JP2007108887A - Application information management system, application information management method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an application information management system, an application information management method and a program which facilitates deciding necessity of information disclosure. <P>SOLUTION: This application information management system is configured to extract a document relating to an application case directly or indirectly relevant to one application case from an application case storage part for storing first case identification information for identifying a first application case, document identification information for identifying a document relating to the first application case and second case identification information for identifying a second application relevant to the first application case. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an application information management system, an application information management method, and a program for managing applications.

An application information management system for managing application information is used.
By the way, among industrial property rights, there is a country that imposes “information disclosure obligation” particularly in patent applications (information disclosure obligation country, for example, the United States). “Information disclosure obligation” refers to an obligation to disclose information relating to patentability. Violation of this “information disclosure obligation” during the filing of a patent application in the United States is subject to severe penalties that make the entire patent not enforceable, not just the claims related to the violation.

Upon receipt of a “search report” or “notice of reason for refusal” from a foreign patent office other than Japan or the United States regarding matters related to priority claim under the Paris Convention during the process of filing a patent application in the United States, the United States Patent and Trademark Office Information disclosure, for example, an information disclosure statement (IDS) is required to be submitted. For this reason, when a “search report” or the like for a patent application case is received at a company's intellectual property department, patent office, etc., it is investigated whether information disclosure is required for the application case related to that case.
Here, a technique that enables expression of a family structure of a patent application is disclosed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2003-76720 A

However, it is difficult to determine whether or not information disclosure is necessary with this technique.
In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide an application information management system, an application information management method, and a program that facilitate the determination of the necessity of information disclosure.

  The application information management system according to the present invention includes first item identification information for identifying a first application item, document identification information for identifying a document relating to the first application item, and the first application item. Application matter storage unit for storing second item identification information for identifying a related second application item, and documents related to the application item directly or indirectly related to one application item from the application item storage unit And a display unit for displaying the extracted document.

The application information management method according to the present invention includes first item identification information for identifying a first application item, document identification information for identifying a document relating to the first application item, and the first application item, Extracting a document related to an application case that is directly or indirectly related to one application case, from an application case storage unit that stores second case identification information for identifying a related second application case, and And a step of displaying the document to be extracted.
Along with these systems and methods, a program for realizing the application information management method is also a means for solving the problems.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an application information management system, an application information management method, and a program that facilitate the determination of the necessity of information disclosure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an application information management system 100 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. Here, the application information refers to the information on the subject of the application pending at the JPO, for example, the state before the application such as a patent proposal, and the application is pending examination at the JPO, such as a rejection decision or a registration decision. It also includes information on objects that have been lost.
The application information management system 100 is configured by connecting a packaging system 110, a foreign system 120, and a domestic system 130 via a network 140.

The packaging system 110 manages the packaging of patent applications, and includes a packaging system main body 111, a packaging database (DB) 112, and a terminal 113. Note that the sachet refers to a series of documents (application specification, published gazette, notice of reasons for refusal, cited document, opinion, amendment, patent gazette) related to the application. That is, the wrapping system 110 manages the document itself related to the application.
The wrapping system main body 111 is the main body of the wrapping system 110 and includes a wrapping bag search unit 114.

The wrapping DB 112 is a storage device such as a hard disk, and stores information on the wrapping of the application (including both foreign applications and domestic applications).
The terminal 113 is a computer connected as a terminal to the packaging system main body 111, and has an input unit and a display unit (not shown). The input unit is an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display unit is a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device.
The wrapping bag search unit 114 searches the wrapping bag DB 112.

The foreign system 120 manages foreign applications, and includes a foreign system main body 121, a foreign application project database (DB) 122, and a terminal 123.
The foreign system main body 121 is a main body of the foreign system 120, and includes a document table generating unit 124, a document arrangement changing unit 125, a document information copying unit 126, an information disclosure alerting unit 127, and a foreign matter search unit 128.

  The foreign application item DB 122 is a storage device such as a hard disk, and stores management information (application item information) of the foreign application item. The foreign application case DB 122 includes first case identification information for identifying the first application case, document identification information for identifying a document related to the first application case, and second information related to the first application case. It functions as an application item storage unit for storing second item identification information for identifying the application item. In addition, the foreign application matter DB 122 functions as a disclosure target document storage unit that stores a disclosure target document that is a target of disclosure processing. Details of the application case information will be described later.

The terminal 123 is a computer connected as a terminal to the foreign system main body 121, and has an input unit and a display unit (not shown). The input unit is an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display unit is a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device.
The document table generation unit 124 generates a document table in which information on documents related to related cases is represented. The document table generation unit 124 functions as a document extraction unit that extracts documents related to an application item that is directly or indirectly related to one application item from the application item storage unit. In addition, the document table generation unit 124 also functions as a disclosure target document extraction unit that extracts undisclosed documents that are not disclosed in the information disclosure obligation country from the extracted documents.

