CREATION AND MAINTENANCE OF A SYNOPSIS OF A BODY OF KNOWLEDGE USING NORMALIZED TERMINOLOGY
First Claim
1. A method of providing a synopsis of a body of knowledge, comprising:
- storing within at least one electronic database a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to the body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics;
for each of a plurality of documents, at least one of which is a citing document that includes at least one citation to at least one of the plurality of documents, finding at least one statement within the document that expresses a principle related to the body of knowledge;
for each of the principles identified in any one or more of the documents, creating a standard expression of the principle and storing the created expression within the at least one electronic database in relation to at least one of the subtopics and in relation to each of the documents in which the identified principle was expressed.
9 Assignments
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Accused Products
Abstract
Systems and methods are provided for expressing a body of knowledge in standard or normalized terms. A topic hierarchy comprises topics related to the body of knowledge, with one or more topics comprising subtopics, and with subtopics themselves possibly comprising further subtopics. Principles are found within documents that are related to the body of knowledge, and standard terminology is selected to express those principles. Documents may be associated with the standard expressions corresponding to the respective principles found in the documents, and one or more of the standard expressions may be associated with at least one topic, subtopic, or both.
11 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method of providing a synopsis of a body of knowledge, comprising:
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storing within at least one electronic database a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to the body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics; for each of a plurality of documents, at least one of which is a citing document that includes at least one citation to at least one of the plurality of documents, finding at least one statement within the document that expresses a principle related to the body of knowledge; for each of the principles identified in any one or more of the documents, creating a standard expression of the principle and storing the created expression within the at least one electronic database in relation to at least one of the subtopics and in relation to each of the documents in which the identified principle was expressed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A method of providing a citation index, comprising:
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finding within a first document a first expression of a principle; storing within the at least one database a first association between the first document and a standard expression of the principle; finding within a second document a second expression of the principle and a citation to the first document, the citation being associated with the second expression of the principle; storing within the at least one database a second association between the second document and the standard expression of the principle and a third association between the second document and the first document; and providing an indication that the second document includes the citation to the first document and an identification of the standard expression of the principle. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for providing a synopsis of a body of knowledge, comprising:
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a programmable processor, an input device that provides input to the system, a database, and a memory; the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to carry out a method that comprises storing within the at least one database a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to the body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics; for each of a plurality of documents, receiving first input through the input device designating at least one statement within the document that expresses a principle related to the body of knowledge; and for each of the principles designated in any one or more of the documents, receiving second input, through the input device, that indicates a standard expression of the principle and, in response to the second input, storing that expression within the at least one database in relation to at least one of the subtopics and in relation to each of the documents in which the principle was expressed. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for providing a citation index, comprising:
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a programmable processor, an input device that provides input to the system, a database, and a memory; the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to carry out a method that comprises accepting first input through the input device designating within a first document a first expression of a principle; storing within the at least one database a standard expression of the principle; storing within the at least one database a first association between the first document and the standard expression of the principle; accepting input through the input device designating within a second document a second expression of the principle and a citation to the first document, the citation being associated with the second expression of the principle; storing within the at least one database a second association between the second document and the standard expression of the principle and a third association between the second document and the first document; and providing an indication that the second document includes the citation to the first document and an identification of the standard expression of the principle. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure comprising:
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a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics; a plurality of standard expressions, each expressing a principle related to the body of knowledge; for each of the standard expressions, at least one association between the respective standard expression and one of the subtopics; and for each of the standard expressions, at least one association between the respective standard expression and a document that includes subject matter associated with the body of knowledge, the document including at least one statement having a meaning that is substantially equivalent to the meaning of the respective standard expression. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A computer-readable storage medium encoded with one or more data structures, comprising:
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a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of law, at least one of the topics comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic comprising one or more subtopics; a plurality of standard expressions of principles of law related to the body of law; a plurality of opinions from at least one governmental adjudicative entity, a plurality of the opinions being citing opinions that include at least one citation that refers to one of the opinions, being a cited opinion; and a citation index relating at least one of the citing opinions to one of the corresponding cited opinions;
whereineach standard expression is stored in association with at least one topic or subtopic so that a computer having a reference to the standard expression may obtain a reference to the respective associated topic or subtopic, each standard expression is stored in association with at least one opinion so that a computer having a reference to the standard expression may obtain a reference to the respective associated opinion, each relation in the citation index is stored in association with the respective citing opinion and the respective cited opinion so that (i) a computer having a reference to the relation may obtain a reference to the citing opinion and a reference to the cited opinion, (ii) a computer having a reference to the citing opinion may obtain a reference to the relation and a reference to the cited opinion, and (iii) a computer having a reference to the cited opinion may obtain a reference to the relation and a reference to the cited opinion. - View Dependent Claims (25)
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Specification