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Claims  |
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What is claimed is:
1. A method of generating an equivalent text file of a document from a source text file and a source image file, comprising the steps of:
(1) extracting said source text file and said source image file from at least one storage medium, said source text file and said source image file constituting representations of said document; and
(2) paginating said source text file with said source image file according to a user-specified synchronization level to produce an equivalent text file.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:
paginating said source text file with said source image file at a page basis to produce said equivalent text file.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:
paginating said source text file with said source image file at a page and column basis to produce said equivalent text file.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:
paginating said source text file with said source image file at a page, column, and line basis to produce said equivalent text file.
5. The method of claim 1 in which said source image file is compressed, wherein step (2) comprises the steps of:
identifying clumps in said compressed source image file;
comparing said clumps to character templates to recognize said clumps as characters;
identifying lines of said characters; and
matching said source text file with said lines of characters in said compressed source image file to associated end of lines, end of columns, and end of pages with characters in said source text file;
said source text file having associated therewith end of lines, end of columns, and end of pages represents said equivalent text file.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:
paginating said source text file with said source image file at a section basis to produce said equivalent text file.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein steps (1) and (2) are performed at least partially automatically.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein steps (1) and (2) are performed fully automatically.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein steps (1) and (2) are performed at least partially manually.
10. A computer based apparatus for generating an equivalent text file of a document from a source text file and a source image file, comprising:
means for extracting said source text file and said source image file from at least one storage medium, said source text file and said source image file constituting representations of said document; and
pagination means for paginating said source text file with said source image file according to a user-specified synchronization level to produce an equivalent text file.
11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said pagination means paginates said source text file with said source image file at a page basis to produce said equivalent text file.
12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said pagination means paginates said source text file with said source image file at a page and column basis to produce said equivalent text file.
13. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said pagination means paginates said source text file with said source image file at a page, column, and line basis to produce said equivalent text file.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 in which said source image file is compressed, wherein said pagination means comprises:
means for identifying clumps in said compressed source image file;
means for comparing said clumps to character templates to recognize said clumps as characters;
means for identifying lines of said characters; and
means for matching said source text file with said lines of characters in said compressed source image file to associated end of lines, end of columns, and end of pages wit
wherein said source text fit file;
wherein said source text file having associated therewith end of lines, end of columns, and end of pages represents said equivalent text file.
15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein said pagination means paginates said source text file with said source image file at a section basis to produce said equivalent text file.
16. A computer system, comprising:
a processor;
a controller for enabling said processor to generate an equivalent text file of a document from a source text file and a source image file, comprising:
means for enabling said processor to extract said source text file and said source image file from at least one storage medium, said source text file and said source image file constituting representations of said document; and
means for enabling said processor to paginate said source text file with said source image file according to a user-specified synchronization level to produce an equivalent text file.
17. A controller for enabling a processor to generate an equivalent text file of a document from a source text file and a source image file, comprising:
means for enabling said processor to extract said source text file and said source image file from at least one storage medium, said source text file and said source image file constituting representations of said document; and
means for enabling said processor to paginate said source text file with said source image file according to a user-specified synchronization level to produce an equivalent text file.
18. A method of generating an equivalent text file, said equivalent text file once generated being an accurate textual representation of at least a portion of a source document and having a similarity of pagination as said at least a portion of
said source document, comprising the steps of:
(1) retrieving at least a portion of a source text file, said at least a portion of said source text file comprising text that is an accurate textual representation of said at least a portion of said source document;
(2) retrieving at least a portion of a source image file, said at least a portion of said source image file being an image corresponding to said at least a portion of said source document;
(3) synchronizing said at least a portion of said source text file with said at least a portion of said source image file to obtain pagination information representative of pagination in said at least a portion of said source document; and
(4) using said text from said at least a portion of said source text file and said pagination information to generate at least a portion of said equivalent text file.
