Systems, methods, and software for researching statutory information

• US 8,032,533 B1
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Issued: 10/04/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/14/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Thomson Reuters Enterprise Centre GmbH (The Woodbridge Co. Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
• Inventors: Spencer, David Howard, Agard, Darla Renae
• Primary Examiner(s): Trujillo; James
• Assistant Examiner(s): BURKE, JEFF A
• Application Number:
  US11/334,804
• Time in Patent Office: 2,086 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/4, 707/10, 707/746, 707/942, 707/725, 705/311
• US Class Current: 707/746
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/18 Legal services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/942 Legal/academic

Abstract

With conventional print and electronic tools, researching statutory material is difficult and time-consuming. So, to facilitate this type of research, the present inventors devised systems, methods, and software that promise to improve the ability of researchers to find, verify, read, and/or interpret statutory information. One exemplary system provides options for users to access statutory information by citation, by table of contents, by index, and/or by popular name; presents specific statutory information in combination with visual indicators, such as red or yellow flags, that indicate the validity or status of the information; and provides requested statutory information in context of links to related information, such as tables of contents, other versions of a statute, case law, scholarly materials, legislative history, cross-referenced statutes, and administrative-law materials.

Claims

1. An information-retrieval system, the system comprising:

a plurality of databases, including statutory content and non-statutory content; and

one or more servers to facilitate client access to the plurality of databases over a network, at least one of the servers configured to provide a client access device with a graphical user interface to query statutory content via a table of contents and an effective date of the statutory content; and

wherein the graphical user interface includes a display region configured to display the table of contents of a selected legal statute database as a plurality of search-selectable legal statute categories, a query input field configured to receive at least one search criterion and a date input field configured to receive the effective date, each search-selectable legal statute category associated with one or more legal statutes, and

wherein the one or more of the servers is configured in response to receipt of the effective date to dynamically define and display a historical table of contents of the selected legal statute database in the display region based on the received effective date, the historical table of contents including a plurality of search-selectable legal statute categories each associated with one or more legal statutes, at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories being user-selectable to query the one or more legal statutes associated with the at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories in the selected legal statute database.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the date input field is associated with a textual label indicating that the field is for an effective date.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the table of contents or the historical table of contents includes a link to the one of the legal statutes.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one of the servers includes a plurality of data structures to facilitate fulfillment of queries, each of the data structures including a document identifier for a statutory document of the statutory content, the identifier associated with an effective date indicator, an approval date indicator, and a jurisdiction indicator.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the identifier of the document is logically associated with the effective date indicator, the approval date indicator, and the jurisdiction indicator.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the identifier of the document is further associated with a year indicator, a session indicator, a document type indicator, and a class indicator.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server includes graphical interface means for retrieving the statutory content via the table of contents.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server includes:

graphical interface means for querying the statutory content via the table of contents; and

means for providing the statutory content in response to a query via the graphical interface means for querying, wherein the provided statutory content is in combination with icons that visually indicate validity or status of one or more portions of the provided statutory content.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server includes:

graphical interface means for querying the statutory content via the table of contents; and

means for providing the statutory content in response to a query via the graphical interface means for querying, wherein the provided statutory content is in combination with a list of links to related information in the non-statutory content, with the related information including case law information or legislative history information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server includes:

means for providing the statutory content in response to a query for statutory content, wherein the provided statutory content is in combination with a list of links to related non-statutory information, the related non-statutory information including case law information, legislative history information, or scholarly research information.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one server is further configured in response to a query for the statutory content to present within the interface a link to a statutory document based on the query and at least one link to a prior version of the statutory document.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the server is further configured in response to a query for the statutory content to present within the interface a link to a statutory document based on the query and a future version of the statutory document.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein the one or more of the servers is further configured in response to receipt of at least one selected legal statute category from the historical table of contents and the at least one search criterion to query the statutory content based on the received at least one selected legal statute category, the at least one search criterion and the effective date.

14. A system to retrieve information, the system comprising:

a plurality of legal statute databases; and

a server coupled to the legal statute databases, the server configured to;

receive from a client an effective date associated with a selected legal statute database; and

dynamically define and transmit to the client a historical table of contents of the selected legal statute database based on the received effective date as a plurality of search-selectable legal statute categories each associated with one or more legal statutes, at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories being user-selectable to query the one or more legal statutes associated with the at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories in the selected legal statute database.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the server is further configured to:

receive from the client a selection of at least one search-selectable legal statute category and a search criterion;

retrieve at least one legal statute from the selected legal statute database based on the at least one selected legal statute category, the search criterion and the effective date; and

transmit to the client the retrieved at least one legal statute.

16. A method of retrieving information, the method comprising:

receiving from a client by a server an effective date associated with a selected legal statute database; and

dynamically defining and transmitting by the server to the client a historical table of contents of the selected legal statute database based on the received effective date as a plurality of search-selectable legal statute categories each associated with one or more legal statutes, at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories being user-selectable to query the one or more legal statutes associated with the at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories in the selected legal statute database.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

receiving from the client by the server a selection of at least one search-selectable legal statute category and a search criterion;

retrieving by the server at least one legal statute from the selected legal statute database based on the at least one selected legal statute category, the search criterion and the effective date; and

transmitting by the server to the client the retrieved at least one legal statute.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising operational instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive an effective date from a client associated with a selected legal statute database; and

dynamically define and transmit to the client a historical table of contents of the selected legal statute database based on the received effective date as a plurality of search-selectable legal statute categories each associated with one or more legal statutes, at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories being user-selectable to query the one or more legal statutes associated with the at least one of the search-selectable legal statute categories in the selected legal statute database.

19. The computer-readable storage medium claim 18, further comprising operational instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:

receive from the client a selection of at least one selectable legal statute category and a search criterion;

retrieve at least one legal statute from the selected legal statute database based on the at least one selected legal statute category, the search criterion and the effective date; and

transmit to the client the retrieved at least one legal statute.