A provisional patent application is a type of patent application that allows inventors to secure their invention for a period of 12 months. This type of application is less formal than a non-provisional patent application and does not require a working prototype or a detailed description of the invention. Instead, it simply includes a brief description of the invention and any drawings or sketches that may be helpful in understanding the invention.
Provisional patents can be beneficial for inventors who are still in the early stages of development and who are not yet ready to commit to the more formal and expensive non-provisional patent process.