Patent application preparation system and template creator

A method for automating the preparation of a patent application document for describing an invention, comprising the steps of:

• providing a claim set, wherein the claim set recites a plurality of elements in a highly structured format, wherein the claim set is comprised of an independent claim and a plurality of dependent claims, and wherein the highly structured format is comprised of a preamble statement, a set of phrases in which the plurality of elements are recited, a semicolon at the end of at least a first phrase in the set of phrases, and a period at the end of a last phrase in the set of phrases;
• determining with a natural language processor each unique element in the plurality of elements, wherein the natural language processor operates on a computer processor;
• transforming with the natural language processor the preamble and the set of phrases in the highly structured format into a prose describing the invention in the patent application document;
• and
• creating with the natural language processor a plurality of paragraphs in the prose, wherein a first set of the dependent claims depends from a first element in the independent claim, wherein a second set of the dependent claims depends from a second element in the independent claim, wherein the creating step transforms the first set of the dependent claims into a first group of sentences in a first paragraph of the prose, and wherein the creating step transforms the second set of the dependent claims into a second group of sentences in a second paragraph of the prose.

A method for automating the preparation of a patent application document for describing an invention, comprising the steps of:

• providing a claim set, wherein the claim set recites a plurality of elements in a highly structured format, wherein the highly structured format is comprised of a preamble statement, a set of phrases in which the plurality of elements are recited, a semicolon at the end of at least a first phrase in the set of phrases, and a period at the end of a last phrase in the set of phrases;
• determining with a natural language processor each unique element in the plurality of elements, wherein the natural language processor operates on a computer processor;
• transforming with the natural language processor the preamble and the set of phrases in the highly structured format into a prose describing the invention in the patent application document;
• providing a drawing set with at least one illustration;
• creating a database of the reference numbers uniquely correlated to the elements;
• analyzing the illustration with an image processing tool for object recognition;
• identifying with the image processing tool a plurality of features of the illustration corresponding with the elements in the database in a set of feature-element pairs;
• and
• automatically editing the illustration to annotate the features identified in the illustration with the reference numbers uniquely correlated to the elements.