19. The method of claim 18 in which said source image file is compressed, wherein step (3) comprises the steps of:
identifying clumps in said compressed source image file;
comparing said clumps to character templates to recognize said clumps as characters;
identifying lines of said characters; and
matching said at least a portion of said source text file with said lines of characters in said compressed source image file to associate pagination codes with characters in said at least a portion of said source text file.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein said pagination codes each comprises one of a line break, a column break, a page break, and a section heading.
21. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of:
(5) generating equivalency information that details an equivalency relationship between said at least a portion of said source image file and said at least a portion of said source text file; and
(6) adding said equivalency information to said equivalent text file.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein said source document is a patent document, and wherein said equivalency information includes at least one of column information, line information, column line number information, bibliographic formatting
information, graphic item location information, section information, font information, point size information, superscript information, subscript information, boldness information, italics information, and special character information.
23. The method of claim 18, wherein said source document is a patent document.
24. The method of claim 23, wherein said source text file is a patent text file, said source image file is a patent image file, and wherein said patent text file and said patent image file are representations of said patent document.
25. The method of claim 18, wherein said at least a portion of said source text file is paginated differently than said at least a portion of said source document.
26. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of steps (1)-(4) is performed at least partially automatically.
27. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of steps (1)-(4) is performed fully automatically.
28. The method of claim 18, wherein at least one of steps (1)-(4) is performed at least partially manually.
29. A system of generating an equivalent text file, said equivalent text file once generated being an accurate textual representation of at least a portion of a source document and having a similarity of pagination as said at least a portion of
said source document, comprising:
source text file retrieving means for retrieving at least a portion of a source text file, said at least a portion of said source text file comprising text that is an accurate textual representation of said at least a portion of said source
document;
source image file retrieving means for retrieving at least a portion of a source image file, said at least a portion of said source image file being an image corresponding to said at least a portion of said source document;
synchronizing means for synchronizing said at least a portion of said source text file with said at least a portion of said source image file to obtain pagination information representative of pagination in said at least a portion of said source
document; and
equivalent text file generating means for using said text from said at least a portion of said source text file and said pagination information to generate at least a portion of said equivalent text file.
30. The system of claim 29 in which said source image file is compressed, wherein said synchronizing means comprises:
means for identifying clumps in said compressed source image file;
means for comparing said clumps to character templates to recognize said clumps as characters;
means for identifying lines of said characters; and
means for matching said at least a portion of said source text file with said lines of characters in said compressed source image file to associate pagination codes with characters in said at least a portion of said source text file.
31. The system of claim 30, wherein said pagination codes each comprises one of a line break, a column break, a page break, and a section heading.
32. The system of claim 29, further comprising:
means for generating equivalency information that details an equivalency relationship between said at least a portion of said source image file and said at least a portion of said source text file; and
means for adding said equivalency information to said equivalent text file.
33. The system of claim 32, wherein said source document is a patent document, and wherein said equivalency information includes at least one of column information, line information, column line number information, bibliographic formatting
information, graphic item location information, section information, font information, point size information, superscript information, subscript information, boldness information, italics information, and special character information.
34. The system of claim 29, wherein said source document is a patent document.
35. The system of claim 34, wherein said source text file is a patent text file, said source image file is a patent image file, and wherein said patent text file and said patent image file are representations of said patent document.
36. The system of claim 29, wherein said at least a portion of said source text file is paginated differently than said at least a portion of said source document.
37. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates at least partially
automatically.
38. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates fully automatically.