The document arrangement changing unit 125 changes (for example, sorts) the arrangement of documents in the generated document table.
The document information copying unit 126 copies (copies) document information to a disclosure target document table, and functions as a document information copying unit that copies extracted document information to the disclosure target document storage unit.

The information disclosure warning part 127 is for calling attention to the presence of information requiring disclosure. For example, the information is transmitted to the terminal 123 of the person in charge of foreign application and displayed in the alert information display area. Is mentioned.
The foreign matter search unit 128 searches the foreign application matter DB 122 and extracts an application matter (related matter) related to the selected application matter (selected matter).

  Here, the related item means an application item directly or indirectly related to the selected item. This relationship can include a relationship linked by priority, such as a priority claim application, and a parent-child relationship such as a continuation application, a change application, or a divisional application. That is, an application having a direct or indirect relationship with a certain application is a related matter of the application, and a so-called “family” application is applicable.

  As described above, related applications include applications that are directly or indirectly connected by legal relationship such as priority claim. However, substantive related applications that are not legally related, for example, applications that are related to the content of the invention itself but not legally related to each other (for example, applications that form a patent network) ) Can also be included in related applications.

The domestic system 130 manages domestic applications, and includes a domestic system main body 131, a domestic application matter database (DB) 132, and a terminal 133.
The domestic system main body 131 is a main body of the domestic system 130, and includes an information disclosure warning part 134 and a domestic item search part 135.

  The domestic application item DB 132 is a storage device such as a hard disk, and stores domestic application item management information (application item information). The domestic application item DB 132 includes first item identification information for identifying the first application item, document identification information for identifying a document related to the first application item, and a second item related to the first application item. It functions as an application item storage unit for storing second item identification information for identifying the application item. Details of the application case information will be described later.

The terminal 133 is a computer connected as a terminal to the domestic system main body 131, and has an input unit and a display unit (not shown). The input unit is an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The display unit is a display device such as a CRT or a liquid crystal display device.
The information disclosure warning part 134 is for calling attention to the presence of information that requires disclosure. For example, the information disclosure notice calling part 134 sends a mail to the terminal 123 of the person in charge of foreign application of the case and displays it in the alert information area. Can be mentioned.
The domestic matter search unit 135 searches the domestic application matter DB 132 and extracts an application matter (related matter) related to the selected application matter (selected matter).

(Operation of Application Information Management System 100)
FIG. 2A is a flowchart illustrating an example of an outline of an operation procedure of the application information management system 100. FIG. 2B is a flowchart showing another example of the outline of the operation procedure of the application information management system 100. Hereinafter, the operation procedure of the application information management system 100 will be described with reference to FIG. 2A.

(1) Document search request for related items (step S11)
A request is made to search for literature on related matters. An application item is selected, and a search for documents related to the application item (related item) related to the selected application item (selected item) is requested.

At the time of this request, either “document” display or “disclosed document (IDS document)” display is selected. Corresponding to this selection, the display of the search result changes. In the “document” display, the entire document related to the related item is displayed.
On the other hand, in the “disclosed document” display, the document whose information has been disclosed in the application case to the information disclosure obligation country is displayed. The “document” display is suitable for checking the existence of an undisclosed document. The “disclosed document” display can be used to add an undisclosed document as a document to be disclosed because an undisclosed document becomes clear. Details of this will be described later.

(2) Generation of document table / disclosed document table (step S12)
Based on the selected application item (selected item), documents related to the application item (related item) related to the selected item are extracted. An extracted document table (document table) is generated. That is, a related item is searched, and documents related to the searched related item are extracted. In addition, a table of documents for which information has been disclosed (disclosed document table (IDS document table)) is generated in an application case to an information disclosure obligation country. These document table and disclosed document table respectively correspond to the above-mentioned “document” display and “disclosed document” display.

(3) Display of documents / disclosed documents (step S13)
A document or a disclosed document is displayed based on the generated document table and the disclosed document table.
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result screen corresponding to the “document” display and displaying a list of documents. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating an example of a search result screen that displays a list of disclosed documents corresponding to the “disclosed documents” display.

  The documents displayed on the search result screen of FIG. 3 include registrations corresponding to the related cases (for example, patent families (such as sibling cases in which the child case and the parent application are child applications together)) related to the selected case. All completed literature is included. That is, the documents corresponding to the related cases are comprehensively searched and displayed in a list.

In addition, in the disclosed documents displayed on the search result screens of FIGS. 4A and 4B, a list of disclosed documents related to one item whose application country is the disclosure obligation country is displayed.
In the search result screen of FIG. 4A, columns of “submission instruction”, “IDS submission”, “document type”, “issue country”, “report request”, and “report request date” are displayed. The column “Submission Instruction” indicates the date when the submission instruction from the domestic patent office etc. to the local patent office etc. was made. The “Report Request” and “Report Request Date” columns indicate the necessity of requesting a report from the domestic patent office or the like to the applicant, and the date when the report request was made. The other columns are the same as in FIG.

