Patent Claims Analysis System and Method

• US 20150347968A1
• Filed: 08/10/2015
• Published: 12/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/07/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Magic Number, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Spore, Inc.
• Inventors: Glasgow, JiNan
• Granted Patent: US 9,430,756 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/137 Hierarchical processing, e.g. outlines
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

A system and method for facilitating patent grant and patent application claims examination; including the functions of automated importing of patent claims, automated parsing of the claims into their hierarchy, and compression/expansion of the parsed claims to/from the independent claim level.

Claims

1. A system for displaying patent claims, the system comprising:

at least one input device in communication with at least one computer and at least one output device, wherein the at least one computer is capable of storing, modifying, outputting, and retrieving information in communication with the at least one input device and the at least one output device; and

software installed and capable of running on the at least one computer for automatically;

importing patent claims based upon the user inputted information;

parsing the imported patent claims hierarchically, wherein each independent claim is parsed into its invention sub-elements, wherein an invention sub-element is a parsed patent invention element or a step of the independent patent invention claim, and wherein the hierarchically parsed patent claims comprises hierarchical elements and sub-elements;

generating a hierarchical claims diagram comprising a textual claim content associated with each patent claim, and

outputting the hierarchical claims diagram, wherein, for each patent claim, the hierarchical claims diagram shows the parsed claims in an interactive format that is operable to dynamically expand and compress the textual claim content, according to the hierarchy of the imported patent claims;

wherein at least one of the hierarchical elements and/or sub-elements has a visual emphasis, and wherein the visual emphasis indicates whether there are additional levels of the hierarchy of the patent claims directly connected to the at least one of the hierarchical elements and/or sub-elements with the visual emphasis.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the visual emphasis is coloration or shading.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the hierarchical elements and/or sub-elements are connected with lines according the hierarchy of the patent claims.

4. A non-transitory computer readable medium having instructions for causing a computer to create an interactive graphic user interface (GUI) for providing a diagram of patent claims, the diagram comprising:

an interactive graphical user interface (GUI) viewable on an electronic display, the GUI including a diagram of at least part of a patent claims series from a patent or a patent application;

the claims being parsed hierarchically and each independent claim being parsed into its sub-elements, wherein the sub-elements are parsed patent invention elements or steps of the independent patent invention claim, wherein the hierarchically parsed patent claims comprises hierarchical elements and sub-elements and the diagram comprising a textual claim content associated with each patent claim and the claims, including the textual claim content, are dynamically compressible hierarchically;

wherein visual emphasis is used to differentiate the textual claim content hierarchically, indicating whether there are additional levels of the hierarchy of the at least part of a patent claims series directly connected to the at least one hierarchical elements and sub-elements.

5. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 4, wherein the visual emphasis is coloration and shading.

6. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 5, further including at least one line directly connecting the hierarchical elements and sub-elements to each other according their hierarchy.

7. A method for displaying patent claims comprising:

providing a system, the system comprising a server with a database;

a client device with GUI and software;

the server and at least one client device in communication over an electronic network;

the server or the at least one client device running software for performing the following steps;

importing patent claims based upon user inputted information;

parsing the imported patent claims hierarchically;

generating a hierarchical claims diagram comprising a textual claim content associated with each patent claim, and

outputting the hierarchical claims diagram, wherein, for each patent claim, the hierarchical claims diagram shows the parsed claims in an interactive format that is operable to dynamically expand and compress the textual claim content, according to the hierarchy of the imported patent claims;

wherein at least one of the claims has a visual emphasis, and wherein the visual emphasis indicates whether there are additional levels of the hierarchy of the patent claims directly connected to the at least one of the claims with the visual emphasis.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the visual emphasis is coloration or shading.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein each independent claim is parsed into its invention sub-elements, wherein an invention sub-element is a parsed patent invention element or a step of the independent patent invention claim, and wherein the hierarchically parsed patent claims comprises hierarchical elements and sub-elements