System and method for organizing information

• US 20040068513A1
• Filed: 10/02/2002
• Published: 04/08/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 10/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Matter Associates LP
• Original Assignee: Matter Associates LP
• Inventors: Carroll, David B., Hildebrand, Cory
• Granted Patent: US 6,873,991 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/102
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99942 Manipulating data structure, e.g. compression, compaction, compilation

Abstract

A system and method for accessing and manipulating, for multiple application types, of information stored in at least one database, in accordance with at least one data key, which information may be displayed or searched on a computer as a display of general information, a display of expense information, a display of personnel information or a display of document information relating to the item and matter is disclosed.

Claims

1. A computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable storage mediums and for enabling manipulation of data of differing types, said data being stored in at least one data store and having a predetermined inter-relationship, the computer program product comprising:

code for cooperating with at least one user interface to receive user input associated with said stored data;

code for automatically interacting with said at least one data store dependently upon said received user input to enable manipulation of a portion of said stored data of a given data type;

code for automatically identifying at least one other portion of said stored data of a data type distinct from said first data type and having a given relationship with said portion of data; and

, code for automatically triggering a predetermined manipulation of said at least one other portion of said stored data dependently upon and associated with said received input.

2. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said predetermined inter-relationship comprises commonality with a data item within one or more of the group consisting of a word processor data type, a calendar and scheduler data type, a spreadsheet data type, an accounting data type, and a personnel contacts data type.

3. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said at least one user interface is a graphical user interface.

4. The computer program product of claim 3, wherein said graphical user interface displays information organized as general information, expense information, personnel information, and documents.

5. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said graphical user interface is implemented for a legal office application.

6. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said general information comprises a client name and number, a matter name and number, a matter description, and a matter category.

7. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said expense information comprises invoice date, number, amount, and billing entity, itemized billing description, amount of itemized billing and status of said invoice;

wherein a user may perform operations on said invoice by selecting one from the group consisting of pay invoice, edit invoice, and delete invoice functions.

8. The computer program product of claim 4, wherein said personnel information comprises company name, individual person name, role of individual in matter and hosting company.

9. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said user input comprises one or more of the group consisting of direct user input and file importation.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein said direct user input is one or more of the group consisting of user keyboard entry, user touch-screen entry, and user speech entry.

11. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said data store may be one or more of the group consisting of local data storage and remote data storage.

12. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said manipulation of said portion of said stored data is one or more of the group consisting of copying of a data item, reformatting of a data item, and performing numerical operations on a data item.

13. The computer program product of claim 1, wherein said given relationship is one or more of the group consisting of association by client, association by matter, and association by category.

14. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said matter is an activity associated with said client.

15. The computer program product of claim 13, wherein said category is one or more of the group consisting of general representation, intellectual property, labor and employment, license agreements, litigation, policies, potential claims, real estate and leasing, securities, supply agreements, and taxes.

16. A computer program product embodied on one or more computer-readable storage mediums and for enabling manipulation of data of differing types, said data being stored in at least one data store and having a predetermined inter-relationship, the computer program product comprising:

code for cooperating with at least one user interface to receive user input associated with said stored data;

code for automatically interacting with said at least one data store dependently upon said received user input to enable manipulation of a portion of said stored data of a given data type;

code for automatically identifying at least one other portion of said stored data of a data type distinct from said first data type and having a given relationship with said portion of data; and

,

wherein said data types comprise a word processor data type, a calendar and scheduler data type, a spreadsheet data type, an accounting data type, and a personnel contacts data type.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said predetermined inter-relationship comprises commonality with a data item within one or more of the group consisting of a word processor data type, a calendar and scheduler data type, a spreadsheet data type, an accounting data type, and a personnel contacts data type.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said at least one user interface is a graphical user interface.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said graphical user interface displays information organized as general information, expense information, personnel information, and documents.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said graphical user interface is implemented for a legal office application.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, wherein said general information comprises a client name and number, a matter name and number, a matter description, and a matter category.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said expense information comprises invoice date, number, amount, and billing entity, itemized billing description, amount of itemized billing and status of said invoice;

wherein said user may perform operations on said invoice by selecting one from the group consisting of pay invoice, edit invoice, and delete invoice functions.

23. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein said personnel information comprises company name, individual person name, role of individual in matter and hosting company.

24. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said user input comprises one or more of the group consisting of direct user input and file importation.

25. The computer program product of claim 24, wherein said direct user input is one or more of the group consisting of user keyboard entry, user touch-screen entry, and user speech entry.

26. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said data store may be one or more of the group consisting of local data storage and remote data storage.

27. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said manipulation of said portion of said stored data is one or more of the group consisting of copying of a data item, reformatting of a data item, and performing numerical operations on a data item.

28. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein said given relationship is one or more of the group consisting of association by client, association by matter, and association by category.

29. A method of accessing information stored in an item and matter context, in one or more databases, said method comprising:

searching said one or more databases using one or more of the search word group consisting of an item, a matter, an individual and a document;

selecting, by a user, one search result from a list of hits associated with said searching, whereby detailed information related to one or more of said item, said matter, said individual and said document is accessed;

presenting said detailed information as an assembly of general information, expense information, personnel information and document information for said selected result;

wherein said general information provides an assemblage of said item and said matter information, said expense information provides financial data, said personnel information relates roles of said individuals to said item and said matter and said document information allows access to relevant documents via said one or more databases and wherein said assembly of said general, expense, personnel and document information is available upon a single search.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein said list of hits associated with said searching comprises one or more of the group consisting of a multiplicity of documents, a multiplicity of items, a multiplicity of matters and a multiplicity of individuals.

31. The method of claim 29, wherein said display of said expense information comprises invoice date, number, amount and billing entity, itemized billing description, amount of itemized billing and status of said invoice;

wherein said user may perform operations on said invoice by selecting one from the group consisting of pay invoice, edit invoice, and delete invoice functions.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein said display of personnel information comprises company name, individual person name, role in matter, and hosting company.

33. The method of claim 29, wherein said document information may be accessed by selecting one from the group consisting of a local database and a remote database.

34. The method of claim 29, wherein said document information comprises reports generated by the user.

35. The method of claim 29, further comprising generating reports based on one or more of the group consisting of said item information, said matter information, and said personnel information, and said document information.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein said reports may be organized as one or more of the group consisting of multiple matters across a single client, multiple clients across a category of matters, multiple documents across a single matter, expenses across multiple clients, multiple expenses across a single client, expenses across a single matter, and multiple expenses across a single matter.

37. A computer-readable medium comprising computer instructions, which, when executed on said computer, implement a method of accessing information stored in an item and matter context, in one or more databases, the method comprising:

searching said one or more databases using one or more of the search word group consisting of an item, a matter, an individual and a document;

selecting, by a user, one search result from a list of hits associated with said searching, whereby detailed information related to one or more of said item, said matter, said individual and said document is accessed;

presenting said detailed information as an assembly of general information, expense information, personnel information and document information for said selected result;

wherein said general information provides an assemblage of said item and said matter information, said expense information provides financial data, said personnel information relates roles of said individuals to said item and said matter and said document information allows access to relevant documents via said one or more databases and wherein said assembly of said general, expense, personnel, and document information is available upon a single search.

38. The computer-readable medium of claim 37, wherein said medium is one or more of the group consisting of an optical disk, compact disc, floppy disk, magnetic tape, or semiconductor memory.

39. An information manipulator that manipulates information in accordance with at least one user request, and in accordance with at least one information key, comprising:

a graphical user interface;

at least two applications;

a bridge layer between said graphical user interface and said at least two applications, wherein said bridge layer normalizes the user request from said graphical user interface into at least two formats correspondent to formats of said at least two applications, and wherein said bridge layer simultaneously manipulates the information correspondent to the at least one information key in each of said at least two applications in accordance with the at least two formats.

40. The information manipulator of claim 39, further comprising:

at least one storage layer, wherein the information correspondent to the at least one key is stored in said at least one storage layer.

41. The information manipulator of claim 40, wherein upon the simultaneous manipulation, the manipulated information is stored as an updated file in said storage layer.