Max-PAIR can work on Windows Operating Systems that have the MS .NET framework installed. However supported Operating Systems are:
Windows XP Professional
Windows Vista Professional or Better

Max-PAIR requires the following software components on the target system:
MS .Net framework 2
Java 2 runtime
Adobe Reader 6 or better
Internet Explorer

It is recommended that the user attempts to access the USPTO Private PAIR using MS Internet Explorer from the system where Max-PAIR is to be installed. This will ensure the connectivity and certificates are in order. An attempt will also have to be made to view a few IFW documents to ensure that the PDF documents are opening without any problems. This exercise will help validate the MS Internet Explorer and Adobe Acrobat reader components.

The Max-PAIR allows certain data to be exported to the Excel format. It may help to check availability of a suitable application like MS Office Excel to view these exported data.

The USPTO provide several documents to help access the private PAIR and is available at
https://sportal.uspto.gov/authenticate/AuthenticateUserLocalEPF.html

The Max-PAIR installer can be downloaded from the Maxval Pair Alert website http://maxpair.maxval-ip.com. An account has to be created on the website prior to download and usage of the Max-PAIR.

During the download of the installer from the website, a selection can be made to either run or save the installer. Selecting run would launch the installer else it has to be manually launched once saved.

> click next button

> click next button

Default folder is C:\MAXVAL\MAXPAIR.
Please do not select a folder under the Programs Files folder on Windows Vista. This will prevent the Max-PAIR work files from being placed under the user?s virtual folder.
Everyone / Just me
You can select everyone if the start menu items have to be placed for all users of the system.
Disk cost
Use this button to check the available disk space. It is advisable to have about 1GB of free space to allow data growth over time.
Everyone / Just me
You can select everyone if the start menu items have to be placed for all users of the system.

To prepare a default installation of Max-PAIR to be utilized by a user with no Administrator privileges.

Max-PAIR requires file system access to read and write the database, scratch files and logs. In the event the installation is performed by a user with Administrator privileges and the application is subsequently executed by a user with non Administrator privileges, execution may fail due to the following reasons:

Insufficient privileges on the Max-PAIR installation folder
Insufficient privileges on the folder that holds the USPTO certificate

Due to the confidential nature of the information contained on the Max-PAIR file set it may not be possible to grant a general “Everyone” privileges to the installation. This document presents an option to mange the requirement in the best possible method.

It is assumed that the Everyone option was selected during the Max-PAIR installation.

Right click on “My Computer” and select “Manage”
Expand “Local Users and Groups” and open “Groups”
Create a new group (e.g.Max-PAIR)
Add the users that would access the Max-PAIR system
Once done create the group

Right click and open properties for the Max-PAIR folder
Select the group created earlier for Max-PAIR (e.g. Max-PAIR)
Ensure that the group has Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, Read and Write privileges
Click OK button to save and close

From the Properties Dialog->Security Tab, select the Max-PAIR group (e.g.Max-PAIR)
Click on the advanced button
On the advanced security settings dialog select the Max-PAIR group (e.g.Max-PAIR)
Click on the Edit button
On the permission Entry dialog ensure that the “This folder, subfolders and files” option is selected

Once the above steps are complete the Administrative user can log out. Subsequently a non Administrative user can log on and attempt to execute Max-PAIR. The same steps can be performed for the folder containing the USPTO certificate file.

The installer will place launch icons on the Startup folder and also on the Max-PAIR folder on the Windows Start menu.

A system restart will launch Max-PAIR automatically or it can be manually launched using the Start Menu Icon. This means that for the Max-PAIR to be launched a user with the correct permissions has to log on to the system.

The “forgot your password” link can be used to retrieve the password in the event the password is forgotten. The link will bring up the retrieval webpage from the Max-PAIR website and the email id (user name) used to register can be keyed in for password retrieval. The password will be sent to the same email address.

The management user interface is a multiple document interface with a menu bar on top. The menu bar allows switching between the various client windows on the user interface. The following are the menu item options.

