JP2013210835A - Search formula validity determination device, patent search device, search formula validity determination method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a search formula validity determination device in which even a person who does not have sufficient knowledge can perform an appropriate search when creating a patent search formula.SOLUTION: A search formula validity determination device includes: a rule storage part 101 capable of storing one or more patent classification relation rules, which are rules related to two or more relations which can be included in a patent search formula; a reception part 102 for receiving a patent search formula including two or more patent classifications; a patent classification inclusion information acquisition part 104 for acquiring patent classification information which is information including two or more patent classifications out of the patent search formula; a determination part 106 for determining whether or not the patent classification inclusion information accords with one or more patent classification relation rules by applying the patent classification inclusion information to one or more patent classification relation rules in the rule storage part 101; and an output part 107 for outputting a determination result of the determination part 106. With the patent search formula validity determination device 1, when creating a patent search formula, it can be determined whether or not it is an appropriate combination of patent classifications.

Description

  The present invention relates to a search expression validity determination device for determining the validity of a patent classification included in a patent search expression.

  In a conventional patent search, an apparatus for searching a patent publication using a patent search formula has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-250090

  However, in a conventional patent search device or the like, when creating a patent search formula at the time of a patent search, an appropriate search cannot be performed without a high level of knowledge about the search target. In particular, it is difficult for beginners to use the patent classification, and it is impossible to perform an appropriate search by misusing the usage method.

  The search expression validity determination device according to the first aspect of the present invention includes a rule storage unit that can store one or more patent classification relationship rules that are rules relating to a relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in the patent search expression; Receiving section for receiving a patent search formula including a patent classification, a patent classification inclusion information acquiring section for acquiring patent classification inclusion information which is information including two or more patent classifications from the patent search formula, and storing patent classification inclusion information as rules A determination unit that applies to one or more patent classification relationship rules, and determines whether the patent classification inclusion information matches any one or more patent classification relationship rules, and an output unit that outputs a determination result of the determination unit And a retrieval formula validity judgment device.

  With this configuration, the user can know whether or not a combination of two or more patent classifications included in the patent search formula is appropriate. As a result, for example, when a combination of two or more patent classifications is not appropriate, the search formula can be corrected as appropriate, and an appropriate search can be performed.

  Further, in the search expression validity determination device of the second invention, the patent classification inclusion information includes two or more patent classifications and a logical operator relating two or more patent classifications to the first invention. The patent classification relation rule is information, and is a search expression validity determination device that is a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that are not AND-operated.

  With this configuration, the user can know that an inappropriate AND operation of two or more patent classifications is included in the patent search expression. As a result, for example, an AND operation of an inappropriate patent classification in the patent search formula can be corrected.

  Further, in the third aspect of the present invention, the validity expression of the retrieval formula is such that, for the second invention, the patent classification relation rule is a rule indicating two or more different types of patent classifications that are not ANDed. It is a sex determination device.

  With this configuration, the user can know whether or not the combination of different types of patent classifications by AND operation is inappropriate.

  Further, in the fourth aspect of the present invention, the search expression validity judgment device is a search expression for the second invention, wherein the patent classification relation rule is a rule indicating two or more patent classifications of the same type that are not AND-operated. It is a validity judgment device.

  With this configuration, the user can know whether or not the combination of patent classifications of the same type by the AND operation is inappropriate.

  The fifth aspect of the present invention is a co-occurrence that can store one or more co-occurrence frequency information, which is information related to the co-occurrence frequency of two or more patent classifications, with respect to the first invention. A frequency information storage unit is further provided, and the patent classification relation rule is a retrieval formula validity judgment device that is a rule that acquires two or more patent classifications that are large enough to satisfy a predetermined condition of the co-occurrence frequency.

  With this configuration, the user can know whether or not the combination of patent classifications included in the patent search formula is appropriate. Specifically, for example, the user can know one or more patent classifications having a large co-occurrence frequency with the patent classification included in the patent search formula.

  In addition, the retrieval formula validity judgment device of the sixth aspect of the present invention is greater than or equal to the fifth aspect in that the patent classification included in the patent classification inclusion information and the co-occurrence frequency satisfy a predetermined condition. A high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit that acquires patent classification from the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit, and a patent classification output unit that outputs one or more patent classifications acquired by the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit This is a retrieval formula validity judgment device.

  With this configuration, the user can know the patent classification that is considered suitable for combination with the patent classification included in the search expression. As a result, for example, the proposed patent classification can be included in the search formula.

  In addition, in the seventh aspect of the invention, the search expression validity determination device, in contrast to the sixth invention, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit excludes patent classifications that match the patent classifications included in the patent classification inclusion information. It is a retrieval formula validity judgment device that acquires patent classifications.

  With this configuration, it is possible to output only patent classifications useful for the user.

  In addition, in the eighth aspect of the invention, the search expression validity determination device has one or more patent classifications included in the patent search expression for any of the first to seventh inventions: IPC, FI, F-term, US It is a search expression validity judgment device that is a patent classification of any one or more of class and ECLA.

Moreover, the patent search device of the ninth invention uses one or more patents with respect to any one of the first to eighth inventions by using the search formula validity determination device and the patent search formula received by the receiving unit. A patent search apparatus including a search unit that searches for documents and a patent document output unit that outputs one or more patent documents searched by the search unit.
In addition, in the ninth aspect of the patent search device, for any one of the first to eighth inventions, the accepting unit also accepts a patent search formula changed according to the determination result, and determines the validity of the search formula. An apparatus; a search unit that searches for one or more patent documents using the changed patent search formula received by the reception unit; and a patent document output unit that outputs one or more patent documents searched by the search unit This is a patent search device.
With this configuration, for example, the user can search with a changed patent search formula.

