COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DOCUMENT ANNOTATION WITH MERGE FEATURE
A system, method, and medium supports analyzing intellectual property documents by linking and annotating patents, copyrights, trademarks, license agreements, and other intellectual property documents. It can be used by intellectual property professionals in memorializing thought processes, work products, and reasoning, in preliminary or final form, and can support development and use of a rich linked set representing complex relationships in an intellectual property portfolio. Optionally, marked up, linked documents are divided into data streams; one contains the original document for mark-up, and one contains annotation data. The marked-up document may be further revised and/or annotated even by multiple users. The same document such as a patent may be centrally stored but independently marked-up by different users (or groups of users). The system extracts from a marked-up document annotation data with any changes, and provides one or more data streams, containing the annotation data for storage and or later use.
1 - 53 . (canceled)
54 . A computer-implemented system for providing annotated electronic documents, said system comprising:
an electronic storage interface to an electronic storage configured to store at least one annotation as annotation data in a first data storage and at least one document as document data in a second data storage, the first and second data storage being searchable databases; and
a processor cooperatively operable with the electronic storage interface, the processor being configured to
retrieve a document from the second data storage as document data,
retrieve at least one annotation to be applied to the document from a first data storage as annotation data, and
merge the annotation data and the document data to form a unitary single logical document, the single logical document displaying the annotation embedded in the document data,
wherein
the annotation data indexes into a predetermined section within the document as stored in the second data storage into which the annotation is to be embedded as indicated by a document-image-independent data schema, and
content of the annotation data in the first data storage is searchable to return documents as search results.
55 . The system of claim 54 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine, responsive to at least one user, the at least one annotation to be applied to at least one document, including to select at least the predetermined section of the at least one document and to associate the at least one annotation with the predetermined section.
56 . The system of claim 55 , wherein selecting the at least one section includes at least one of (i) indicating, responsive to the user, a scope of the at least one section and selecting the at least one section; (ii) selecting, responsive to the user, the at least one section from a plurality of pre-determined sections; and (iii) pre-determining a scope of the at least one section as being a paragraph or record division within the at least one document.
57 . The system of claim 55 , wherein determining the at least one annotation includes at least one of: (i) receiving a reference to another document; (ii) selecting at least one pre-defined notation; (iii) receiving input text; (iv) selecting at least one user-defined attribute; (v) receiving a reference to a URL; and (vi) receiving a reference to a file.
58 . The system of claim 54 , wherein the processor is further configured to
mark-up the at least one document to at least one of add and edit the at least one annotation, wherein each annotation can be different from every other annotation; and
responsive to the at least one user, to at least one of establish, traverse, indicate, and remove, at least one reference between the at least one portion and at least one of an other portion of the at least one document, an other document, and at least one other portion of the other document
59 . The system of claim 54 , wherein the at least one annotation indicates an evaluation of at least one legal property relative to the at least one document.
60 . The system of claim 54 , wherein the at least one document is representative of at least one of: a patent document, a trademark document, a copyright document, a product description document, a contract document, a license document, a sui generic protection document, a design registration document, a trade secret document, and an opinion document.
61 . A computer-implemented method of providing annotated electronic documents, the method being executed on a computer and comprising:
providing, in a computer processor, access to an electronic storage configured to store at least one annotation as annotation data in a first data storage and at least one document as document data in a second data storage, the first and second data storage being searchable databases;
retrieving, in the computer processor, a document from the second data storage as document data;
retrieving, in the computer processor, at least one annotation to be applied to the document from the first data storage as annotation data; and
merging, in the computer processor, the annotation data and the document data to form a unitary single logical document, the single logical document displaying the annotation embedded in the document data,
wherein
the annotation data indexes into a predetermined section within the document as stored in the second data storage into which the annotation is to be embedded as indicated by a document-image-independent data schema, and
content of the annotation data in the first data storage is searchable to return documents as search results.
62 . The method of claim 61 , further comprising
determining, in the computer processor responsive to at least one user, the at least one annotation to be applied to at least one document, including selecting at least the predetermined section of the at least one document and to associate the at least one annotation with the predetermined section.
63 . The method of claim 62 , wherein selecting the at least one section includes at least one of (i) indicating, responsive to the user, a scope of the at least one section and selecting the at least one section; (ii) selecting, responsive to the user, the at least one section from a plurality of pre-determined sections; and (iii) pre-determining a scope of the at least one section as being a paragraph or record division within the at least one document.
64 . The method of claim 62 , wherein determining the at least one annotation includes at least one of: (i) receiving a reference to another document; (ii) selecting at least one pre-defined notation; (iii) receiving input text; (iv) selecting at least one user-defined attribute; (v) receiving a reference to a URL; and (vi) receiving a reference to a file.
65 . The method of claim 61 , further comprising
marking-up, in the computer processor responsive to the user, the at least one document to at least one of add and edit the at least one annotation, wherein each annotation can be different from every other annotation; and
responsive to the user, at least one of establishing, traversing, indicating, and removing, at least one reference between the at least one portion and at least one of an other portion of the at least one document, an other document, and at least one other portion of the other document
66 . The method of claim 61 , wherein the at least one annotation indicates an evaluation of at least one legal property relative to the at least one document.
67 . The method of claim 61 , wherein the at least one document is representative of at least one of: a patent document, a trademark document, a copyright document, a product description document, a contract document, a license document, a sui generic protection document, a design registration document, a trade secret document, and an opinion document.
68 . A computer program stored on a non-transitory computer-readable medium with a method of providing annotated electronic documents, the program comprising computer-executable steps for:
storing, in an electronic storage, at least one annotation as annotation data in a first data storage and at least one document as document data in a second data storage, the first and second data storage being searchable databases;
retrieving a document from the second data storage as document data;
retrieving at least one annotation to be applied to the document from the first data storage as annotation data; and
merging the annotation data and the document data to form a unitary single logical document, the single logical document displaying the annotation embedded in the document data,
wherein
the annotation data indexes into a predetermined section within the document as stored in the second data storage into which the annotation is to be embedded as indicated by a document-image-independent data schema, and
content of the annotation data in the first data storage is searchable.
69 . The computer program of claim 68 , further comprising
determining, responsive to at least one user, the at least one annotation to be applied to at least one document, including to select at least the predetermined section of the at least one document and to associate the at least one annotation with the predetermined section.
70 . The computer program of claim 69 , wherein selecting the at least one section includes at least one of (i) indicating, responsive to the user, a scope of the at least one section and selecting the at least one section; (ii) selecting, responsive to the user, the at least one section from a plurality of pre-determined sections; and (iii) pre-determining a scope of the at least one section as being a paragraph or record division within the at least one document.
71 . The computer program of claim 69 , wherein determining the at least one annotation includes at least one of: (i) receiving a reference to another document; (ii) selecting at least one pre-defined notation; (iii) receiving input text; (iv) selecting at least one user-defined attribute; (v) receiving a reference to a URL; and (vi) receiving a reference to a file.
72 . The computer program of claim 68 , further comprising
marking-up the at least one document to at least one of add and edit the at least one annotation, wherein each annotation can be different from every other annotation; and
responsive to the at least one user, to at least one of establishing, traversing, indicating, and removing, at least one reference between the at least one portion and at least one of an other portion of the at least one document, an other document, and at least one other portion of the other document
73 . The computer program of claim 68 , wherein the at least one annotation indicates an evaluation of at least one legal property relative to the at least one document.
74 . The computer program of claim 68 , wherein the at least one document is representative of at least one of: a patent document, a trademark document, a copyright document, a product description document, a contract document, a license document, a sui generic protection document, a design registration document, a trade secret document, and an opinion document.