JP5430238B2 - Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that determines an additional format for each claim.

  A visual representation of the citation relationship of a plurality of claims described in the claims is called a “claim tree”. When the number of claims is large and the citation relationship is complicated, the claim tree also becomes complicated and its creation / display becomes difficult, so a method for generating an easy-to-understand diagram has been considered (for example, patent literature) 1 and non-patent document 1). In addition, a program for displaying all or part of a sentence of a claim corresponding to a node of a claim tree has been developed (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

  Also, in general, the citation relationship in the claims devise “external addition” which is “add another component to the current combination of components” and “subordinate concept included in the superordinate concept”. There are two forms of “internal addition” which includes “limitation and selection” (for example, see Non-Patent Document 2).

Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-32913 Japanese Patent Application No. 2004-272784

Akihiro Niimori, Yukari Oya, Hidekazu Tanikawa, “Detection and Rewriting of Multiple Multiple Citations in Claims”, Transactions of Information Processing Society of Japan, Vol. 49, no. 7, July 2008 Kimio Kamiyama, “Inventor Interview Technique for Improving Specification Quality”, Patent, Vol. 61, no. 7, 2008

  However, the conventional claim tree displays only the citation relationship and does not provide any information regarding the citation status. In other words, human beings can only judge whether the citation is an internal addition or an external addition by reading the claims.

  The present invention has been made to solve such problems, and one object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and the like for determining an additional format of a dependent claim. Another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus or the like that displays a result thus determined on a claim tree.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention includes a claim information storage unit that stores one or more claims information as claims information, and a dependent claim that is a clue phrase used in the dependent claims. By determining whether or not the clue phrase is included in the claim information, it is determined whether each claim information is a dependent claim, and whether the claim is an internal addition or an external addition. Information that is used at the time, and includes a judgment information storage unit that stores judgment information that is at least a clue phrase, and judgment information stored in the judgment information storage unit. An additional format determination unit for determining whether the additional format of the claim information determined to be a term is internal addition or external addition, and output for outputting additional format information which is information indicating a determination result of the additional format determination unit Part , It is those with a.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to determine whether the additional form of the dependent claim is internal addition or external addition. As a result, for example, it becomes possible to know the additional form of a claim without reading the claim. Further, using the determination result, for example, it is possible to create a claim tree that also displays an additional format.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the claim information includes a claim number, and the claim information storage unit stores a plurality of claim information in a dependent relationship, and each of the plurality of claim information One claim information using a parent-child relationship information storage unit storing parent-child relationship information which is information indicating a dependent parent-child relationship of a claim and a dependent claim clue phrase which is a clue phrase used in the dependent claim The parent-child relationship information is obtained from a plurality of claims information stored in the claim information storage unit and stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit Claims that can visually distinguish the additional format for each claim using the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit, the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit, and the additional format information output by the output unit Tree drawing A claim tree generation unit for generating a, the claim tree output unit for outputting the claim tree image claim tree generating unit has generated, may further comprise a.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to generate a claim tree image that can visually distinguish the additional format. As a result, a person who sees the claim tree can know whether an addition form of a claim is an internal addition or an external addition without reading the claim.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the visual distinction of the additional format in the claim tree image may be a color distinction.
With such a configuration, for example, it is possible to distinguish a claim for internal addition from a claim for external addition by color.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the determination information includes one or more external additional clue phrases that are clue phrases included in the externally added claim information. If the claim information includes an external additional clue phrase, it may be determined that the claim information is an external addition.
With such a configuration, it is possible to determine whether a certain claim is a claim for external addition by using the external additional clue phrase.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the external additional cue phrase includes an additional adverb that is an adverb that indicates addition and an owned verb that is a verb that indicates possession, and the additional form determination unit includes the additional adverb, When a verb is included in the claim information, it may be determined that the claim information is an external addition.
With such a configuration, since the determination is performed using the additional adverb and the possessive verb included in the external additional cue phrase, it can be accurately determined whether a certain claim is an external additional claim. Conceivable.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, an external addition target term that is one or more terms to be owned by the possessed verb is acquired from the claim information that is determined to be external addition by the additional format determination unit. The external addition target term acquisition unit may be further provided, and the output unit may also output the external addition target term acquired by the external addition target term acquisition unit.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to acquire a term that is an added object from a claim that is determined to be an external addition. As a result, for example, an object added to a certain externally added claim can be known without reading the claim. Further, for example, it is possible to create a claim tree that displays external addition target terms using the obtained result.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the determination information includes one or more internal additional clue phrases that are clue phrases included in the internal additional claim information. If the claim information includes an internal additional clue phrase, it may be determined that the claim information is an internal addition.
With such a configuration, it is possible to determine whether a certain claim is a claim with internal addition by using the internal additional clue phrase.

