System, method, and computer program product for knowledge management

• US 7,797,336 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2001
• Issued: 09/14/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/02/1997
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: DataCloud Technologies, LLC (IP Investments Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Rose Blush Software LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Rosenquist, Brent, Blair, Tim W, Germeraad, Paul B, DeWolfe, Andrew S, Rivette, Kevin G, Rappaport, Irving S
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham; Khanh B
• Application Number:
  US09/848,437
• Publication Number:
  US 20020007373A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,420 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/5, 707/10, 707/106.1
• US Class Current: 707/773
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/34 Browsing; Visualisation therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/353 into predefined classes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/382 using citations hypermedia G06F16/94
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/904 Browsing; Visualisation therefor for navigating the web G06F16/954; browsing optimisation for the web G06F16/957
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2216/11 Patent retrieval
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/917 Text
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/924 Patent procedure
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/933 Citation analysis
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99932 Access augmentation or optimizing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99943 Generating database or data structure, e.g. via user interface
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product of enabling a user to organize and analyze information in electronic form are described herein. The method operates by searching a first set of documents to thereby generate a second set of documents. The method automatically creates a first group comprising the second set of documents. The method analyzes the first group according to one or more analytical functions to thereby generate a third set of documents. The method automatically creates a second group comprising the third set of documents. The method enables selective iteration of any of these operational steps. The method also generates objects corresponding to process components of this work flow. The user can re-execute the work flow (process) by traversing the objects, or create a new process by modifying the objects.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, if executed-by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for enabling a user to organize and analyze information, the operations comprising:

searching a first group of documents according to one or more search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

wherein the search functions comprise one or more of the following;

morphological functions;

lexical functions;

syntactic functions;

semantic functions;

discourse functions;

pragmatic functions;

full text functions;

Boolean functions;

or

clustering functions;

analyzing a third group of documents according to one or more analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

wherein the analytical functions comprise one or more of mapping functions, citation functions, plot lineage functions, or reporting functions; and

selectively iterating one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

wherein said selectively iterating step includes;

performing an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

performing an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

2. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

making one or more of the second group or the fourth group a permanent group.

3. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the searching comprises:

performing a cluster analysis of the first group of documents to create a hierarchical arrangement of groups containing documents from the first group, wherein the second group is one of the hierarchical arrangement of groups.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

performing a relevancy visualization analysis of one of the first group and the third group to identify how documents contained therein are inter-related with respect to key terms.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4, wherein relevancy visualization analysis operates according to a rule book.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5, wherein the rule book comprises patent specific rules.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

generating an object corresponding to a search process component or an analyze process component of a work flow represented by the searching, analyzing, and selective iterating.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein an object is generated using object definitions.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the object definitions comprise:

a Boolean operation object definition;

a corporate family operating object definition;

an export object definition;

a folder object definition;

an import object definition;

a list exploder operation object definition;

a list object definition;

a query object definition;

or

a patent family dedupe object definition.

10. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

saving the object.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

re-executing the work flow by traversing the object.

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 7, the operations further comprising:

creating a new work flow by modifying the object.

13. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, the operations further comprising:

annotating one or more of the first group, third group, or any portion of any document contained in the first group or the third group.

14. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the first group of documents is from one or more of a database, an external source, or the Internet.

15. A computer-implemented method of organizing and analyzing information, the method comprising:

initiating a search of a first group of documents according to one or more selected search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

initiating an analysis of a third group of documents according to one or more analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

wherein the one or more analytical functions are performed by a computing device, and wherein the one or more analytical functions are selected from a group comprising mapping functions, citation functions, plot lineage functions, or reporting functions; and

selectively iterating one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

wherein said selectively iterating step includes;

performing an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

performing an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

making one of the second group or the fourth group a permanent group.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the initiating a search comprises:

initiating a performance of a cluster analysis of the first group of documents to create a hierarchical arrangement of groups containing documents from the first group, wherein the second group is one of the hierarchical arrangement of groups.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

initiating a performance of a relevancy visualization analysis of one of the first group and the third group to identify how documents contained therein are inter-related with respect to key terms.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein relevancy visualization analysis operates according to a rule book.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19, wherein the rule book comprises patent specific rules.

21. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

initiating a generation of an object corresponding to a search process component or an analysis process component of a work flow represented by the initiating of a search, the initiating of an analysis, and the selective initiating of at least one iteration.

22. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, wherein an object is generated using object definitions.

23. The computer-implemented method of claim 22, wherein the object definitions comprise:

a Boolean operation object definition;

a corporate family operating object definition;

an export object definition;

a folder object definition;

an import object definition;

a list exploder operation object definition;

a list object definition;

a query object definition;

or

a patent family dedupe object definition.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

initiating a save of the object.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

initiating a re-execution of the work flow, wherein re-execution is accomplished by traversing the object.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 21, further comprising:

creating a new work flow by modifying the object.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

annotating one or more of the first group, third group, or any portion of any document contained in the first group or the third group.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the first group of documents is from one or more of a database, an external source, or the Internet.

29. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory having instructions stored thereon, that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the processor to organize and analyze information, the instructions comprising;

instructions for searching a first group of documents according to one or more search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

wherein the one or more search functions are selected from a group comprising morphological functions, lexical functions, syntactic functions, semantic functions, discourse functions, pragmatic functions, full text functions, Boolean functions, or clustering functions;

instructions for analyzing a third group of documents according to one or more selected analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

instructions for selectively iterating one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

instructions for performing an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

instructions for performing an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for making one or more of the second group or the fourth group a permanent group.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for performing a cluster analysis of the first group of documents to create a hierarchical arrangement of groups containing documents from the first group, wherein the second group is one of the hierarchical arrangement of groups.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for performing a relevancy visualization analysis of one of the first group and the third group to identify how documents contained therein are inter-related with respect to key terms.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein relevancy visualization analysis operates according to a rule book.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the rule book comprises patent specific rules.

35. The system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for generating an object corresponding to a search process component or an analyze process component of a work flow represented by the searching, the analyzing, and the selective iteration.

36. The system of claim 35, wherein an object is generated using object definitions.

37. The system of claim 36, wherein the object definitions comprise:

a Boolean operation object definition;

a corporate family operating object definition;

an export object definition;

a folder object definition;

an import object definition;

a list exploder operation object definition;

a list object definition;

a query object definition;

or

a patent family dedupe object definition.

38. The system of claim 35, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for saving the object.

39. The system of claim 35, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for re-executing the work flow by traversing the object.

40. The system of claim 35, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for creating a new work flow by modifying the object.

41. The system of claim 29, wherein the instructions further comprise instructions for annotating one of the first group, third group, or any portion of any document contained in the first group or the third group.

42. The system of claim 29, wherein the first group of documents is from one or more of a database, an external source, or the Internet.

43. A computer program product having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by a computing device, cause the computing device to organize and analyze information, the instructions comprising:

instructions for searching a first group of documents according to one or more search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

wherein the one or more search functions are selected from a group comprising morphological functions, lexical functions, syntactic functions, semantic functions, discourse functions, pragmatic functions, full text functions, Boolean functions, or clustering functions;

instructions for analyzing a third group of documents according to one or more analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

wherein the one or more analytical functions are selected from a group comprising mapping functions, citation functions, plot lineage functions, or reporting functions; and

instructions for selectively iterating one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

wherein said selectively iterating includes;

performing an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

performing an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

44. The computer program product of claim 43, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for making one or more of the second group or the fourth group a permanent group.

45. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the instructions for searching further comprise:

instructions for performing a cluster analysis of the first group of documents to create a hierarchical arrangement of groups containing documents from the first group, wherein the second group is one of the hierarchical arrangement of groups.

46. The computer program product of claim 43, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for performing a relevancy visualization analysis of one of the first group and the third group to identify how documents contained therein are inter-related with respect to key terms.

47. The computer program product of claim 46, wherein relevancy visualization analysis operates according to a rule book.

48. The computer program product of claim 47, wherein the rule book comprises patent specific rules.

49. The computer program product of claim 43, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for generating one or more object corresponding to a search process component or analyze process component of a work flow represented by the searching, the analyzing, and the selectively iterating.

50. The computer program product of claim 49, wherein an object is generated using object definitions.

51. The computer program product of claim 50, wherein the object definitions comprise:

a Boolean operation object definition;

a corporate family operating object definition;

an export object definition;

a folder object definition;

an import object definition;

a list exploder operation object definition;

a list object definition;

a query object definition;

or

a patent family dedupe object definition.

