Process and system for matching products and markets

• US 7,756,891 B2
• Filed: 08/13/2007
• Issued: 07/13/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/16/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: James D. Thompson, John P. Ranieri
• Original Assignee: Sizatola LLC
• Inventors: MacMillan, Ian, Ranieri, John, Kimbrough, Steven O.
• Primary Examiner(s): Breene; John E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ly; Anh
• Application Number:
  US11/891,947
• Publication Number:
  US 20080021892A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,065 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/7, 707/10, 707100-102, 707/104.1, 707/780, 707/758, 707/763
• US Class Current: 707/780
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/931 Patent comparison
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/944 Business related
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching

Abstract

The present invention provides a search method and system for matching a commodity to one or more applications for using the commodity. A plurality of properties associated with the commodity are identified. A collection of documents for searching for a plurality of combinations of said properties is then defined, wherein the combination includes a single property or multiple properties. The defined collection of documents is searched for all occurrences of the combination of properties, and the hits retrieved for those documents that include the properties. The hits are then associated with one or more subclasses of a classification scheme, and reviewed for those hits that include the properties of the commodity but not the commodity, wherein subclasses not including hits that include the commodity are matched as applications for the commodity.

Claims

1. A method for searching recorded information to provide pattern-oriented matching of a commodity to one or more unanticipated applications for using the commodity, the method comprising the steps of:

identifying at least one property associated with the commodity, wherein the at least one property further comprises known or hypothesized characteristics of the commodity, industries associated with commodity and attributes of the commodity;

identifying a collection of documents for searching for the at least one property or combination of properties;

searching the defined collection of documents for said the property or combination of the properties, using information retrieval methods in conjunction with search terms and patterns of search terms and phrases used to describe the property or combination of properties;

identifying and retrieving hits from the collection of documents, wherein the one or more patterns of terms and phrases match the search terms;

mapping the hits to one or more subclasses of a pre-existing classification scheme;

creating a classification file comprising statistical information regarding mapping the hits with each category in the classification scheme;

identifying from the resulting classification file, mapping table(s) associated with the at least one identified property that is associated with the commodity, wherein the subclasses associated with such mapping table(s) are matched as unanticipated applications of the commodity, although the hits need not expressly identify the commodity; and

reporting the identified match of the commodity to one or more unanticipated applications for using the commodity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the hits further comprise one or more documents in the collection of documents related to at least one property or combinations of properties associated with the commodity or information relating thereto.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the information comprises a classification identifier denomination, wherein said classification identifier associates a hit comprising the classification identifier to one or more of the subclasses of the classification scheme.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the classification identifier comprises a Library of Congress call identifier (call number or ISSN number) and the classification scheme comprises a Library of Congress classification scheme.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the classification identifier comprises a patent class identifier (class or subclass number) and the classification scheme comprises a patent classification scheme.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the classification identifier comprises a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) class identifier (class or subclass number) and the classification scheme comprises a USPTO classification scheme.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising a step of identifying a second plurality of properties associated with the applications.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of identifying a second plurality of properties comprises searching for matching words, search terms and patterns of search terms and phrases in the hits included in a subclass, wherein the commodity is not expressly identified;

but wherein the similar words, search terms and patterns of search terms and phrases identify the second plurality of properties associated with the commodity.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein defining a plurality of combinations of properties to be searched in the defined collection of documents comprises the steps of:

identifying all combinations of the properties;

searching the defined collection of documents; and

statistically ranking properties relative to number of hits.