In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the internal additional cue phrase includes an instruction term that is a term used to indicate an antecedent, a sequence of one or more nouns, and a subject particle that is a particle attached to the subject. The addition format determination unit may determine that the claim information is an internal addition when the claim term, a sequence of one or more nouns, and a subject particle are included in the claim information in that order. Good.
With such a configuration, since the determination is performed using the instruction term included in the external additional clue phrase, it is considered that it is possible to appropriately determine whether a certain claim is an internal additional claim.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, an internal addition target term that is a term corresponding to a continuation of one or more nouns is acquired from the claim information determined to be internal addition by the additional format determination unit. The internal addition target term acquisition unit may be further provided, and the output unit may also output the internal addition target term acquired by the internal addition target term acquisition unit.

  With such a configuration, it is possible to acquire a term to be added from a claim determined to be internal addition. As a result, for example, it becomes possible to know the subject of addition in an internally added claim without reading the claim. Further, for example, it is possible to create a claim tree that also displays the internal addition target terms using the obtained result.

  According to the information processing apparatus and the like according to the present invention, it is possible to determine the additional format of the dependent claims. As a result, for example, it becomes possible to know the additional form of a claim without reading the claim.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus by Embodiment 1 of this invention. The block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The flowchart which shows operation | movement of the information processing apparatus by the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the claim information in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the parent-child relationship information in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the additional format information etc. which were output in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of a response | compatibility with the addition format and display attribute in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the claim tree image in the embodiment The figure which shows an example of the data of the claim tree image in the embodiment The schematic diagram which shows an example of the external appearance of the computer system in the said embodiment The figure which shows an example of a structure of the computer system in the said embodiment.

  Hereinafter, an information processing apparatus according to the present invention will be described using embodiments. In the following embodiments, components and steps denoted by the same reference numerals are the same or equivalent, and repetitive description may be omitted.

(Embodiment 1)
An information processing apparatus 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment determines the citation form of the dependent claims and generates a claim tree according to the determination result.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment. The information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment includes a claim information storage unit 11, a clue phrase storage unit 12, a dependency relationship determination unit 13, a determination information storage unit 14, an additional format determination unit 15, and an external addition Target term acquisition unit 16, internal addition target term acquisition unit 17, output unit 18, storage unit 19, parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20, parent-child relationship information storage unit 21, claim tree generation unit 22, And a claim tree output unit 23.

  The claim information storage unit 11 stores one or more pieces of claim information. The claim information is claim information. Therefore, one claim information corresponds to one claim. The claim information storage unit 11 preferably stores two or more claims information. Further, the two or more claims information is preferably a claim. Further, the claim information storage unit 11 may include information other than the claim information. For example, in the claim information storage unit 11, information on a published patent gazette and information on a patent publication gazette are stored. It may be used. In these gazettes, the document of the claim is usually described in the column to which the tag of “Claim” is attached. Therefore, only the document of the claim can be acquired and used. . Further, the claim information includes a claim number and a document indicating the invention of the claim specified by the claim number. Here, a method for specifying each claim information from the claims will be briefly described. In the case of a claim in Japan, a tag [Claim N] is assigned to each claim, so that each claim information can be specified using the tag (“N” is a claim). Any positive integer that indicates a term number). That is, immediately after the tag [Claim N], immediately before the next tag [Claim N + 1], or when the next tag does not exist, the document up to the end of the claim is included in the claim. This document shows the corresponding invention. Further, in the case of claims in the United States, since the claim number “N.” is assigned to each claim, each claim information can be specified using the claim number ( “N” is any positive integer indicating a claim number). That is, immediately after the first claim number “N.”, immediately before the next claim number “N + 1.”, Or when the next claim number does not exist, the documents up to the end of the claims. Is a document showing the invention corresponding to the claim.

