JP2006215082A - System for supporting education in retrieval of intellectual property right - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for supporting education for retrieval of intellectual property right wherein a student voluntarily learns when a teacher gives the student an assignment in retrieval of a patent, and the teacher remotely monitors the student's progress in learning. <P>SOLUTION: In the system for supporting education for retrieval of intellectual property right, data flowing between a network-type patent retrieval system and a student/user terminal are monitored, and retrieval style information created by the student and retrieval result by the retrieval system are extracted. The user's retrieval learning amount and retrieval technical capability when the user tackles a prescribed retrieval assignment using these pieces of retrieval information are estimated and outputted to a teacher interface. A retrieval interface used by the student to create the retrieval style is edited from the teacher interface. When the retrieval result is transmitted, a question statement and an annotation statement are transmitted together with the retrieval result to the student. As for teacher supporting function, the system has a retrieval assignment creating function, a grade judgement supporting function, and as for student support function, the system has a function to motivate the student to read a patent description and to assist student's understanding of it, a function to guide students to a correct answer, a function to provide reference information, a function to create a patent map, etc. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing system that supports education of intellectual property right search technology and information analysis technology in intellectual property rights education at an educational institution.

  In order for Japan's industry to respond to rapid changes in social needs and values, and to overcome and develop fierce international technological competition, it will create new ideas ahead of the world and reflect them in products. It is becoming increasingly important to do this. At universities, patenting intellectual assets and launching industry-academia collaboration projects and venture companies are expected to be a catalyst for industrial revitalization.

  Against this background, the present inventors are working on intellectual property rights education for university years. The main purpose of intellectual property rights education for science and engineering college students is to prepare for future employment and to acquire the technology to acquire and utilize patents by understanding the intellectual creation cycle. For this purpose, it is effective to actually create a patent specification and investigate novelty and inventive step for application and examination, and to create a patent map and analyze technology trends and product trends. In other words, patent search training is an important theme in intellectual property rights education.

  However, when trying to conduct patent search training in class, teachers must deal with various students by setting different tasks at different levels. Therefore, it is a major challenge to reduce the burden on teachers without degrading the quality of education for students, and it is desired to develop a patent search education support system that allows students to practice efficiently in the form of self-study.

  In addition, intellectual property rights education with practical training is difficult for teachers who have little experience in practical use and patent creation, and there are few teachers who can take charge. At present, there are many cases where teachers from companies are in charge. However, in order to promote dissemination based on the future needs of the education, it is desirable to develop an educational method that can be easily taught by ordinary teachers. For this purpose, it is desired to develop a patent search education support system that can share educational contents and know-how and is effective in standardizing educational methods.

  Conventionally, many researches on patent search have been conducted in the framework of database construction technology, knowledge processing technology such as ambiguous word search, and natural language processing technology. In addition, patent search systems have been commercialized using these technologies.

  Typical examples of network-type patent search systems that can be searched from anywhere include an electronic library system of the Patent Office, Patrice of Patrice, and JP-NET of Japan Patent Data Service.

  FIG. 14 shows a typical example of a conventional network type patent search system. In the figure, 1 is a patent search system, 2 is a communication means such as the Internet, and 3, 4 and 5 are user terminals.

  The operation will be described. First, the patent search system 1 transmits a search interface 11 for creating a search expression to the user terminal that has been requested in the flow of a1. Next, the search expression created using the transmitted search interface in the user terminal is transmitted to the search expression input unit 12 in the flow of a2. 12 converts the search expression so that the search engine 13 can process it, and delivers it. 13 performs a search according to the search formula. The search result is transmitted to the user terminal in the flow a3 and displayed on the search interface.

  Here, the search service issues a personal identification number ID from the user management system 14 and transmits it in the flow of b1 prior to the user search request so that only the registered user can use it. You may do it. In this case, the patent search system 1 can be controlled so as to accept a search expression only for the registered user in the flow of b2.

  As a system that combines patent search and patent management, there are MASYS of Nihon Aiaru, PAT-LIST-INT system of Raytec.

  These systems can search the contents of a search formula from a large amount of patent data at high speed, and edit and analyze the searched data to create a patent map. For example, if you enter a search formula consisting of the applicant of a patent publication, technical keywords, patent classification information, etc., the results will be sorted automatically by applicant or in order of application date, etc. It can be displayed as a pie chart or bar chart. It is used as a tool to know technology trends and product trends.

  Patent Literature 1 discloses a method for obtaining the application history of a case patent in a timely manner and presenting the progress information to related parties.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that a patent bulletin collected under a search formula for each search field set in advance can be used by unspecified parties, and an evaluation for a patent bulletin input by a specific party A technique is disclosed in which the content can be accessed only by specific parties.

  In these systems, search expression input items and search expression creation methods have been devised so that patents can be searched with as simple an operation as possible. In addition, various ingenuity has been made in the database search engine so as to enable high-speed search. It is an easy-to-use system for front-line engineers and intellectual property departments who are familiar with patent specification formats and patent databases.

  However, students who are not used to patents do not always feel easy to use. Moreover, the convenient functions are not fully used. When students submit a patent search task, they tend to seek only the answer to the task in a straightforward manner, and do not read the contents of the specification too much. The reason for this is that the patent itself is different from ordinary text and is difficult for students to read, and because it lacks expertise, it does not know what keywords to use.

  As mentioned above, the search system is easy to use, and it is possible to easily obtain information by entering a search expression. However, it is necessary to read and understand whether or not the information is originally required. There is no way. Therefore, students need to overcome the difficulties and learn.

