System and method for implementation and operation of strategic linkages

• US 10,255,646 B2
• Filed: 08/14/2014
• Issued: 04/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/14/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
• Inventors: Howald, Blake, Moulinier, Isabelle, Mushett, Andrew, Ohle, John, Schultz, Chris
• Primary Examiner(s): Alam, Hosain T
• Assistant Examiner(s): Allen, Nicholas E
• Application Number:
  US14/460,202
• Publication Number:
  US 20160048509A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,699 Days
• Field of Search: 707749
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system, method and medium for associating portions of advocational documents with portions of tribunal decisions in view of common or similar characteristics that are identified between the associated entities. In addition, the associated advocational document portions are imparted with certain characteristics resulting from such an association, such as inheriting the topic of the associated tribunal decision portion or inheriting general characteristics of the decision such as judge or jurisdiction. This allows for the subsequent retrieval of advocational documents in view of various criteria associated with a decision or portion thereof.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for establishing linkages between an advocational document and a decision, wherein the advocational document and decision each include a plurality of portions, the method comprising:

for a selected portion of the advocational document, identifying one or more advocational document items of interest within the advocational document;

for each of one or more portions of the decision, identifying one or more decision items of interest;

for each of the one or more portions of the decision, comparing the one or more items of interest of the selected portion of the advocational document with the one or more decision items of interest to generate a plurality of match scores, wherein each match score is affiliated with one of the portions of the decision;

determining which of said match scores is a best match score based upon pre-determined criteria;

determining that the best match score is above a pre-determined threshold; and

associating the selected portion with the portion of the decision affiliated with the best match score in response to determining that the best match score is above the pre-determined threshold.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the one or more items of interest include at least one of case citations, statute citations, quotations and text n-grams.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the best match score is a match score indicative of the most total matches of said at least one of said case citations, statute citations, quotations and text n-grams.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein at least one item of interest is weighted more heavily than other of said one or more items of interest in determining the best match score.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein a thesaurus is used to match otherwise inexact items of interest in said step of comparing.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining which of said match scores is a best match score further comprises determining which of a range of match scores are the best match scores and associating the selected portion with the portions of the decision whose comparison resulted in the best match scores.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein each decision portion is capable of having a pre-determined affiliation with a topic, further comprising assigning, to the selected portion, a topic associated with the portion of the decision affiliated with the best match score.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, wherein said step of associating further comprises linking a headnote in the decision tied to the portion of the decision affiliated with the best match score with the selected portion of the advocational document.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the step of assigning the topic to the selected portion creates a corresponding headnote in the advocational document, wherein the link to the advocational document is to the headnote of the advocational document, and wherein the headnote of the advocational document is tied to the selected portion of the advocational document.

10. A computer-implemented method for processing a request for retrieving at least one portion of one or more advocational documents, wherein one or more portions of the one or more advocational documents have been associated with at least one portion of a decision based on best match criteria and linked to the decision as being part of a tribunal record of the decision, the method comprising:

receiving an indication that a requestor has requested obtaining at least one portion of the one or more advocational documents associated with a portion of a decision selected by the requestor, wherein the selected portion of the decision has a pre-determined affiliation with a topic;

determining that at least one portion of the one or more advocational documents as associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor exists; and

conveying the entire advocational document to the requestor upon determining that the at least one portion of one or more advocational documents associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor exists.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the at least one portion of the one or more advocational documents associated with the selected portion of the decision is affiliated with substantially the same topic as the selected portion.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the advocational document contains navigation features for allowing a user to navigate to the portion of the advocational document associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, further comprising:

conveying to the requestor a list of two or more advocational documents each having at least one portion associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor; and

allowing the requestor to then select one of said two or more advocational documents from the list.

14. A system for establishing linkages between an advocational document and a decision, wherein the advocational document and decision each include a plurality of portions, and wherein each decision portion is capable of having a pre-determined affiliation with a topic, the system comprising:

a linkage server having a hardware processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

a database containing the advocational document and decision,

wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium contains instructions that cause the processor to

for a selected portion of the advocational document, identify one or more advocational document items of interest within the advocational document;

for each of one or more portions of the decision, identify one or more decision items of interest;

for each of the one or more portions of the decision, compare the one or more items of interest of the selected portion of the advocational document with the one or more decision items of interest to generate a plurality of match scores, wherein each match score is affiliated with one of the portions of the decision;

determine that at least one match score is above a pre-determined threshold; and

associate the selected portion with the portion of the decision affiliated with the best match score in response to determining that at least one match score is above the pre-determined threshold.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the linkage server and database communicate via the Internet or local area network.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the one or more items of interest include at least one of case citations, statute citations, quotations and text n-grams.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising:

determining which of said match scores is a best match score based upon pre-determined criteria, wherein the best match score is a match score indicative of the most total matches of said at least one of said case citations, statute citations, quotations and text n-grams.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein at least one item of interest is weighted more heavily than other of said one or more items of interest in determining the best match score.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein determining which of said match scores is a best match score further comprises determining which of a range of match scores are the best match scores and associating the selected portion with the portions of the decision whose comparison resulted in the best match scores.

20. A system for processing a request for retrieving at least one portion of one or more advocational documents, wherein one or more portions of the one or more advocational documents have been associated with at least one portion of a decision based on best match criteria and linked to the decision as being part of a tribunal record of the decision, comprising:

an inquiry server having a hardware processor and a non-transitory computer-readable medium; and

a database containing the one or more advocational document and decision,

wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium contains instructions that cause the processor to;

receive an indication that a requestor has requested obtaining at least one portion of the one or more advocational documents associated with a portion of a decision selected by the requestor, wherein the selected portion of the decision has a pre-determined affiliation with a topic;

determine that at least one portion of the one or more advocational documents as associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor exists;

forward to the requestor a list of two or more advocational documents each having at least one portion associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor; and

allow the requestor to then select one of said two or more advocational documents from the list.

21. The system of claim 20 wherein the inquiry server and database connected via the Internet or local area network.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the non-transitory computer-readable medium contains instructions that further cause the processor to:

forward the entire advocational document to a requestor, wherein the advocational document contains navigation features for allowing a user to navigate to the portion of the advocational document associated with the portion of the decision selected by the requestor.