39. The system of claim 29, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates at least partially manually.
40. A computer program product, comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic stored therein, wherein said computer program logic enables a computer to generate an equivalent text file, said equivalent text file once
generated being an accurate textual representation of at least a portion of a source document and having a similarity of pagination as said at least a portion of said source document, said computer program logic comprising:
source text file retrieving means for enabling the computer to retrieve at least a portion of a source text file, said at least a portion of said source text file comprising text that is an accurate textual representation of said at least a
portion of said source document;
source image file retrieving means for enabling the computer to retrieve at least a portion of a source image file, said at least a portion of said source image file being an image corresponding to said at least a portion of said source document;
synchronizing means for enabling the computer to synchronize said at least a portion of said source text file with said at least a portion of said source image file to obtain pagination information representative of pagination in said at least a
portion of said source document; and
equivalent text file generating means for enabling the computer to use said text from said at least a portion of said source text file and said pagination information to generate at least a portion of said equivalent text file.
41. The computer program product of claim 40 in which said source image file is compressed, wherein said synchronizing means comprises:
means for enabling the computer to identify clumps in said compressed source image file;
means for enabling the computer to compare said clumps to character templates to recognize said clumps as characters;
means for enabling the computer to identify lines of said characters; and
means for enabling the computer to match said at least a portion of said source text file with said lines of characters in said compressed source image file to associate pagination codes with characters in said at least a portion of said source
text file.
42. The computer program product of claim 41, wherein said pagination codes each comprises one of a line break, a column break, a page break, and a section heading.
43. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein said computer program logic further comprises:
means for enabling the computer to generate equivalency information that details an equivalency relationship between said at least a portion of said source image file and said at least a portion of said source text file; and
means for enabling the computer to add said equivalency information to said equivalent text file.
44. The computer program product of claim 43, wherein said source document is a patent document, and wherein said equivalency information includes at least one of column information, line information, column line number information,
bibliographic formatting information, graphic item location information, section information, font information, point size information, superscript information, subscript information, boldness information, italics information, and special character
information.
45. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein said source document is a patent document.
46. The computer program product of claim 45, wherein said source text file is a patent text file, said source image file is a patent image file, and wherein said patent text file and said patent image file are representations of said patent
document.
47. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein said at least a portion of said source text file is paginated differently than said at least a portion of said source document.
48. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates at least
partially automatically.
49. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates fully
automatically.
50. The computer program product of claim 40, wherein at least one of said source text file retrieving means, said source image file retrieving means, said synchronizing means, and said equivalent text file generating means operates at least
partially manually. |
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Claims |
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Description |
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of publishing, document editing and manipulation, and displaying documents and images. More particularly, the present invention relates to paginating, extracting, synchronizing, and displaying, a
document in electronic form.
2. Art Background
As the development of multimedia computer display systems continues to advance, more computing power and features are available to computer users. For example, information which has historically been limited to published paper documents is now
being made available through on-line computing services from publishers and information vendors. As an increasing market share of the data and computing capacity is provided through low cost high performance personal computers, some of the on-line
information is also being made available in compact disks (CD) and magnetic media formats. Compact disk and magnetic media technology offer cost effective mass storage of documents, images and other data, in a format readily accessible for use with
personal computers in a home or office environment. The combination of personal computers, compact disk technology and multimedia interactive graphic user interfaces, permits the access and display of textual and graphic information by personal computer
(PC) users in a manner not previously known in the industry. The type of information potentially available to a PC user includes professional and technical publications, newspapers, magazines, and other scientific and literary data and images.
However, much of the information which is published through, for example, government sources, newspapers and magazines is not in machine readable form, but rather is printed on paper. Because of the amount of work and effort required to convert
the printed information into a machine readable form, only a small portion of the total published information is currently available for use by PC users using magnetic disks, CDs and the like. In addition, the information which is in machine readable
form is typically available either as an image of the original document or as a stream of text data. An image of a document has the advantage of presenting the information in its original format as published, including non-text material, such as
drawings, equations, symbols, diagrams, etc. The viewer is familiar with the format, and the information is easily recognized and understood. However, since a document image is often stored as a bitmap, the content of the document cannot be easily
searched or manipulated. Alteratively, a text data stream format has the advantage of presenting the information in a manipulable and searchable format. Unfortunately, in many cases, the format of presentation is not the format in which the information
was originally published in print. Thus, the users are often unfamiliar with the format, inhibiting easy navigation of the document making information difficult to find and use.