  The search result screen of FIG. 4B is displayed by selecting the white “Δ” in the “Literature” column of FIG. 4A. This display replaces the display shown in FIG. 4A, and any one of them may be present. In the search result screen of FIG. 4B, “document name” and “input date” are displayed. The “input date” column represents the date on which information is input. The column “Document Name” is the same as that in FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship of the related application (patent family) corresponding to the document of FIG. There are applications “KR”, “PCT”, [US], “EP”, “DE”, “GB”, “TW”, “CA” based on the Japanese application “JP”. Among these, document information is registered for the Japanese application “JP”, the US application [US], the EP application “EP”, and the German application “DE”.

By searching for documents based on the case number “P0500001 JP” of the Japanese application, as shown in FIG. 3, all related documents are extracted. Since the document information is extracted from the entire related application without being limited to individual cases, efficient information disclosure processing (IDS submission) is possible.
Further, by searching for the disclosed document (IDS document) based on the case number “P0500001 JP” of the Japanese application, the disclosed document of one related application to the disclosure obligation country is extracted as shown in FIG. The Here, only the disclosed document of the case number “P0500001 US” of the US application is displayed because the disclosure obligation country is only one case (US) to the US among the application countries shown in FIG. .

An outline of the operation procedure of the application information management system 100 shown in FIG. 2B will be described.
(1) Case inquiry (step S11a)
Display the matter. For example, the application number of the application item to be selected is input, and a “reference document” button (not shown) is clicked.
(2) Display of disclosed documents (step S12a)
Display disclosed documents. For example, when information such as bibliographic items of the inquired case is acquired from the foreign application case DB 122 or the domestic application case DB 132, the bibliographic information related to “disclosed literature” is also extracted and displayed.

(3) Document search request for related item (step S13a)
Request a search for related project literature. For example, the display of the family application is instructed in the state where the “reference literature” of the case is kept.
(4) Display of related project documents (step S14a)
Display related project literature. For example, a related item is searched from the foreign application item DB 122 or the domestic application item DB 132, and the disclosed document information of the searched related item (for example, family application) is further searched and displayed.
As described above, in the procedure shown in FIG. 2B, there are two possible timings for acquiring the “disclosed document” when the application case is inquired and after the acquisition of the related case.

“Document information” in FIG. 3 represents information on documents related to all related matters regardless of the presence or absence of information disclosure (IDS registration).
Reference information includes “case number”, “category”, “reference type”, “document name”, “submission / receipt”, “IDS submission”, “IDS subject”, “issue country”, “IDS required”. It is divided into columns.

  The “case number” is information for identifying an application corresponding to the document. Here, separately from the application number, a “case number” is composed of a combination of “related case number” (for example, “P0500001”) and “application country” (for example, “DE”). The related projects can be distinguished by.

“Category” represents a category of documents such as “documents”, “received documents”, “submission documents”, “IDS”, and the like. “Document” represents a document accompanying the notice of reasons for refusal. “Received document” represents a document received from the Patent Office, such as a command received in an office action, such as a search report or a prior art document. “Submitted documents” represents documents (order letters, translations, etc.) submitted to local agents. “IDS” represents a document submitted to the Patent Office for information disclosure (IDS registration).
“Document type” indicates the type of a document such as “reference”, “search report”, and “other”. “References” refers to literature used as references in office actions from the JPO. The “search report” represents a document referred to in the search report. “Others” represents documents other than “reference” and “search report”.

The “document name” is a name for identifying the document, for example, a title.
“Submission / Reception” indicates the date on which the document was submitted or received.
“IDS submission” represents the date on which the document was submitted for information disclosure (IDS registration).
“IDS target” represents a case number of an application case corresponding to a document targeted for information disclosure (IDS registration).
“Issuing country” represents the country of filing of the application project corresponding to the document subject to information disclosure (IDS registration).
“Required IDS” represents an application country in which information disclosure processing (IDS registration) is required. “US”, “AU”, and “US / AU” indicate that information disclosure (IDS registration) is required only in the United States, only in Australia, and both in the United States and Australia.

  “IDS input” in FIG. 4A represents information on documents registered in the information disclosure obligation country (country US / AU in which the IDS system exists), and only documents having “IDS” in the “Category” column. Is displayed. In addition, fields not related to information disclosure are not displayed.

1) Attention Calling Display Items that require information disclosure (IDS registration) are filled with “US” in the “IDS Required” column and color-coded for alerting (easy identification). The hatching in FIG. 3 represents color coding (for example, yellow coloring). Undisclosed documents (IDS unregistered documents) are displayed separately from other documents.
In other words, in addition to extracting documents for related projects, “IDS unregistered documents” are automatically extracted, and a warning display such as changing the color of the corresponding document line is performed, so that “IDS registration omission by the person in charge” is displayed. "Check work" is reduced and leakage is prevented. Details of this will be described later.

