Point of law search system and method
AssigneeLexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.
InventorsDavid Miller, Harry Silver, Andrew Freisthler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A “More Like This Headnote” search relates online headnotes intelligently so that users have the means to retrieve related headnotes quickly and easily. This is achieved by using a tailored search type in the search engine, which is designed to handle the text of a headnote as a search string. Retrieval logic then presents the search results to the user in a “Virtual Digest” view comprising related headnotes and case materials, sorted by user-selected options.
Claims20
A search method for locating documents discussing a selected idea, comprising the steps of:
- (a) conducting an interactive database search to identify a set of documents relevant to an idea specified by a user, the identified documents defining an answer set;
- (b) in response to a user selection of one of the documents in the answer set, displaying the selected document in a format with online headnotes discussing different ideas;
- (c) in response to user selection of one of the online headnotes, conducting a second interactive database search using the text of the selected online headnote as a search string to locate other documents discussing similar ideas;
- and
- (d) using retrieval logic to present to the user the results of the second search in a virtual digest view comprising related headnotes and document materials, sorted by user-selected options.
A search method for locating documents discussing a selected idea, comprising the steps of:
- (a) retrieving from a database a document requested by a user, wherein the document has at least one headnote discussing an idea;
- (b) displaying the retrieved document to the user;
- (c) generating a search request based at least on a headnote selected by the user;
- (d) using the search request to identify documents relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote, the identified documents defining an answer set;
- (e) identifying which, if any, headnotes of the documents in the answer set discuss the same idea as the selected headnote;
- (f) determining which, if any, of the identified headnotes are sufficiently relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote to display to the user, and displaying them to the user;
- (g) if a document in the answer set has no headnotes or has no headnotes discussing the same idea point as the selected headnote, identifying portions of text in the document most relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote;
- (h) determining which, if any, of the identified portions of text are sufficiently relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote to display to the user;
- and
- (i) if there are sufficiently relevant portions of text to display to the user, identifying the most relevant portion of text and displaying it to the user.
A search system for locating documents discussing a selected idea, comprising:
- means for retrieving from a database a document requested by a user, wherein the document has at least one headnote discussing an idea;
- means for generating a search request based at least on a headnote selected by the user;
- means for identifying documents relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote, based on the search request, the identified documents defining an answer set;
- means for identifying which, if any, headnotes of the documents in the answer set discuss the same idea as the selected headnote;
- means for determining which, if any, of the identified headnotes are sufficiently relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote to display to the user;
- means for identifying portions of text in the document most relevant to the idea discussed in the selected headnote, if a case in the answer set has no headnotes or has no headnotes discussing the same idea as the selected headnote;
- means for determining which, if any, of the identified portions of text are sufficiently relevant to the idea discussed by the selected headnote to display to the user;
- means for identifying the most relevant portion of text, if there are sufficiently relevant portions of text to display to the user;
- and
- means for displaying the document requested by the user, the relevant headnotes, if any, and the relevant portions of text, if any, to the user.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.