This window displays the total number of applications available to the Max-PAIR and the last update date. The current Max-PAIR subscription information is also displayed on this page and gives quick information on the expiry date and usage of the number of applications under watch versus the number available on the subscription.

A Buy now link is activated when the subscription dates expire.

This window has the following tabs pages.

Applications with any update failures due to timeouts or connectivity failures will appear in red. Applications with latest updates will appear in bold.

Clients
A tree view that shows all the Clients associated with the current certificate
Applications
Application#
The USPTO application number
Title
Refresh
This button will allow new Clients and Application# associated with the current certificate to be imported from USPTO.
Add applications
This button will add applications to watch. See how to add applications to watch.
Export to Excel
This button will export the current application list to an Excel document. A dialog would appear to select the location to store the document.
Delete
This button will delete an application from the list. A subsequent refresh will bring back the application.
IFW documents

This window is normally not accessible. This is activated to show the bibliographic information or the IFW document when requested from the Private PAIR window.

This window allows access to the Max-PAIR log files. This information can be used to identify and work around deployment issues, message from this window will help support personnel to provide quick solutions to get the Max-PAIR up and running.
Select Log Date
Select the date to view the log
Refresh
This button will add refresh the list of dates on which a log is available
Send as E-Mail
Send the current log as an email to the email ID configured on the Settings window
Open with Notepad
Open the log using notepad

Authentication
Certificate
The location of the USPTO certificate (EPF) file. Use the Browse button to locate the file.
Password
The USPTO password for the above certificate.
Mail server Settings
Server
SMTP Server
Port
SMTP server port
Requires SSL
Flag to indicate that SSL is required
User name
SMTP user name for authentication
Password
SMTP password for authentication
From mail ID
The origin email ID for outgoing email
Name
Display name for the outgoing email
Send a test mail
This button is used to send a test mail and verify the SMTP configuration
Update Time
Daily update time (hours / mins)
Save
This button saves any changes made
Config settings
The support email address and the location for the log file can be specified here. The log files are stored at this location and the log will be emailed to the same address.

Name
The display name for the email recipient
Email address
The email address for the recipient
Add
This button adds the new recipient to the list
Delete
This button deletes selected recipients

Select Client
Select the Client for whom the association is being made
Select the email accounts
Select the email accounts (added on the recipients tab page) to be associated with this Client.
The add / remove button
Use the > button to add the email ID to the association. Use the < button to remove email ID from the association.
Email Frequency
Set the email frequency for sending alerts to this association.
Save
This button saves changes made.

This window displays the Max-PAIR help document.

A status area at the bottom displays the last system message and also the progress bar for long running tasks.

Prior to Max-PAIR synchronizing status with the USPTO the following actions must be complete.

Configuration of USPTO certificate and password
On the Settings view the location of the USPTO certificate has to set. The certificate file can be located using the browse            button.
The password associated with the certificate has to be keyed in.

Configuration of email for outbound emails
The outbound email settings need to set next.
The IP address or the name of the SMTP server needs to be keyed in as the server value.
The SMTP port can be changed in case it is not the default port 25.
In case the SMTP server requires SSL the check box can be ticked.
The user name should be keyed in if the SMTP server requires authentication.
The password of the above user is keyed in here.
The “from” mail id used as the sender email address for outbound mail.
The name is the Display name for the outgoing address and will appear on the email instead of the email address.
The email can be tested using the Send a Test mail button. This should send a test mail to the email id that was provided on the             from mail id.
Please do not change the update time at this point.
Once the above settings are done the Save button must be clicked to save the settings.

After saving the settings click on the home menu item to go to the home window.
On the home window click on the update and send email button. This will launch the update task and Max-PAIR will fetch all the            customers and application# from the USPTO PAIR.
This activity will take time depending on the number of applications and network speed.
On completion of this task the customers and application# can be viewed on the Private PAIR window>Applications view.

The application# to be watched can be selected from the Private PAIR window>Applications view.
Clicking on the Client node on the tree will show all application#.
Clicking on a particular Client name will show the application# for that Client.
The check boxes can be used to select particular application# and the check box on the title will allow all applications to be            selected.
Once the applications are selected the Add applications button can be used to add the applications to watch. This will remove           the applications from the current display and will appear on the View window>View tab.