2) Change of document arrangement “Item number”, “Category”, “Document type”, “Document name”, “Submit / Receive”, “IDS submission”, “IDS subject”, “Issuing country”, “IDS required” By selecting the column (for example, clicking with a mouse), the sequence of documents can be changed. For example, by selecting and sorting “document names”, it becomes easier to confirm whether or not there is information disclosure (IDS submission) of the document. By arranging the same documents side by side, it becomes easy to check the registration status of “IDS” in the application case (US / AU case) to the disclosure obligation country for all the documents.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a search result screen in a state where the list of documents in FIG. 3 is sorted by “document name”. With the change from the “order number” order in FIG. 3 to the “document name” order in FIG. 6, the display position of black “Δ” is changed from “case number” to “document name”. It has changed.

3) Copying of literature information Information on the extracted literature can be copied if necessary.
On the search result screens of FIGS. 3 and 6, a “check box” is arranged on the left side, and a “copy document” button is arranged on the upper right side.
By selecting the “check box” corresponding to the document, the document is selected, and “V” is displayed in the “check box”.
By selecting the “Copy Document” button, the information of the document selected by the “check box” is copied to the application for the information disclosure obligation country.

That is, on the search result screen, after selecting a document for which information is to be disclosed (IDS registration) by a check box, a “copy document information” button is pressed. As a result, “document name” and the like are copied to the disclosed document table (IDS document table) shown in FIG. To be exact, information on a document that requires information disclosure is added to the application case file in the foreign application case DB 122 via the disclosed document table. Details of the application file will be described later.
In addition, when the content (actual data) of a document is required for information disclosure processing (IDS submission), it can be acquired from the packaging DB 112.

4) Calling attention to another person in charge When the user who is viewing the search result screen is not the person in charge of the “IDS” item, it is possible to call attention to the person in charge.
An “IDS alert” button is arranged at the upper right of the search result screen of FIGS.
By selecting the “IDS alert” button, it is possible to alert the person in charge of the information disclosure compulsory country project in the related project that “IDS must be submitted”. After selecting a document to be registered in the IDS using the check box, pressing the “IDS alert” button can alert the person in charge of the corresponding information disclosure obligation country case to IDS.
For example, the person in charge can be automatically identified by inserting the person-in-charge identification information for identifying the person in charge of the application case into the application case file.

・ You can call attention by email to the person in charge. For example, a table is prepared in which the person in charge's e-mail address and the case number are shown correspondingly. In this way, it is possible to automatically send mail to the person in charge by referring to this table.
For example, the application case file shown in FIG. 14 described later has person identification information for identifying the person in charge along with the case information. Also, the general information of the person in charge, such as the mail address, is mastered including the person-in-charge identification information, and the person-in-charge master file is created. In this way, the application case file and the person in charge master file are linked by the person in charge identification information. That is, based on the application case file, the person-in-charge identification information of the case can be determined, and the mail address of the person in charge can be extracted from the person-in-charge master file.

-You may call attention by writing to the "ToDoList" table of the person in charge.
The “ToDoList” table is prepared for each person in charge, and is a table listing the processing contents to be performed by the person in charge. For example, a table representing the path and file name of the person in charge in the “ToDoList” table and the project number is prepared. In this way, by referring to this table, it is possible to automatically write to the “ToDoList” table of the person in charge.

As described above, for example, by storing the path of the work table (“ToDoList” table) representing the work to be performed by the person in charge or the alert destination information represented by the mail address of this person in charge (attention) It is easy to call attention to the first storage unit) and other persons in charge.
Here, the “ToDoList” table can be generated indirectly. For example, the work to be performed by the person in charge is made into a database by the person in charge and its deadline, deadline name, etc. Then, a “ToDoList” table can be generated by searching from this database using the person in charge name as a key.
Of course, as described above, an alert may be issued to alert the application information management system 100 itself that is not addressed to a specific individual but also shares other persons in charge. As an example, when the person in charge logs into the application information management system 100 from the terminal 123, the presence of the disclosure required information is displayed as alert information on the alert information display area. As a result, the person in charge is alerted.

7, FIG. 8A, and FIG. 8B correspond to FIG. 3, FIG. 4A, and FIG. 4B, respectively, and are other examples of search result screens that display a list of documents and disclosed documents. FIG. 9 is a diagram corresponding to FIG. 6 and showing a search result screen in a state where the list of documents in FIG. 7 is sorted by “document name”.
In this example, there are a plurality of applications to the disclosure obligation country in the related application. In FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B, the disclosed document with the project number “P0500001 AU” is displayed. By selecting the part of the project number “P0500001 AU”, the disclosed document can be displayed by switching the project number to another application to the disclosure obligation country.