  The claim information may be, for example, a text file, or a file of a unique format such as word processing software. The claim information may be described in a markup language such as HTML or XML. When described in such a markup language, each claim information may be delimited by a tag.

  The process in which the claim information is stored in the claim information storage unit 11 does not matter. For example, the claim information may be stored in the claim information storage unit 11 via a recording medium, and the claim information transmitted via a communication line or the like is stored in the claim information storage unit 11. Alternatively, the claim information input via the input device may be stored in the claim information storage unit 11. The storage in the claim information storage unit 11 may be temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be long-term storage. The claim information storage unit 11 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  The clue phrase storage unit 12 stores a subordinate claim clue phrase that is a clue phrase used in the subordinate claim. Note that the clue phrase is information used to find a desired expression or phrase, and may indicate, for example, a search keyword (text information, that is, surface layer information). Information indicating the expression or phrase attribute (ie, condition information for searching for a desired expression or the like. For example, it may include part-of-speech part information of a phrase or information on the arrangement of phrases) It may be. The same applies to other clue phrases.

The dependent claim clue stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 may be described in a regular expression as follows, for example.
[Regular expression 1]
(Claim (From \ d + | to | ~ | --- |-| \-| to | or | or |, |, |, |, and | claim) * \ d +) | (No. \ d +)
This regular expression is a Perl regular expression. “\ D” matches a full-width or half-width number. “A | b” matches a or b. “*” Matches when the previous regular expression is 0 or more. “+” Matches when one or more regular expressions exist immediately before.

  In addition, in the subordinate claim clue, it may further include “or” “or” “or” “or” as variations of “or”, “or”, or “and” “and” as variations of “and” Further, “an arrangement” may be included.

Also, a clue phrase other than the dependent claim clue phrase may be used. For example, the dependent claim clue phrase may be:
[Regular expression 2]
Claim. + Description “.” Is an arbitrary character. Also in this case, depending on the clue phrase of the dependent claim, characters of the dependent expression such as “claim 1”, “claim 1 or claim 2”, “claim 1 to claim 5”, etc. The column will be specified.

  Further, in the present embodiment, a case will be described in which a dependent claim clue phrase used by a dependency relation determination unit 13 described later and a dependent claim clue phrase used by the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 are the same. May be different. For example, the subordinate claim clue phrase used by the subordinate relationship determination unit 13 is “Claim \ d +”, and the subordinate claim clue phrase used by the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 is the regular expression 1 or the regular expression 2 described above. There may be.

  The process in which the dependent claim clue phrase is stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 does not matter. For example, the dependent claim clue phrase may be stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 via a recording medium, and the dependent claim clue phrase transmitted via a communication line or the like may be stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12. The subordinate claim clue phrase input via the input device may be stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12. Storage in the clue phrase storage unit 12 may be temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be long-term storage. The clue phrase storage unit 12 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  The dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines whether each claim information is a dependent claim by determining whether the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 is included in the claim information. . That is, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines that the claim information including the dependent claim clue phrase is a dependent claim. On the other hand, the claim information that does not include the dependent claim clue phrase is determined to be an independent claim. “Dependent claim clue phrase is included” means that pattern matching using the dependent claim clue phrase is performed and matched. The same applies to other clue phrases. The determination result may be stored in a recording medium (not shown). The determination result may or may not be stored in association with the claim number included in each claim information. In the former case, for example, when it is determined that the claim information of claim 2 is a dependent claim, “2” and “notice of dependent claim” are stored in association with each other. May be.