  From an educational point of view, students want to learn how to use keywords while reading and understanding patents themselves and discovering and analyzing problems. In addition, we want to create a complicated patent search task that directs students in such a direction, but the existing patent search system described above does not have much learning support functions for the purpose of improving search technology.

  For example, even for the same search task, it is necessary to change the barrier to the correct answer according to the level of the student, and in some cases it is necessary to make the search condition difficult and think, but the conventional search system There is no such educational concept. Naturally, there is neither a teacher interface for creating a search task nor a support function for guiding a search by giving a hint when a student is stuck in the search.

  There are requests from students to download searched patents, attach sticky notes to the contents read, and to create notes by collecting their own search formulas, but such learning support function is also a conventional patent search Does not exist in the system.

  On the other hand, many educational support systems utilizing computers have been proposed in fields other than patent search. For example, Patent Literature 3 discloses a method in which a system transmits teaching materials and problems to a user, analyzes the correct answer situation as a learning history, and changes the contents of the teaching materials based on the result.

However, in the patent search task, the result of whether or not the answer is correct is also important, but apart from that, the search approach until the correct answer is important. It is important to learn how to provide feedback on search results that are said to access the database over and over and modify the search formula through trial and error. Therefore, a support function for learning an efficient search approach for students and a student's search approach are monitored remotely for teachers, and the effort (learning amount) and search technology are automatically monitored. It is necessary to have a function to measure and reflect on the results. However, the conventional education support system does not have such a function. In the first place, there is no education support system that uses database search as an exercise subject to improve search technology.
JP 11-39382 A JP 2002-342447 A JP 2004-271699 A

  In view of the problems of the above-described conventional patent search system, the object of the present invention is that when a teacher gives a student a patent search task, the student can voluntarily conduct a patent search practice, and the teacher can learn from the student. It is to realize an intellectual property right search education support system that can monitor the situation remotely. Specific issues are as follows.

  As a teacher support function, (1) it is possible to grasp the search approach and the student's learning progress for solving problems by simple means and reflect them in the grades. (2) Make it easy for students to search for different search tasks.

  As a student support function, (3) motivate the user to read the searched patent by himself / herself, help the understanding of the search problem, and if the search approach is difficult, give a hint to guide the problem solving. Provide reference information such as precedents. (4) Enable students to leave their own learning progress in a notebook. (5) To improve the ability to analyze patent information, train the patent map creation method.

<Means 1>(Memo; Invention 1; Automatic monitoring of student learning and collection of search learning history)
The intellectual property right search education support system of means 1 includes a search interface (11) for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, and the search in the user terminal (3, 4, 5). A search expression input unit (12) that receives a search expression created using the interface via a network, a search processing engine (13) that performs a search process using the input search expression, and a search result via the network An intellectual property right search education support system using a network type intellectual property right search system (1) provided with means for transmitting to the user terminal,
Means (23) for extracting the search formula or the search result as search information from data flowing between the network type intellectual property right search system (1) and the user terminal (3, 4, 5). And a learning progress estimation means (68) for estimating a search learning amount or a search technical ability when the user tackles a predetermined search task using the search information, and the estimation result to the teacher interface (61). A means for outputting is provided.

(Memo; Invention 1 supplement; Estimation of learning time)
The search learning amount can be defined as a time when the user has worked on a predetermined search task or a quantity that can be converted into the time. Specific examples include working time using a search interface, number of times a search expression has been entered, number of patent specifications acquired, number of patent specification reading pages, or patent specification reading time. Can do. The weighting factor for converting the time taken to tackle the search task can be instructed from the teacher interface.

(Memo; Invention 1 supplement; Search hit rate)
The search technology can be defined as the amount of knowledge for solving the search problem or the knowledge application capability. Specific examples of the search technology include the ratio (number of search formula hits) of search subject-related patents included in the patent list acquired by the user, the length of the search formula, and the search results described later. The correct answer rate of users for questions automatically generated from this system can be given. Here, in calculating the search formula hit rate, the search subject related patent can be designated from the teacher interface 61.

  An arbitrary item of the search learning amount and the search skill may be selected, and an evaluation score obtained by adding a predetermined weight to each of the selected items may be output to the teacher interface (61). The output can be displayed in a graph in comparison with each user identification number id.

<Means 2>(Memo; Invention 2: Editing the search interface)
The intellectual property right search education support system of means 2 includes a search interface (11) for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a word and a search in the user terminal (3, 4, 5). A search expression input unit (12) that receives a search expression created using the interface via a network, a search processing engine (13) that performs a search process using the input search expression, and a search result via the network An intellectual property right search education support system using a network type intellectual property right search system (1) provided with means for transmitting to the user terminal,
Means (62) for editing the search interface (11) into an educational search interface by a procedure from the teacher interface (61), and means for transmitting the educational search interface (33) to the user terminal. Features.

(Memo; Supplement to Invention 2; Specific example of editing method)
The means for editing (62) can be edited to limit the search items of the search interface (11) or to suggest a search item to be used and give a hint.

  In the user terminal, the search formula created using the edited educational search interface can be transmitted to the search formula input unit via the network.

(Memo; Invention 2 supplement; students can make their own practice notes)
The edited educational search interface (33) processes the search formula created by the user or the search result using the search formula and stores it in the storage device (32) of the user terminal as a training book file. Means can be provided. As processing for the search result, it is possible to attach, cut out, and write a sticky note.

<Means 3>(Memo; Invention 3: Question generation function, search learning support function)
The intellectual property right search education support system of means 3 includes a search interface (11) for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a word and a search in the user terminal (3, 4, 5). A search expression input unit (12) that receives a search expression created using the interface via a network, a search processing engine (13) that performs a search process using the input search expression, and a search result via the network An intellectual property right search education support system using a network type intellectual property right search system (1) provided with means for transmitting to the user terminal,
When the search result is transmitted to the user terminal, there is provided a means for generating a question or an annotation for the search result and transmitting it to the user terminal.

