Granted Patent B2

US 8,332,384 · App. 11/947,410 · Granted Dec 11, 2012

Abstract

Claims (68)

1. A method of providing a synopsis of a body of knowledge, comprising:

storing within at least one electronic database a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to the body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics;

for each of a plurality of documents, at least one of which is a citing document that includes at least one citation to at least one respective cited document in the plurality of documents other than itself, finding at least one statement within the document that expresses a principle related to the body of knowledge;

for each of the principles identified in any one or more of the documents, creating a normalized expression of the principle and storing the created normalized expression within the at least one electronic database in relation to at least one of the subtopics and in relation to each of the documents in which the identified principle was expressed; and

for an additional document that is not one of the plurality of documents, finding an additional statement within the additional document that expresses the same principle that one of the previously created normalized expressions expresses and storing the additional document in relation to the previously created normalized expression.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the normalized expressions expresses a rule of law.

3. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

finding within a citing document a citation to one other document of the plurality of documents and a statement, associated with the citation, that is substantially equivalent to one of the normalized expressions; and

storing the citing document in relation to the other document and in relation to the subtopic that is related to the normalized expression.

4. The method of claim 3 , comprising providing an indication that the citing document includes the citation to the one other document and an identification of the normalized expression.

5. A method of providing a citation index, comprising:

finding within a first document a first expression of a principle;

storing within the at least one database a first association between the first document and a normalized expression of the principle;

finding within a second document a second expression of the principle and a citation to the first document, the citation being associated with the second expression of the principle;

storing within the at least one database a second association between the second document and the normalized expression of the principle and a third association between the second document and the first document; and

providing an indication that the second document includes the citation to the first document and an identification of the normalized expression of the principle.

6. The method of claim 5 , comprising:

storing within the at least one database, in association with the normalized expression of the principle, information indicating a treatment within the second document of the first expression of the principle; and

providing an indication of the treatment and an identification of the first document.

7. The method of claim 5 , comprising storing within the at least one database a fourth association between the normalized expression of the principle and a subtopic within a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the principle is a rule of law.

9. The method of claim 5 , wherein the principle is a rule of law.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the second document is a judicial opinion.

11. A system for providing a synopsis of a body of knowledge, comprising:

a programmable processor, an input device that provides input to the system, a database, and a memory;

the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to carry out a method that comprises

storing within the at least one database a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to the body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics;

for each of a plurality of documents, receiving first input through the input device designating at least one statement within the document that expresses a principle related to the body of knowledge; and

for each of the principles designated in any one or more of the documents, receiving second input, through the input device, that indicates a normalized expression of the principle and, in response to the second input, storing that expression within the at least one database in relation to at least one of the subtopics and in relation to each of the documents in which the principle was expressed; and

for an additional document that is not one of the plurality of documents, finding an additional statement within the additional document that expresses the same principle that one of the previously created normalized expressions expresses and storing the additional document in relation to the previously created normalized expression.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein each of the normalized expressions expresses a rule of law.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the method comprises:

receiving third input through the input device, designating within a citing document a citation to one of the documents, a statement that is substantially equivalent to one of the stored normalized expressions, and an association between the citation and the statement; and

storing the citing document in the at least one database in relation to the cited document and in relation to the subtopic that is related to the normalized expression.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the method comprises providing an indication that the second document includes the citation to the first document and an identification of the normalized expression.

15. A system for providing a citation index, comprising:

a programmable processor, an input device that provides input to the system, a database, and a memory;

the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the system to carry out a method that comprises

accepting first input through the input device designating within a first document a first expression of a principle;

storing within the at least one database a normalized expression of the principle;

storing within the at least one database a first association between the first document and the normalized expression of the principle;

accepting input through the input device designating within a second document a second expression of the principle and a citation to the first document, the citation being associated with the second expression of the principle;

storing within the at least one database a second association between the second document and the normalized expression of the principle and a third association between the second document and the first document; and

providing an indication that the second document includes the citation to the first document and an identification of the normalized expression of the principle.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the method comprises:

storing within the at least one database, in association with the normalized expression of the principle, information indicating a treatment within the second document of the first expression of the principle; and

providing an indication of the treatment and an identification of the first document.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the method comprises storing within the at least one database a fourth association between the normalized expression of the principle and a subtopic within a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the principle is a rule of law.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein the principle is a rule of law.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein the second document is a judicial opinion.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with a data structure comprising:

a representation of a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of knowledge, at least one topic comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic further comprising one or more subtopics;

a plurality of normalized expressions, each expressing a principle related to the body of knowledge;

for each of the normalized expressions, at least one association between the respective normalized expression and one of the subtopics; and

for each of the normalized expressions, at least one association between the respective normalized expression and a document that includes subject matter associated with the body of knowledge, the document including at least one statement having a meaning that is substantially equivalent to the meaning of the respective normalized expression.

22. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 21 , wherein each of the normalized expressions expresses a rule of law.

23. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 22 , wherein the data structure comprises:

a plurality of associations among a plurality of documents, each association itself being associated with at least one of the normalized expressions.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with one or more data structures, comprising:

a topic hierarchy that comprises a plurality of topics related to a body of law, at least one of the topics comprising one or more subtopics, and at least one subtopic comprising one or more subtopics;

a plurality of normalized expressions of principles of law related to the body of law;

a plurality of opinions from at least one governmental adjudicative entity, a plurality of the opinions being citing opinions that include at least one citation that refers to one of the opinions, being a cited opinion; and

a citation index relating at least one of the citing opinions to one of the corresponding cited opinions; wherein

each normalized expression is stored in association with at least one topic or subtopic so that a computer having a reference to the normalized expression may obtain a reference to the respective associated topic or subtopic,

each normalized expression is stored in association with at least one opinion so that a computer having a reference to the normalized expression may obtain a reference to the respective associated opinion,

each relation in the citation index is stored in association with the respective citing opinion and the respective cited opinion so that (i) a computer having a reference to the relation may obtain a reference to the citing opinion and a reference to the cited opinion, (ii) a computer having a reference to the citing opinion may obtain a reference to the relation and a reference to the cited opinion, and (iii) a computer having a reference to the cited opinion may obtain a reference to the relation and a reference to the cited opinion.

25. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 24 , wherein the one or more data structures comprise one or more search indexes adapted for use by a computer to enable searching of one or more of the topic hierarchy, the normalized expressions, the opinions, and the citation index in response to a query provided as an input to the computer.

Assignments (9)