KR20070071906A - System for providing image patent map - Google Patents

Abstract

A system for providing an image patent map is provided to enable a customer having insufficient understanding a patent to quickly search desired patent information by generating and providing an online patent map comprising images to the customer. An image processor(210) sections the image(A) for a patent map target requested from the customer into the predetermined number of coordinate ranges and provides the image to the customer. If the customer selects coordinates included in one sectioned coordinate range, the image processor determines a component selected in the image by comparing the selected coordinates with the stored coordinates and selects a query predetermined to the component. A search engine(230) searches the patent information from a database(240) by referring to the preset query determined in the image processor and provides a search result to the customer.

Description

System for providing image patent map

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an image patent map providing system according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view for explaining an image of region “A” shown in FIG. 1;

3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of dividing an image into a plurality of cells and matching coordinate information with respect to the divided cells;

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method for setting a search condition by a user in the interface menu illustrated in FIG. 1, and

5 is a block diagram according to an embodiment of an image patent map providing system according to the present invention, and

6 conceptually illustrates a process in which an index file is generated by an indexer.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

210: image processing unit 220: search database

230: search unit 240: patent information database

The present invention relates to a system for providing a patent map, and in particular, to provide a user with an image having superior intuition as compared to a text-based patent map, and to provide a user with patent information corresponding to a region selected from a search target image. It relates to a providing system.

In general, a patent map refers to a table of the patent information filed with similar technical characteristics from the patent information filed with the KIPO. Generally, a patent map lists related technologies centered on one product (eg, a mobile phone) and includes an analysis of each listed patent information. For example, when creating a patent map for a mobile phone, the main components of the mobile phone, such as a battery, an RF module, a liquid crystal, a digital signal processing (DSP) chip, and a codec chip, were searched for each subject. Match the patent information and analyze it and provide it to the customer who requested the creation of the patent map. On the other hand, such a patent map has a positive aspect of preventing unnecessary overlapping investment and dispute by searching for patents already applied, but also includes the following problems.

1) When preparing a patent map on a subject (product), the time required to prepare a patent map is too long.

2) The contents are huge, so it is not easy to read it once.

3) For customers who do not have a good understanding of patents, it is not easy to access the patent information they want to find in the patent map.

4) It is difficult to reflect newly published contents while preparing a patent map.

Patent maps are somewhat different depending on the subject, but are usually prepared for a period of one month to six months. The patent map author shall classify the patent information (patent publication) collected during this period and grasp the technical characteristics of each patent information and reflect it in the patent map. When the patent map created through this process is printed on a medium such as paper, it is not easy to read the patent map as a whole from the viewpoint of the customer, which is hundreds to thousand pages. In addition, when the amount of patent map is huge, it is more difficult for the customer who requested the creation of the patent map to find the patent information he / she wants, and the patent information that is disclosed while the patent map is being created is not likely to be included in the patent map. . Accordingly, the present applicant intends to propose an image patent map providing system that generates an online patent map using an image that is easily understood by a customer who lacks understanding of a patent and provides the same to a customer.

As described above, an object of the present invention is to provide an image patent map providing system that generates an online patent map using an image that is easily understood by a customer who lacks an understanding of a patent and provides the same to a customer. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a system for providing an image patent map by adding newly published patent information to an image patent map in real time so that the missing patent information is not generated during the preparation of the patent map. In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide an image patent map providing system that allows customers to quickly look up the desired patent information.

The above object is, according to the present invention, after partitioning the image of the object requested to create a patent map from the customer in a predetermined number of coordinate ranges, and provide it to the customer, the customer selects the coordinates in the partitioned coordinate range And an image processor to determine a component selected by the customer in the image by comparing the coordinate information of the selected coordinates with the coordinate information provided for the image, and to select a pre-set search expression for the component. It is achieved by a retrieval unit that retrieves patent information by referring to a retrieval formula according to the determination result of the image processing unit, and provides a search result to the customer.

The image is composed of a predetermined number of pixels in each of a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, and the coordinate information selected by the customer is preferably position information of the pixel. .