(Memo; Invention 3 supplement; Creation of questions and annotations)
A question collection in which the questions are collected or an annotation collection in which annotations are collected can be created in advance by a procedure from the teacher interface (61). The means for selecting a question from the question collection can be automatically performed using the search learning amount of the user or the estimation result of the search technology.

(Memo; Invention 3 supplement; Question generation method, alternative question)
The generation of the question can be realized by means (71) for selecting a question from the question collection prepared in advance or combining the questions in the question collection into a question (71). The question is preferably an alternative answer type question.

(Memo; Invention 3 supplement; Addition of answer correctness judgment processing means)
The intellectual property right search education support system of the means 3 includes an answer correct / incorrect determination processing means (73) for verifying an answer returned from the user terminal with the correct answer to the question, and the determination processing result as a teacher interface. (61) can be provided.

(Memo; Supplement to Invention 3; Annotation sentence generation function)
The annotation for the search result may include a hint for guiding the answer to the question, a description of the correct answer, or information attached to the search patent in addition to the question content or the annotation to the answer to the question. Information accompanying the search patent is, for example, case information, product information related to the patent, related patents, related papers, and the like. Generation of the annotation sentence can be realized by selecting an appropriate annotation sentence from an annotation sentence collection prepared in advance based on the search learning amount of the user or the search technology.

<Means 4>(Memo; Invention 4: Use of statistical processing software for patent map)
The intellectual property right search education support system of means 4 includes a search interface (11) for creating a search expression by designating a search item and inputting a phrase, and the search in the user terminal (3, 4, 5). A search expression input unit (12) that receives a search expression created using the interface via a network, a search processing engine (13) that performs a search process using the input search expression, and a search result via the network An intellectual property right search education support system using a network type intellectual property right search system (1) provided with means for transmitting to the user terminal,
A means for statistically processing the search result, a statistical processing interface (81) for setting the content of the statistical processing, and editing the statistical processing interface into an educational statistical processing interface by a procedure from the teacher interface and transmitting it to the user terminal Means for performing statistical processing of the search result based on a statistical processing expression created by the user terminal using the educational statistical processing interface, and transmitting the statistical processing result to the user terminal. It is characterized by having.

(Memo; Invention 4 supplement; Statistical processing interface editing method)
The means for editing the statistical processing interface (81) for educational use makes it difficult by limiting the functions that can be used in statistical processing, or makes it easy to give hints by specifying the functions that should be used in statistical processing. Is possible.

  In means 1, a search expression flowing between the network type intellectual property right search system and the user terminal and a search result of the search result are detected and extracted, and the user tackles a predetermined search problem from the search information. The teacher can easily monitor the search approach to the student's search task from a remote location by providing a means to estimate the amount of search learning or the search technology and output the estimation result to the teacher interface. be able to.

  For example, the teacher can easily acquire a learning history such as what time the student worked on the search task and whether the search result was valid. In addition, the amount of learning (e.g., time spent working on problem solving), the degree of understanding of the problem, search technology, etc. can be quantified. Therefore, it can be easily reflected in the grade, and the teacher work can be greatly saved.

  In addition, when the monitoring function is viewed from the student side, teachers can evaluate his / her search approach through this system, and the student is motivated to make an effort. For example, students are motivated to study if they are automatically analyzed and notified to their teachers that they are working on a search task over a long period of time or reading many patents.

  In means 2, the search interface can be edited into an educational search interface by a procedure from the teacher interface, so that the teacher can adjust the level of the search task while adjusting the convenience of the search function of the existing network type intellectual property search system. Can be provided to students.

  In other words, even for a search task with the same content, the level of the task can be made difficult by limiting the search items that can be used in the search interface or adding a constraint condition. For example, in a famous patent search task, you can easily search by entering the inventor's name in the search item, but if the inventor's name cannot be used as a search item, students can devise combinations of other search items. Searching becomes difficult because you have to search. On the other hand, in addition to not limiting the search items, the level of the task can be lowered by performing editing such as marking the search items so as to suggest the search items to be used. In this way, various search tasks can be prepared according to the level of the student.

  Further, by providing a function for processing the search result and storing it as a training book file in the educational search interface, the student can leave his / her learning progress in a notebook. It is easy to create a report and is effective for review.

  The means 3 includes means for generating a question or an annotation for the search result and transmitting it to the user terminal when the search result is transmitted to the user terminal, so that the student reads the searched patent. Motivated. Or a situation is created that must be read. Therefore, it is possible to acquire the ability to read and understand, the ability to find problems, and the ability to come up with ideas, which are important goals for patent search learning. In particular, you will acquire the technology to speed-read important parts of patent specifications. Teachers can save a lot of labor while improving the quality of patent search education.

  Furthermore, regarding the generation of questions, a number of alternative answer type questions are stored in advance in the educational operation information storage means, and appropriate questions are selected from the questions according to the student's learning progress, and the user terminal is selected. By transmitting and determining whether the answer is correct or not, it is possible to automatically provide detailed learning support for the student, and the work of the teacher can be greatly saved.

  Specifically, students are given the opportunity to review the search approach in the course of answering various questions generated from the system for patents that they have searched. If the search approach is correct, the question should be answered correctly, and if the approach is incorrect, the answer to the question tends to be incorrect. In this way, a question is automatically generated, and a student's understanding of a search task can be helped by an interactive process in which the student answers the question.

