Building a Scalable Patent Search Platform for Enhanced IP Management

Expertise Delivered

Frontend, Backend & QA

Industry

Legal

The Client

Intellectual Ventures, based in Delaware, USA, is a prominent player in the field of intellectual property (IP) management. They support more than 500 patent submissions each year, assisting innovators and companies in patent research, patentability assessments, and securing IP rights.

Renowned for advancing patent innovation, Intellectual Ventures is consistently exploring new ways to improve and streamline its processes.

Recognizing that they needed a stronger, more efficient platform to handle their patent submissions, they set out to enhance the platform’s capabilities—particularly in the areas of search functionality and workflow automation.

Project Scope

The initial platform used by Intellectual Ventures had a limited keyword-based search feature that didn’t meet their growing requirements. This outdated search functionality made it challenging to quickly retrieve relevant patents and information. Additionally, the lack of a dedicated testing environment slowed down feature development and threatened platform stability with each update.

Intellectual Ventures realized that in order to grow and meet the increasing demand, they would need to modernize the entire platform and streamline the development process. After a comprehensive assessment, we identified four critical areas for improvement to guide our approach:

• Testing and Development Environment: Setting up a dedicated space for testing new features without risking the production environment.
• CI/CD Automation: Implementing continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) pipelines to allow faster, safer updates.
• Scalability and Resource Management: Improving the platform’s ability to scale as user numbers grow while managing resource costs efficiently.
• Subscription and Billing Automation: Integrating a billing system that would automate subscription management and empower users to manage their own subscriptions.

The Challenge

Intellectual Ventures faced various challenges that affected the performance and productivity of their platform:

• Delayed Feature Rollouts and Limited Testing: Without a dedicated environment, new features couldn’t be tested thoroughly, which slowed development, introduced risks, and impacted user experience.

• Minimal Documentation: Due to the lack of comprehensive documentation, deployment was often inconsistent, leading to delays and longer recovery times when issues occurred.

• Fragmented Setup: The application was partially containerized and partially standalone, which made maintenance, scaling, and deployment more difficult.

  
  

These challenges made it hard for Intellectual Ventures to expand the platform to support their increasing demands. The team at Intellectual Ventures needed a solution that would address these issues while also setting a solid foundation for future growth.

Why Maruti Techlabs?

Intellectual Ventures chose Maruti Techlabs for our transparent and straightforward approach to development. We focus on clear communication and proven development practices that prioritize client needs and industry standards.

Building on our history of delivering high-quality DevOps solutions, we tailored our approach to fulfill Intellectual Ventures' requirements for scalability, efficiency, and stability. Our flexible, customized approach allowed us to tackle the specific issues Intellectual Ventures was facing while planning for the future demands of their platform.

"The Maruti Techlabs team has been exceptional to work with. Their expertise and dedication have made a real difference in our project’s success, and I’m pleased to offer them my highest recommendation."

- CTO

Solution

To modernize the platform, we implemented a variety of targeted solutions that addressed each of the issues identified:

1. Dedicated Development Environment: We set up a development environment based on Kubernetes, which allowed for the testing of new features in a secure, controlled space before moving them to production. This minimized risks associated with updates and allowed Intellectual Ventures to confidently implement new features without impacting active users.

2. CI/CD Pipeline Implementation: We designed and implemented CI/CD pipelines to automate the process of deploying new features and updates. This enabled faster, more reliable releases, ensuring that new features could be rolled out smoothly without disrupting the platform’s functionality.

3. Standardized Containerization: We transitioned all standalone applications to Kubernetes clusters, ensuring that the platform was fully containerized. This made it easier to maintain and allowed the platform to scale efficiently as needed.

4. Enhanced Solr Database Optimization: We reconfigured the Solr database to support faster, more accurate searches, improving the platform’s ability to handle large volumes of data. This allowed Intellectual Ventures to process complex queries more quickly, significantly enhancing the user experience.

5. Automated Subscription Management with Stripe: We integrated Stripe to automate subscription billing and management. This allowed users to control their subscriptions independently, including payments and renewals, reducing manual administrative work and improving the user experience.

Communication and Collaboration

Our team maintained open and consistent communication with Intellectual Ventures throughout the project:

• Daily Updates: Communication via email, Slack, and Google Meet provided regular status updates.
• Transparency: Frequent reports kept stakeholders up-to-date on progress, ensuring transparency and alignment on project goals.

Technology Stack

Result

The solutions implemented had a measurable impact, leading to improvements in various areas.

Key results from this project include:

• Faster Development Cycles: The dedicated development environment, combined with CI/CD pipelines, allowed the Intellectual Ventures team to deploy new features and updates more quickly.
• Enhanced System Efficiency: By optimizing resource usage and automating various processes, the platform now operates more efficiently, with reduced operational costs.
• Future-Ready Scalability: The Kubernetes infrastructure enables easy scaling, so the platform can grow smoothly as demand increases.
• Improved User Experience: With Stripe integration, users can now manage their subscriptions independently, reducing the need for support and improving overall satisfaction.
• Significant Cost Savings: Optimizations led to considerable cost reductions:
  • 1-Year Commitment: Achieved a 40% savings instead of paying higher on-demand cloud usage rates.
  • 3-Year Commitment: Reached a 60% savings over on-demand cloud costs.
• Operational Efficiency Gains: Improved resource utilization resulted in lower operational costs, helping Intellectual Ventures maintain a lean operation.
• Increased Platform Stability: The dedicated testing environment reduced deployment risks, providing a smooth, reliable experience for users and allowing for quicker rollouts of new features.

Maruti Techlabs successfully delivered a modernized, scalable platform that addresses Intellectual Ventures' needs for operational efficiency and user experience. The updated platform is now equipped to handle more complex patent research and IP management tasks, supporting Intellectual Ventures in promoting and advancing innovation within the intellectual property space.

Our Development Process

We follow Agile, Lean, & DevOps best practices to create a superior prototype that brings your users’ ideas to fruition through collaboration & rapid execution. Our top priority is quick reaction time & accessibility.

We really want to be your extended team, so apart from the regular meetings, you can be sure that each of our team members is one phone call, email, or message away.