  With this configuration, a patent search using a more appropriate search formula can be performed.

  According to the retrieval formula validity judgment device and the like according to the present invention, it is possible to know whether or not the combination of patent classifications included in the patent retrieval formula is appropriate.

Conceptual diagram of a system including a patent search device according to Embodiment 1 Block diagram of patent search apparatus in the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the patent search device in the same embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the judgment part in the embodiment The figure which shows the example of the patent classification relation rule in the embodiment The figure which shows the example of data stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage part in the embodiment The figure which shows the example of data memorize | stored in the patent document storage part in the embodiment The figure which shows the example of a display of the screen which inputs the information which the reception part in the embodiment receives The figure which shows the example of an output screen of the information which each output part output in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the external appearance of the computer system in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of a structure of the computer system in the embodiment

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a retrieval formula validity determination device and the like will be described with reference to the drawings. In addition, since the component which attached | subjected the same code | symbol in embodiment performs the same operation | movement, description may be abbreviate | omitted again.

(Embodiment 1)
In the present embodiment, a patent search device 2 including a search formula validity determination device 1 that determines the validity of a combination of patent classifications included in a patent search formula and outputs the determination result will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of a system including a patent search apparatus 2 in the present embodiment. In FIG. 1, a patent search device 2 and one or more user terminals 3 are connected via a network 100. The network 100 is a wired or wireless communication line, such as the Internet, an intranet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a public telephone line, or the like. The user terminal 3 may be any terminal that can be connected to the network 100. For example, the user terminal 3 may be a desktop personal computer, a notebook personal computer, a smartphone, or a PDA.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the patent search apparatus 2 in the present embodiment. The patent search device 2 includes a search expression validity determination device 1, a search unit 110, a patent document storage unit 111, and a patent document output unit 112. The search formula validity determination device 1 includes a rule storage unit 101, a reception unit 102, a search formula storage unit 103, a patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104, a co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, a determination unit 106, an output unit 107, An occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and a patent classification output unit 109 are provided.

  The rule storage unit 101 may store one or more patent classification related rules. The patent classification relationship rule is a rule regarding the relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in the patent search formula. The patent search formula is information used to specify patent documents stored in a database or the like, including elements such as terms and patent classifications. The patent search formula may further include a logical operator that negates an element or relates two or more elements, and one or more logical operators and one or two or more elements as one block. You may include the block delimiter element which is the information for handling. In the present embodiment, the case where the patent search formula includes two or more patent classifications will be mainly described.

  The element may be a term, a patent classification, or a block element described later. The patent classification may be anything that classifies patent documents and can be used when searching. For example, the patent classification may be one of codes such as IPC, FI, F-term, US class, ECLA, or a part of the code. The part of the code may be, for example, a section, a class, a subclass, or a main group in the case of IPC. Further, the part of the code may be, for example, a theme code or a theme code and a viewpoint as long as it is F-term.

  The logical operator may be an AND operator, an OR operator, or a NOT operator. The AND operator is an operator for obtaining a product set of two elements. The OR operator is an operator for obtaining a union of two elements. The NOT operator is an operator for obtaining a set that does not include a set of specific elements.

  The block delimiter element may be a parenthesis or a text box on the graphical user interface. An area delimited by block delimiter elements is defined as a block element. For example, “(term A OR term B) AND term C” delimited by parentheses “(term A OR term B)” is a block element, and “(” and “)” are block delimiters. .

  The patent document is information relating to application documents such as patents filed with the Patent Office, such as patent gazettes, published patent gazettes, published patent gazettes, utility model gazettes, and the like. The language and data format of patent documents are not limited. Each patent document may be the entirety of a patent publication or the like, or may be a part of a patent publication or the like.

  The relationship between patent classifications is a state in which two or more patent classifications are related by a logical operator. The patent classification relationship rule may be any rule as long as it indicates whether or not the relationship between two or more patent classifications is an appropriate relationship or an inappropriate relationship.

  For example, the patent classification relationship rule may be a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that are not AND-operated, or may be a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that should be AND-calculated. Note that a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that do not perform an AND operation is synonymous with a rule that indicates that two or more specific patent classifications are not subjected to an AND operation. Further, a rule indicating two or more patent classifications to be AND-operated is equivalent to a rule indicating that two or more specific patent classifications should be AND-operated.

  When the patent classification relation rule is a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that do not perform an AND operation, the rule may be a rule that indicates two or more patent classifications of different types that do not perform an AND operation. The rule may indicate two or more patent classifications.

  Further, the patent classification relation rule may be a rule related to an OR operation, or may be a rule related to both an OR operation and an AND operation. Further, the patent classification relationship rule may be a rule that two or more patent classifications are acquired so that the co-occurrence frequency of two or more patent classifications satisfies a predetermined condition. Co-occurrence means that an element and an element appear together in an arbitrary document or sentence. The co-occurrence frequency of patent classifications in the present embodiment is the frequency at which two or more patent classifications are given to one patent gazette. Here, the frequency may be a number of times or a ratio. Further, the predetermined condition is, for example, a condition having a co-occurrence frequency of patent classification. For example, the predetermined condition may be that the number of times that patent classifications co-occur is greater than a threshold value, or that the ratio of patent classifications co-occurring may be higher than a threshold value.