  Students can read relevant information attached to patents obtained through searches. When the related information is a precedent, the patent can be evaluated in various ways, and the patent information is valuable as a teaching material. In addition, in the case of product information related to a patent, since the patent is felt closer, the student has a sense of reality and is likely to be interested. If the relevant information is a paper, knowledge about the academic value of search patents can be obtained.

  The means 4 includes means for editing a statistical processing interface for statistically processing the patent search result by a procedure from the teacher interface, so that the teacher can easily create patent map creation tasks of various difficulty levels. it can. For example, if the functions that can be used in statistical processing are restricted, the patent map problem can be made difficult. Students acquire creativity because they create patent maps using only available statistical tools. If the interface screen is created so as to suggest a statistical processing method, the problem can be easily solved. You can reduce the number of students who give up saying that the problem is difficult. In this way, it can correspond to various students.

Example 1
FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the intellectual property right search education support system of the present invention, which corresponds to means 1 to means 3 of the present invention. In the figure, reference numeral 1 denotes a conventional network-type patent search system, which includes a patent database 131, a case database 132, a search interface 11 for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, and a search expression A search expression input unit 12 that receives the search result via the network, a search processing engine 13 that performs a search process using the input search expression, and a means for transmitting the search result to the user terminals 3, 4, and 5 via the network And. 21 is a LAN of a university or other educational institution, 22 is a gateway, and 6 is a learning management processing unit. The student user terminals 3, 4 and 5 are connected to the LAN 21 via the gateway 22. A learning management processing unit 6 for teachers is connected to the gateway.

  In the figure, the patent search system 1 may be an electronic library system provided by the Patent Office in addition to a private system. In other words, it is a general-purpose patent search system that uses a network.

  The operation will be described. First, the patent search system 1 transmits the search interface 11 to the user terminals 3, 4, and 5 for which a search system use request has been made, via the LAN 21 of an educational institution such as the Internet 2 or a university. Here, in this system, the users are mainly students. Next, in the user terminal used by the student, the search formula created using the search interface is transmitted to the search formula input unit 12 via 21 and 2. 12 converts the search expression so that the search engine 13 can process it, and delivers it. 13 performs a search according to the search formula. The search result is transmitted to the student user terminal via 2 and 21. Up to this point, the operation flow of the conventional network-type patent search system has been described. The operations of the gateway 22 and the learning management processing unit 6 which are features of the present embodiment are as follows.

  In FIG. 1, arrows indicate the flow of information. Data flowing between the patent search system 1 and the student user terminals 3, 4, and 5 is monitored by the gateway 22, and a search formula is extracted from the data by the search information extraction means 23 of the learning management processing unit 6. And the search result is extracted as search information. The search information is stored in the storage unit 69. Further, the learning progress estimation means 68 estimates the search learning amount or the search technology when the user tackles a predetermined search task from the search information. The estimation result is stored in the educational operation information storage unit 65 and output to the teacher interface 61.

  The search information can include the search formula input time when extracting the search formula. Further, the number of patent lists, the patent list acquisition time, the number of the patent specification, the patent specification, and the acquisition time of the patent specification can be included when extracting the search result. The time can be measured using a timer of the gateway 22. The search information can be managed for each user identification number id when passing through the gateway 22.

  The search learning amount calculated by the learning progress estimation means 68 can be defined as the time when the user has worked on a predetermined search task, or a quantity that can be converted into the time. Specific examples of the search learning amount include work time using a search interface, the number of times a search expression is input, the number of patent specifications acquired, the number of patent specification reading pages, or the patent specification. Can give reading time.

  FIG. 2 shows a calculation model example of the search learning amount. The search work time can be obtained by accumulating the time during which a user accesses the patent search system 1 and inputs a search formula to perform the search work in a predetermined period. The weights in the figure are coefficients for converting into search time for the search task. Since the search work time is the time for tackling the search problem itself, the coefficient is 1.0. Note that it is possible to determine whether or not the user has entered a search expression in order to tackle the search task by causing the user to input a search purpose using an educational search interface described later.

  The number of search expression inputs shown in FIG. 3 is the number of times a user inputs a search expression in order to tackle the search problem, and can be obtained cumulatively within a predetermined period from problem presentation to problem report deadline. In order to convert to the search work time, it can be obtained by defining a predetermined formula fan1 as a weighting factor and adding it to the number of search formula inputs. Here, fan1 can be specified from the teacher interface 61.

  Also, it can be determined from the address information whether the place where the search expression is input is a classroom such as a university, a shared use facility, or a home. When a student not only tackles a problem in a classroom or a shared facility, but also tackles at home, the weighting factor fan1 may be increased to increase the search work conversion time. This gives students an incentive to study at home.

  The number of patent specification acquisitions in the figure is the same as when the student user extracts a desired patent from the search result list sent from the patent search system 1 corresponding to the input search formula and acquires the patent specification. It is obtained by measuring the number of cases. In order to convert the number of patent specification acquisitions into a search work time, it can be obtained by defining a predetermined formula fan2 as a weighting factor and adding it to the number of search formula inputs. Since the purpose of acquiring a patent specification is generally to read and confirm the contents, by setting an average confirmation time for one acquired specification, it can be converted into patent search work time. it can. Here, fan2 can be specified from the teacher interface 61.

  The patent specification reading time shown in the figure is obtained by determining whether the user is reading or skipping reading, and summing the times when reading. Also, the number of patent specification reading pages can be obtained by totaling the pages being read. The average reading time per page is examined in advance, a predetermined conversion coefficient fan3 is set, and the coefficient is added to the number of pages, whereby the reading time can be converted.

  Here, there is a problem with the means to determine whether or not you are reading, but in the case of patent search, there are few cases of reading the specifications in order from the beginning, and the feature is that you search for the information you want from a large amount of text It will be a proper reading. In such search and reading, the mouse is often used for page switching and scrolling. Therefore, software for detecting the movement pattern characteristics of the mouse cursor is provided in the user terminal to enable reading. This determination is possible.