One example of the problem of reproducing originally published documents stored in machine readable form, is the storage and display of United States patent documents by the United States Government. The United States Patent Office (herein
referred to as the "PTO") provides magnetic tapes of issued U.S. patents and other documents, in the form of a scanned in image, and as a separate stream of text data. The magnetic tape storing the text data does not include graphical illustrations
such as drawings, charts, textual tables, or much in the way of formatting data. Thus, the reproduction of a United States patent from PTO Text Files stored on magnetic tape does not result in the display of a U.S. patent as originally published by the
U.S. Government. An example of a well known system for displaying text files provided by the PTO is that of the LexPat.RTM. system provided by Mead Data offered in conjunction with the Lexis.RTM. display system. Using the LexPat.RTM. system, the
display of a U.S. patent on a terminal, such as a PC, results in a display of text only, and does not include drawings, charts, graphs, or original formatting information. The text of a selected patent appears in ASCII format, but does not appear as
the original patent issued by the PTO, and may not be referenced by the original column and line numbers from the published patent. Other systems display text files of periodicals such as the Wall Street Journal or legal documents such as contracts.
However, the text files do not appear as the original documents.
The U.S. Patent Office also provides magnetic tapes with image files comprising a scanned in image of the original U.S. patent issued by the PTO and published by the U.S. Government. The image files provided on magnetic tape by the PTO simply
represent a bitmap image of the original published patent. As a scanned in image, the entire patent is provided including drawings, charts, graphs, text and the original format, since it represents a simple bitmap of the scanned original document.
However, a scanned document may not be easily searched, edited, navigated or otherwise manipulated as can a text file.
As will be described, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for extracting, synchronizing, displaying, navigating and manipulating text and image documents simultaneously in electronic form. The present invention is described
with particular reference for use with U.S. patent documents, and includes the process of extracting patent text and image data from magnetic tapes provided by the PTO, synchronizing the text and image data for recovering the original format (i.e.,
columns and lines) of the original published patent, and displaying the formatted text along with images using a unique graphical user interface (GUI) workbench. Although the present invention is described with reference to patent documents, it will be
appreciated that the invention has application to a variety of different types of documents and applications.
The present invention's graphical user interface permits a user to selectively view ASCII text documents as well as bitmapped scanned images simultaneously on a display. When used in conjunction with U.S. patent documents, the graphic user
interface of the present invention allows a user, such as a patent attorney, to display and manipulate both textual as well as graphic portions of patents. The text of a patent may be viewed on the display as it was originally published by the PTO,
including column and line numbers. Simultaneously, the user may view the figures of a patent in the form of an image comprising a bitmap. Various functions are provided by the present invention for viewing, manipulating and displaying the patent
documents. In order to assist the reader in understanding of graphic user interface (GUI) technology, it is suggested that certain references be considered for background. Many user interfaces utilize metaphors in the design of the interface as a way
of maximizing human familiarity, and conveying information between the user and the computer. As for the use of familiar metaphors, such as desktops, notebooks, spread sheets, and the like, the interface takes advantage of existing human mental
structures to permit a user to draw upon the metaphor analogy to understand the requirements of the particular computer system. (See for example, Patrick Chan "Learning Considerations in User Interface Design: The Room Model", Report CS-84-16,
University of Waterloo, Computer Science Department, Ontario, Canada, July, 1984 and the references cited therein.) In addition, the reader is referred to the following references which describe various aspects, methods and apparatus associated with
prior art graphic user interface design: U.S. Pat. No. Re. 32,632; U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,783; U.S. Pat. No. 5,072,412; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,148,154, and the references cited therein.
