US 7,580,937 B2Granted

Method and apparatus for updating rules and transmitting change notifications

AssigneeCompulaw, LLC

InventorsDavid J. Kalmick, Ricky J. Rains, Alexander J. Manners

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for generating court dates. A Date Calculation Engine (DCE) is coupled to a court date server and a court rule database for generation of court dates. The court rule database includes formulas written in a Date Calculation Scripting Language (DCSL) for calculating the court dates. The court rules further include instructions for generating a Jurisdiction Selection Expert (JSE) and an Event Selection Expert (ESE) that enable a user to quickly select a jurisdiction and an event using hierarchal data structures. The DCE is combined with other software components to build a complete court date server system. The court rule database is maintained up-to-date with the latest changes to the rules. Deadlines affected by any rule changes are automatically identified and recalculated, and customers for whom the deadlines were calculated automatically notified to inform them of the changed deadlines.

Claims28

Dependent claims

A method for generating and transmitting a calendar of different legal events capable of occurring in the course of a legal proceeding, the method comprising:

maintaining in a database at least one rule set including a plurality of date calculation instructions for calculating a plurality of different legal events;
receiving, under control of a server, an initial trigger date for an initial trigger legal event;
selecting, under control of the server, one or more date calculation instructions from the database based on the initial trigger legal event;
calculating, under control of the server, one or more event dates based on the initial trigger date and the retrieved date calculation instructions;
transmitting, under control of the server, the one or more calculated event dates to a user client;
maintaining, under control of the server, a transaction record of the one or more date calculation instructions used for generating the one or more event dates for the user client;
monitoring, under control of the server, a changes table for changes in the plurality of date calculation instructions, the changes table identifying the changed date calculation instructions;
automatically determining, under control of the server, whether the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the record are identified in the changes table;
for each one of the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the changes table, recalculating, under control of the server, the associated event date based on the change to the corresponding date calculation instruction;
and
transmitting, under control of the server, the recalculated one or more event dates to the user client.

8 more elements

A system for generating and transmitting a calendar of different legal events capable of occurring in the course of a legal proceeding, the system comprising:

a database storing at least one rule set including a plurality of date calculation instructions for calculating a plurality of different legal events;
a server coupled to the database, the server being configured to:
receive an initial trigger date for an initial trigger legal event;
select one or more date calculation instructions from the database based on the initial trigger legal event;
calculate one or more event dates based on the initial trigger date and the retrieved date calculation instructions;
transmit the one or more calculated event dates to a user client;
and
maintain a transaction record of the one or more date calculation instructions used for generating the one or more event dates for the user client;
a database update module coupled to the server, the database update module being configured to monitor a changes table for changes in the plurality of date calculation instructions, the changes table identifying the changed date calculation instructions;
and
a date maintenance module configured to automatically determine whether the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the record are identified in the changes table, and, for each one of the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the changes table, the date maintenance module being further configured to recalculate the associated event date based on the change to the corresponding date calculation instruction, and transmit the recalculated one or more event dates to the user client.

8 more elements

A system for generating and transmitting a calendar of different legal events capable of occurring in the course of a legal proceeding, the system comprising:

a database maintaining at least one rule set including a plurality of date calculation instructions for calculating a plurality of different legal events;
means for receiving an initial trigger date for an initial trigger legal event;
means for selecting one or more date calculation instructions from the database based on the initial trigger legal event;
means for calculating one or more event dates based on the initial trigger date and the retrieved date calculation instructions;
means for transmitting the one or more calculated event dates to a user client;
means for maintaining a transaction record of the one or more date calculation instructions used for generating the one or more event dates for the user client;
means for monitoring a changes table for changes in the plurality of date calculation instructions, the changes table identifying the changed date calculation instructions;
means for automatically determining whether the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the record are identified in the changes table;
for each one of the one or more date calculation instructions identified in the changes table, means for recalculating the associated event date based on the change to the corresponding date calculation instruction;
and
means for transmitting the recalculated one or more event dates to the user client.

8 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 11/941,025Filed 15 Nov 2007 · continuation
Priority: 20 Jul 2001
Published: US 2008/0140721 A112 Jun 2008
Granted: 25 Aug 2009
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification7 codes

G06Q 10/109
Office automation; Time management: time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
Y10S 707/929
Patent procedure: docketing
Y10S 707/951
Applications of a database: calendar or scheduling
Y10S 707/99931
Data processing: database and file management or data structures: database or file accessing

Family

Application60/306,677Us provisional application · filed 20 Jul 2001
Application10/201,563Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 22 Jul 2002
Application10/201,598Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 22 Jul 2002
Application11/321,442Parent of this continuation · filed 28 Dec 2005
US 2008/0140721 A1Pre-grant publication · published 12 Jun 2008
US 7,302,433 B2Parent of this continuation
US 7,171,416 B2Parent of this continuation-in-part
Application11/321,442Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2003/0182169 A1Published application
US 2003/0204430 A1Published application
US 2006/0173917 A1Published application
US 7,668,863 B2Related patent
US 7,580,937 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.