  As will be described later, in the information processing apparatus 1, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 acquires parent-child relationship information. Therefore, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 can also determine whether certain claim information is a dependent claim using the parent-child relationship information. Specifically, when the parent-child relationship information indicates that a claim number corresponding to certain claim information is a child claim (for example, in FIG. 9, the claim number is included in the child claim number) In the case), the claim information becomes a dependent claim. Even in this case, since the dependent claim clue phrase is used when acquiring the parent-child relationship information, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 indirectly determines whether the dependent claim clue phrase is included in the claim information. It can be considered that it is judged whether a certain claim is a dependent claim.

  The determination information storage unit 14 stores information used when determining whether a claim is an internal addition or an external addition, and is information including at least a clue phrase. The determination information may include, for example, an external additional cue phrase that is a cue phrase included in the externally added claim information, or an internal additional cue phrase that is a cue phrase included in the internally added claim information. Or, it may include both an external additional cue phrase and an internal additional cue phrase. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which an external additional clue phrase and an internal additional clue phrase are included in the determination information. For example, according to the aforementioned Non-Patent Document 2, external addition is “adding another component to the current combination of components”, and internal addition is “superordinate concept” It devises subordinate concepts that are included in, and includes limitations and choices. " Next, the external additional cue phrase and the internal additional cue phrase will be described.

(1) External additional cue phrase (1-1) When it is an additional adverb The external additional cue phrase may be an additional adverb. An additional adverb is an adverb that indicates addition. The additional adverb may be, for example, “further” or “further”. Thus, for example, the external additional cue phrase may be “further” or “further”. Usually, externally added claim information includes descriptions such as “further equipped with audio system” and “further equipped with antenna”, so determine whether there is an additional adverb in the claim information. Thus, it can be determined whether or not the externally added claim information. In this case, the external additional cue phrase is as follows, for example.
External additional clues: Further |

(1-2) In the case of an additional adverb and an owned verb The external additional cue phrase may be an additional adverb and an owned verb. The possessive verb is a verb indicating possession, and includes, for example, “comprising”, “having”, “including”, “containing”, “having”, “providing”, “consisting”, etc. It may be "become"). The possessive verb included in the external additional cue phrase may include (A) various usage forms, or (B) only the basic form. The same applies to other verbs.

(A) When various utilization forms are included, for example, utilization forms such as “comprise”, “comprising”, “comprising” as possessive verbs each verb “comprising” “having” “including” “containing” “Include”, “provide”, and “consist of” may be included in the external additional clue phrase. In this case, the external additional cue phrase is as follows, for example.
External additional cues: (More | More). * (Include | Include | Include | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain | Contain Equipped | contained | provided | provided | provided | provided | comprised | consisting of

(B) In the case of only the basic form, for example, as the possessing verb, only the basic forms of the respective verbs “comprising”, “having”, “including”, “containing”, “having”, “providing”, and “consisting” are included. . Then, when the additional format determination unit 15 to be described later makes a determination, the basic form of the verb corresponding to the morpheme of the claim information is acquired by performing morpheme analysis, and whether the basic form and the possessed verb match. Will be judged. In this case, the external additional cue phrase is as follows, for example.
External additional cues: (More | More).
Here, it is assumed that a portion surrounded by braces {} indicates a clue phrase related to the attribute. In the case of this external additional cue phrase, the cue phrase is matched when the basic form is one of “include”, “have”, “include”, “contain”, “include”, “provide”, and “consist of” Shall be.

  In this case, the additional format determination unit 15 to be described later determines that the claim information is an external addition when one claim information includes an additional adverb and an owned verb. In this case, the determination may be made in consideration of the order as in the example of the external additional clue phrase described above. Specifically, since an additional adverb usually exists before the possessing verb, the additional form determining unit 15 determines that the claim information is external when it is included in the claim information in the order of the additional adverb and the possessing verb. You may judge that it is addition. It goes without saying that an arbitrary zero or more character string (“. *” In the above example of the external additional cue phrase) may be included between the additional adverb and the possessive verb. It is considered that a more accurate judgment can be made by making a judgment using an owned verb in addition to the additional adverb.