As will be described more fully below, the present invention's graphic user interface is based on a desktop "windows" metaphor, and provides the user with the ability to simultaneously display text and image documents in both a synchronized and
unsynchronized fashion, as will be more fully described herein.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for extracting, synchronizing, displaying, and manipulating text and image documents in machine readable form for display. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, text and image
files for documents, such as for example patent documents, are initially stored on separate magnetic tape media. These data files are extracted from the respective tapes and placed onto a faster medium, such as a hard disk drive. Catalogs are generated
of the contents of the tapes and procedures are provided for locating and loading tapes from a tape inventory. The text and image files are synchronized to produce Equivalent Files using heuristic algorithms to create an approximate equivalence
relationship between the text and the image files. In the presently preferred embodiment, the automatic pagination of the text and image files provides an equivalence relationship, and a final Equivalent File is obtained through human intervention to
correct any inaccuracies still remaining after the automatic process has been completed. However, the present invention also contemplates an entirely automatic pagination process which would require no human intervention to obtain a usable Equivalent
File. A word based inverted tree index is created for the text files to allow for very fast text searching using a graphic user interface (GUI) workbench.
The Equivalent Files and image files residing on, for example, a hard disk drive or compact disk (CD), are coupled as a resource to a computer display system. The computer display system includes a computer having a central processing unit (CPU)
coupled to memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry. The computer is also coupled to a CD ROM, hard disk drive, or other mass memory device onto which the Equivalent File and image file have been stored. The computer is coupled to a display, such as a
cathode ray tube (CRT) or liquid crystal display, as well as a keyboard and a cursor control device. The graphic user interface of the present invention is displayed by the computer on the CRT, and includes a menu bar and a tool bar, each bar having a
plurality of command options for selection by a user. The graphical user interface of the present invention permits the user to display, manipulate, and navigate the Equivalent File created using the process of the present invention, and to
simultaneously view the image file on the display. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, the Equivalent File may be synchronized with the image file, or alteratively, an Equivalent File may be displayed along with a completely
separate and distinct image (for example, viewing the Equivalent File of one patent while viewing the image file of another patent). Once created, and as shown on the display, the Equivalent File is displayed in substantially the same column and line
format as a printed patent published by the U.S. Government.
Using the graphic user interface of the present invention, a user may create libraries of patent text Equivalent Files and image files, as well as open cases to include a plurality of different patents or other documents. The Equivalent File may
be selectively viewed on the display in an equivalent window. The Equivalent File may be navigated, highlighted, searched, and otherwise annotated using highlights, patent and case notes. Simultaneous with the viewing of the Equivalent File of a patent
within the equivalent window, the user may view the exact portion of the image file corresponding to the display of the Equivalent File, or any portion of an image file within one or more image windows on the display. The present invention further
provides search mechanisms for defining and searching key words chosen by the user or selected from the Equivalent File, or a word list. Boolean and proximity searches may also be performed on the Equivalent File and the results displayed. The search
terms may be used to search documents within the equivalent window of a current Equivalent File, current library of documents, documents notes (referred to herein as "patent notes" and/or "case notes"), as well as other selected cases. The word list
includes an alphabetical list of all words within the selected library, document or the like. The present invention also permits the user to display an image, for example a patent drawing image, within the image window by placing a cursor in the text of
a patent Equivalent File and signaling the computer. In response to this signal, the computer displays the last referenced figure drawing within the image window. The interface of the present invention also permits the user to select portions of text
and/or drawings within the image window, and enlarge or reduce the selected image for viewing by the user. The interface further permits the user to select any element number appearing on the patent drawings in the image window. The selection of an
element number in a patent drawing results in the automatic highlighting of the first and every subsequent occurrence of that element number in the Equivalent File comprising a specification and claims of the selected patent equivalent displayed in the
equivalent window. Additionally, multiple patents, drawings and/or other documents may be viewed simultaneously on the display in accordance with the teachings of the graphic user interface comprising the present invention. A variety of other features
and functions are provided by the present invention for the manipulation, navigation and display of patent documents on the user interface. The user may display either a synchronized Image File wherein the image displayed is synchronized with the
Equivalent file displayed, or an unsynchronized Image File wherein the image displayed is at some page other than the one containing the column of text in the Equivalent File. A user may also copy and paste a portion of, or the whole, Equivalent File to
notes of third party programs, such as word processors or drawing programs as well as allowing the user to import ASCII text into the notes from third party systems, such as deposition testimony in ASCII format into patent notes that relate to the topic
of the testimony. Particularly when using the present invention with patents, it may be used to facilitate patent searching in the preparation and prosecution of patents, licensing of patents, litigation of patents, conducting infringement and validity
studies of patents, producing infringement claim charts, managing and valuing a portfolio or group of patents, conducting 35 U.S.C. SS 112 searches on patents or pending applications, and many other uses which are regularly performed by a patent
attorney, patent agent or technical personnel.
