System and method for prior art analysis

摘要

Systems and methods for prior art analysis are provided. An example method comprises maintaining a patent matter database including, for at least one patent matter, a claim set or statement of invention, and a priority date. The method also includes maintaining a database of prior art documents and associating a prior art document with a first patent matter in the patent matter database. An automatic keyword analysis is performed on both the first patent matter and associated prior art document and a keyword pool is identified. Combined information is provided at a user interface information including at least identification of the first patent matter, the keyword pool, at least one keyword occurring uniquely in the first patent matter, and a timeline representing the priority date of the first patent matter and the priority or publication date of the prior art document.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
maintaining a patent matter database, the database including data about the patent matters, the data including for at least one patent matter:
a claim set or statement of invention, anda priority date for the claim set or statement of invention; maintaining a database of prior art documents, wherein the prior art database includes data about the prior art documents; associating a prior art document with a first patent matter in the patent matter database; performing an automatic keyword analysis on both the first patent matter and associated prior art document, and automatically identifying a keyword pool for the first patent matter and prior art document based on occurrences of one or more keywords in the first patent matter and associated prior art document; automatically identifying, based on the analysis, at least one keyword occurring uniquely in the first patent matter; and combining at a user interface information including at least identification of the first patent matter, the keyword pool, the at least one keyword occurring uniquely in the first patent matter, and a timeline representing the priority date of the first patent matter and the priority or publication date of the prior art document.