  The description method of the patent classification relation rule is not limited. In other words, the patent classification relation rule may be an IF-THEN rule, may be expressed using a dedicated language for expressing the rule (hereinafter referred to as a rule language), and a known machine learning device (for example, Support) It may be the result of learning using Vector Machine or Bayesian estimation. The IF-THEN rule is a list of two or more patent classifications that should or should not be operated by AND or OR. The IF-THEN rule must not associate “F-term: 5B075PQ02” and “F-term: 2F029AA02” with AND, for example, “F-term: 5B075PQ02 and F-term: 2F029AA02 are not ANDed” rules, etc. It may be a rule expressing The rule language is a language that can express patent classification relationships using variables, functions, and the like. For example, the rule language acquires a function that can store patent classifications in variables, a function that can branch processing according to the value of a variable or constant, a function that operates on a character string, and the co-occurrence frequency of two or more patent classifications It is also possible to use a language provided with a function to perform The rule storage unit 101 may store only one type of patent classification rule, or may store two or more types of patent classification rules.

  The rule storage unit 101 may store the determination result message in a state associated with the patent classification relation rule. The determination result message is a message that presents the determination result to the user. For example, the determination result message is “AND operation of F-terms having different theme codes is not recommended”. Further, the rule storage unit 101 may store the importance of the patent classification relation rule in a state associated with the patent classification relation rule. The importance of the patent classification relation rule is, for example, information such as “warning (for example,“ 1 ”)” and “error (for example,“ 2 ”)”. “Warning” is a combination of patent classifications that are not recommended. It may be used for a rule, and “error” may be used for a rule of a combination of prohibited patent classifications. Also, the rule storage unit 101 may store the types of patent classification related rules in a state associated with the patent classification related rules. The type of the patent classification relationship rule is, for example, information such as “TRUE (for example,“ correct patent classification relationship ”) or“ FALSE (for example, “incorrect patent classification relationship”). “TURE” may be used for a rule for a combination of recommended patent classifications, and “FALSE” may be used for a rule for a combination of patent classifications that are not recommended. Further, the rule storage unit 101 may store improvement method information related to an improvement method for improving a patent search formula in association with a patent classification relation rule. The improvement method information is, for example, “a method for deleting one patent classification” or the like for a rule indicating that an AND operation is not performed when the front five characters of the F term are different. The improvement method information may be a function name, a method name, a program for performing improvement itself, or the like. The improvement method information may be expressed using a dedicated language as in the patent classification relation rule. For example, the rule storage unit 101 stores the patent classification relation rule, the importance of the patent classification relation rule, and the determination result message.

  Here, storage is a concept including long-term storage using a non-volatile recording medium and temporary storage using a volatile recording medium. The rule storage unit 101 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium. The same applies to other storage units described later. The process for storing the patent classification-related rules in the rule storage unit 101 does not matter. For example, the patent classification relationship rule may be stored in the rule storage unit 101 via a recording medium, and the patent classification relationship rule transmitted via a communication line or the like may be stored in the rule storage unit 101. Alternatively, the patent classification relationship rule input via the input device may be stored in the rule storage unit 101.

  The accepting unit 102 accepts a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications. In addition, the receiving unit 102 may receive an instruction for correcting the patent search expression, an instruction not to correct the patent search expression, or the like. Acceptance refers to accepting information input from an input device such as a keyboard, mouse, or touch panel, receiving information transmitted via a wired or wireless communication line, and reading from a recording medium such as an optical disk, magnetic disk, or semiconductor memory. It is a concept that includes accepting information that has been issued. In the present embodiment, the accepting unit 102 receives a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications transmitted from the user terminal 3 via the network 100. The receiving unit 102 stores the received patent search formula in the search formula storage unit 103. The accepting unit 102 may store the patent search formula received in the search formula storage unit 103 as it is, may store the term and the patent classification separately, and stores the patent search formula in a tree structure (Expression Tree or the like). It may be converted and stored. In the present embodiment, the receiving unit 102 stores the patent search formula received by the receiving unit 102 in the search formula storage unit 103 as it is. The receiving unit 102 may also receive a patent search expression that is changed according to the determination result. The patent search formula changed according to the determination result may be a patent search formula in which the determination unit 106 improves the patent classification inclusion information, and the output unit 105 or the patent classification output unit 109 displays the determination result and the patent classification. After the output, the search formula may be improved by the user based on the determination result.

  The search expression storage unit 103 stores the patent search expression received by the reception unit 102. The search expression storage unit 103 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium.

  The patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 acquires patent classification inclusion information that is information including two or more patent classifications from the patent search formula received by the reception unit 102. The patent classification inclusion information is information including two or more patent classifications and a logical operator that relates the two or more patent classifications. For example, the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 acquires by deleting a part related to one or more terms from the patent search formula. Further, the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 includes a part related to a term from the patent search expression and the remaining patent classification inclusion information of the patent search expression in which one or more patent classifications are deleted (two or more in the deleted patent search expression). May need to be included). Note that the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 normally deletes a logical operator or a block delimiter element when it does not make sense when acquiring patent classification inclusion information. Further, the patent classification inclusion information acquiring unit 104 deletes the logical operation 4 when losing the object to be operated by the logical operator. Specifically, when “keyword A” is deleted from “keyword A AND (patent classification A OR patent classification B)”, “AND (patent classification A OR patent classification B)” is acquired. The AND operator is deleted because there are no more objects to be related, and if the AND operator is deleted, the block delimiter element becomes meaningless, so it is deleted, and “patent classification A OR patent classification B” may be acquired. .