  The software for detecting the movement pattern characteristics of the mouse cursor can be installed in the user terminal by installing it in an educational search interface described later and transmitting it to the user terminal. .

  In FIG. 2, each of the search learning amounts can be summed to perform a grade determination process. In totaling, it is desirable to avoid duplication of each item and to adjust the weighting factor according to the student's learning entity. The weighting factor can be changed and used from the teacher interface 61 as appropriate. In the figure, the total value of each item is calculated and converted into a grade evaluation value (excellent, good, acceptable).

  The search technical ability calculated by the learning progress estimating means 68 can be defined as the knowledge amount for solving the search problem or the knowledge application ability. Specific examples of the search technology include the ratio (number of search formula hits) of search subject-related patents included in the patent list acquired by the user, the length of the search formula, and the search results described later. The correct answer rate of users for questions automatically generated from this system can be given. Here, in calculating the search formula hit rate, the search subject related patent can be designated from the teacher interface 61.

  FIG. 3 is a calculation model example of the search technology. The item indicates each element for calculating the search technology. The search formula hit rate is the number of related patents including target patents included in the search patent list that the user inputs a search formula, the patent search system searches for patents that match the search formula, and is output as a search patent list. The ratio, that is, the search formula hit rate (= number of related patents including the target patent / number of patents matching the search formula) is shown. In the case of student A, for example, if the number of search patent lists is 20 and the number of related patents including the target patent is 4, the hit rate is 20%.

  Next, the length of the search expression will be described. The search expression is composed of phrases such as the inventor, applicant, filing date, technical term, classification code, and logical operators that connect them, such as logical OR, logical AND, and exclusive logical NOT. The Since the search is an operation for narrowing down the target patent extraction, the operations of search expression creation, search result acquisition, search result analysis, and search expression correction are usually repeated. In the course of this work, more appropriate words and phrases used for the search are selected, and the search formula tends to be long. Therefore, the search technology is evaluated from the number of the logical operators used and the types of words used in the search. Appropriate phrases are used, and the higher the number of operators, the better the search skill level is. Units means a unit of the evaluation point.

  Desirable words and phrases to be used for the search can be input and registered in advance from the teacher interface 61 by the teacher for each search task. When the registered word is used, a high evaluation can be given.

  It is also possible to evaluate by combining a plurality of items of the search technology. The weights in FIG. 3 indicate functions that are integrated into each item and converted into evaluation points as search technology. The weight function can be specified from the teacher interface. The grade determination unit can classify students as excellent, good, or acceptable according to the evaluation score of the search technology.

  Furthermore, in order to determine the student's grade, an arbitrary item of the search learning amount of FIG. 2 and the search skill of FIG. 3 is selected, and an evaluation score obtained by adding a predetermined weight to each of the selected items is used. Also good. The student's grade determination result can be output to the teacher interface 61 as a graph for each identification number.

  The means 2 of this invention is demonstrated using FIG. The teacher learning management processing unit 6 is provided with means 62 for editing the search interface 11 into an education search interface by a procedure from the teacher interface 61. Means for transmitting the educational search interface 33 to the user terminal is also provided. Here, the educational search interface 33 is edited so as to limit the search items of the search interface 11 or to give hints by suggesting search items to be used.

  In the user terminals 3, 4, and 5, the search formula created using the edited educational search interface 33 can be transmitted to the search formula input unit 12 via the network.

  FIG. 4 is an example of the edited educational search interface 33. Items without a horizontal double line are search interfaces 11, and horizontal double lines are items whose use is restricted by editing. The thick frame indicates the contents of the search expression. For example, in a search item, an IPC expansion symbol, applicant, patent / utility model number cannot be used as a keyword. The phrase ubiquitous cannot be used as a keyword in the search expression input field. Since the user will work on a search task under such a restriction condition, it is necessary to devise a search expression so as to compensate for keywords that cannot be used. In other words, the level of the search task can be made difficult as much as the keywords are restricted. The teacher can create various tasks according to the level of the student using the same search task. In the same figure, patent and innovation are respectively the number of patents and utility models that match the search formula.

  The edited educational search interface 33 includes means for processing the search formula created by the user or the search result using the search formula and storing it in the storage device of the user terminal as a training book file. be able to. As processing for the search result, it is possible to attach, cut out, and write a sticky note. That is, the educational search interface is software that includes the contents of the search interface 11 and includes a function for supporting student education and a function for monitoring student work. It can be changed by the operation. The software operates by being transmitted to a user terminal and installed.

  As a function of monitoring the student's work, there is a function of detecting a user's key input and a mouse operation, and detecting a user's learning state from its characteristics. FIG. 1 shows an example in which software 75 for monitoring reading of patent specifications in patent search work is included in an education search interface and transmitted to a user terminal. The determination of whether reading or just scrolling can be made by using a self-organizing algorithm using supervised learning that receives the movement of a cursor that moves as the mouse moves.

  The means 3 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. In the figure, the teacher learning management processing unit 6 is provided with a question sentence generating means 71 and an annotation sentence generating means 72. The question sentence generation means 71 is a means for generating a question regarding the search result when the user receives the search result from the patent search system 1. The question text is transmitted from the teacher learning management processing unit 6 to the user so as to be attached to the search result.

  Here, the generation of the question for the search result can be realized by means for selecting a question from a question collection prepared in advance or combining the questions in the question collection into a question.