The image is partitioned into at least one rectangular coordinate range, and the rectangular coordinate range is preferably set through two position information facing diagonally.

The image processor may determine the component selected by the customer by comparing the two diagonally facing position information with the coordinate information selected by the customer.

Preferably, the method further includes a patent information database including patent information, and the patent information database is preferably a patent publication document disclosed through the KIPO.

The search unit may include a lookup table for providing an index file classifying the patent information according to one of a search word and a search expression, and patent information corresponding to any one of the search word and the search expression with reference to the lookup table. It is preferable to include a search engine for extracting from the patent information database and providing it to the customer terminal.

Preferably, the lookup table receives and stores an index file generated by the indexer.

Preferably further comprises an indexer for generating an index file for the file stored in the patent information database.

The search unit may query the patent information database with reference to a search expression provided from the image processing unit, and provide the customer with a search result according to the search.

Preferably, the apparatus further includes a search expression database having a search expression corresponding to the component determined by the image processing unit and providing the search expression corresponding to the determination result of the image processing unit to the image processing unit.

Preferably, further comprising a web server for providing the image to the display device of the customer terminal, the web server is provided between the image processing unit, the search unit, and the terminal of the customer.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a conceptual diagram illustrating an image patent map providing system according to the present invention.

In the drawings, reference numeral "A" and reference numeral "B" denote interface screens displayed on a display device provided in a customer terminal (for example, a personal computer, a PDA, a notebook computer, a mobile phone, etc.). Reference numeral "A" represents an image of a product requested by a customer to prepare a patent map. In the drawing, a vacuum cleaner is shown, and a separate detailed view is provided for the main body 150 of the vacuum cleaner. The vacuum cleaner displayed in the area A is set with coordinate values for the components corresponding to the respective reference numerals. When the user selects an input tool (e.g., a mouse or PDA stylus, described below based on the mouse) corresponding to the corresponding element (e.g., clicking a mouse), the coordinates of the selected area are determined by the image patent. Provided to the map providing system 200. The image processor 210 analyzes the coordinate value to determine the cleaner component corresponding to the area selected by the user, and calls the search expression preset for the selected component from the search expression database 220 to the search unit 230. to provide. The searcher 230 searches for patent information (public patent document) according to a search formula provided from the image processor 210 and provides it to the "B" area. The content displayed in the area "B" in the figure becomes the "name of the invention" of the patent information. Here, the image shown in the area "A" is an image stored in advance in the image processor 210 and is processed to feed back coordinate information in response to a user's mouse selection. Description of the area "A" will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for describing an image of region “A” shown in FIG. 1.

As shown, the image provided online to the user in the image processing unit 210 has a certain size. In the figure, an image consisting of 640 and 480 pixels, respectively, is illustrated. As a result, coordinates of 0 to 639 are set in the horizontal direction, and coordinates of 0 to 479 can be set in the vertical direction. In the drawing, the position where the user corresponds to the mouse cursor 50 is the coordinate corresponding to (600, 120) based on the (0.0) coordinate of the image, which corresponds to the reference numeral 151 of the area "A". That is, when the user corresponds the mouse cursor 50 to the motor 151 of the vacuum cleaner, the coordinates 600 and 120 of the image are selected. When the user clicks the left button of the mouse, the user interface menu displays the selected coordinate information. The image processor 210 is provided. On the other hand, when setting the coordinate information for each component represented in the image in this way, the setting of the coordinate information may be set through one of the following methods.

1) A method of mapping each pixel included in an image for each component.

2) A method for setting a user selectable range for each component included in an image and matching the set range with coordinate information.

