Method and system for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives using artificial intelligence to recover legally relevant data

• US 6,738,760 B1
• Filed: 08/09/2000
• Issued: 05/18/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Albert B. Krachman
• Original Assignee: Albert B. Krachman
• Inventors: Krachman, Albert
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Le, Debbie M.
• Application Number:
  US09/634,791
• Time in Patent Office: 1,378 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1-10
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/16 Real estate
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/26 Government or public services business processes related to the transportation industry G06Q50/40
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99939 Privileged access

Abstract

A method for providing electronic discovery on computer systems and archives is provided by using artificial intelligence to produce smart search agents to retrieve relevant data, particularly legally relevant documents. Information relevant to desired data related to an issue is input into a neural network to train said neural network to produce search algorithms in the form of smart search agent. The smart search agents are released onto target computer systems and/or archives to search for responsive data and documents. Notification, reports, and indexing of responsive data and documents can be provided to produce relevant results or prevent the production of relevant results.

Claims

1. A method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of a party subject to legal discovery using artificial intelligence to produce smart search agents to locate relevant discovery data comprising:

inputting information relevant to desired discovery data related to a legal issue into a neural network;

training said neural network to produce search algorithm in the form of a smart search agent;

selecting target computer databases and archives of a party subject to discovery to search for responsive discovery data and documents;

searching said computer databases and archives using said smart search agent;

outputting discovery results comprising data and documents responsive to said searching.

2. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, wherein said smart search agent sweeps network sources for computer systems associated with the computer databases to intercept and prevent the saving of certain data on the computer databases.

3. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, wherein said results are indexed for review of possible confidential and/or privileged material.

4. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 3, wherein said results can be locked or unlocked based on a determination of privilege.

5. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, further comprising scanning paper documents into said computer database.

6. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, further comprising inputting said target database as information relevant to desired discovery data for training said neural network.

7. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, wherein said neural network is trained in legal concepts.

8. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 1, wherein said discovery is for a purpose selected from the group consisting of litigation, alternative dispute resolution, due diligence, regulatory compliance, legal risk management, and criminal law enforcement.

9. A system for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of a party subject to legal discovery using artificial intelligence to produce smart search agents, comprising:

means for inputting information relevant to desired discovery data related to a legal issue into a neural network;

means for training said neural network to produce search algorithm in the form of a smart search agent;

means for searching selected target computer databases and archives of a party subject to discovery using said smart search agent;

means for outputting discovery results responsive to said means for searching.

10. The system for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 9, further comprising means for said smart search agent to sweep network sources for computer systems associated with the computer databases to intercept and prevent the saving of certain data on the computer databases.

11. The system for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 9, wherein said means for outputting discovery results indexes the results in a form capable of review of possible confidential and/or privileged material.

12. The method for providing electronic discovery on computer databases and archives of claim 11, wherein said form includes an ability to lock or unlock files.

13. A process of using artificial intelligence to enhance a legal party'"'"'s response to corporate issues, comprising:

inputting appropriate data and/or fields related to said corporate issues into an artificial intelligence system;

developing a search algorithm using said artificial intelligence;

converting the search algorithm into a smart search agent;

deploying said smart search agent on said legal party'"'"'s computer systems to identify electronic material relevant to said corporate issue; and

indexing identified material for review of possible confidential and/or privileged material by the party.

14. The process of using artificial intelligence to enhance a party'"'"'s response to corporate issues of claim 13, wherein said corporate issue is a legal issue selected from the group consisting of litigation, alternative dispute resolution, due diligence, regulatory compliance, legal risk management, and criminal law enforcement.

15. The process of using artificial intelligence to enhance a party'"'"'s response to corporate issues of claim 13, wherein said identified material can be locked or unlocked.

16. A process of using artificial intelligence to enhance a legal party'"'"'s response to corporate issues, comprising:

inputting appropriate data and/or fields related to said corporate issues into an artificial intelligence system;

developing a search algorithm using said artificial intelligence;

converting the search algorithm into a smart search agent;

deploying said smart search agent on said legal party'"'"'s computer systems to identify electronic material relevant to said corporate issue and to intercept material at network sources to prevent copying onto said computer system'"'"'s databases; and

notifying said party of intercepted material.

17. The process of using artificial intelligence to enhance a party'"'"'s response to corporate issues of claim 16, wherein said corporate issues are legal issues selected from the group consisting of litigation, alternative dispute resolution, due diligence, regulatory compliance, legal risk management, and criminal law enforcement.