US 9,710,466 B2Granted

Computer assisted and implemented process and system for annotating shared multiple-user document while maintaining secure annotations

OwnerEugene M. Leeinventor

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Abstract

A system, method, and medium supports analyzing intellectual property documents by linking and annotating patents, copyrights, trademarks, license agreements, and other intellectual property documents. It can be used by intellectual property professionals in memorializing thought processes, work products, and reasoning, in preliminary or final form, and can support development and use of a rich linked set representing complex relationships in an intellectual property portfolio. Optionally, marked up, linked documents are divided into data streams; one contains the original document for mark-up, and one contains annotation data. The marked-up document may be further revised and/or annotated even by multiple users. The same document such as a patent may be centrally stored but independently marked-up by different users (or groups of users). The system extracts from a marked-up document annotation data with any changes, and provides one or more data streams, containing the annotation data for storage and or later use.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A computer-implemented method of providing an annotated shared document, the method being executed on a computer and comprising:

responsive to a request from a user to retrieve a shared document:
retrieving, in a computer processor, the shared document from a document data storage as document data;
retrieving, in the computer processor, at least one annotation to be applied to a section of said shared document from an annotation data storage as annotation data, the annotation data indicates a section-dependent, display-independent location within said document data as retrieved from the document data storage to which the annotation data is to be embedded, the shared document having plural sections each having a user-selectable length, the plural sections including the section of the share document within which the annotation data is to be embedded;
embedding, in the computer processor, said annotation data into said document data at the section-dependent, display-independent location of the shared document to generate a marked-up document;
providing, in the computer processor, the marked-up document for display at a user interface, the at least one annotation being visually reproduced in association with the section of the shared document,
wherein the at least one annotation includes, specific to the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, a pre-defined conflict indication which is user-selected from at least two of the following pre-defined indications:
yes, possible and/or no;
revising, in the computer processor in response to the user, the at least one annotation from the marked-up document displayed at the user interface, and a scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied;
and
responsive to a request from the user to store the shared document,
extracting, from the marked-up document, the annotation data and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied,
updating, in the annotation data storage, from the annotation data that was extracted, the at least one annotation and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, and
storing, in the annotation data storage for later retrieval, the at least one annotation and the scope of the annotation data that are revised.

10 more elements

A computer-implemented method of annotating a shared document, the method being executed on a computer and comprising:

responsive to a request from a user to retrieve a shared document, retrieving, in a computer processor, the shared document from a document data storage as document data;
inputting, in the computer in response to the user, at least one annotation to be applied to said shared document in association with a section-dependent, display-independent location;
inputting, in the computer processor in response to the user, a section of the document data to be associated with the at least one annotation;
providing , in the computer processor, the shared document as a marked-up document for display at a user interface, the at least one annotation being visually reproduced in association with the section of the shared document, the shared document having plural sections each having a user-selectable length, the plural sections including the section of the share document within which the annotation data is to be embedded,
wherein the at least one annotation includes, specific to the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, a pre-defined conflict indication which is user-selected from at least two of the following:
yes, possible and/or no;
revising, in the computer processor in response to the user, the at least one annotation from the marked-up document displayed at the user interface, and a scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied;
and
responsive to a request from the user to store the shared document,
extracting, from the marked-up document, the annotation data and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied,
updating, in the annotation data storage, from the annotation data that was extracted, the at least one annotation and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, and
storing, in the annotation data storage for later retrieval, the at least one annotation and the scope of the annotation data that are revised.

9 more elements

A system, implemented on at least one computer, for an annotated shared document, comprising:

an electronic storage configured to store annotations in an annotation data storage, and to store shared document in a document data storage;
and
a processor cooperatively operable with the electronic storage, the processor being configured to
responsive to a request from a user to retrieve a shared document:
retrieve the shared document from the document data storage as document data;
retrieve at least one annotation to be applied to a section of said shared document from the annotation data storage as annotation data, the annotation data indicates a section-dependent, display-independent location within said document data as retrieved from the document data storage into which the annotation data is to be embedded;
embed said annotation data into said document data at the section-dependent, display-independent location of the shared document to generate a marked-up document;
input, in response to the user, the at least one annotation to be applied to said shared document in association with the section-dependent, display-independent location;
input, in response to the user, the section of the document data to be associated with the at least one annotation;
provide the shared document as the marked-up document for display at a user interface, the at least one annotation being visually reproduced in association with the section of the shared document, the shared document having plural sections each having a user-selectable length, the plural sections including the section of the share document within which the annotation data is to be embedded,
wherein the at least one annotation includes, specific to the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, a pre-defined conflict indication which is user-selected from at least two of the following:
yes, possible and/or no;
revise, in the computer processor in response to the user, the at least one annotation from the marked-up document displayed at the user interface, and a scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied;
and
responsive to a request from the user to store the shared document,
extract, from the marked-up document, the annotation data and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied,
update, in the annotation data storage, from the annotation data that was extracted, the at least one annotation and the scope of the section of said shared document to which the at least one annotation is applied, and
store, in the annotation data storage for later retrieval, the at least one annotation and the scope of the annotation data that are revised.

15 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 13/614,172Filed 13 Sep 2012 · continuation
Priority: 28 Aug 2001
Published: US 2013/0047067 A121 Feb 2013
Granted: 18 Jul 2017
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification9 codes

G06F 16/93
Details of database functions independent of the retrieved data types: document management systems
G06Q 10/10
Administration; Management: office automation; Time management
Y10S 707/923
Applications of a database: intellectual property
Y10S 707/93
Intellectual property: intellectual property analysis

Family

Application60/315,021Us provisional application · filed 28 Aug 2001
Application10/229,273Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 28 Aug 2002
Application10/692,793Parent of this continuation · filed 27 Oct 2003
Application10/725,531Parent of this continuation · filed 3 Dec 2003
Application10/891,478Parent of this continuation · filed 15 Jul 2004
US 2013/0047067 A1Pre-grant publication · published 21 Feb 2013
US 7,885,987 B1Parent of this continuation
US 9,541,977 B1Parent of this continuation
US 9,460,414 B2Parent of this continuation
Application10/692,793Parent of this continuation-in-part
US 2004/0088332 A1Published application
US 9,710,466 B2This patent

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