Method 2) of the method of setting the coordinate information will be described with reference to FIG. 3 together. 3 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of dividing an image into a plurality of cells and matching coordinate information with respect to the divided cells. As shown, the cleaner body 150 shown in FIG. 1 is divided into three cells C, D, and E. As shown in FIG. Each of the divided cells C, D, and E is formed as a rectangle with easy coordinate range setting, and the main body 150 is selected only when the user selects the cells C, D, and E in the rectangular shape. To judge. By partitioning such an image, a corresponding component may not be set for each of 640 and 480 pixels, that is, 307,200 pixels. When one of the pixels corresponding to the areas C1 to C2, D1 to D2, and E1 to E2 is selected by the user, the coordinate information can be processed by one of the following methods.

1) When the coordinate information selected by the user is any one of the C, D, and E regions, the C, D, and E region information is provided to the image processor 210 in the interface menu displayed on the user's terminal.

2) After the coordinate information selected by the user is provided to the image processing unit, the image processing unit 210 compares the coordinate range provided for the C, D, and E regions with the coordinate information provided from the user terminal.

Here, when the method 2) of the method for processing coordinate information is applied, the image processor 210 includes coordinate values for C1, C2, D1, D2, E1, and E2. If the coordinate values C1 and C2 are set to the upper left and lower right of the rectangle, the cells C can be represented by two coordinates, and the cells D and E can be expressed in the same manner. For example, assuming that the coordinate values C1 and C2 are (550, 380) and (600, 400), respectively, the coordinate information where the abscissa coordinate values are 550 to 600 and the ordinate coordinate values are within the range of 380 to 400 are all "C". "Is determined by the coordinate value of the area. This means that the image processor 210 may allocate an area for the coordinate information through inequality and conditional expressions for the case where the horizontal axis value satisfies 550 to 600 and the vertical axis value satisfies 380 to 400. Through this, the image processing unit 210 may have a minimum coordinate information of the cell and may rapidly process the collation of the coordinate information provided from the user terminal with the cells C, D, and E.

4 is a conceptual diagram illustrating a method of setting a search condition by a user in the interface menu illustrated in FIG. 1.

As shown, the user associates the mouse cursor 50 with the "A" area, the "B" area, and the area between the "A" area and the "B" area, and then presses the right button of the mouse to select a search condition. Can be set. When the user presses the right button of the mouse, the following search conditions can be set for the search results displayed in the "B" area.

1) Perform a re-search within the results of the search results displayed in the "B" area.

2) Exclude the search results displayed in the "B" area that contain unwanted keywords.

3) Set the period according to the filing date (or publication date) for the search result displayed in the area “B” and display only the result of the set period.

After obtaining coordinate information through the image as described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4, the image processor 210 obtains a search expression corresponding to the obtained coordinate information from the search expression database 220. The obtained search expression information is provided to the search unit 230, and the search unit 230 performs a search by applying a search expression to the patent information. The search result of the search unit 230 is provided to the user terminal and displayed as the "B" area, and when the user selects any one of the list of patent information displayed in the "B" area, the display device of the user terminal (for example, LCD, CRT, etc.) shows the entire patent publication. Accordingly, the user may select a desired search range through an image instead of a conventional text-based patent map and may be provided with search and patent information. Of course, although not shown in the drawing, according to the agreement between the user and the image patent map providing system for providing patent information, the patent documents desired by the user through online and wired and wireless telephones, the "claim interpretation", "the invention of the user and Services such as "explanation of differences and commonalities between patent documents specified by a user" may be provided.

Figure 5 shows a block diagram according to an embodiment of the image patent map providing system according to the present invention.

The illustrated image patent map providing system includes an image database 250, a web server 240, an image processor 210, a searchable database 220, a searcher 230, and a patent information database 260. It is provided.

The web server 240 is connected to the user terminal and the Internet, and provides an interface menu to the user terminal to provide an image patent map service to the client. In addition, when the user wants to use the image patent map service, the web server 240 provides an image from the image database 250 to the user terminal. In this case, the interface menu provided by the web server 240 provides an “A” area and a “B” area as shown in FIG. 1, and the user corresponds to a specific area of the image (for example, reference numeral 150). Region), the coordinate value is calculated and transmitted to the web server 240. The image processor 210 determines which area is selected by the client by referring to the coordinate information provided from the web server 240 and the image provided from the image database 250. The image processor 210 determines a component (for example, one of reference numerals 110 to 150) corresponding to the area selected by the user, and inquires a search expression corresponding to the component in the search expression database 220. That is, the search expression database 220 includes an image stored in the image database 250 and a search expression for each component (one of reference numerals 110 to 150) expressed through the image. It is desirable to prepare a search formula in advance according to an agreement with a user who has paid a certain cost.