(1-3) In the case of an additional adverb and a sub-verb The external additional cue phrase may be an additional adverb and a sa-verb. Sa variation is a verb that makes use of sa line modification. The sub-variable is, for example, “output”, “display”, “send”, or the like (note that “only” may be used). Also in this case, the sub-variable included in the external additional cue phrase may include various usage forms or only the basic form. Further, the sa variable included in the external additional cue phrase may be only the fact that it is a sa variable. For example, when the additional format determination unit 15 to be described later makes a determination, the type of verb usage corresponding to the morpheme in the claim information is obtained by performing morpheme analysis. It may be determined whether or not. In this case, the external additional cue phrase is as follows, for example.
External additional clues: (More | Further). * {Type of use = Saline transformation use}

  It goes without saying that the external additional clue phrase may be other. For example, the external additional cue phrase may be only a possessive verb or only a sub-variable.

(2) Internal additional cue phrase (2-1) In the case of a vocabulary term and a continuation of a noun and a subject particle An internal additional cue phrase is a vocabulary term, a continuation of one or more nouns and a subject particle Also good. An instruction term is a term used to indicate an antecedent. The indicating terms are, for example, “above”, “above”, “its”, “their”, etc., and are usually prefixes. A series of one or more nouns is a series of one or more nouns, and does not include specific nouns. The subject particle is a particle attached to the subject, for example, “GA”, “HA”, “MO”, and the like. The subject is the main entity that explains and operates the predicate. The main part (for example, “computer”) includes, for example, a subject (for example, “computer”) and a subject particle (for example, “ha”). The additional form determination unit 15 determines that the claim information is an internal addition when there is a consecutive noun and a subject particle in that order in a certain claim information. Also good. Usually, the internally added claim information includes descriptions such as “the engine is a gasoline engine” and “the antenna is extendable”, so the claim information and one or more of the indication terms are included in the claim information. By determining whether or not the continuation of the noun and the subject particle are consecutive in this order, it can be determined whether or not the information is claim information with internal addition. In this case, the internal additional cue phrase is as follows, for example.
Internal additional clue phrases: (above | above | that | those) {part of speech = noun} + (ga | is | also)

(2-2) When the vocabulary is a continuation of a noun and noun, and the continuation of the noun exists in the ancestor claim The internal additional cue phrase is in addition to the internal additional cue phrase of (2-1) above. The presence of one or more consecutive nouns in an ancestor claim. An ancestor claim is a claim in which claim information to be determined is directly or indirectly dependent. That is, a claim connected to claim information to be determined in one or more parent-child relationships, and a claim closer to the parent than the claim to be determined is an ancestor claim. An ancestor claim for one claim can be specified by using parent-child relationship information described later. An internal addition claim is considered to limit terms appearing in an ancestor claim, and if one or more consecutive nouns are not present in the ancestor claim, the internal addition claim It is difficult to think.

  In addition, in the sequence of one or more nouns in the above (2-1) and (2-2), one or more symbols other than nouns and one or more noun connection particles are placed between nouns or at the beginning / back of the noun sequence. Even if it is located at the end, it may be a series of one or more nouns as a whole. The symbol may be a symbol that indicates the beginning of a parenthesis, a symbol that indicates the end of a parenthesis, or one or more alphabets. The noun connection particle is a particle used to connect nouns, and may be, for example, “no” “in” “as” “ni” or the like. By specifying a series of one or more nouns in this way, for example, “voice information output means (11)” and “voice information output means” are also specified as a series of one or more nouns. . The same applies to the specification of a sequence of one or more nouns at other locations.

  The process in which the determination information is stored in the determination information storage unit 14 does not matter. For example, the determination information may be stored in the determination information storage unit 14 via a recording medium, and the determination information transmitted via a communication line or the like is stored in the determination information storage unit 14. Alternatively, the determination information input via the input device may be stored in the determination information storage unit 14. Storage in the judgment information storage unit 14 may be temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be long-term storage. The determination information storage unit 14 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  The additional format determination unit 15 uses the determination information stored in the determination information storage unit 14 to determine whether the additional format of the claim information determined as the dependent claim by the dependency relationship determination unit 13 is internal addition or not. It is judged whether it is a target addition. The additional format determination unit 15 determines that the claim information is an external addition when the externally added clue phrase is included in the claim information to be determined. For example, the additional form determination unit 15 may determine that the claim information is an external addition when the additional adverb and the possessed verb are included in the claim information. Also, the additional format determination unit 15 determines that the claim information is internal addition when the internal claim key phrase is included in the claim information to be determined. For example, the addition format determination unit 15 determines that the claim information is an internal addition when the instruction term, a series of one or more nouns, and a subject particle are included in the claim information in that order. You may judge. In this embodiment, in order to mainly determine whether the dependent claim is an external addition or an internal addition, the dependent form is called an additional form, but the form is other than external addition or internal addition. In some cases, the format may not be strictly an additional format, but in the present embodiment, it is referred to as an additional format for convenience.