  Here, in order to perform processing at high speed, the question is preferably an alternative answer type question. The question collection can be created in advance using the teacher interface 61 of FIG. 1 and can be accumulated in the educational operation information storage means 65. The means for selecting a question from the question collection can be automatically performed using the search learning amount of the user or the estimation result of the search technology. Thereby, a more appropriate question can be transmitted to the user.

  In addition, the learning management processing unit 6 includes an answer correct / incorrect determination processing unit that compares an answer returned from the user with the correct answer to the question, and a unit that outputs the determination processing result to the teacher interface 61. Can do. The answer correct / incorrect determination processing result can be used as a question correct answer rate in FIG. 3 when automatically measuring the search technology.

  Next, the annotation to the search result is mainly the content of the question or the annotation to the answer of the question, and as the annotation sentence, a hint for guiding the answer to the question, an explanation of the correct answer, or Information accompanying search patents can be included. The comment text is generated by selecting an appropriate comment text from a collection of comment text that has been created in advance and stored in the educational operation information storage means 65 based on the search learning amount or the search skill of the user. This can be achieved.

  Examples of information accompanying the search patent include precedents. The precedent is a very convenient material for learning the legal strength, weakness, and problems of search patents. The example sentences may be accumulated in the educational operation information storage means 65 and attached when the patent specification retrieved by the user is sent to the user. Further, the patent specification and the case reference number are stored in association with 65, the case search corresponding to the reference number is searched from the case database 132 of the patent search system 1, and the case example is transmitted to the user. You may control.

  Information accompanying the search patent includes product information using the patent. As the information about the product, Web information related to the product introduction, that is, the Internet address may be stored in the educational operation information storage means 65, and the address may be transmitted to the student user terminal.

  The means 3 of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is an example of a patent search task that a teacher imposes on a student user. Students are presented with a catalog of products. The catalog includes product names, features, sales dates, prices, and the like. Keep your company name down. The problem (A) is to search for a patent to find a basic patent of the product, and the problem (A) is to search an improved patent and an applied patent of the basic patent and to show a patent family.

  FIG. 6 shows basic task information prepared in advance by the teacher for the task in FIG. The assignment basic information is input from the teacher interface 61 in FIG. 1 and accumulated in the educational operation information storage means 65. The subject patents in FIG. 6 are a basic patent that is the correct answer to the problem (A), a family patent that is the correct answer to the problem (A), and peripheral related patents. The information content includes the number of the patent, bibliographic information such as the inventor and applicant, information obtained by classifying the patent content by symbols, and information for annotation.

  The annotation information includes the edited example sentence, the case search number for searching the example sentence database 132 of the patent search system 1, the case search number for searching from the Internet, the related paper, Article search number for searching related articles from academic paper databases, web addresses of companies that introduce products using search patents, newspapers with articles on the product or topics related to the product, or newspapers Examples include a web address for browsing on the Internet.

  FIG. 7 is an example of a question sentence for transmission so as to be attached to the patent specification selected by the user to be acquired as described above. Q11 asks the purpose of the invention. Upon receiving this question, the user reads the purpose column of the invention of the specification, selects one of a, b, and c and sends it to the learning management processing unit 6 of the system in FIG. To do.

The learning management processing unit 6 performs an answer correct / incorrect determination process for checking the user's answer with the correct answer. Here, the said correct answer shall be described in the subject basic information of FIG.
The same applies to Q12 to Q15, and the correct answer is stored in advance as the subject basic information. In other words, at 71, a question sentence is generated with the task basic information as the correct answer.

  In the course of answering this question, students can naturally judge whether the patents they have chosen meet or differ from the goals. Asking questions can create a situation where students are forced to read patents. If you read and answer, if you reflect it in your grades, your motivation to read will increase.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a question sentence for deepening the understanding of a patent after searching for the target patent. In addition to analysis of novelty, inventive step, consideration, questions on patent strategy such as analysis of patent strength are also possible. In addition to the question with the basic task information as an answer, it is also possible to include a question that is freely described in text. In the case of the alternative problem, the learning management processing unit 6 can automatically score. When answering in text, it is difficult to evaluate automatically, so the teacher reads and evaluates it.

  FIG. 9 is an example of an annotation sentence. C1 is a correct answer to the search task, C2 is an incorrect answer, and C3 to C5 are learning reference information.

  FIG. 10 shows a configuration in which the means 1 to means 4 of the present invention are implemented by a client-server system in the second embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, a learning management processing unit 6 is connected to the patent search system 1 via the Internet, the learning management processing unit 6 is a server, and student user terminals 3, 4, and 5 are clients. Are connected via a campus LAN.

  The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 10, FIG. 11, and FIG. (I) to (iv) in FIG. 10 indicate the operation at the search task preparation stage, and the number with a circle indicates the operation when the student tackles the search task. In the text, it is called a circle number. 11 and 12 describe the operations indicated by the circle numbers in FIG. 10 separately for the patent search system 1, the learning management processing unit 6, and the user terminal 3.

  In FIG. 10, the user management system 14 is a part of the patent search system 1 and manages a user who has applied for use with the personal identification information ID and the password PW. When using the patent search system 1, an educational institution (such as a university) makes a contract with the system operation service company and purchases a predetermined number of passes, for example, about 10 passes. The ID and PW are managed by the teacher interface 61. The flow up to this point is indicated by (i).

  The teacher reissues the personal identification number id and the password pw to the student user from the teacher interface 61. This flow is shown in (ii). The id and pw information are stored in the educational operation information storage means 65 (iii). Usually, contracts with system operation service companies are often purchased for each pass with a period. In this case, the number of searches is not limited during the period. In the case of educational use, since there are few cases where all students use the patent search system 1 at the same time, it is possible to reissue the id more than the number of IDs. For example, it is possible to purchase about 10 passes of ID and to set the number of student user ids to about 100.

