Management of legal documents for transactions

• US 8,386,441 B1
• Filed: 10/22/2009
• Issued: 02/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Clay, Buckner W. IV, Djin, Twum, Butcher, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Richardson, James E
• Application Number:
  US12/604,241
• Time in Patent Office: 1,223 Days
• Field of Search: 707/689, 707/732, 707/733, 707/784, 707/942, 707/607, 707/695
• US Class Current: 707/689
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Information describing a transaction is received and a set of hierarchical documents pertinent to the transaction are identified based at least in part on the received information. The set of hierarchical documents is pruned responsive to data describing documents that a user involved in the transaction has previously accepted. Information describing the pruned set of hierarchical documents is output for presenting the pruned set of hierarchical documents to the user involved in the transaction for acceptance as part of the transaction.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for determining a set of legal documents to present to a user for acceptance as part of a transaction, the method comprising:

receiving information describing a type of transaction and a geographic location associated with the transaction;

identifying a set of hierarchical documents pertinent to the transaction based at least in part on the received information, the set including a root document identified based at least in part on the type of transaction and the geographic location associated with the transaction, the root document specifying a transaction identifier of the transaction and metadata, the set further including one or more dependency documents of the root document identified responsive to an analysis of the metadata specified by the root document;

pruning the set of hierarchical documents responsive to data describing documents that a user involved in the transaction has previously accepted; and

outputting information pertaining to the pruned set of hierarchical documents for presenting the pruned set of hierarchical documents to the user involved in the transaction for acceptance as part of the transaction.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the root document is an empty document without content for presenting to the user and serves to identify the dependency documents.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein pruning the set of hierarchical documents comprises:

removing a document from the hierarchical set, responsive to the document having been previously accepted by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein pruning the set of hierarchical documents comprises:

identifying metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents; and

applying pruning criteria to the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the pruning criteria comprise rules for removing documents from the set of hierarchical documents and wherein applying the pruning criteria comprises:

analyzing the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents in view of the pruning criteria to identify the pruned set of hierarchical documents.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein pruning the set comprises:

responsive to a document in the hierarchical set being outside of a validity period where the document is valid, removing the document from the hierarchical set.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein pruning the set comprises:

responsive to identifying a document in the hierarchical set that has not been accepted by the user and acceptance of a prior version of the document being satisfactory, determining whether the user has accepted the prior version of the document; and

responsive to determining that the user has accepted the prior version of the document, removing the document from the hierarchical set.

8. A computer program product having a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable code for determining a set of legal documents to present to a user for acceptance as part of a transaction, the computer-executable code when executed performing steps comprising:

receiving information describing a type of transaction and a geographic location associated with the transaction;

identifying a set of hierarchical documents pertinent to the transaction based at least in part on the received information, the set including a root document identified based at least in part on the type of transaction and the geographic location associated with the transaction, the root document specifying a transaction identifier of the transaction and metadata, the set further including one or more dependency documents of the root document identified responsive to an analysis of the metadata specified by the root document;

pruning the set of hierarchical documents responsive to data describing documents that a user involved in the transaction has previously accepted; and

outputting information pertaining to the pruned set of hierarchical documents for presenting the pruned set of hierarchical documents to the user involved in the transaction for acceptance as part of the transaction.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the root document is an empty document without content for presenting to the user and serves to identify the dependency documents.

10. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein pruning the set of hierarchical documents comprises:

removing a document from the hierarchical set, responsive to the document having been previously accepted by the user.

11. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein pruning the set of hierarchical documents comprises:

identifying metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents; and

applying pruning criteria to the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the pruning criteria comprise rules for removing documents from the set of hierarchical documents and wherein applying the pruning criteria comprises:

analyzing the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents in view of the pruning criteria to identify the pruned set of hierarchical documents.

13. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein pruning the set comprises:

responsive to a document in the hierarchical set being outside of a validity period where the document is valid, removing the document from the hierarchical set.

14. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein pruning the set comprises:

responsive to identifying a document in the hierarchical set that has not been accepted by the user and acceptance of a prior version of the document being satisfactory, determining whether the user has accepted the prior version of the document; and

responsive to determining that the user has accepted the prior version of the document, removing the document from the hierarchical set.

15. A computer system for determining a set of legal documents to present to a user for acceptance as part of a transaction, the system comprising:

a computer processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer program modules configured to execute on the computer processor, the computer program modules comprising;

a communications module configured to receive information describing a type of transaction and a geographic location associated with the transaction;

a documents module configured to identify a set of hierarchical documents pertinent to the transaction based at least in part on the received information, the set including a root document identified based at least in part on the type of transaction and the geographic location associated with the transaction, the root document specifying a transaction identifier of the transaction and metadata, the set further including one or more dependency documents of the root document identified responsive to an analysis of the metadata specified by the root document;

a verification module configured to;

prune the set of hierarchical documents responsive to data describing documents that a user involved in the transaction has previously accepted; and

output information pertaining to the pruned set of hierarchical documents for presenting the pruned set of hierarchical documents to the user involved in the transaction for acceptance as part of the transaction.

16. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the root document is an empty document without content for presenting to the user and serves to identify the dependency documents.

17. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the verification module is further configured to:

remove a document from the hierarchical set, responsive to the document having been previously accepted by the user.

18. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the verification module is further configured to:

identify metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents; and

apply pruning criteria to the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents.

19. The computer system of claim 18, wherein the pruning criteria comprise rules for removing documents from the set of hierarchical documents and wherein the verification module is further configured to:

analyze the metadata associated with the set of hierarchical documents in view of the pruning criteria to identify the pruned set of hierarchical documents.

20. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the verification module is further configured to:

remove a document from a hierarchical set, responsive to a document in the hierarchical set being outside of a validity period where the document is valid.

21. The computer system of claim 15, wherein the verification module is further configured to:

determine whether the user has accepted a prior version of a document, responsive to identifying a document in the hierarchical set that has not been accepted by the user and acceptance of a prior version of the document being satisfactory; and

remove the document from the hierarchical set, responsive to determining that the user has accepted the prior version of the document.