Model Family for Patent Text Embedding25 Oct 2025
- 2025Self-Filtered Distillation with LLMs-generated Trust Indicators for Reliable Patent Classification6 Oct 2025
- 2025AutoSpec: An Agentic Framework for Automatically Drafting Patent Specification23 Sep 2025
- 2025A Hybrid Ai Framework For Strategic Patent Portfolio Pruning: Integrating Learning To-Rank And Market Need Analysis For Technology Transfer Optimization31 Aug 2025
8 more
- 2025Can Large Language Models Understand As Well As Apply Patent Regulations to Pass a Hands-On Patent Attorney Test?11 Jul 2025
- 2025MK2 at PBIG Competition: A Prompt Generation Solution11 Jul 2025
- 2025Enriching Patent Claim Generation with European Patent Dataset18 May 2025
- 2025Towards Better Evaluation for Generated Patent Claims16 May 2025
- 2024EvoPat: A Multi-LLM-based Patents Summarization and Analysis Agent24 Dec 2024
- 2024AutoPatent: A Multi-Agent Framework for Automatic Patent Generation13 Dec 2024
- 2024Patent-CR: A Dataset for Patent Claim Revision3 Dec 2024
- 2024Can Large Language Models Generate High-quality Patent Claims?27 Jun 2024
- 2024Can Large Language Models Generate High-quality Patent Claims?cited by 19
- 2025Towards Better Evaluation for Generated Patent Claimscited by 8
- 2025Enriching Patent Claim Generation with European Patent Datasetcited by 5
- 2024Patent-CR: A Dataset for Patent Claim Revisioncited by 4
- 2024EvoPat: A Multi-LLM-based Patents Summarization and Analysis Agentcited by 4
- 2025Self-Filtered Distillation with LLMs-generated Trust Indicators for Reliable Patent Classificationcited by 4
- 2025PatenTEB: A Comprehensive Benchmark and Model Family for Patent Text Embeddingcited by 4
- 2025MK2 at PBIG Competition: A Prompt Generation Solutioncited by 3
- 2026FlowPlan-G2P: A Structured Generation Framework for Transforming Scientific Papers into Patent Descriptionscited by 1
- 2026Is It Novel and Why? Fine-Grained Patent Novelty Prediction Based on Passage Retrievalcited by 1
- 2025Can Large Language Models Understand As Well As Apply Patent Regulations to Pass a Hands-On Patent Attorney Test?cited by 0
- 2025A Hybrid Ai Framework For Strategic Patent Portfolio Pruning: Integrating Learning To-Rank And Market Need Analysis For Technology Transfer Optimizationcited by 0
12 most cited of 16 All 16 (JSON)
- 2026BLANC: Discovering Patent White Space via Changes in Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information Between Multi-View Clusters27 Aug 2026
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Drafting from Inventor-Style Disclosures21 Aug 2026
- 2026Benchmarking Patent Embeddings: A Multi-Task Evaluation of 22 Models Across Retrieval, Classification, and Clustering22 May 2026
- 2026Anticipating Innovation Using Large Language Models6 May 2026
- 2026Is It Novel and Why? Fine-Grained Patent Novelty Prediction Based on Passage Retrieval4 May 2026
- 2026FlowPlan-G2P: A Structured Generation Framework for Transforming Scientific Papers into Patent Descriptions5 Jan 2026
- 2025PatenTEB: A Comprehensive Benchmark and Model Family for Patent Text Embedding25 Oct 2025
- 2025Self-Filtered Distillation with LLMs-generated Trust Indicators for Reliable Patent Classification6 Oct 2025
- 2025A Hybrid Ai Framework For Strategic Patent Portfolio Pruning: Integrating Learning To-Rank And Market Need Analysis For Technology Transfer Optimization31 Aug 2025
- 2025Can Large Language Models Understand As Well As Apply Patent Regulations to Pass a Hands-On Patent Attorney Test?11 Jul 2025
- 2025MK2 at PBIG Competition: A Prompt Generation Solution11 Jul 2025
- 2025Enriching Patent Claim Generation with European Patent Dataset18 May 2025
12 newest of 16 All 16 (JSON)