The Patent and Trademark Office has teamed up with Cisco Systems Inc., Alphabet Inc.'s Google, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to create an online archive about inventions aimed at boosting U.S. patent quality.

The “Prior Art Archive,” hosted by MIT’s Media Lab, is open to patent office examiners and anyone who might want to submit published writing, patents, information about products in commercial use, and other materials, known as prior art, Cisco and MIT said.