  The teacher creates a search task as shown in FIG. 5 and stores it in the educational operation information storage means 65, and restricts the use of the search formula for each id in the search interface 1 as shown in FIG. This flow is shown in FIG. The search expression restriction table of FIG. 6 will be described. Id1 has no restriction on use of the search expression, id2 cannot use the inventor and the applicant as keywords, and id3 shows an example in which the period is further limited. Up to this point, the work performed by the teacher in advance and the operation of the system are described.

  The search task is presented by the teacher transmitting the search task in the educational operation information storage unit 65 from the teacher interface 61 to the student user. The flow of information is indicated by circle numbers 1, 2, and 3 in FIGS.

  The teacher acquires the search interface 11 from the patent search system 1 (circle numbers 4 and 5) and performs editing. In the editing operation, when the search expression restriction table is input to the search interface editing means 62 (circle number 6), the edit as shown in FIG. 4 is performed and the education search interface 33 is obtained. The educational search interface is installed in the student user terminal in the flow of circle number 7. Here, although not shown in the figure, the educational search interface 33 includes the training book file creation software for supporting the student's search work, and the mouse for the teacher to monitor the student's practice status. Software for detecting cursor movement pattern features can be incorporated.

  Next, I will explain the flow of student search tasks. 10 and 12, when a student inputs a search expression using the educational search interface 33, the search expression is a flow of a circle number 8, and the search expression input unit specification restoring means 63 causes the patent search system 1. And is transmitted to the search formula input unit 12 in the flow of the circle numbers 9 and 11. Here, the student's id and pw set by the teacher are converted to ID and PW and transmitted to 12. Further, the search formula created by the student user is extracted by the search information extracting means 23 and stored in the learning history accumulating unit 69 in the flow of the circle number 10.

  The patent search system 1 performs a search by the search processing engine 13 based on the search formula, and returns the search result to the learning management processing unit 6 in the flow of the circle number 12. The search result is stored in the search result temporary storage means 70 and transmitted to the student user terminals 3, 4, and 5 in the flow of the circle number 13. Here, the search result information is monitored by the search information extraction means 23, and the number of patent lists, the number of patent specifications, the acquisition time, and the like are extracted.

  In FIG. 12, when the student obtains the patent list, the suitability of the search formula for the target is examined, the candidate patent for the search task is selected from the list, and the candidate patent number is input from the educational search interface 33. (Circle numbers 8, 9, and 11) and obtain the specification of the patent (Circle numbers 12, 13, and 3).

  Here, it is possible to attach a question sentence to the search result (the patent specification) and send it (circle numbers 14, 15). In FIG. 10, the question text corresponding to the patent specification is automatically generated by the question text generation means 71 from the basic task information as shown in FIG. 6 stored in advance in the education operation information storage means 65. Is done.

  10 and 12, when a student answers the question, the answer correct / incorrect determination process is performed by 73 in the flow of the circle number 16. The correctness / incorrectness determination process is performed by collating the student's answer with the correct answer stored in advance in the educational operation information storage means 65 (circle number 14). The correctness / incorrectness determination result is transmitted to the learning progress estimation unit 68 in the flow of the circle number 17, the search technology is estimated, and the result is stored in the educational operation information storage means 65 (circle number 19) and the teacher. It is output to the interface 61 (circle number 20). The output to the teacher interface 61 may be displayed as a graph of results for each student.

  In FIG. 10, reference numeral 72 denotes an annotation sentence generating means. Annotation sentences are generated by automatically selecting from the collection of annotation sentences such as the example of FIG. 9 accumulated in advance in the educational operation information storage means 65 in conjunction with the answer result (circle number 14). Are sent to the student user terminal (circle numbers 15, 3). In FIG. 12, the student considers the annotation sentence. If the answer is incorrect, the student returns to the patent list and obtains another patent specification as a target candidate and continues the examination.

  As described with reference to FIG. 1, the annotation text can include information related to the searched patent. Related information can include example sentences. In FIG. 10, the example sentences are stored in the educational operation information storage means 65 in correspondence with the related patent numbers, and when the related patents are transmitted to the user, the example sentences are displayed in the flow of circle numbers 14 and 15. Although it is possible to attach a large number of example sentences in 65, it is not efficient to store memory. Therefore, only the example sentence search number is recorded in 65, and an annotation is attached when attaching an example sentence. The sentence generation means 72 sends the sentence search numbers to the transmission to the patent search system 1 in the flow of the circle numbers 151, 9, 11, searches the sentence examples database 132 for the sentence examples, and temporarily stores the search results 70. (Circle number 12) may be transmitted to the user terminal in the flow of circle number 13. These annotation sentence generation and transmission processes are performed automatically.

  The related information of the search patent may include related papers, product information using the search patent, and the like. When generating the annotation text, a Web address for obtaining such information may be attached in the flow of circle numbers 14 and 15. After receiving the address, the user can obtain the related information via the Internet.

  Next, means 4 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. The learning management processing unit 6 is provided with statistical processing means 80 for creating a patent map. The statistical processing means sets a statistical processing expression from the statistical processing interface 81. The statistical processing interface can be edited into the educational statistical processing interface 82 by the procedure from the teacher interface 61 and transmitted to the user terminal (circle number 21). The means for editing for the education can restrict the functions that can be used in the statistical processing to make the processing difficult, or specify the functions that should be used in the statistical processing to give hints and make the operation easy. It is.

