Generally speaking, patent documents mainly refer to the official publications of patent offices in various countries. For example: patent specification, patent bulletin, patent abstract, patent index, patent classification table, etc. The so-called patent documents, in a narrow sense, refer to the patent specifications and claims published by the patent administrative department of the State Council. Patent literature in a broad sense also includes abstract of instructions, patent bulletin, various retrieval reference books and legal documents related to patents.
At present, most countries and regions in the world have established patent systems, and many countries and organizations publish patent documents in official languages. According to the statistics of the World Intellectual Property Organization, 90% to 95% of the world's inventions can be found in patent documents, and many inventions can only be found in patent documents. It can be said that patent literature records almost every new technological achievement made by human beings and is the most authoritative encyclopedia of world technology.