×

Systems, methods, interfaces and software for extending search results beyond initial query-defined boundaries

  • US 9,317,587 B2
  • Filed: 01/03/2005
  • Issued: 04/19/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2003
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
Patent Images

1. A system comprising:

  • a server for an online legal-research provider, the server coupled to one or more databases containing law-related documents;

    a client access device coupled to the server via a network and having a display for presenting a graphical user interface including one or more user-interface elements configured or defined by the server, wherein one or more of the elements allows a user to define and submit one or more legal-research queries, with each of the queries having one or more associated search-boundary parameters, such as one or more terms, and/or database identifiers; and

    means associated with the server for returning search results to the client access device in response to a submitted query, wherein the search results include a first set of first documents and associated first user-interface elements, and a second set of second documents and associated second user-interface elements, wherein the first set of documents is within the boundaries of the submitted query and the second set of documents includes documents outside the boundaries of the submitted query;

    means for determining whether to include or exclude a candidate document in the second set of documents, the determining comprising evaluating each score in a set of composite scores for the candidate document against a set of decision criteria, wherein the candidate document is included in the second set of documents if the candidate document meets a similarity threshold associated with the second set of documents; and

    wherein the first and second user-interface elements cause the first and second results to be displayed as separate sets of results within a search-results-display portion of the graphical user interface.

View all claims
  • 5 Assignments
Timeline View
Assignment View
    ×
    ×