System, method, and computer program product for developing and maintaining documents which includes analyzing a patent application with regards to the specification and claims
First Claim
1. A system for assisting in the analysis of a patent application, comprising:
- means for allowing a user to select a document containing a patent application;
means for allowing said user to select a specification portion of said patent application;
means for allowing said user to select a claims portion of said patent application;
means for indexing said specification portion and said claims portion to thereby generate a merged index table;
means for analyzing said merged index table to identify terms in said claims portion that are not present in said specification portion; and
means for displaying said terms in said claims portion that are not present in said specification portion.
9 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for assisting in the preparation of a document, and for analyzing a document, such as a patent or patent application, are described herein. The system aids a user to verify that terms in a patent application are being used consistently. The system also facilitates editing of the patent application so as to achieve terminology consistency. The system operates by allowing a user to select a document containing a patent application. The user then selects the specification portion of the patent application, and also selects the claims portion of the patent application. The system indexes the specification portion and the claims portion to thereby generate a merged index table. The system analyzes the merged index table to identify terms in the claims portion that are not present in the specification portion, and then displays these terms (called claim terms). A user can then edit the patent application so as to properly describe these terms in the specification.
-
Citations
42 Claims
-
1. A system for assisting in the analysis of a patent application, comprising:
-
means for allowing a user to select a document containing a patent application; means for allowing said user to select a specification portion of said patent application; means for allowing said user to select a claims portion of said patent application; means for indexing said specification portion and said claims portion to thereby generate a merged index table; means for analyzing said merged index table to identify terms in said claims portion that are not present in said specification portion; and means for displaying said terms in said claims portion that are not present in said specification portion.
-
-
2. A method for verifying terminology consistency in a document, comprising the steps of:
-
(1) indexing terms contained in a first portion of a document to thereby generate a first index table; (2) indexing terms contained in a second portion of a document to thereby generate a second index table; (3) merging said first and second index tables to thereby generate a merged index table; (4) determining by reference to said merged index table terms that are present in said second portion of said document, but not present in said first portion of said document; and (5) displaying in a hit matrix said terms that are present in said second portion of said document, but not present in said first portion of said document. - View Dependent Claims (3)
-
-
4. A method for developing and maintaining documents, comprising the steps of:
-
(1) displaying a document; (2) enabling a user to select a first portion and a second portion of said document; (3) indexing, after receiving an appropriate command from the user, said first portion and said second portion to generate a merged index table, said merged index table storing data representing the number of occurrences of each term in said first portion and said second portion; and (4) enabling the user to develop and maintain said first and second portions by reference to said merged index table, comprising; (a) retrieving information pertaining to a term from said merged index table; (b) indicating in a hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said first portion; (c) indicating in said hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said second portion; (d) enabling the user to select a zero hits option; (e) when the user selects said zero hits option, selecting a next term in said hit matrix having one or more occurrences in said second portion but no occurrences in said first portion; and (f) displaying text from said document containing an occurrence of said selected next term in said document. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A system for developing and maintaining documents, comprising the steps of:
-
means for displaying a document; means for enabling a user to select a first portion and a second portion of said document; means for indexing, after receiving an appropriate command from the user, said first portion and said second portion to generate a merged index table, said merged index table storing data representing the number of occurrences of each term in said first portion and said second portion; and enabling means for enabling the user to develop and maintain said first and second portions by reference to said merged index tables wherein said enabling means comprises; means for retrieving information pertaining to a term from said merged index table; means for indicating in a hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said first portion; means for indicating in said hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said second portion; means for enabling the user to select a zero hits option; means for when the user selects said zero hits option selecting a next term in said hit matrix having one or more occurrences in said second portion but no occurrences in said first portion; and means for displaying text from said document containing an occurrence of said selected next term in said document. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic recorded thereon for enabling a processor in a computer system to develop and maintain documents, said computer program logic comprising:
-
means for enabling the processor to display a document; means for enabling the processor to enable a user to select a first portion and a second portion of said document; means for enabling the processor to index, after receiving an appropriate command from the user, said first portion and said second portion to generate a merged index table, said merged index table storing data representing the number of occurrences of each term in said first portion and said second portion; and enabling means for enabling the processor to enable the user to develop and maintain said first and second portions by reference to said merged index table; wherein said enabling means comprises; means for enabling the processor to retrieve information pertaining to a term from said merged index table; means for enabling the processor to indicate in a hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said first portion; means for enabling the processor to indicate in said hit matrix, based on said retrieved information, whether said term appears in said second portion; means for enabling the processor to enable the user to select a zero hits option; means for enabling the processor to select a next term in said hit matrix having one or more occurrences in said second portion but no occurrences in said first portion when the user selects said zero hits option; and means for enabling the processor to display text from said document containing an occurrence of said selected next term in said document. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42)
-
Specification