(Details of document table generation)
FIG. 10A is a flowchart showing an example of details of step S12 in FIG. 2A. FIG. 10B is a flowchart showing another example of details of step S12 of FIG. 2A. Since the flowcharts of FIGS. 10A and 10B are not essentially different, the details of step S12 of FIG. 2A will be described below based on FIG. 10A.

  11 to 13 are schematic views showing a document table generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. The document table shown in FIGS. 11 to 13 substantially corresponds to the display of search results of “documents” shown in FIG. However, in FIGS. 11 to 13, for the sake of clarity, only the items “item number”, “category”, “document type”, and “document name” among the items in FIG. 3 and the like are shown. Since the search result as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed, items such as “Category”, “Submit / Receive” other than “Case Number”, “Category”, “Document Type”, and “Document Name” are actually included. A containing literature table is generated.

A. Acquisition of information disclosure obligation country (IDS system target country) (step S21)
Obtain information on the names of countries that have obligations to disclose information. For example, information related to the information disclosure system (IDS system) is prepared as a “country-specific system information master” table, and the name of the information disclosure obligation country (the country where the IDS system exists) is acquired from this table. Currently, only the United States (US) and Australia (AU) are obligated to disclose information, but if the information obligatory country fluctuates (increase or decrease), add or change the “country name” to this master, Yes. That is, by changing the master, it is possible to add or change information disclosure obligation countries without modifying the program itself.
The “country-specific system information master” table may be separate from or integrated with the application file.

B. Extract related items (step S22)
Searches and extracts a case (family case) related to the selected case from the foreign application case DB 122 and the domestic application case DB 132. The application case can be identified by the case number.

FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram showing an example of application case files stored in the foreign application case DB 122 and the domestic application case DB 132.
The application item file includes “basic information” and “priority information” of each item.

  Although omitted, the application file includes “category”, “document type”, “document name”, “submission / receipt”, “IDS submission”, “IDS target” shown in FIG. ”And“ Issuing country ”information. In addition, the application matter file is updated by additionally registering document information (such as “category” of documents) for each case.

The basic information is the basic information for each application case, including “reference number”, “four law categories”, “case number”, “application number”, “application country”, “institution”, “original application number”. "," Parent application number ".
The column “reference number” is a number assigned to the application in the company or patent office.
The “four-law classification” column is a column indicating which jurisdiction of the patent, utility model, design, or trademark the application is for.
The “case number” column is an information column for identifying the application case, and is the same as FIG. 3 and FIG.
The “application number” column is a column representing the application number of the application case.

  The columns of “application country” and “institution” are fields indicating the application country of the application and the procedural institution (for example, receiving office), respectively. Depending on the contents of the fields of “application country” and “organization”, whether the application is a normal domestic application or a regional application (procedure with international organizations such as PCT, EP) It is possible to determine which of the engines is.

  Here, “application country” and “institution” are set as separate columns, but these two can be combined into one column. That is, “application country” and “institution” are treated as the same object, and for example, both a country code such as “KOR” and an organization code such as “PCT” and “EP” can be inserted. In other words, if a country code such as “KOR” is inserted in this field, it is interpreted as a national application to “application country”, and if an institution code such as “PCT” or “EP” is inserted, an international “ Interpreted as a regional application to an “institution”.

The column “parent application number” is used when the application case is a divisional application, a change application, and a continuation application, and an application number for identifying the parent application that is the basis of the division of the application case is inserted. Divisional application / change application / continuation application, identified by the application type code in the “Four statutes” column.
In the “original application number” column, an application number for identifying the original application of the application is inserted. The “original application” here refers to the basis of the parent application (if the parent application is a divisional application, etc.) Application).

The “priority information” is information related to the priority claim (Paris priority / domestic priority) of each application, and includes “application country” and “application number”.
“Application country” and “application number” represent the application country and application number of the basic application of the application. These “application country” and “application number” are not necessarily one set, and may be two, or three or more sets. It is possible to apply for priority based on multiple applications.

Depending on the “original application number”, “parent application number”, “priority information” (“application country”, “application number”), and “four law classifications”, the jurisdiction of the application and the (broadly) parent application Identification and relationships are represented. In other words, depending on whether or not the application number information is inserted in the columns of “original application number”, “parent application number”, and “priority information”, the application matter is changed from the parent application / continuation application, divisional application, priority application It is possible to determine whether the application is a right claim. Further, the parent application can be identified by the inserted application number.
As can be seen from the above, information related to related matters includes "Four categories", "Original application number", "Parent application number", "Priority information"("Applicationcountry","Applicationnumber"). it can.

The procedure for extracting selected items will be described below.
(1) Searching for a parent case A search for a related case directly related to the selected case, particularly, a related case (parent case) that is one level higher than the selected case will be described.
The case where the application number of the selected case matches the “application number” of the “basic information” is the selected case itself. In this case, the parent case of the selected case can be specified by “original application number”, “parent application number”, and “priority information”.