NOTATION AND NOMENCLATURE
In some of the detailed descriptions which follow, the present invention is presented partly in terms of interface display images, process steps, and symbolic representations of operations of data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic
descriptions and representations are the means used by those skilled in the data processing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art.
An algorithm is here, and generally, conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desired result. These steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these
quantities may take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, displayed and otherwise manipulated. It proves convenient at times, principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these
signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, images, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient
labels applied to these quantities.
In the present invention, the operations referred to are machine operations performed in conjunction with a human operator. Useful machines for performing the operations of the present invention include general purpose digital computers,
digitally controlled displays or other similar devices. In all cases, the reader is advised to keep in mind the distinction between the method of operating a computer and/or display system, and the method of computation itself. The present invention
relates to methods for operating a computer and interactive display system, and processing electrical or other physical signals to generate other desired physical signals.
The present invention also relates to apparatus for performing these operations. This apparatus may be specially constructed for the required purposes or it may comprise a general purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a
computer program stored in the computer. The method steps presented herein are not inherently related to any particular computer or other apparatus. Various general purpose machines may be used with programs in accordance with the teachings herein, or
it may prove more convenient to construct specialized apparatus to perform the required method steps. As such, no particular programming language is provided, as any one of a variety of languages may be utilized to implement the invention. The required
structure for a variety of these machines and programming environments will be apparent from the description given below.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 a block diagram of production configuration to extract text and image files, paginate the text files with the image files to produce Equivalent Files, and index the Equivalent Files.
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the sequence of steps utilized by the present invention to extract text and image files, paginate the text files with the image files to produce Equivalent Files, index the Equivalent Files and display the
Equivalent Files and/or Image Files on a display.
FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating a computer display system incorporating the teachings of the present invention.
FIG. 4 illustrates an enlarged portion of an image file comprising the bibliography page of U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,027.
FIG. 5 illustrates a sample portion of a PTO Text File for U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,027 illustrated in FIG. 4.
FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the column information listed in the PTO Text File for the U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,027 illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 5.
FIG. 7 illustrates the paragraph shown in FIG. 6 as it is stored in the PTO Image File for U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,027.
FIG. 8 illustrates the column line number information provided by a published United States patent.
FIG. 9 illustrates a flow chart block diagram of the extraction process utilized by the present invention to extract PTO Text Files and PTO Image Files for magnetic tapes provided by the PTO for use by the processing system of the present
invention to synchronize and index the text and image files.
FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating the pagination process of the present invention to synchronize the PTO Text File and the PTO Image File to produce an Equivalent File.
FIG. 11 illustrates the user interface of the present invention upon system start including the title, menu and tool bars.
FIG. 12 illustrates the selection by a user of a down arrow function to open a list of available cases.
FIG. 13 illustrates the present invention's use of information arrows to direct the user to currently available options for execution.
FIG. 14 illustrates the patent text toolbox of the present invention and the display of a menu of patent section headings to assist the user in navigating a selected patent.
FIG. 15 illustrates the sub-command items available for selection by a user upon activating the Library menu option.
