System and method for indexing electronic discovery data

• US 20120265762A1
• Filed: 10/06/2011
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Planet Data Solutions Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Planet Data Solutions Incorporated
• Inventors: Wade, Michael, Nelson, Robert
• Granted Patent: US 8,924,395 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/741
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/22 Indexing; Data structures therefor; Storage structures
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/93 Document management systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/184 Intellectual property management
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 30/224 of printed characters having additional code marks or containing code marks

Abstract

Systems and methods for efficiently processing electronically stored information (ESI) are described. The systems and methods describe processing ESI in preparation for, or association with, litigation. The invention preserves the contextual relationships among documents when processing and indexing data, allowing for increased precision and recall during data analytics.

Claims

1. A method for indexing one or more documents, d_i, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining a file type, f_i, of each of the one or more documents, d_i;

(b) performing an extraction, e_i, of data, da_i, from the one or more documents, d_i;

(c) testing the data, da_i, recovered from the extraction, e_i, of document, d_i, for one or more embedded objects, d_k, and if one or more embedded objects, d_k, are detected, appending data, da_i, from the one or more embedded objects, d_k, to a buffer wherein the data is present in the one or more documents, d_i, and

(d) repeating steps (a) to (c) recursively for the one or more documents, d_i, until no additional embedded objects, d_k, are detected in the one or more documents, d_i.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the data, da_i, is visually represented in the one or more documents, d_i.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the data, da_i, is text.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the data, da_i, is visual information.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the data, da_i, is graphical information.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the embedded objects, d_k, contain additional embedded documents d_k+n, wherein n is an integer from 1 to n representing a number of levels, 1, of objects embedded successively in d_k.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising repeating steps (a) to (d) recursively for all the embedded objects, d_k, and if at least one additional embedded object is detected in d_k, performing an extraction of the additional embedded objects until no additional embedded objects are detected in d_k.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein documents are embedded with a hierarchical relationship represented by d_k embedded in d_i, d_k+1 embedded in d_k, d_k+2 embedded in d_k+1, to d_k+n, embedded in d_k+(n−

1 ).

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the file type of the one or more documents, d_i, is identifiable by a file typer.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating an index, i, wherein the index represents at least one set of relationships among the documents, d_i, and the embedded objects, d_k, and where the documents, d_i, and the embedded objects, d_k, have at least one individual identifier, id_i or id_k, associated with each of the documents, d_i, and the embedded objects, d_k.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein text, t_k, of a visual representation of d_k within d_i is preserved both in substance and location with respect to text in document d_i.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein for every file type, f_i, there is an individual, corresponding extraction,

13. A computer system for reviewing data, the computer system comprising:

(a) a source of a plurality of electronic documents;

(b) a file ripper for extracting data from at least one document, d_i, from the plurality of electronic documents;

(i) wherein the file ripper tests each document, d_i, for linked or embedded objects, d_k;

(ii) wherein the file ripper recursively repeats step (i) if additional linked or embedded objects, d_k, are detected; and

(c) an index, i, comprising data from the documents and objects, d_i and d_k, wherein the index preserves hierarchical relationships among d_i and d_k;

d_i and d_k each have at least one individual identifier; and

a visual representation of d_k within d_i is preserved through the use of an object map, m.

14. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the index is stored in a buffer on a computer-readable storage medium capable of receiving requests for specific data characteristics and identifying documents, d_k, or embedded objects, d_k, with those characteristics.

15. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising a library housing methods of extraction, e_i, for all file types, f_i and f_k, respectively for documents and objects d_i and d_k.

16. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the computer system is used for preparation of documents which are to be reviewed in connection with a litigation.

17. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the computer system is located within a plurality of servers, processors and storage media in communication over a network.

18. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the computer system comprises a terminal for accepting user input or displaying data processed by a computer-readable storage medium.

19. The computer system of claim 13, wherein the source of a plurality of electronic documents is in communication with other components of the computer system via the Internet.

20. The computer system of claim 13, wherein each document d_i is selected from the group consisting of a text file, an image, and a spreadsheet.

21. The computer system of claim 13, wherein each embedded object d_k is selected from the group consisting of a text file, an image, and a spreadsheet.

22. The computer system of claim 13, further comprising a first processor capable of receiving at least one document, d_i, extracting data from said document, and recursively searching said document for linked or embedded objects.

23. The computer system of claim 22, further comprising a first computer-readable storage medium capable of containing all extracted data, and featuring a buffer with data for each linked or embedded object indexed separately, wherein each of a substance, location and textual relationship of each linked or embedded object and the document d_i is preserved.

24. The computer system of claim 22, further comprising a second processor in communication with the computer-readable storage medium capable of receiving requests for specific data characteristics and identifying the documents, d_i, or embedded objects with those characteristics.

25. The computer system of claim 22, further comprising a second computer-readable storage medium containing a library of all individual programs for all file types.

26. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the second computer-readable storage medium is in communication with the processor.

27. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the computer system is used for the preparation of documents in anticipation of litigation.

28. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the computer system is located within a plurality of servers, processors and computer-readable storage media in communication over a network.

29. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the computer system comprises a terminal for accepting user input or displaying extracted data processed by the first and second computer-readable storage media.

30. The computer system of claim 22, wherein the source of a plurality of electronic documents is in communication with other components of the computer system via the Internet.