# Google Patents Citation Count Change by ID (`jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief`) Actor

Check the displayed document Cited By count for known Google Patents publication IDs and compare it with optional prior counts. No search, inventor details or legal conclusions. Unofficial.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief.md
- **Developed by:** [h ichi](https://apify.com/jpmarketdata) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$10.00 / 1,000 patent citation brief createds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## Google Patents Citation Count Change by ID

> **Unofficial** — independent tool, **not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google Patents**. It reads only publicly visible pages. Support, reliability guarantees and the full disclaimer are at the bottom of this page.

Check the displayed **document-level** Cited By count for a known publication ID. Optionally compare it with your own previous displayed count. This is a changing source observation, not a count of new citations, a legal opinion or a patent impact score.

### Input

Provide 1–3 exact uppercase publication IDs. `previousCitedByCounts` is an optional JSON object keyed by those IDs, with nonnegative integer values. Omitted IDs receive a current count without a delta. `maxItems` and paid event budget select a bounded input-order prefix. No search terms or arbitrary URLs.

### Output

One row per fully validated document. `citationCountDelta` is current minus supplied baseline and `countChanged` is whether that displayed count differs. Both are omitted when no baseline exists. Counts can change as Google revises its index. The example values are illustrative.

### Limits

Read robots.txt for patents.google.com before exact `/patent/{ID}/en` pages. Do not use search/XHR, proxy, browser evasion or blocked endpoints. Check page identity and parse the document Cited By counter under the primary article, excluding family Cited By. At most three pages, 10 MiB each, sequential with two seconds between requests, 30 seconds per request, 180 seconds total and 256 MB memory. Fail on 403/429, CAPTCHA, redirect, 404, oversized/ambiguous pages, missing counter or dates, and timeouts. Validate all selected pages before dataset delivery.

### Privacy

Return only patent ID, date, count, comparison and source provenance. Do not persist raw pages, inventor or assignee names, claims, abstracts or contacts.

### Pricing

One `citation-brief-created` primary PPE event at $0.01 per delivered row; no start or secondary charge.

Source: https://patents.google.com/robots.txt. Google terms and uncertainty are recorded in the dated scout under DR-0007.

### If something goes wrong

- **Wrong number or a failed run?** Open a ticket on the **Issues** tab. I read every one and reply within 2 business days (Japan time).
- **You never get a fake "empty" result.** If the site can't be read, the run fails and says so.
  One validated patent citation-count brief delivered is one billable event. An omitted or failed source row is not charged; earlier delivered rows remain billable after a later write failure.
- **Checked every week.** An automatic test runs this tool weekly; if the site changes, I fix it.
- **Public pages only.** No login, no personal data, and it goes easy on the site.

### More tools by the same author

- [Mercari Japan Sold Prices — What Items Really Sell For](https://apify.com/jpmarketdata/mercari-japan-price-checker)
- [Yahoo! Auctions Japan Sold Prices — Median, Range, Bids](https://apify.com/jpmarketdata/yahoo-auction-sold-comps)

All tools (Japan marketplaces, real estate, jobs, racing, prediction markets): <https://apify.com/jpmarketdata>

### Disclaimer

Unofficial, independent tool — **not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Google Patents**. Product names and logos belong to their owners and only say where the data comes from. Data is read from public pages, for market research; check before you act on it.

# Actor input Schema

## `publicationIds` (type: `array`):

One to three uppercase Google Patents publication IDs, not URLs or search terms.

## `previousCitedByCounts` (type: `object`):

JSON object mapping a selected publication ID to a previous Google Patents document Cited By count. Omit an ID to return its current count without a change claim.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum unique IDs in input order, further limited by the paid event budget.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "publicationIds": [
    "US10000000B2",
    "US7479949B2"
  ],
  "previousCitedByCounts": {},
  "maxItems": 2
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "publicationIds": [
        "US10000000B2",
        "US7479949B2"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "publicationIds": [
        "US10000000B2",
        "US7479949B2",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "publicationIds": [
    "US10000000B2",
    "US7479949B2"
  ]
}' |
apify call jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,jpmarketdata/google-patents-citation-change-brief"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/SMFlcBqiAB2aifdZK/builds/OdNK2BUo7s7Fhch1Y/openapi.json