FIG. 16 illustrates the Set Library Directories dialog box, displayed after selection of the Set Library Directories sub-command item on the Library menu.
FIG. 17 illustrates the New Library dialog box.
FIG. 18 illustrates the Open Library dialog box.
FIG. 19 illustrates the present invention's Library dialog box for working with the library currently in use.
FIG. 20 illustrates the selection of a patent within the Intel.RTM. Library.
FIG. 21 illustrates the present invention's minimization of a library to an icon.
FIG. 22 illustrates the present invention's Update Library dialog box for updating the library currently in use, which in the present example, the Intel.RTM. Library.
FIG. 23 illustrates the present invention's Search Library dialog box which is displayed upon selection of the Search sub-command item from the library menu.
FIG. 24 illustrates the present invention's Word List dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the Word List button function within the Search library dialog box.
FIG. 25 illustrates the operation of the present invention's Word List dialog box for selecting an alphabetical tab and viewing the corresponding list of words from the library patents.
FIG. 26 illustrates the present invention's Search Results dialog box identifying the number of occurrences of the search term defined by the user in each of the library patents.
FIG. 27 illustrates the present invention's Library to Case Cross Reference dialog box.
FIG. 28 illustrates the present invention's Patent Text Toolbox for operating upon Equivalent Files displayed in an equivalent window.
FIG. 29 further illustrates the present invention's Patent Text Toolbox for operating upon the Equivalent File within the equivalent window.
FIG. 30 illustrates the present invention's simultaneous display of an equivalent window and an image window, as well as the display of a Patent Image Toolbox for operating upon images displayed within the image window.
FIG. 31 illustrates the present invention's simultaneous and synchronized display of an Equivalent File in an equivalent window and enlarged image displayed in an image window on the display screen.
FIG. 32 illustrates the display of patent section headings and the ability of a user to navigate the patent sections displayed within the equivalent window through the selection of section headings.
FIG. 33 illustrates the present invention's synchronization of an Equivalent File displayed in the equivalent window with the drawings of a patent disposed in an image file displayed in an image window on the display screen. The present
invention links references to the figure numbers in the Equivalent File to the figures in the image file displayed in the image window.
FIG. 34 illustrates the present invention's use of an outline box to identify an area of the patent image to be enlarged.
FIG. 35 illustrates the present invention's user interface in which an Equivalent File is displayed in an equivalent window, and simultaneously, an enlarged portion of a figure from the image file is displayed in the image window on the display
screen.
FIG. 36 illustrates the present invention's Select Element Number dialog box, which permits a user to input a drawing element and locate the first occurrence and the subsequent occurrences of the drawing element in the Equivalent File displayed
in the equivalent window.
FIG. 37 illustrates the present invention's use of highlighting to highlight desired portions of the Equivalent File in various colors.
FIG. 38 illustrates the present invention's display of two equivalent windows and one image window on the display screen.
FIG. 39 illustrates the Import Patents dialog box of the present invention.
FIG. 40 illustrates the Import Patents dialog box after the selection of an Equivalent File to be imported.
FIG. 41 illustrates sub-command items available for selection upon the activation of the Case menu option.
FIG. 42 illustrates the Open Case dialog box which is displayed once the Open Case sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41 is selected.
FIG. 43 illustrates the New Case dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the New Case sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 44 illustrates the patent number drop down menu which permits a user to select a patent within a case for displaying.
FIG. 45 illustrates the Update Case dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the Update Case sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 46. illustrates the search case dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the Search sub-command item of the Case menu illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 47 illustrates the Set Case Directories dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the Set Case Directories sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 48 illustrates the Copy to Case dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the Copy Case sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 49 illustrates the Backup Case dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the Backup Case sub-command item of FIG. 41.
FIG. 50 illustrates the Delete dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the Delete Case sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 51 illustrates the Print dialog box of the present invention which is displayed upon the activation of the Print sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 52 illustrates the Print Setup dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the Print Setup sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 41.