  The patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 may acquire two or more patent classification inclusion information. For example, when patent classification inclusion information including three or more patent classifications is acquired in the above process, two or more patent classification inclusion information of a combination including two or more patent classifications may be acquired. Specifically, when the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 acquires the patent classification inclusion information “patent classification A OR patent classification B OR patent classification C”, the following three patent inclusion information “patent classification A OR patent classification” B ”,“ Patent Class A OR Patent Class C ”,“ Patent Class B OR Patent Class C ”and one or more patent inclusion information is acquired together with“ Patent Class A OR Patent Class B OR Patent Class C ” May be. The patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105 can store one or more co-occurrence frequency information, which is information related to the co-occurrence frequency of two or more patent classifications. The co-occurrence frequency information is information including two or more patent classifications and the co-occurrence frequency of the patent classification. The co-occurrence frequency of patent classification is the frequency at which a specific patent classification is given to one or more patent publications simultaneously with other patent classifications. Specifically, when “IPC: G06F17 / 30” is given to Patent Publication A and Patent Publication B and “G06F13 / 00” is given to Patent Publication A, “IPC: G06F17 / 30” Assume that a pair of “G06F13 / 00” co-occurs once. The frequency may be the number of times or a ratio. The ratio may be calculated by dividing the number of patent gazettes with patent classification pairs by the number of all patent gazettes, and the number of patent gazettes with patent classification pairs is either the patent classification. It may be calculated by dividing from the number of patent gazettes to which one is given.

  The co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105 is preferably a non-volatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium. The process in which the co-occurrence frequency information is stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105 does not matter. For example, the co-occurrence frequency information may be stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105 via a recording medium, and the co-occurrence frequency information transmitted via a communication line or the like is stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit. It may be stored at 105.

  The determination unit 106 applies the patent classification inclusion information to one or more patent classification relation rules stored in the rule storage unit 101, and determines whether the patent classification inclusion information matches any of the patent classification relation rules. To do. Further, when the patent inclusion information acquired by the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 is 2 or more, the determination unit 106 determines whether or not all of the acquired patent inclusion information matches any of the patent classification relation rules. You may judge. Applying to patent classification relation rules may be obtained by applying all patent classification relation rules from the rule storage unit 101, or may be obtained by applying some patent classification relation rules. The determination unit 106 may determine whether the patent classification inclusion information matches the rule using the co-occurrence information in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105.

  Further, when the patent classification inclusion information matches the patent classification relation rule associated with the improvement method information, the determination unit 106 may perform a process of improving the patent classification inclusion information according to the improvement method information. The determination unit 106 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the determination unit 106 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The output unit 107 outputs the determination result of the determination unit 106. The determination result is a result determined by the determination unit 106, which may be a matched patent classification relation rule, a matched patent classification inclusion information, or a mismatched patent classification inclusion information. Also good. If the patent classification inclusion information matches, the output unit 107 may output the patent classification inclusion information determined to have a problem, or may output the patent classification inclusion information determined to have no problem. good. In addition, when outputting the patent classification inclusion information determined to have a problem, the output unit 107 applies the improvement method information associated with the patent classification relation rule and outputs the improved patent classification inclusion information. Also good. The output unit 107 may output the importance of the patent classification relation rule of the rule associated with the matched patent classification rule, and outputs a determination result message of the rule associated with the matched patent classification rule It is also possible to output both pieces of information. Further, the output unit 107 may acquire and output a patent search formula stored in the search formula storage unit 103. The output unit 107 may output a search expression including the improved patent classification inclusion information to the reception unit 110.

  Here, output means display on a display, projection using a projector, printing with a printer, sound output, transmission to an external device, storage on a recording medium, other processing device or other program, etc. It is a concept including delivery of processing results. Further, the output unit 107 may transmit the determination result to the user terminal 3 through the network 100. The output unit 107 may or may not include an output device such as a display or a speaker. The output unit 107 can be realized by output device driver software, or output device driver software and an output device.

  The high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 acquires, from the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, one or more patent classifications that are large enough to satisfy a predetermined condition of the patent classification and the co-occurrence frequency included in the patent classification inclusion information. To do. It is preferable that the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 acquires the patent classification except for the patent classification that matches the patent classification included in the patent classification inclusion information. The high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 may acquire a patent classification that co-occurs with a combination of two or more patent classifications. The predetermined condition may be that the number of times of co-occurrence is greater than a threshold value or that the co-occurrence probability is higher than a threshold value. For example, when the number of co-occurrence is stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 may acquire a patent classification in which the number of co-occurrence is greater than a threshold. A predetermined number of patent classifications may be acquired in descending order of the number of times, or patent classifications included in a predetermined ratio may be acquired in descending order of the number of appearances. The threshold value may be a predetermined value, for example, or may be a value obtained by multiplying the maximum number of appearances by a number smaller than 1 (for example, 0.9 or 0.8). In addition, the predetermined number may be a predetermined number, for example, and the total number of terms acquired by the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 is a value smaller than 1 (for example, 0.01 or 0.00). (001 etc.) may be used. The high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 can be usually realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The patent classification output unit 109 outputs one or more patent classifications acquired by the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108. The patent classification output unit 109 may acquire and output a patent search formula stored in the search formula storage unit 103.

  The search unit 110 searches for one or more patent documents using the patent search formula received by the receiving unit 102. Since the search process is a known technique, a description thereof will be omitted. The search unit 110 acquires a patent document from among the patent documents stored in the patent document storage unit 111 in the patent search device 2 using a patent search formula, and specifies the patent document. Alternatively, it may be specified by transmitting a patent search expression to an external server device (not shown) via the network 100 and acquiring a search result. Searching for patent documents may be to acquire patent documents or to store information such as a patent document ID (for example, application number) for identifying patent documents in a storage unit (not shown). It is also possible to set a flag indicating that. Further, it is preferable that the search unit 110 performs a search using the changed patent search formula received by the receiving unit 102. The search unit 110 can usually be realized by an MPU, a memory, or the like. The processing procedure of the search unit 110 is usually realized by software, and the software is recorded in a recording medium such as a ROM. However, it may be realized by hardware (dedicated circuit).