The update frequency can be set on a Client by client basis. Right click on the Client name to bring up a popup menu with the update frequency options. A selection can be made from:
Daily
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Bi-weekly
Monthly
Once the required Application# is added the settings menu item can be clicked to view the settings window.

From the Settings window the Recipients view has to be selected.
The email addresses for the alert recipients can be added
The name is the display name and has to be keyed in
Email address is the email address for a particular recipient and has to keyed in
The Add button is used to add the new name/email-id to the list
The check box can be used to select and delete a recipient

Max-PAIR allows alerts to be configured in a manner that updated for a particular client is emailed to a specific set of users.
The Customer can be selected from the drop down on the top.
Multiple email recipients can be selected on the left hand list and added to the right hand list using the > button. Recipients can            be removed by using the < button.
The save button has to be clicked to save any changes made.
Once this is done the associations can be changed at a later point

Once the email has been set up the Setting window can be selected and the Update Time can be set to the preferred time for            the automatic update to execute.
Click on save button to save the new time.
Wait for updates

Update frequency is the frequency at which application status are updated from the USPTO.
Email frequency is the frequency at which alerts are sent to the recipients.
Examples
Update frequency is set to Monday
Email frequency is daily
The application status will be updated by Max-PAIR on all Mondays, emails will be sent on all days. However since the updates are done only on Monday a mid week update will appear on the alert only on the subsequent Monday.

Update frequency is set to Daily
Email frequency is set to Monday
The application status will be updated by Max-PAIR daily, alert emails are send only on Monday and will show updates during the past week.

Update frequency is set to Daily
Email frequency is set to Daily
As implied the updates are daily and alert emails are sent daily.

Daily updates are performed automatically based on the Update Time or can be manually started using the Update and send email button on the home page. Once an update time is set the update will start automatically. In case the system is switched on later than this time the update will be started because the start time has elapsed.

On the Private PAIR window, Applications View there is a Refresh button. Clicking this button will update new Customers and Application# from the USPTO.

On the Private PAIR window double click the IFW status value for the correct Application#. This will show a list of the IFW (if available) or the transaction history entries.

On the Private PAIR window double click the IFW status value for the correct Application#. This will show a list of the IFW (if available) or the transaction history entries. Double click the correct IFW title (does not work for transaction history entries) to view the corresponding PDF.

This display indicates that there was a problem in updating the status from the USPTO.  This could be due to timeouts or outages. This may occur for some or all the applications. Subsequent updates should clear this or the applications can be selected and updated using the update button.

Ensure Internet connectivity by using MS Internet Explorer to view the USPTO Private PAIR.

Attempt to view a few application details on the USPTO Private PAIR. View the bibliographic data, IFW entries and IFW documents.

Ensure that your subscription is valid or contact pair alert support.

Use the Send a Test Mail button to validate your SMTP server settings.

There could be a problem with the Adobe reader on your system. Please try to manually access the USPTO and view an IFW PDF, there may be a licensing or update Adobe dialog that appears and an “Agree” button or check box may need to be clicked.

Disconnected from internet retry will start soon
Indicates Internet connectivity outage. Max-PAIR will retry the operation.
Retry Exit , Mark All the Applications Failed
Retry Exit , Applications Marked as Error

Caused by time outs due to connectivity, system load or USPTO outage
Error USPTO site not responding for the Customer Data
Error USPTO site not responding for the Application Data

USPTO time outs or outage. Max-PAIR will retry the operation.
Disconnected from internet retry will start soon
Internet connectivity failure.

Error Authentication Failed please ensure that you have given the right .epf path
User had not specified the correct location to the .epf or has a wrong file or password.

Error While Sending Mails.Mailbox unavailable. The server response was: 5.1.1 You must be authenticated to use this server
SMTP server settings are not correct. Use the Send a Test Mail button to validate your SMTP server settings.