Method and System for Producing and Organizing Electronically Stored Information

• US 20090265609A1
• Filed: 04/16/2008
• Published: 10/22/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/16/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Veritas Technologies, LLC (Whitehouse Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Clearwell Systems (NortonLifeLock Inc.)
• Inventors: Kumar, Prem, Rangan, Venkat, Desai, Malay, Kashyap, Anurag
• Granted Patent: US 8,171,393 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/166 Editing, e.g. inserting or deleting

Abstract

The invention provides techniques for efficiently organizing and reviewing electronic documents to be produced in the course of a discovery process. The technique provides for marking the master or pivot document with review information, and identifying a plurality of duplicate documents related to the master or pivot document. The technique provides for reviewing a master or pivot document and propagating the review information to a set of related documents. The technique provides for producing a plurality of electronic documents where each of the electronic documents is marked up in accordance with the review information. The method provides for organizing the plurality of electronic documents so it can be presented and searched in an efficient manner.

Claims

1. A method for producing and organizing electronically stored information, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of related documents from the electronically stored information;

identifying a pivot document for the plurality of related documents;

associating a review information with the pivot document;

propagating the review information from the pivot document to one or more of the plurality of related documents.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the propagating includes associating the review information with the one or more documents.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising marking up each of the one or more documents in accordance with the review information.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the review information includes a comment information.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the review information includes an annotations information.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the review information includes a tag information.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

identifying a second document from the plurality of related documents; and

associating an additional review information with the second document.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising presenting the second document, wherein the second document is marked up in accordance with the review information and the additional review information.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising organizing the plurality of related documents in accordance with the review information, wherein the plurality of related documents is adapted to be navigated in accordance to the review information.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising organizing the plurality of related documents in accordance with the review information, wherein the plurality of related documents is adapted to be searched in accordance to the review information.

11. The method of claim 1, the plurality of related documents including a plurality of near-duplicate documents, wherein each of the plurality of near-duplicate documents is a closely related copy of the pivot document.

12. The method of claim 1, the plurality of documents including a plurality of exact-duplicate documents, wherein each of the plurality of exact-duplicate documents is an exact copy of the pivot document.

13. The method of claim 1 further comprising producing the electronically stored information to an opposing counsel.

14. A method for producing and organizing electronically stored information, the method comprising:

identifying a pivot document for review, the pivot document selected from the electronically stored information;

associating a review information with the pivot document; and

propagating the review information to a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents selected from the electronically stored information.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising producing the plurality of documents, wherein the plurality of documents is marked up in accordance with the review information.

16. The method of claim 14 further comprising producing the plurality of documents, wherein the plurality of documents is organized in accordance with the review information.

17. The method of claim 14 further comprising producing the plurality of documents, wherein the plurality of documents is made searchable in accordance with the review information.

18. A system for producing and organizing electronically stored information, the system comprising:

a memory configured to store electronic document information; and

a processor configured to;

identify a pivot document for review, the pivot document selected from the electronic document information;

associate a review information with the pivot document; and

propagate the review information to a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents selected from the electronic document information.

19. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to mark up the plurality of documents in accordance with the review information.

20. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to organize the plurality of documents in accordance with the review information.

21. The system of claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to render the plurality of documents searchable in accordance with the review information.

22. A computer-readable medium storing a plurality of instructions for controlling a data processor to produce and organize electronically stored information, the plurality of instructions comprising:

instructions that cause the data processor to;

identify a pivot document for review, the pivot document selected from the electronic document information;

associate a review information with the pivot document; and

propagate the review information to a plurality of documents, the plurality of documents selected from the electronic document information.

23. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the data processor is further configured to mark up the plurality of documents in accordance with the review information.

24. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the data processor is further configured to organize the plurality of documents in accordance with the review information.

25. The computer-readable medium of claim 22 wherein the data processor is further configured to render the plurality of documents searchable in accordance with the review information.