  The patent document storage unit 111 stores two or more patent documents that can be searched by a patent search formula. In the patent document storage unit 111, all patent documents may be stored in an exhaustive manner, or a part of the patent documents may be stored. The process of storing patent documents in the patent document storage unit 111 does not matter. For example, it may be stored in the patent document storage unit 111 via a recording medium, or a patent document transmitted via the network 100 or the like may be stored in the patent document storage unit 111. The patent document storage unit 111 is preferably a nonvolatile recording medium, but can also be realized by a volatile recording medium.

  The patent document output unit 112 outputs one or more patent documents searched by the search unit 110. The patent document output unit may output the patent document ID specified by the search unit 110. The patent document output unit 112 may be considered as including or not including an output device such as a display or a speaker. The patent document output unit 112 may be implemented by output device driver software, or output device driver software and an output device.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the patent search apparatus 2 according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the operation will be described with reference to FIG.

  (Step S <b> 201) The receiving unit 102 determines whether a patent search expression including one or more term information and one or more patent classifications has been received from the user terminal 3. If a patent search formula is accepted, the process proceeds to step S202. If a patent search formula is not accepted, the process returns to step S201.

  (Step S <b> 202) The receiving unit 102 temporarily stores the received patent search formula in the search formula storage unit 103.

  (Step S203) The patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 deletes all the term parts from the patent search formula, and acquires patent classification inclusion information including two or more patent classifications. The patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 acquires all two or more combinations and includes two or more patent classifications if the patent classification inclusion information acquired at this time includes three or more patent classifications. A plurality of patent classification inclusion information may be acquired.

  (Step S204) The determination unit 106 applies all the patent classification relation rules stored in the rule storage unit 101 to the patent classification inclusion information acquired in step S203, and determines whether or not they match. Details of the determination by the determination unit 106 will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  (Step S205) The high-co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 acquires patent classifications that co-occur frequently with respect to the patent classification included in the patent classification inclusion information acquired by the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 in step S203. . For example, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 may acquire patent classifications that co-occur N times or more. N is an arbitrary natural number of 1 or more.

  (Step S206) The output unit 107 outputs the determination result determined in step S204.

  (Step S207) The patent classification output unit 109 outputs the many co-occurring patent classifications acquired in step S205.

  (Step S208) The accepting unit 102 judges whether or not the correction of the patent search formula from the user has been accepted. If correction of the patent search formula is accepted, the process goes to step S209, and if not accepted, the process returns to step S208. In this step, an instruction not to modify the patent search formula may be accepted. In such a case, the patent search formula accepted in step S201 is the final patent search formula.

  (Step S209) The search unit 110 acquires a final patent search formula. The final patent search formula is the corrected patent search formula or the patent search formula received in step S201.

  (Step S210) The search unit 110 searches for patent documents stored in the patent document storage unit 111 using a final patent search formula, and acquires a patent document ID.

  (Step S211) The patent document output unit 112 outputs the patent document acquired in Step S210 and ends the process.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the operation of the patent classification relationship rule determination (step S204) in FIG. 3 in the determination unit 106 of the patent search apparatus 2. Hereinafter, the determination process of the patent classification relation rule will be described with reference to FIG.

  (Step S <b> 301) The determination unit 106 acquires all stored patent classification-related rules from the rule storage unit 101.

  (Step S302) The determination unit 106 substitutes 1 for the counter m.

  (Step S303) The determination unit 106 determines whether or not the m-th patent classification relation rule exists among the patent classification relation rules acquired in Step S301. When the m-th patent classification relation rule exists, the process proceeds to step S304, and when it does not exist, the process returns to the upper process.

  (Step S304) The determination unit 106 determines whether the patent classification inclusion information acquired in Step S203 matches the m-th patent classification relation rule. If they match, the patent classification inclusion information and the patent classification relation rules that match the storage unit (not shown) are stored.

  (Step S305) The determination unit 106 increments the counter m and returns to step S303.

  Hereinafter, a specific operation of the patent search device 2 in the present embodiment will be described.