FIG. 53 illustrates the sub-command items available for selection upon the activation of the Edit command option.
FIG. 54 illustrates the sub-command items available for selection by a user upon the activation of the View command option.
FIG. 55 illustrates the Preferences dialog box displayed upon the activation of the Preferences sub-command item of FIG. 54.
FIG. 56 illustrates the Screen Layout dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of a Screen Layout sub-command item of FIG. 54.
FIG. 57 illustrates the user interface of the present invention upon the selection of the Screen Layout of the Screen Layout dialog box illustrating one equivalent window and one image window on the display screen.
FIG. 58 illustrates the user interface of the present invention in which two equivalent windows are displayed side by side on the display screen after selection of Screen Layout of the Screen Layout dialog box.
FIG. 59 illustrates the graphic user interface of the present invention in which two equivalent windows and two image windows are displayed on the display screen subsequent to the selection of Screen Layout of the Screen Layout dialog box.
FIG. 60 illustrates the sub-command items available for selection upon the activation of the Window command option.
FIG. 61 illustrates the patent note menu of the present invention which displays all patent notes which have been generated by a user.
FIG. 62 illustrates a patent note of the present invention.
FIG. 63 illustrates the present invention's use of multi-notes wherein multiple patent notes may be created within a single patent note.
FIG. 64 illustrates the present invention's case note.
FIG. 65 illustrates the minimization of exemplary documents, such as search results and the like on the display of the present invention.
FIG. 66 illustrates the present invention's Go To Section dialog box which permits a user to input a patent column number and upon activation, results in the display of the column in the Equivalent File corresponding to the desired patent column.
FIG. 67 illustrates the present invention's Go To section dialog box which permits a user to select a section of the patent and upon activation, results in the display of the selected section in the Equivalent window.
FIG. 68 illustrates the sub-command items available for selection by a user upon the activation of the Help command option.
FIG. 69 illustrates the About dialog box which is displayed upon the activation of the About sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 68.
FIG. 70 illustrates the sub-command items which are available for selection by a user upon the activation of the Note command option.
FIG. 71 illustrates the case notes in Case dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the View Case Note sub-command option illustrated in FIG. 70.
FIG. 72 illustrates the patent notes in Case dialog box which is displayed upon the selection of the View Patent Note sub-command item illustrated in FIG. 70.
FIG. 73 is a simplified block diagram of a computer system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 74 is a flowchart depicting the preferred manner in which data transfer operations occur between machines in the computer system of FIG. 73.
FIGS. 75, 76A, and 76B are used to describe the manner in which PTO Image files are compressed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 77 and 78 are flowcharts depicting the manner in which pagination is performed according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.
FIGS. 79 and 80 are used to describe a "Copy Claims" option preferably provided by the user interface of the present invention.
FIGS. 81 and 82 are used to describe a "Zoom Image" option preferably provided by the user interface of the present invention.
FIG. 83 used to describe a "Copy Image" option preferably provided by the user interface of the present invention.
FIG. 84 is used to describe a "Lock Windows" option preferably provided by the user interface of the present invention.
FIGS. 85A and 85B are used to illustrate the preferred manner in which the present invention performs clumping.
FIG. 86 is used to illustrate the preferred manner in which the present invention performs character stream matching.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth such as functional blocks, representative data processing devices, window configurations, specific patent documents, text and drawings, etc., to provide a thorough
understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well known circuits and structures are not described in
detail in order not to obscure the present invention unnecessarily.
The present invention will be described in various sections including a discussion of the general system configuration, the tape extraction process, the pagination process, the indexing process, and the graphic user interface. It is to be
understood that although the following description is directed to U.S. patent documents, the present invention is not limited to patents, and has application to a variety of documents and images, as may be required by a particular application, such as
for example, legal contracts, the Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, etc.
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE INVENTION
The general s | | |
