System and method for determining valid citation patterns in electronic documents

• US 8,019,769 B2
• Filed: 01/18/2008
• Issued: 09/13/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Freedom Solutions Group, LLC
• Original Assignee: Litera Technology LLC
• Inventors: Rollé, Tony
• Primary Examiner(s): SOMERS, MARC S
• Application Number:
  US12/016,391
• Publication Number:
  US 20090187567A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,334 Days
• Field of Search: 707/705, 707/706, 707/741, 707/747, 707/755, 707/758, 707/769, 707/776, 707/780, 707/917, 707/923, 707/942
• US Class Current: 707/755
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/289 Phrasal analysis, e.g. finite state techniques or chunking

Abstract

A system and method are provided for comparing portions of document text with potential citation components, determining if individual portions correspond to a citation component, and determining if a set of portions correspond to a valid citation pattern. A set of valid citation patterns is provided. Each citation pattern may include a specified combination of citation components. The invention further relates to identifying potential citation components from text in a document, analyzing a pattern of the identified citation components by comparing the pattern to a set of stored citation patterns to determine if the potential citation is a type of citation, and if so, is it a valid (and/or invalid) citation pattern. Once citation patterns have been determined in the document, annotations may be inserted into the document, and subsequent action may be taken, for example, generating a list of citations, providing research services, error-handling, and/or providing other options related to the citations.

Claims

1. A method for determining valid citation patterns in text within an electronic document using a processor, the method comprising:

accessing, from a memory, at least one citation pattern, wherein each citation pattern includes a set of citation components which together define a predetermined pattern of citation components, each citation component associated with a set of citation component criteria;

comparing text in the electronic document with the predetermined pattern of the citation components corresponding to the at least one citation pattern; and

determining valid citation patterns in the text by identifying the predetermined pattern of citation components corresponding to the at least one citation pattern in the text.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

automatically generating one or more citation patterns for short cite forms for a valid citation pattern determined in the document text.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

generating a list of citations in the electronic document for the valid citation patterns.

4. The method according to claim 3, where the list of citations includes one or more categories corresponding to one or more citation patterns.

5. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

maintaining an index of valid citation patterns determined in the document text;

wherein each entry in the index is to an independent authority.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein each entry in the index includes a full cite form and one or more short cite forms for that authority.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein comparing includes performing one-to-one pattern matching.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the citation components comprise one or more of the following:

a signal, a first party, a versus, a docket number, a skeletal citation, a reporter volume number, a reporter abbreviation, an initial page, a publishing service, an initial subdivision, an Internet citation, a pinpoint, a reporter table, a first parallel citation, a first parallel pinpoint, a second parallel citation, a second parallel pinpoint, an early American citation, or a court and date of decision.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

inserting an annotation into the electronic document corresponding to text determined to be a valid citation pattern.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the annotation is a computer readable indicator or a visual indicator, an informational icon associated with an action menu, or a combination thereof.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

inserting an annotation into the electronic document corresponding to text not determined to be a valid citation pattern, wherein said text includes one or more identified citation components.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising:

performing one or more of the following;

copying said text not determined to be a valid citation pattern to a file, inserting annotations into the said text not determined to be a valid citation pattern, or placing said text not determined to be a valid citation pattern into an error category within a list of citations.

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

determining a type of citation for each of the valid citation patterns.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising:

retrieving a document or information from a service for a valid citation pattern based on the type of citation.

15. The method according to claim 1, wherein one or more of:

at least one citation pattern, sets of citation components, or set of citation component criteria, are regular expressions.

16. The method according to claim 1, wherein one or more of the citation components are optional or supplemental, and need not be identified in the text for a valid citation pattern to be determined.

17. A computer readable medium having computer-implemented instructions executable on a processor for determining valid citation patterns in text of an electronic document, the instructions comprising:

a storage access module configured to access, from a memory, at least one citation pattern, wherein each citation pattern includes a set of citation components which together define a predetermined pattern of citation components, each citation component associated with a citation component criteria; and

a citation processing module configured to;

(i) compare text in the electronic document with the predetermined pattern of the citation components corresponding to the at least one citation pattern; and

(ii) determine valid citation patterns in the text by identifying the predetermined pattern of citation components corresponding to the at least one citation pattern in the text.

18. The medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising:

a citation list generator module that generates a list of valid citation patterns in the document.

19. The medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising:

an action item module that provides at least one option to the user related to a valid citation pattern; and

an interface module that connects to a service for retrieving one or both of documents or information related to the valid citation pattern.

20. The medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising:

an annotation module that inserts an annotation into the electronic document corresponding to text determined to be a valid citation pattern.

21. The medium of claim 17, the instructions further comprising:

a graphical user interface module configured to display valid citation patterns in the electronic document in a graphical user interface of a display device.