(2) Retrieval of child items A search for related items directly related to the selected item, particularly a related item (child item) one level lower than the selected item will be described.
A case where the application number of the selected case matches any of “original application number”, “parent application number”, and “application number” (“priority information”) is a child case of the selected case. In this case, the selected case can be specified by the “application number” of the “basic information”.

(3) Search for related cases that are indirectly related to the selected case Further search for cases that are indirectly related to the selected case, that is, two or more of the selected cases, upper or lower cases (for example, grandchild cases) To do. This search is performed by searching for a parent case and a grandchild case of the related cases searched in 1) and 2). As a result, the parent item and grandchild item of the related item searched for are searched. In this way, this process is continued until there is no new related item to be searched.
As described above, related items that are directly or indirectly related to the selected item are searched. In addition, “case number”, “category”, “document name”, and the like of related cases are extracted.

(4) Retrieval of Corresponding Cases with Selected Case and Parent Application in Common A case where the selected case and the parent application are common, that is, retrieval of the corresponding case will be described. For example, each of the divisional applications when multiple divisional applications are filed from the parent application, and each priority when the priority of multiple countries is claimed for the parent application and applications are filed in these multiple countries. Refers to rights claim applications.

Considering the example of priority applications to multiple countries based on Japanese applications, first check which country has claimed priority for each application in the corresponding country, and Search the base country and extract the priority application in Japan. Then, the priority claim applications to which the application numbers of the same Japanese application (that is, the parent application) are assigned are extracted as corresponding cases, sorted by the application numbers of the Japanese applications.
Here, the priority claim applications are extracted, but similarly, the divisional applications, the changed applications, and the continuation applications can be extracted.

  In addition, when a parent application does not exist, such as when applying to multiple countries at the same time without a basic application, the corresponding cases are extracted from basic information such as `` reference number '' within the company or patent office, and each case is extracted. Associate relationships.

C. Generation of document table (steps S23 and S24)
(1) Confirmation of the existence of a case in a country that is obligated to disclose information (step S23)
It is determined whether the extracted related case includes an application case to the information disclosure obligation country (IDS target country). If there is no application to the information disclosure obligation country, the process ends.

(2) Generation of document table (S24, FIG. 11)
If the determination in step S23 is “Yes”, a document table is generated. That is, all the case numbers of related cases are extracted, and a “document table” is generated.
This document table can be substantially used for the search result display shown in FIG. 3 (information of columns such as “document type” and “submission / reception” can be added to FIG. 11). At this point, however, information for alert display (for example, information in the “IDS required” column) is not included.

D. Generation of disclosed document table (step S25, FIG. 12, FIG. 15 to FIG. 17)
A disclosed document table is generated. That is, a “disclosed document table” is generated for each case in the information disclosure obligation country (FIGS. 15 to 17). Note that the “disclosed document table” is also generated when the case information is called in step S12a of FIG. 2B.
This disclosed document table can be substantially used for the search result display shown in FIG. 4 (information such as “document type” and “submission / reception” can be added to FIG. 15 and the like).

(1) Confirmation of disclosed document (IDS registered document) (FIG. 12)
Disclosed literature is confirmed. Specifically, the disclosed literature is confirmed as follows. An IDS presence / absence column (area (column)) for storing information of IDS registration “already” / “not yet” is added to the literature table. For example, zero “0” is inserted as an initial value. In this example, since there are one Australian application and two US applications, three IDS presence / absence columns “AU”, “US1”, and “US2” are added correspondingly.

IDS registration is not required for documents registered in the case of the information disclosure obligation country itself. For this reason, a flag “1” indicating that registration is not required is set in the corresponding area on the “document table”. In this example, a document with number (n) 0-4, a document with number (n) 7-9, and a document with number (n) 10-11 are the Australian application “AU” and the US application “US1”, respectively. ”And“ US2 ”, flag“ 1 ”is set.
Note that this process may be performed in step S26 before the subsequent extraction of undisclosed documents.

(2) A disclosed document table (IDS document table) is generated.
A document that has been disclosed (IDS registration) in the information disclosure obligation country is extracted from the document table, and the disclosed document table is generated by creating a table for each “case number”. 15 to 17 are disclosed document tables corresponding to the Australian application “AU”, the US applications “US1”, and “US2”, respectively.

E. Extraction of undisclosed documents (step S26, FIG. 13)
Undisclosed documents (unregistered IDS documents) are extracted. Specifically, this extraction is performed as follows.

(1) Standardization of document name notation Standardize document name notation. Even in the same document, there may be a difference in half-width / full-width, uppercase / lowercase, for example, in the title. For this reason, for example, half-width characters are aligned to lower-case characters, and differences in the input format of document names by the user are absorbed. This is for the convenience of comparing the document names in the subsequent extraction of undisclosed documents.

