A few complex figures which can not be placed into one sheet need to be split into two or more sheets without violating the guidelines of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). The same rules can be applied to other jurisdictions also.
Splitting figures are required for some complex types of drawing such as long flow charts, complex block charts, circuit diagrams, sequence listing, and webpages which are sometimes unable to fit into one sheet.
There are some ways that can be used to split figures into multiple sheets. Let us understand them with some examples.
Type A
Using Solid Lines to Split Figures in Landscape Sheet
Example 1: Verticle solid line can be used to show the split area. The figures are marked as Fig. XA, Fig. XB etc.
Type B
Using Dash Lines to Split Figures
Example 2: Vertical dashed line can be used to show the split area. The figures are marked as Fig. X, Fig. X Continued.
Example 3: Horizontal dashed line can be used to show the split area. The figures are marked as Fig. X, Fig. X Continued.
Type C
Using Dash Line to Split Figure into Landscape and Portrait format
Sometimes single figure is required to split into more than two sheet. Moreover, the figure is required to be split both vertically and horizontally. In such cases, figure number box is required to show. The box will describe the placement of the figures to get the full figure.
Example 4: One figure is split into multiple sheets
The figure box is placed on the first sheet and it will clearly show the placement of all the figures to get the original.
Example 5: One figure is split into two sheets. Representation of figure box
Type D
Using Connectors for Long Flow Charts
Example 6: Long flow chart split into two sheets are connected with connectors
Figures are allowed to split into multiple sheets so that the text height should meet the 37 CFR § 1.84 - Standards for drawings. Figures should be marked properly for better understanding. For more consultation related to Patent Drwaing, please contact us at info@desillus.com or visit us at https://www.desillus.com/