System for extracting relevant data from an intellectual property database

Abstract

A method of extracting publications relevant to a reference entity, comprising the steps of generating an initial set of publications; associating the initial set with a database to generate a user-engageable display of at least one element relating to the at least one publication such that the at least one element is a required characteristic of the at least one publication in accordance with a predetermined standard of analysis; selecting at least a first element from the at least one element that represents a characteristic not present in the reference entity; yielding a result including publications in the initial set and excluding publications relating to the selected at least a first element in accordance with the predetermined standard of analysis.

1 - 15 . (canceled) 
     
     
         16 . A computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for identifying patent documents of interest in view of a specific reference entity, the method comprising:
 displaying a user-engageable arrangement of a plurality of annotations that are associated with a first plurality of document identifiers, each of the first plurality of document identifiers uniquely representing one of a first plurality of patent documents;   receiving a selection from a user of at least one of the plurality of annotations;   excluding, from the first plurality of document identifiers, all document identifiers associated with the at least one annotation selected by the user; and   outputting a resultant set of document identifiers that does not include any of the excluded document identifiers,   wherein each particular patent document of the first plurality of patent documents has at least one required characteristic satisfying conditions of a standard of analysis such that each required characteristic is necessary for any reference entity to embody in order to infringe the particular patent document based on a claims portion of the particular patent document, and   wherein the plurality of annotations include annotations that correspond to required characteristics of the first plurality of patent documents, and wherein each particular document identifier is associated only with annotations corresponding to required characteristics of the patent document represented by the particular document identifier.   
     
     
         17 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein the step of displaying a user-engageable arrangement of annotations further comprises displaying a genus annotation and a species annotation such that the species annotation is hierarchically embedded within the genus annotation. 
     
     
         18 . The program of  claim 17 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving a user request to remove an annotation from the displayed user-engageable arrangement from a first location in the user-engageable arrangement and replace the annotation in a second location in the user-engageable arrangement, wherein the second location is different from the first location;   removing the annotation from the first location; and   replacing the annotation in the second location.   
     
     
         19 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises displaying a definition associated with at least one annotation of the displayed plurality of annotations. 
     
     
         20 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein:
 the plurality of annotations are further associated with a second plurality of document identifiers that are each different from the first plurality of document identifiers and that each uniquely represent one of a second plurality of patent documents;   for each of the second plurality of document identifiers, a first annotation and a second annotation of the plurality of annotations represent, in conjunction, but not individually, a required characteristic of the particular patent document represented by the document identifier, wherein, the required characteristic is evaluated, under a standard of analysis, to be necessary for any reference entity to embody in order to infringe the particular patent document based on a claims portion of the patent document;   the method further comprises, for each of the second plurality of document identifiers, excluding the document identifier if, and only if, both the first annotation and the second annotation constitute user-selected annotations; and   the resultant set of identifiers does not include any of the excluded document identifiers from the second plurality of document identifiers.   
     
     
         21 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
 receiving a primary selection of one or more primary annotations from the displayed arrangement of annotations, resulting in primary selected annotations and primary non-selected annotations, wherein the primary annotations correspond to one or more document identifiers from the first plurality of document identifiers;   removing, from the display, all non-selected annotations that only correspond to the one or more document identifiers; and   receiving a secondary selection of one or more secondary annotations from the displayed arrangement of annotations.   
     
     
         22 . The program of  claim 16 , wherein the method further comprises:
 generating a record of each annotation of the plurality of annotations correlated with a value indicating whether or not the annotation constitutes a user-selected annotation; and   storing the record as a search criterion.   
     
     
         23 . The program of  claim 22 , wherein the method further comprises:
 displaying a second user-engageable arrangement of a second plurality of annotations;   based on a user request, accessing the search criterion;   comparing each annotation of the search criterion to each annotation of the second plurality of annotations; and   for each annotation of the second user-engageable arrangement, if the particular annotation corresponds to a user-selected annotation, modifying the second arrangement by displaying the particular annotation as selected.   
     
     
         24 . A computer program product comprising a computer-usable medium having a computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed to implement a method for identifying patent documents of interest in view of a specific reference entity, the method comprising:
 receiving, from a user, an initial set of document identifiers that each uniquely represent one of a first plurality of patent documents;   accessing a stored collection of document identifiers that each uniquely represent one of a second plurality of patent documents, wherein the stored collection of document identifiers are associated with a first plurality of annotations, such that, for each document identifier of the stored collection of document identifiers, only annotations of the first plurality of annotations that correspond to a required characteristic of the patent document represented by the patent document identification are associated with the patent document identification, wherein the required characteristic is evaluated, under a standard of analysis, to be necessary for any reference entity to embody in order to infringe the patent document based on a claims portion of the patent document;   comparing the initial set of document identifiers with the stored collection of document identifiers;   displaying a user-engageable arrangement of annotations including, from the first plurality of annotations, only annotations that are each associated with at least one document identifier of the first plurality of document identifiers;   receiving a selection from a user of at least one of the second plurality of annotations; and   outputting a resultant set of patent document identifications that, from the first plurality of patent document identifications, excludes all patent document identifications associated with the user-selected annotations.