  The student user creates a statistical processing formula using the statistical processing interface 82 for education, and sends the statistical processing formula to the statistical processing means 80 in the flow of the circle numbers 22 and 23. At this time, in 82 to 81, the statistical processing expression is converted into an input specification for 80. 80 receives the patent information in the patent database 131 or the patent information in the patent search result temporary storage means 70 (circle number 24), performs statistical processing, and displays the processing result of the patent map and the like in the flow of the circle numbers 25 and 22. Send to users with.

  The patent map creation task is troublesome because it takes time and effort for both the teacher and the student, but the teacher can create tasks of various difficulty levels relatively easily by the support system as described above. Students are also required to devise statistical processing, so they can acquire the ability to discover problems and analyze problems.

  Using this intellectual property right search education support system, students can tackle the challenges given by their teachers and improve their patent search technology. Acquire the ability to discover problems, analyze problems, and solve problems. For teachers, significant labor savings are possible while improving the quality of intellectual property education. It is very effective in undergraduate education where one teacher must teach many students.

  An enormous patent database has been used by a limited number of related parties, mainly in fields directly connected to business, such as a survey of technology trends during product planning, a novelty survey when acquiring rights, and a survey of rights when developing new businesses. Has been used. However, it cannot be said that it is fully utilized compared to its potential information value. As this system becomes widespread, the development of methods for processing published patent information so that it can be easily used for education and methods for making patent search teaching materials available on a computer network will lead to new added value in patent information. Therefore, it will lead to the development of content creation technology for patent education. Teachers can select good patents that students want to read and create a teaching material database as a collection of questions.

  Currently, there are few teachers who can teach intellectual property rights training, but this system and patent search assignment content creation technology will facilitate student guidance as information sharing and standardization advances, so Dissemination of intellectual property rights education.

  This system can be used not only for intellectual property education at universities and graduate schools, but also for retraining intellectual property rights for adults. In addition, by making the contents of the teaching material easy to understand, it can be used for secondary education such as high school and junior high school. As a specialized field, it can also be used by medical and marine faculties, mainly in science and engineering.

  In the above, mainly patent search was explained, but when network type intellectual property right search system supports design search and copyright search, it is also used as design search education system and copyright search education system it can.

It is a 1st Example of the intellectual property right search education support system of this invention. It is an example of measurement of search learning amount. This is a measurement example of search technology. It is an example of the edited educational search interface. It is an example of a patent search subject. It is a part of educational operation information and is an example of basic information for the problem of FIG. It is an example of a question sentence. This is an example of a question sentence for deepening understanding after searching for a target patent. It is an example of an annotation sentence. It is a 2nd Example of the intellectual property right search education assistance system of this invention. It is a flow (1) of processing of Example 2. It is a process flow (2) of Example 2. FIG. It is an example of the development guidance to a patent map subject. It is a conventional network type patent search system.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Network type patent search system 11 Search interface 12 Search expression input part 13 Search processing engine 131 Patent database 132 Case database 14 User management system 15 Issue of ID and PW 2 Internet 21 University LAN
22 Gateway 23 Extraction means 231 of search information Search information storage means 3, 4, 5 User terminal 31 Processing device 32 Memory 33 Search interface for education 6 Learning management processing section (for teachers)
61 Teacher interface 62 Search interface editing means (for education)
63 Means for restoring the search expression to the specification of the search expression input part 64 id, pw issuance 65 Educational operation information storage means 68 Learning progress estimation means (estimation of search learning amount and search skill)
681 Learning progress estimation result storage means 69 Learning history storage means 70 Search result storage means 71 Question sentence generation means 72 Annotation sentence generation means 73 Answer correctness determination processing means 75 Specification reading monitoring software 80 Patent map statistical processing means 81 Statistical processing Interface 82 Statistical processing interface for education

Claims (4)

A search interface for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, a search expression input unit for receiving a search expression created using the search interface at a user terminal via a network, and the input Intellectual property search using a network type intellectual property search system having a search processing engine that performs a search process using a search expression and a means for transmitting the search result to the user terminal via the network An education support system,
Means for extracting the search formula or the search result as search information from data flowing between the network type intellectual property right search system and the user terminal;
A learning progress estimation means for estimating a search learning amount when a user tackles a predetermined search task using the search information, or a search technology,
An intellectual property right search education support system comprising means for outputting the estimation result to a teacher interface. A search interface for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, a search expression input unit for receiving a search expression created using the search interface at a user terminal via a network, and the input Intellectual property search using a network type intellectual property search system having a search processing engine that performs a search process using a search expression and a means for transmitting the search result to the user terminal via the network An education support system,
Means for editing the search interface into an educational search interface by a procedure from the teacher interface;
An intellectual property right search education support system comprising means for transmitting the education search interface to a user terminal. A search interface for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, a search expression input unit for receiving a search expression created using the search interface at a user terminal via a network, and the input Intellectual property search using a network type intellectual property search system having a search processing engine that performs a search process using a search expression and a means for transmitting the search result to the user terminal via the network An education support system,
An intellectual property right search education support system comprising means for generating a question or an annotation for the search result and transmitting it to the user terminal when the search result is transmitted to the user terminal. A search interface for creating a search expression by specifying a search item and inputting a phrase, a search expression input unit for receiving a search expression created using the search interface at a user terminal via a network, and the input Intellectual property search using a network type intellectual property search system having a search processing engine that performs a search process using a search expression and a means for transmitting the search result to the user terminal via the network An education support system,
Means for statistically processing the search results;
A statistical processing interface for setting the statistical processing content;
Means for editing the statistical processing interface into an educational statistical processing interface by a procedure from the teacher interface and transmitting it to the user terminal;
A means for performing statistical processing of the search result based on a statistical processing formula created by the user terminal using the educational statistical processing interface, and transmitting the statistical processing result to the user terminal; Characteristic intellectual property search education support system.

Images