(2) Extraction of undisclosed documents Undisclosed documents (unregistered IDS documents) are extracted.
It is checked by comparing the document names on the document table and the IDS document table whether all documents of the related item (family) are registered as “IDS”. If there is a document that is not registered as “IDS”, this is extracted as an undisclosed document.

1) Select a document on the document table and determine whether the document is registered in the disclosed document table.
This determination is made for each disclosed document table, and the registered flag “1” is set. In this example, the registered flag “1” in the columns “AU”, “US1”, “US2” corresponding to the disclosed document tables corresponding to the Australian application “AU”, the US applications “US1”, and “US2”. Is set.

2) For all documents on the document table, a determination is made as to whether or not there is registration in the disclosed document table, and a registered flag “1” corresponding to this determination is additionally set.
In this example, as shown in FIG. 13, the flag “1” is additionally set for “US1” and “US2” for the document with the number (n) 0. For documents with numbers (n) 1 and 3, “US1” is additionally set with a flag “1”. For the document whose number (n) is 4, the flag “1” is additionally set in “AU”, “US1”, and “US2”. Hereinafter, as illustrated in FIG. 13, a flag “1” is additionally set for documents having numbers (n) 4 to 6 and 8 to 10.

3) Extraction of undisclosed document (unregistered IDS document) An undisclosed document (unregistered IDS document) is extracted by confirming the IDS registration status in the IDS presence / absence column of the document table. A document in which all the IDS presence / absence columns are not filled is an undisclosed document. In this example, since there are three IDS presence / absence columns, the flags in these columns are added, and a document whose addition result does not reach 3 becomes an undisclosed document. Numbers (n) 1 to 3, 5 to 7, 9, and 11 are undisclosed documents.

E. Alert process (step S27)
When there is even one undisclosed document (document not registered in IDS), an alerting process is performed. For example, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 6, “US” or the like is entered in the “IDS Required” field or is color-coded.

As described above, in the present embodiment, related cases are searched from the selected cases, and documents corresponding to the related cases are extracted. As a result, it becomes easy to investigate the leakage of information disclosure processing (IDS processing) in the application case to the disclosure obligation country by the person in charge.
Further, by generating a document table and checking the documents in this table, it is possible to automatically detect omissions in information disclosure processing (IDS processing) and call attention. As a result, the labor of investigating the omission of IDS processing in the application case to the disclosure obligation country by the person in charge is reduced. In addition, it is possible to prevent omission of instructions to local agents.
Using the search result screen, you can copy the information of the document to the application file of the application project in the disclosure obligation country. For this reason, after the information disclosure is required (from the occurrence of IDS), the time until the processing of the case of the disclosure obligation country is shortened, and the information disclosure procedure (IDS registration work) to the case of the disclosure obligation country is reduced. The

(Second Embodiment)
A second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The application information management system 100 according to the present embodiment itself and the outline of its operation are represented in FIGS. 1 and 2 as in the first embodiment.

  FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram corresponding to FIG. 5 and showing an example of the relationship between related applications (patent families). Here, the US applications “US1”, “US2”, and “US3” are related to a parent application, a child application, and a grandchild application.

  Here, it is assumed that the “disclosed document (IDS document)” display is selected in the document search request in step S11 of FIG. Furthermore, the selected case is an application case to an information disclosure obligation country, and an application case to the same country is set as a parent application. That is, it is assumed that the item “US1”, “US2”, “US3”, or “US4” in FIG. 18 is selected.

Based on the selected application item (selected item), disclosed documents related to the application item (related item) related to the selected item are extracted. An extracted table of disclosed documents (disclosed document table) is generated, and the disclosed documents are displayed based on the generated disclosed document table.
19A and 19B are diagrams illustrating an example of a search result screen that displays a list of disclosed documents corresponding to FIGS. 4A and 4B.
On the search result screen of FIG. 19A, a “copy literature” button is arranged at the upper right.
By selecting the “copy document” button, a parent-child document copy screen is displayed that enables copying of the disclosed document from the parent case to the child case.
FIG. 20 shows an example of a parent-child document copy screen. As “copy source document information” and “copy destination document information”, a list of IDS documents in the parent application and the child projects is displayed.
By selecting the “check box” on the left side of “copy source document information” to display “V” and pressing the “add” button, it is possible to copy the document between the parent and child.

Here, as the “priority priority application case number”, the case number of the parent case immediately above the child case is represented. For example, if the child case is “US2”, the case number of “US1” is inserted as “case number of priority basic application” if the child case is “US3”.
However, when there are a plurality of parent cases, it is possible to select a plurality of cases appropriately by pressing “P050004 US” (text box) of “priority basic application case number”.
Other project numbers that are not registered as families may be specified directly in the text box. In this way, the application information can be called and used by any other party by calling a different project number from the processed project.