52. The computer program product of claim 49, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for saving the object.

53. The computer program product of claim 49, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for re-executing the work flow by traversing the object.

54. The computer program product of claim 49, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for creating a new work flow by modifying the object.

55. The computer program product of claim 43, the instructions further comprising:

instructions for annotating one of the first group, third group, or any portion of any document contained in the first group or the third group.

56. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein the first group of documents is from one or more of a database, an external source, or the Internet.

57. A computing device including a computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, in response to execution by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations comprising:

searching a first group of documents according to one or more search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

wherein the one or more search functions are selected from a group comprising morphological functions, lexical functions, syntactic functions, semantic functions, discourse functions, pragmatic functions, full text functions, Boolean functions, or clustering functions;

analyzing a third group of documents according to one or more analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

wherein the one or more analytical functions are selected from a group comprising mapping functions, citation functions, plot lineage functions, or reporting functions; and

selectively iterating one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

wherein the selectively iterating includes;

performing an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

performing an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

58. The device of claim 57, the operations further comprising:

making one or more of the second group or the fourth group a permanent group.

59. The device of claim 57, wherein the searching comprises:

performing a cluster analysis of the first group of documents to create a hierarchical arrangement of groups containing documents from the first group, wherein the second group is one of the hierarchical arrangement of groups.

60. The device of claim 57, the operations further comprising:

performing a relevancy visualization analysis of one of the first group and the third group to identify how documents contained therein are inter-related with respect to key terms.

61. The device of claim 60, wherein relevancy visualization analysis operates according to a rule book.

62. The device of claim 61, wherein the rule book comprises patent specific rules.

63. The device of claim 57, the operations further comprising:

generating an object corresponding to a search process component or an analyze process component of a work flow represented by the searching, the analyzing, and the selectively iterating.

64. The device of claim 63, wherein an object is generated using object definitions.

65. The device of claim 64, wherein the object definitions comprise:

a Boolean operation object definition;

a corporate family operating object definition;

an export object definition;

a folder object definition;

an import object definition;

a list exploder operation object definition;

a list object definition;

a query object definition;

or

a patent family dedupe object definition.

66. The device of claim 63, the operations further comprising:

saving the object.

67. The device of claim 63, the operations further comprising:

re-executing the work flow by traversing the object.

68. The device of claim 63, the operations further comprising:

creating a new work flow by modifying the object.

69. The device of claim 57, the operations further comprising:

annotating one of the first group, third group, or any portion of any document contained in the first group or the third group.

70. The device of claim 57, wherein the first group of documents is from one or more of a database, an external source, or the Internet.

71. A system for organizing and analyzing information, comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

means for searching a first group of documents according to one or more search functions to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

wherein the search functions comprise one or more of the following;

morphological functions;

lexical functions;

syntactic functions;

semantic functions;

discourse functions;

pragmatic functions;

full text functions;

Boolean functions;

or

clustering functions;

means for analyzing, with the processor, a third group of documents according to one or more selected analytical functions to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents;

means for performing a selective iteration of one or more of the searching or the analyzing, wherein each iteration of the searching or the analyzing is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

means for performing an additional iteration of the searching using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

means for performing an additional iteration of the analyzing using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.

72. A method for enabling a user to organize and analyze information, the method comprising:

initiating a search of a first group of documents according to one or more user-selected search functions executed by one or more computing devices to output a second group of documents, wherein the second group of documents is a subset of the first group of documents;

initiating analysis of a third group of documents according to one or more analytical functions executed by one or more computing devices to output a fourth group of documents, wherein the third group of documents is not a subset of the first group of documents, and wherein the fourth group of documents is a subset of the third group of documents; and

initiating a selective iteration one or more of the searching step or the analyzing step, wherein each iteration of the searching step or the analyzing step is performed using as input the second group of documents, the fourth group of documents, or output of a previous iteration;

wherein said selective iteration includes;

initiating an additional iteration of the searching step using as input the second group of documents, to output a fifth group of documents, wherein the fifth group of documents is a subset of the second group of documents; and

initiating an additional iteration of the analyzing step using as input the fourth group of documents, to output a sixth group of documents, wherein the sixth group of documents is a subset of the fourth group of documents.