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Changelog

Source: NEWS.md

patentsview 1.0.0

Breaking changes

  • API key required: The new API requires authentication. Request a key at https://patentsview-support.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals and set PATENTSVIEW_API_KEY environment variable.

  • Endpoint changes: Now 27 endpoints (up from 7). Endpoints are singular (e.g., patent not patents). The nber_subcategory endpoint was removed; cpc_subsection is now cpc_group.

  • Field changes: patent_number is now patent_id. Raw inventor name fields (rawinventor_first_name, rawinventor_last_name) were removed. Some fields are now nested and require full qualification in queries (e.g., cpc_current.cpc_group_id).

  • Paging parameters changed: per_page/page replaced by size/after. Maximum size is 1,000 (was 10,000). Result sets are now unbounded (was capped at 100,000).

  • httr to httr2 migration: If you passed config = httr::timeout(40), now use timeout = 40 directly.

  • cast_pv_data() removed: The API now returns proper types (boolean, numeric, etc.) instead of strings.

New features

  • retrieve_linked_data() fetches data from HATEOAS links returned by the API
  • All fields are now queryable (previously some fields could only be returned, not queried)
  • Group name shorthand for fields: fields = "assignees" returns all assignee fields
  • API throttling handled automatically (45 requests/minute limit)

New vignettes

  • “API Changes” - comprehensive guide to migrating from the old API
  • “Converting an Existing Script” - practical migration examples
  • “Result Set Paging” - explains new paging mechanism
  • “Understanding the API” - converted from PatentsView’s Jupyter notebook

Internal

  • Tests now use vcr for HTTP mocking, improving speed and reliability
  • unnest_pv_data() handles empty API results without crashing
  • Paging structure mismatch now throws an error instead of warning (prevents confusing rbind failures)
  • Live API tests skip by default; enable with PATENTSVIEW_LIVE_TESTS=true

patentsview 0.3.0 (2021-09-03)

CRAN release: 2021-09-25

Misc
  • The package is now using the new HTTPS endpoints (#17)
  • The list of queryable fields was updated
  • with_qfuns() now find objects in the calling environment (@jcheng5, #20)
  • Vignettes are being pre-computed (#23)
  • An issue was fixed where query strings weren’t being properly URL-encoded (#24)
  • Adhoc logic was added to handle API throttling

patentsview 0.2.2 (2019-01-23)

CRAN release: 2019-01-28

Misc
  • Vignettes removed from package so that CRAN builds don’t fail when API is down

patentsview 0.2.1 (2018-03-05)

CRAN release: 2018-03-14

Misc
  • Examples that hit the API were wrapped in \dontrun{} so CRAN doesn’t request fixes to package when API is down

patentsview 0.2.0 (2018-02-08)

CRAN release: 2018-02-09

New features
  • cast_pv_data() function added to convert the data types of the data returned by search_pv()
  • Additional fields added to the API (e.g., fields starting with forprior_, examiner_)
Misc
  • Additional error handler added for the locations endpoint (@mustberuss, #11)
  • error_browser option has been deprecated

patentsview 0.1.0 (2017-05-01)

CRAN release: 2017-07-12

New functions
  • search_pv added to send requests to the PatentsView API
  • qry_funs list added with functions to help users write queries
  • get_fields and get_endpoints added to quickly get possible field names and endpoints, respectively
  • unnest_pv_data added to unnest the data frames in the returned data