Searching The Internet For Common Elements In A Document In Order To Detect Plagiarism

• US 20100114924A1
• Filed: 10/17/2008
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: SAFE IP LLC (Pueblo Nuevo LLC)
• Original Assignee: Software Analysis and Forensic Engineering Corporation
• Inventors: Hoehn, Timothy Douglas, Zeidman, Robert Marc
• Granted Patent: US 9,043,375 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/759
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3331 Query processing

Abstract

A method and system for detecting plagiarism of software source code is disclosed. In one embodiment, a database exists of program elements that have previously been found to be matching within the source code for two different programs. This embodiment searches the Internet for occurrences of these matching program elements to determine how many times they appear and thus whether they are commonly used or not. The elements and their associated number of hits are placed in a spreadsheet for further observation and manipulation. One of skill in the art will see that this invention also applies to other kinds of text documents.

Claims

1. ) A computer-implemented method comprising:

reading an element from a database containing elements that appear in each of multiple documents;

sending said element to a search engine;

receiving from said search engine the number of hits;

displaying to a user said element and said number of hits for said element.

2. ) The method of claim 1) where sending said element to a search engine includes modifying said element before sending.

3. ) The method of claim 1) where sending said element to a search engine includes first placing said element into a sorted list.

4. ) The method of claim 1) where displaying to the user said element and said number of hits for said element comprises generating a spreadsheet with said element in one column and said number of hits for said element in the same row as said element and a different column as said element.

5. ) The method of claim 1) further comprising writing said number of hits to said database.

6. ) A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform a method comprising:

;

reading an element from a database containing elements that appear in each of multiple documents;

sending said element to a search engine;

receiving from said search engine the number of hits;

displaying to a user said element and said number of hits for said element.

7. ) A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform the method of claim 6) where sending said element to a search engine includes modifying said element before sending.

8. ) A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform the method of claim 6) where sending said element to a search engine includes first placing said element into a sorted list.

9. ) A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform the method of claim 6) where displaying to the user said element and said number of hits for said element comprises generating a spreadsheet with said element in one column and said number of hits for said element in the same row as said element and a different column as said element.

10. ) A computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to perform the method of claim 6) further comprising computer-readable storage medium storing executable instructions to cause a computer system to write said number of hits to said database.

11. ) An apparatus comprising:

a database interface for reading an element from a database containing elements that appear in each of multiple documents;

a search engine interface for sending said element to a search engine and receiving from said search engine the number of hits;

a user interface for displaying to a user said element and said number of hits for said element.

12. ) The apparatus of claim 11) where said search engine interface modifies said element before sending.

13. ) The apparatus of claim 11) where said search engine interface first places said element into a sorted list.

14. ) The apparatus of claim 11) further comprising a spreadsheet generator that generates a spreadsheet with said element in one column and said number of hits for said element in the same row as said element and a different column as said element.

15. ) The apparatus of claim 11) where said database interface writes said number of hits to said database.