(Other embodiments)
Embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can be expanded and modified. The expanded and modified embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
For example, as described above, as related applications, substantial applications that have no legal relationship can be included in the related applications.
Furthermore, the application information management system 100 can include not only patent applications but also applications relating to utility model registration, design registration, and trademark registration. In the future, it is possible to deal with cases where “information disclosure obligations” are established for utility model registration, design registration, and trademark registration, and “documents” of related applications can be extracted for use by applicants.

In the application information management system 100 according to the above embodiment, the foreign system 120 and the domestic system 130 are separated. However, the foreign system 120 and the domestic system 130 may be configured integrally.
That is, the document file generation unit 124, the document arrangement changing unit 125, the information disclosure alerting unit 134, the information disclosure alerting unit 127, 134, the foreign matter search unit 128, and the domestic matter search unit 135 are divided into the domestic portion and the foreign portion. The functions may be separated or may be integrated and shared. Further, the foreign application matter DB 122 and the domestic application matter DB 132 may be either separated or integrated and used in a shared manner.

It is a block diagram showing the application information management system which concerns on the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart showing an example of the outline | summary of the operation | movement procedure of the application information management system of FIG. It is a flowchart showing the other example of the outline | summary of the operation | movement procedure of the application information management system of FIG. It is a figure showing an example of the search result screen which displays the list of literature. It is a figure showing an example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a figure showing an example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a schematic diagram showing the relationship of the related application corresponding to the literature of FIG. It is a figure showing the search result screen of the state which sorted the list of the literature of FIG. It is a figure showing the other example of the search result screen which displays the list of literature. It is a figure showing the other example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a figure showing the other example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a figure showing the search result screen of the state which sorted the list of the literature of FIG. It is a flowchart showing an example of the detail of step S12 of FIG. It is a flowchart showing the other example of the detail of step S12 of FIG. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the application project file memorize | stored in foreign application project DB and domestic application project DB. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the disclosed literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the disclosed literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the disclosed literature table produced | generated by the procedure of FIG. 10A. It is a schematic diagram showing an example of the relationship of a related application. It is a figure showing an example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a figure showing an example of the search result screen which displays the list of disclosed literature. It is a figure showing an example of a parent-child document copy screen.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Application information management system, 110 ... Packaging system, 111 ... Packaging system main body, 112 ... Packaging bag DB, 113 ... Terminal, 114 ... Packaging search part, 120 ... Foreign system, 121 ... Foreign system body, 122 ... Foreign application project DB, 123 ... terminal, 124 ... document file generating unit, 125 ... document arrangement changing unit, 126 ... document information copying unit, 127 ... information disclosure alerting unit, 128 ... foreign project search unit, 130 ... domestic system, 131 ... Domestic system main body, 132 ... Domestic application matter DB, 133 ... Terminal, 134 ... Information disclosure warning part, 135 ... Domestic matter search part, 140 ... Network

Claims (7)

First case identification information for identifying the first application case, document identification information for identifying a document related to the first application case, and a second application case associated with the first application case An application matter storage unit for storing second item identification information;
From the application case storage unit, a document extraction unit that extracts a document related to an application case that is directly or indirectly related to one application case, and
A display unit for displaying the extracted document;
An application information management system comprising: A disclosure target document storage unit for storing a disclosure target document to be disclosed;
A document information copying unit that copies the extracted document information to the disclosure target document storage unit;
The application information management system according to claim 1, further comprising: The application case storage unit further stores application country identification information for identifying an application country of the first application case, and document disclosure identification information for identifying presence or absence of information disclosure of the document,
A disclosure obligation country storage unit for storing disclosure obligation country identification information for identifying the disclosure obligation country,
The application information management system according to claim 1, further comprising: a disclosure target document extraction unit that extracts an undisclosed document that is not disclosed in the information disclosure obligation country from the extracted document. The application information management system according to claim 3, wherein the display unit displays the extracted undisclosed document separately from other documents. The application item storage unit further stores person identification information for identifying a person in charge of the first application item;
An alert destination storage unit for storing alert destination information represented by a path of a work table representing work to be performed by the person in charge, or an email address of the person in charge;
A transmitting unit that transmits information on undisclosed documents extracted from the storage unit to the stored alert destination;
The application information management system according to claim 3, further comprising: First case identification information for identifying the first application case, document identification information for identifying a document related to the first application case, and a second application case associated with the first application case Extracting a document relating to an application case that is directly or indirectly related to one application case from the application case storage unit that stores the second case identification information;
Displaying the extracted documents;
An application information management method comprising: First case identification information for identifying the first application case, document identification information for identifying a document related to the first application case, and a second application case associated with the first application case Extracting a document relating to an application case that is directly or indirectly related to one application case from the application case storage unit that stores the second case identification information;
Displaying the extracted documents;
A program for running a computer.

Images