  The additional format determination unit 15 uses the external additional clue phrase to determine whether the claim information is externally added claim information, and sets the other claim information as internally added claim information. You may judge. Further, the additional format determination unit 15 determines whether the claim information is internal additional claim information using the internal additional clue phrase, and sets the other claim information as the external additional claim information. You may judge. Further, the additional format determination unit 15 may determine whether the claim information is an external addition or an internal addition by using the external additional clue phrase and the internal additional clue phrase. In this embodiment, this case will be described. In this case, the additional format determination unit 15 may determine that the claim information that does not include both the external additional clue phrase and the internal additional clue phrase is the external additional claim information. The information may be determined as internally added claim information, or may be determined as other added form of claim information. In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the claim information is determined as other additional form of claim information.

  As described above, it is needless to say that the additional format determination unit 15 may appropriately perform morphological analysis on the claim information when performing determination using the determination information. By performing morphological analysis, the claim information can be divided into morphemes. Moreover, the part of speech of each morpheme can be acquired by morphological analysis. Further, by using morpheme analysis, it is possible to acquire the type of utilization, the utilization form, and the basic form of the morpheme for the morpheme to be utilized. As a morphological analysis system, in the case of Japanese, for example, “ChaSen” (http://chasen.naist.jp) developed at the Nara Institute of Science and Technology is known. . In the case of English, examples of software that gives parts of speech to English words include “TnT” (http://www.coli.uni-saarland.de/˜thorsen/tnt/) and “Brill Tagger” ( http://www.cs.jhu.edu/˜brill/) and the like are known.

  The external addition target term acquisition unit 16 acquires an external addition target term from the claim information determined to be external addition by the addition format determination unit 15. An externally added object term is a term that indicates an externally added object. For example, when the external additional cue phrase is (1-2) described above, the external addition target term is a term to be owned by the owned verb.

  Here, a method of acquiring an external addition target term when the external additional clue phrase is (1-2) described above will be briefly described. The external addition target term acquisition unit 16 specifies, for example, a series of one or more nouns located immediately before the specified possessing verb, and sets the specified series of one or more nouns as external addition target terms. Further, one or more delimiter clue phrases located before the identified possessive verb are specified. Then, a series of one or more nouns positioned immediately before each specified delimiter clue phrase is specified, and those not included in the already specified external addition target terms are set as external addition target terms. A delimiter phrase is a clue phrase used to find a delimiter between components, and may be, for example, “to”, “to”, “to”, and a line feed symbol after them. You may further include what to do. In addition, the delimiter clue phrase may or may not include punctuation marks “,” “,”. For example, when certain claim information includes a description of “a voice information generation unit that generates voice information and a voice information storage unit that stores voice information generated by the voice information generation unit, and so on”. Uses the external additional cue phrase in (1-2) above to identify the possessed verb “preparation” and the consecutive “speech information storage unit” of the noun immediately preceding it is the external addition target term. The Also, the delimiter clue phrase “to” is specified, and the continuous “sound information generation unit” and “speech information storage unit” of the immediately preceding noun are specified, but the “speech information storage unit” is already an external addition target term Therefore, only the “voice information generation unit” is added to the external addition target term. In this way, the external addition target terms “speech information generation unit” and “speech information storage unit” are acquired. It goes without saying that the external addition target term may be acquired by a method other than this. At that time, a clue phrase or the like may be used as appropriate.

  The external addition target term acquired by the external addition target term acquisition unit 16 may be stored in a recording medium (not shown). At that time, it is preferable to store the external addition target term in association with the claim number of the claim information from which the external addition target term is acquired.

