Methods for semantics-based citation-pairing information

1. A computer-implemented method of semantically linking a citing document to a cited document in a document corpus, the method comprising:

determining a cited-text-area present in the cited document, wherein the cited-text-area corresponds with a reason-for-citing of at least one citation present in the citing document, and the cited-text-area is determined by:

semantically comparing the reason-for-citing in the citing document with reasons-for-citing in the cited document;

generating a similarity value for each reason-for-citing in the cited document based on the semantic comparison with the reason-for-citing in the citing document; and

selecting the reason-for-citing in the cited document with a highest similarity value as the cited-text-area of the cited document; and

populating, by a computing device, a citation entry of a citation-pairing metadata file stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory, the citation entry comprising a citing-document identifier corresponding to the citing document, a reason-for-citing identifier corresponding to the reason-for-citing, a cited-document identifier corresponding to the cited-document identifier, and a cited-text-area identifier corresponding to the cited-text-area, wherein the citation-pairing metadata file comprises a plurality of citation entries and is stored separately from the citing document and the cited document.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the reason-for-citing is determined by a reason-for-citing algorithm.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the reason-for-citing identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the citing document, and the cited-text-area identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the cited document.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising populating a reason-for-citing metadata file with a plurality of reasons-for-citing entries, each reason-for-citing entry comprising a document identifier, a reason-for-citing identifier, and a string of text corresponding to the reason-for-citing identifier, wherein each reason-for-citing entry corresponds with an individual reason-for-citing in an individual citing document and an individual cited-text-area in an individual cited document.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the citation-pairing metadata file is configured such that:

selection of a reason-for-citing identifier of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected reason-for-citing identifier; and

selection of a cited-text-area of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected cited-text-area.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the citation entry provides access to a text of the citing document.

7. A computer-implemented method of semantically linking a citing document to a cited document in a corpus of documents, the method comprising:

locating at least one citation present in the citing document;

determining a reason-for-citing for at least one citation;

determining a cited-text-area present in the cited document, wherein the cited-text-area corresponds with the reason-for-citing, and the cited-text-area is determined by:

semantically comparing the reason-for-citing in the citing document with reasons-for-citing in the cited document;

generating a similarity value for each reason-for-citing in the cited document based on the semantic comparison with the reason-for-citing in the citing document; and

selecting the reason-for-citing in the cited document with a highest similarity value as the cited-text-area of the cited document; and

populating, by a computing device, a citation entry of a citation-pairing metadata file stored in a non-transitory computer-readable memory wherein the citation-pairing metadata file links the cited-text-area of the cited document with the reason-for-citing of the citing document.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the reason-for-citing is determined by a reason-for-citing algorithm.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the reason-for-citing identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the citing document, and the cited-text-area identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the cited document.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising populating a reason-for-citing metadata file with a plurality of reasons-for-citing entries, each reason-for-citing entry comprising a document identifier, a reason-for-citing identifier, and a string of text corresponding to the reason-for-citing identifier, wherein each reason-for-citing entry corresponds with an individual reason-for-citing in an individual citing document and an individual cited-text-area in an individual cited document.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10 , wherein the citation-pairing metadata file is configured such that:

selection of a reason-for-citing identifier of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected reason-for-citing identifier; and

selection of a cited-text-area of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected cited-text-area.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the citation entry contains linking information configured for accessing a text of the citing document.

13. A computer-readable memory comprising a set of computer-readable instructions for carrying out a method of semantically linking a citing document to a cited document that, when used in conjunction with a computer having a processor, causes the processor to:

determine a cited-text-area present in the cited document, wherein the cited-text-area corresponds with a reason-for-citing of at least one citation present in the citing document, and the cited-text-area is determined by:

semantically comparing the reason-for-citing in the citing document with reasons-for-citing in the cited document;

generating a similarity value for each reason-for-citing in the cited document based on the semantic comparison with the reason-for-citing in the citing document; and

selecting the reason-for-citing in the cited document with a highest similarity value as the cited-text-area of the cited document; and

populate a citation entry of a citation-pairing metadata file, the citation entry comprising a citing-document identifier corresponding to the citing document, a reason-for-citing identifier corresponding to the reason-for-citing, a cited-document identifier corresponding to the cited-document identifier, and a cited-text-area identifier corresponding to the cited-text-area, wherein the citation-pairing metadata file comprises a plurality of citation entries and is stored separately from the citing document and the cited document.

14. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the reason-for-citing is determined by a reason-for-citing algorithm.

15. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the reason-for-citing identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the citing document, and the cited-text-area identifier is an integer corresponding with a location of a rule within the cited document.

16. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the computer-readable instructions further cause the processor to populate a reason-for-citing metadata file with a plurality of reason-for-citing entries, each reason-for-citing entry comprising a document identifier, a reason-for-citing identifier, and a string of text corresponding to the reason-for-citing identifier, wherein each reason-for-citing entry corresponds with an individual reason-for-citing in an individual citing document and an individual cited-text-area in an individual cited document.

17. The computer-readable memory of claim 16 , wherein the citation-pairing metadata file is configured such that:

selection of a reason-for-citing identifier of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected reason-for-citing identifier; and

selection of a cited-text-area of a selected citation entry accesses the reason-for-citing metadata file to retrieve the string of text associated with the selected cited-text-area.

18. The computer-readable memory of claim 13 , wherein the citing-document identifier contains linking information configured for accessing a text of the citing document.

19. A computer-implemented method of retrieving a string of text of a cited-text-area of a cited document that is cited by a citing document, the method comprising:

accessing a citation entry of a citation-pairing metadata file that corresponds with the citing document, the citation entry comprising:

a citing-document identifier corresponding to the citing document;

a reason-for-citing identifier corresponding to a reason-for-citing of a citation in the citing document;

a cited-document identifier corresponding to the cited-document identifier, and

a cited-text-area identifier corresponding to the cited-text-area of the cited document, wherein;

the cited-text-area is determined by:

semantically comparing the reason-for-citing in the citing document with reasons-for-citing in the cited document;

generating a similarity value for each reason-for-citing in the cited document based on the semantic comparison with the reason-for-citing in the citing document; and

selecting the reason-for-citing in the cited document with a highest similarity value as the cited-text-area of the cited document; and

the citation-pairing metadata file comprises a plurality of citation entries and is stored separately from the citing document and the cited document;

retrieving the cited document identifier and the cited-text-area identifier associated with a citation entry containing the citing-document identifier and the reason-for-citing identifier corresponding to the citing document and the reason-for-citing, respectively;

accessing a reason-for-citing metadata file comprising a plurality of reasons-for-citing entries, each reason-for-citing entry comprising:

a document identifier;

a reason-for-citing identifier corresponding to a reason-for-citing of a citing document or a cited text area of a cited document; and

a string of text corresponding to the reason-for-citing identifier, wherein each reason-for-citing entry corresponds with reasons-for-citing in citing documents and cited-text-areas in cited documents; and

retrieving the string of text of the cited text area of the cited document from an entry of the reason-for-citing metadata file that includes the cited document identifier of the cited document and the cited-text-area identifier retrieved from the citation-pairing metadata file.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the reason-for-citing is determined by a reason-for-citing algorithm.