  In this specific example, FIG. 5 is a diagram showing patent classification-related rules stored in the rule storage unit 101. The table in FIG. 5 stores a large number of records having rule IDs, patent-related rules, rule types, importance levels of patent classification-related rules, and determination result messages. The patent-related rules of this example are expressed using a rule language. The rule language in this specific example is such that preprocessing is performed on the left side of “=>” (hereinafter referred to as the left side) and determination is performed on the right side of “=>” (hereinafter referred to as the right side). The preprocessing on the left side may be storing characters of patent classification in a variable, or storing the result of obtaining the co-occurrence frequency in a variable. In the determination on the right side, it is determined whether or not a match is made using the variable stored on the left side. The rule language in this specific example expresses the patent classification with elements before and after “:”. For example, [F term: 5B075PQ02] matches the patent classification of F term and the patent classification of 5B075PQ02. In addition, when expressing patent classifications, it is possible to use “*” to specify all types of patent classifications, or “?” To express part of the patent classification code. . Specifically, in the rule language, it is expressed as “*: G06F?” Or the like. “*: G06F?” Represents a patent classification starting with “G06F” in all code types. Further, the rule language in this specific example expresses a variable for storing one character or one numerical value in square brackets (“[] and“] ”). For example, [A] indicates that the variable is named A. Specifically, in the rule language, it is expressed as “F-term: [A] [B] [C] [D] [E]?” Or the like. If the patent classification inclusion information to be judged includes 5B075PQ02 which is the F term, [5] is [A], [B] is [B], [0] is [C], [D] “7” is stored in “E”, and “5” is stored in [E]. In addition, the rule language in this specific example can perform general four arithmetic operations, comparison operations, and logical operations, and each is expressed by a commonly used symbol such as “+”, “=”, or “<”. doing. In addition, the rule language in this specific example expresses a function that acquires the number of co-occurrence of patent classifications included in “()” with “Coincidence ()->” and stores it in the variable on the right side of “->”. ing. For example, in the case of “Coincidence (* :? OR * :?)-> [X]”, when any two patent classifications are related by OR, the number of co-occurrence of the two patent classifications is acquired. , [X]. Further, the rule language in this specific example expresses a function that is determined by “IF ()”. For example, when “IF ([A] = 5)” is set using the variable stored in [A], the patent classification inclusion information including the patent classification in which the first character of the F term is “5” is included. Is determined to match the patent classification related rules. Although not shown in FIG. 5, the left side or the right side may be a plurality of lines, a variable that can store a plurality of characters may be defined, and a function that can process a character string is defined. Alternatively, it may be expressed so as to be able to branch based on the determination result of IF (), and a function for repeatedly processing may be defined. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating the co-occurrence frequency information stored in the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105. The table of FIG. 6 stores a large number of records having two patent classifications and the number of co-occurrence times of the two patent classifications. In this specific example, the number of co-occurrence of two patent classifications is stored, but the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105 may store the number of co-occurrence of three or more patent classifications. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the patent documents stored in the patent document storage unit 111. The table of FIG. 7 includes a patent document ID, an invention name, a summary sentence, a claim sentence, an IPC, and the like. Here, the patent document ID is, for example, a publication number. In addition, although the patent document is shown by the record of the table | surface here, it cannot be overemphasized that the data structure is not ask | required.

  It is assumed that the user of the user terminal 3 operates a pointing device, a keyboard, etc., inputs a patent search formula as shown in FIG. 8, and then presses the “execute” button. Then, the patent search formula “database AND search AND (5B075PQ02 AND 2F029AA02)” is transmitted from the user terminal 3 to the patent search device 2. The transmitted patent search formula is received by the receiving unit 102 of the search formula validity determination apparatus 1 and stored in the search formula storage unit 103 (steps S201 and S202).

  When the patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit 104 detects that a new patent search expression is stored in the search expression storage unit 103, the patent classification inclusion information “5B075PQ02 AND” configured only by the patent classification among the patent search expressions. 2F029AA02 "is acquired and passed to the determination unit 106 and the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 (step S203).

  The determination unit 106 determines whether the rule in the rule storage unit 101 matches the passed patent classification inclusion information (step S204). Hereinafter, details of such processing will be described.

  When receiving the patent classification inclusion information, the determination unit 106 acquires all the patent classification related rules from the rule storage unit 101 (step S301). Then, the determination unit 106 determines whether the received patent classification inclusion information matches all the acquired patent classification relation rules one by one (steps S302 to S305).

  The first rule “rule ID: 1” is determined. The patent-related rule of “rule ID: 1” is a rule indicating that the relationship of patent classification for performing AND operation on F-terms having different theme codes is an error. “F-term: 5B075PQ02 AND F-term: 2F029AA02” matches the above patent-related rule of “rule ID: 1”. The determination unit 106 stores “rule ID: 1” and patent classification inclusion information in a storage unit (not shown). In the following, if it matches the patent-related rule, it is stored in the same manner. The second rule, “rule ID: 2”, is determined. “Rule ID: 2” is a rule indicating that the relationship of patent classification for performing an AND operation on F-terms having different viewpoints is correct. “F-term: 5B075PQ02 AND F-term: 2F029AA02” also matches the above patent-related rule of “rule ID: 2”. The third rule, “rule ID: 3”, is determined. “Rule ID: 3” is a rule indicating that when two arbitrary patent classifications are related by an OR operator, the relationship between the patent classifications in which the number of co-occurrence of the two patent classifications is less than 100 is incorrect. It is. Note that “F-term: 5B075PQ02” and “F-term: 2F029AA02” have a co-occurrence count of 100 or more. Therefore, “F-term: 5B075PQ02 AND F-term: 2F029AA02” does not match the above patent-related rule of “rule ID: 3”. In the same manner, all patent-related rules acquired are determined.

  When receiving the patent classification inclusion information, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 receives the patent classification with the high co-occurrence frequency corresponding to “F-term: 5B075PQ02” and “F-term: 2F029AA02”. It is assumed that 50 patent classifications including “IPC: G06F17 / 30” having a high co-occurrence frequency are acquired from 105. The high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 passes the acquired patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency and the number of times of co-occurrence to the patent classification output unit 109 (step S205).

  When the output unit 107 detects that the “rule ID” is stored in a storage unit (not shown), for example, the patent classification related rule relating to “rule ID: 1” from the rule storage unit 101 using the “rule ID” as a key. “Importance: error” and “judgment result message: FIs having different theme codes are related by AND operator” are transmitted to the user terminal 3 via the network 100 (step S206). . Then, the user terminal 3 receives and outputs the determination result message.

  Upon receiving a patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency, the patent classification output unit 109 transmits the patent classification to the user terminal 3 via the network 100 (step S207). Then, the user terminal 3 receives and outputs a patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency.

  Next, the user checks the output determination result message and the patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency, and inputs an improved patent search formula. Then, the user terminal 3 receives the improved patent search formula and transmits it to the patent search device 2.

