# US 2010/0169757 A1 · Filtering Method for Evaluating Patents > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2010/0169757 A1 - Document ID: US20100169757A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 12/344,397 - Filed: 2008-12-26 - Published: 2010-07-01 - Earliest claimed: 2008-12-26 - Inventors: Adam Jude Ahne - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20100169757A1 ## CPC - G06Q 40/06: Asset management; Financial planning or analysis - G06Q 10/10: Office automation; Time management - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract A filtering method for evaluating patents comprises loading each unit of text or figure in a portfolio of patents into digital memory then comparing each unit of text or figure with all other units of text or figures in digital memory using digital data processing. The duplicate units of text or figures are determined and the earliest instance of each duplicate unit of text or figure is identified. The duplicate unit of text or figure, other than earliest instance, are marked as duplicate to create a filtered version of each patent in portfolio. The filtered version of each patent in portfolio is evaluated to determine the uniqueness of the patent specification and the interrelationships between the patents in the portfolio are determined. The interrelationships are illustrated in an electronic workspace for analyzing the portfolio of patents. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A filtering method for evaluating patents, comprising: loading each unit of text in a portfolio of patents into digital memory; comparing each unit of text with all other units of text in digital memory using digital data processing; determining duplicate units of text; determining earliest instance of each duplicate unit of text; marking instances of duplicate unit of text other than earliest instance as duplicate. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising creating a filtered version of each patent in a portfolio of patents. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2 further comprising evaluating each filtered version of each patent in a portfolio to determine the uniqueness of the patent specification. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the interrelationships between the patents in the portfolio and illustrating the interrelationships in an electronic workspace for analyzing the portfolio of patents. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein each unit of text is compared with every other unit of text by creating a table of pointers to all units of text generated based on length, in characters, of the units of text and only comparing units of texts of the same length. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5 wherein said units of text of the same length are compared by measuring the similarity between the units of text. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein said duplicate unit of texts are marked by replacing the duplicate unit of text with the reference number of the patent with the earliest instance of the duplicate unit of text. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein said duplicate unit of texts are marked by striking though the text of the duplicate unit of text. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein said filtered patents are evaluated for uniqueness by determining the percentage of non-duplicated text. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein said filtered patents are evaluated for uniqueness by determining the percentage of text that is borrowed from a parent patent. ### Claim 11 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2 wherein said filtered patents are evaluated for uniqueness by determining the number of patents that borrow text from a parent patent. ### Claim 12 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4 wherein determining said interrelationships between the patents in a portfolio comprises: generating a list of related patents that borrow text from a parent patent; and using the list to graphically represent how the patents in the list are related. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12 wherein said graphical representation is a family tree. ### Claim 14 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4 wherein said interrelationships between the patent in a portfolio are illustrated in an electronic workspace for analyzing the portfolio of patents by using hyperlinks in an electronic document to allow the user to click on an entry in a list of related patents to take the user to that electronic patent document. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The method of claim 14 wherein said list of related patents are combined into a text file and are read into an electronic spreadsheet. ### Claim 16 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1 wherein said unit of texts are selected from the group consisting of paragraphs, sentences, phrases or words. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The method of claim 16 wherein only the alphabetic characters in said units of texts are compared. ### Claim 18 A filtering method for evaluating patents, comprising: loading each figure in a portfolio of patents into digital memory; comparing each figure with all other figures in digital memory using digital data processing; determining duplicate figures; determining earliest instance of each duplicate figure; marking instances of duplicate figure other than earliest instance as duplicate. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18 further comprising creating a filtered version of each patent in a portfolio of patents. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The method of claim 18 further comprising loading each unit of text in the portfolio into the digital memory; comparing each unit of text with all other units of text in digital memory using digital data processing; determining duplicate units of text; determining earliest instance of each duplicate unit of text; marking instances of duplicate unit of text other than earliest instance as duplicate.