The searcher 230 provides the patent information corresponding to the area selected by the user with reference to the patent information database 260. Preferably, the search unit 230 includes an indexer 231, a lookup table (L · T) 232, and a search engine 233. When the new information is stored in the patent information database 260, the indexer 231 generates an index file and stores the index file in the lookup table (L · T) 232. The concept and creation process of the index file will be described with reference to FIG. 6.

6 conceptually illustrates a process in which an index file is generated by the indexer 231. As shown, the indexer 231 loads files stored in the patent information database 260 and classifies these files according to certain rules. The classification criteria of the file are as follows.

1) Classify by applying a preset search formula for each component of the image,

2) classification according to patent classification code;

3) classification by industry type,

According to the classification method described above, the indexer 231 indexes information about a patent document (public patent document) to generate an index file. The generated index file is stored in the lookup table (L · T) 232, and the index file stored in the lookup table (L · T) 232 includes one field or several fields. The search engine 233 applies a search formula to a region selected by the user (for example, the region corresponding to the reference numeral “150”) to search the indexed files without searching the patent information database 260 for desired search results. It can be found and made available to the user in the shortest amount of time.

As described above, the present invention creates an online patent map using an image that is intuitively understood by a customer who lacks understanding of a patent and provides the same to the inventors, operators, and other individuals who have insufficient experience of patent search. Provide the required patent information. In addition, the present invention can provide the latest information compared to the existing patent map by collecting the patent information published in real time and reflecting it in the patent map.

Claims (11)

After dividing the image of the object requested to create a patent map from the customer into a predetermined number of coordinate ranges, the image is provided to the customer, and when the customer selects coordinates within the partitioned coordinate range, the coordinate information of the selected coordinates is recalled. An image processor which determines a component selected by the customer in the image by comparing the coordinate information provided with respect to the image, and selects a pre-set search expression for the component; And And a search unit which searches for patent information by referring to a search expression based on the determination result of the image processing unit, and provides a search result to the customer. The method of claim 1, The image is A predetermined number of pixels for each of the first direction and the second direction perpendicular to the first direction, The coordinate information selected by the customer is the image patent map providing system, characterized in that the position information of the pixel. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The image is It is divided into a coordinate range of at least one rectangular shape, The coordinate range of the rectangular shape is an image patent map providing system, characterized in that it is set through two position information facing diagonally. The method of claim 3, The image processing unit, And an image patent map providing system for determining a component selected by the customer by comparing two diagonally facing location information and coordinate information selected by the customer. The method of claim 1, It further comprises a patent information database having patent information; The patent information database is an image patent map providing system, characterized in that the patent is published through the Patent Office. The method of claim 1, The search unit, A lookup table provided with an index file classifying the patent information according to one of a search word and a search expression; And And a search engine for extracting patent information corresponding to any one of the search word and the search expression from the patent information database with reference to the lookup table and providing the same to the customer terminal. . The method of claim 6, The lookup table, Patent information search system, characterized in that for receiving and storing the index file generated by the indexer. The method of claim 7, wherein And an indexer for creating an index file for the file stored in the patent information database. The method of claim 1, The search unit, An image patent map providing system, wherein the patent information database is queried by referring to a search expression provided from the image processing unit, and the search result according to the inquiry is provided to the customer. The method of claim 1, A search expression corresponding to the component determined by the image processor, And a search expression database which provides a search expression corresponding to the determination result of the image processing unit to the image processing unit. The method of claim 1, And a web server for providing the image to the display device of the customer terminal. The web server, The image patent map providing system, characterized in that provided between the image processing unit, the search unit, and the terminal of the customer.

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