  Next, the patent search device 2 receives the improved patent search formula (step S208). Then, the search unit 110 acquires an improved patent search formula (step S209). Next, the search unit 110 searches using the patent search formula and acquires one or more patent documents from the patent documents stored in the patent document storage unit 111 (step S210). The search unit 110 passes the acquired one or more patent documents to the patent document output unit 112. Next, when the patent document output unit 112 receives the patent document acquired by the search unit 110, the patent document output unit 112 transmits the patent document to the user terminal 3 via the network 100 (step S211). FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a display example in which information output by the output unit 107, the patent classification output unit 109, and the patent document output unit 112 is displayed on the user terminal 3.

  As described above, according to the search formula validity determination device 1 of the present embodiment, when creating a patent search formula, an inappropriate combination of two or more patent classifications can be checked. I can know. In addition, since the check is performed using the co-occurrence frequency of the patent classification, it becomes easy to create a patent search formula using an appropriate patent classification.

  Moreover, although the case where the patent search device 2 includes the patent document storage unit 111 has been described in the present embodiment, the patent search device 2 may not include the patent document storage unit 111. When the patent search device 2 does not include the patent document storage unit 111, the search unit 110 transmits a patent search expression to an external patent document search service through an external device or a network, and the acquired result Patent documents may be identified from

  In the present embodiment, the case where the search formula validity determination device 1 includes the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109 has been described. The co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109 may not be provided. If the search expression validity determination device 1 does not include the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109, the search expression validity determination device 1 that does not output a patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency It may be.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the search formula validity determination device 1 includes the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109 has been described. The validity determination device 1 may not include the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109. When the search expression validity determination device 1 does not include the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109, the rule storage unit 101 relates to the co-occurrence frequency. The search expression validity determination device 1 that does not store the patent classification relation rule may be used.

  The search formula validity determination device 1 according to the present embodiment includes a patent search formula generation device that accepts a keyword, outputs one or more related words corresponding to the keyword, and proposes a patent search formula corresponding to the keyword, The accepting unit 102 may accept the proposed patent search formula. The patent search expression generation device includes a related term information storage unit that stores one or more related term information having a term and a related term that is a term related to the term, and a keyword receiving unit that receives one or more keywords. From the related term information, a related term that is associated with a term that matches each of the keywords and does not include a character string that matches the keyword is selected as a keyword candidate used in a patent search formula. A candidate keyword acquisition unit acquired as a candidate keyword, a candidate keyword display unit that displays the candidate keyword acquired by the candidate keyword acquisition unit, and one or more of the candidate keywords acquired by the candidate keyword acquisition unit in a patent search formula A designation instruction receiving unit that accepts a designation instruction that is an instruction to designate a search keyword that is a keyword to be used; Patent document search expression generation unit that generates a patent search expression including candidate keywords designated by the designation instruction, patent search expression output unit that outputs the patent search expression, and technical document information that is information indicating a technical document One or more terms included in the document and one or more patent classification code information, which is information on a code indicating the classification of the patent for the technical document information, are stored in association with each technical document information. A patent classification code information search unit that searches for patent classification code information associated with a term that matches the search key from the term storage unit using the candidate keyword specified by the specification instruction as a search key, and the patent A patent classification code information selection unit that selects patent classification code information from the patent classification code information searched by the classification code information search unit using the number of appearances, and Huh search expression generating unit generates a patent search expression further including patent classification code information the patent classification code information selection section selects, it may be one. For details of the patent search expression generation device, see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-53516. In addition, when a patent search formula is received from the patent search formula generation device, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 obtains the patent classification code information acquired by the patent search formula generation device from the acquired patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency. You may delete and acquire. That is, it is preferable that the high-co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 acquires a patent class having a high co-occurrence frequency, except for the patent classification code information that has already been output by the search expression validity determination device 1.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the search formula validity determination device 1 includes the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109 has been described. The co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109 may not be provided. If the search expression validity determination device 1 does not include the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108 and the patent classification output unit 109, the search expression validity determination device 1 that does not output a patent classification having a high co-occurrence frequency It may be.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the search formula validity determination device 1 includes the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109 has been described. The validity determination device 1 may not include the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109. When the search expression validity determination device 1 does not include the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit 105, the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit 108, and the patent classification output unit 109, the rule storage unit 101 relates to the co-occurrence frequency. The search expression validity determination device 1 that does not store the patent classification relation rule may be used.

  In the present embodiment, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing by a single device (system), or by distributed processing by a plurality of devices. May be. In the present embodiment, it is needless to say that two or more communication means (such as the receiving unit 102) existing in one apparatus may be physically realized by one medium.

In addition, the program has a computer accessible to a rule storage unit that can store one or more patent classification relationship rules that are rules relating to a relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in a patent search formula for the invention, A reception unit that accepts a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications, a patent classification inclusion information acquisition section that acquires patent classification inclusion information that is information including two or more patent classifications from the patent search expression, and stores patent classification inclusion information as rules As a determination unit that determines whether the patent classification inclusion information matches one or more of the patent classification relationship rules, and an output unit that outputs the determination result of the determination unit It is a program to make it function.

  Further, although cases have been described with the present embodiment where the present invention is a server / client system, the present invention may be a server device in a server / client system or a stand-alone device. In the case of a stand-alone device, the receiving unit 102 may receive information input from an input device such as a keyboard, a mouse, or a touch panel. The output unit 107, the patent classification output unit 109, and the patent document output unit 112 may be a display on a display, projection using a projector, printing with a printer, or the like.

  In the present embodiment, each component may be configured by dedicated hardware, or a component that can be realized by software may be realized by executing a program. For example, each component can be realized by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or a semiconductor memory.

  In the program, the functions realized by the program do not include functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, functions that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem and an interface card in an acquisition unit that acquires information, an output unit that outputs information, and the like are not included in the functions realized by the program.

  FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that executes the program and implements the present invention according to the embodiment. The embodiment described above can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

  10, the computer system 1100 includes a computer 1101 including a CD-ROM drive 1105 and an FD drive 1106, a keyboard 1102, a mouse 1103, and a monitor 1104.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 1100. In FIG. 19, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 1105 and the FD drive 1106, a computer 1101 is connected to an MPU 1111, a ROM 1112 for storing a program such as a bootup program, and an MPU 1111. And a RAM 1113 that provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 1114 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, an MPU 1111, a bus 1115 that interconnects the ROM 1112, and the like. The computer 1101 may include a network card (not shown) that provides connection to the LAN.

  A program for causing the computer system 1100 to execute the functions of the present invention according to the above embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 1121 or the FD 1122, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 1105 or the FD drive 1106, and transferred to the hard disk 1114. May be. Instead, the program may be transmitted to the computer 1101 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 1114. The program is loaded into the RAM 1113 when executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 1121, the FD 1122, or the network.

  The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 1101 to execute the functions of the present invention according to the above-described embodiment. The program may include only a part of an instruction that calls an appropriate function (module) in a controlled manner and obtains a desired result. How the computer system 1100 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  As described above, the search expression validity determination device according to the present invention has an effect that it can be determined whether or not it is a combination of appropriate patent classifications when creating a patent search expression. Useful as.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Search formula validity judgment apparatus 2 Patent search apparatus 3 User terminal 101 Rule storage part 102 Reception part 103 Search formula storage part 104 Patent classification inclusion information acquisition part 105 Co-occurrence frequency information storage part 106 Judgment part 107 Output part 108 High co-occurrence Frequency patent classification acquisition unit 109 Patent classification output unit 110 Search unit 111 Patent document storage unit 112 Patent document output unit

Claims (11)

A rule storage unit that can store one or more patent classification relationship rules that are rules relating to a relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in the patent search formula;
A reception unit that accepts a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications;
Patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit for acquiring patent classification inclusion information that is information including two or more patent classifications from the patent search formula;
Applying the patent classification inclusion information to one or more patent classification relation rules in the rule storage unit, and determining whether or not the patent classification inclusion information matches any one or more patent classification relation rules;
A retrieval formula validity judgment device comprising: an output unit that outputs a judgment result of the judgment unit. The patent classification inclusion information is:
Information including the two or more patent classifications and a logical operator relating the two or more patent classifications;
The patent classification relation rule is:
The search expression validity determination device according to claim 1, which is a rule indicating two or more patent classifications that do not perform an AND operation. The patent classification relation rule is:
The search expression validity determination device according to claim 2, wherein the rule is a rule indicating two or more different patent classifications that are not ANDed. The patent classification relation rule is:
The search expression validity determination device according to claim 2, which is a rule indicating two or more patent classifications of the same type that are not ANDed. A co-occurrence frequency information storage unit capable of storing one or more co-occurrence frequency information, which is information related to the co-occurrence frequency of two or more patent classifications;
The patent classification relation rule is:
The search expression validity determination device according to claim 1, wherein it is a rule that two or more patent classifications are acquired such that a co-occurrence frequency satisfies a predetermined condition. A high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit that acquires from the co-occurrence frequency information storage unit one or more patent classifications that are so large that the patent classification and co-occurrence frequency included in the patent classification inclusion information satisfy a predetermined condition; ,
The search expression validity determination device according to claim 5, further comprising a patent classification output unit that outputs one or more patent classifications acquired by the high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit. The high co-occurrence frequency patent classification acquisition unit,
The search type validity determination device according to claim 6, wherein the patent classification is acquired by excluding the patent classification that matches the patent classification included in the patent classification inclusion information. One or more patent classifications included in the patent search formula are:
The search expression validity determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, which is one or more patent classifications of IPC, FI, F-term, US class, and ECLA. The reception unit
The patent search formula changed according to the determination result is also accepted,
The retrieval formula validity judgment device according to any one of claims 1 to 8,
A search unit for searching for one or more patent documents using the changed patent search formula received by the reception unit;
A patent search apparatus comprising: a patent document output unit that outputs one or more patent documents searched by the search unit. A rule storage unit that can store one or more patent classification relationship rules that are rules relating to a relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in the patent search formula, a reception unit, a patent inclusion information acquisition unit, a determination unit, and an output A search expression validity determination method processed using
An accepting step in which the accepting unit accepts a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications;
Patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit for acquiring patent classification inclusion information, which is information including two or more patent classifications, from the patent search formula.
The determination unit applies the patent classification inclusion information to one or more patent classification relation rules in the rule storage unit, and determines whether the patent classification inclusion information matches any one or more patent classification relation rules. A decision step to
A retrieval formula validity determination method, wherein the output unit includes an output step of outputting a determination result in the determination step. A computer that can access a rule storage unit that can store one or more patent classification relationship rules that are rules relating to a relationship between two or more patent classifications that can be included in a patent search formula;
A reception unit that accepts a patent search expression including two or more patent classifications;
Patent classification inclusion information acquisition unit for acquiring patent classification inclusion information that is information including two or more patent classifications from the patent search formula;
A determination unit that applies the patent classification inclusion information to one or more patent classification relation rules of the rule storage unit, and determines whether the patent classification inclusion information matches any one or more patent classification relation rules;
A program for causing an output unit to output a determination result of the determination unit.

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