  The internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 acquires an internal addition target term from the claim information determined to be internal addition by the addition format determination unit 15. The internal addition target term is a term indicating a target added internally. For example, when the internal additional cue phrase is (2-1) or (2-2) described above, it is a term corresponding to a sequence of one or more nouns. The internal addition target term acquired by the internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 may be stored in a recording medium (not shown). At that time, it is preferable to store the internal addition target term in association with the claim number of the claim information from which the internal addition target term is acquired. In the present embodiment, the external addition target term and the internal addition target term may be collectively referred to as an addition target term. That is, the addition target term may be an external addition target term or an internal addition target term.

  The output unit 18 outputs additional format information that is information indicating the determination result of the additional format determination unit 15. The additional format information indicates whether each claim information is an external addition or an internal addition. When the additional format determination unit 15 also makes a determination other than external addition and internal addition, the additional format information is in other formats whether each claim information is external addition or internal addition. It will be shown whether there is. The output unit 18 also outputs the external addition target term acquired by the external addition target term acquisition unit 16. The output unit 18 also outputs the internal addition target term acquired by the internal addition target term acquisition unit 17. The additional format information output by the output unit 18 includes, for example, information that associates claim numbers, additional format information, external addition target terms, and internal addition target terms (however, external addition target terms and internal addition terms). It may not be an addition target term), or may be other information. In the latter case, for example, the output unit 18 requests the tag corresponding to the additional format information, the tag corresponding to the external addition target term, and the tag corresponding to the internal addition target term in a markup language. It may be given to the item information. For example, the claim information may be stored in the claim information storage unit 11 or may be stored separately from the claim information storage unit 11.

  Here, the output may be, for example, display on a display device (for example, a CRT or a liquid crystal display), transmission via a communication line to a predetermined device, printing by a printer, or audio output by a speaker. Alternatively, it may be stored in a recording medium or delivered to another component. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that this output is accumulation in the storage unit 19. The output unit 18 may or may not include an output device (for example, a display device or a printer). The output unit 18 may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by software such as a driver that drives these devices.

  In the storage unit 19, additional format information output by the output unit 18 is stored. The storage in the storage unit 19 may be temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be long-term storage. The storage unit 19 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 uses the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 to identify the claim number of the parent claim that is a claim to which one claim information is dependent. Thus, the parent-child relationship information is acquired from the plurality of claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11 and accumulated in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21. This parent-child relationship information is information indicating a dependent parent-child relationship of each claim in a plurality of claims information. Based on the parent-child relationship information, it is possible to know a claim on which a certain claim is dependent (that is, a parent claim). Further, it is possible to know a claim subordinate to a certain claim (that is, a claim of a child) by this parent-child relationship information. This parent-child relationship information may be, for example, information that associates claim numbers included in claim information that is in a parent-child relationship. That is, the parent-child relationship information may be information that associates the claim number of the parent claim with the claim number of the child claim.

  For example, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 uses the subordinate claim clue phrase of “regular expression 1” in the claim information of claim number “N” (N is an integer of 2 or more). Then, the claim number of the parent claim described in the claim information is acquired. Thereafter, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 identifies and identifies the two claim numbers connected by “kara”, “to”, “-”, “-”, “-”, “\-”, “to”, and “to”. Interpolate an integer between two claim numbers. For example, if the two claim numbers are “5” and “8”, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 interpolates both and further acquires “6” and “7”. Then, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 has the parent claim number as each claim number of the claim number of the parent claim directly acquired from the claim information and the claim number of the parent claim acquired by interpolation. The parent-child relationship information in which the claim number “N” is the child claim number is acquired.

  In addition, for example, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 is described in the claim information using the subordinate claim clue phrase of “regular expression 2” in the claim information of the claim number “N”. Identifies the position of the dependent expression. Then, in this specified location (that is, the location corresponding to “. +” In regular expression 2), the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 performs “from”, “to”, “-”, and “-” as in the case of regular expression 1. Two claim numbers connected by "-", "-", "\-", "to", and "to" are specified, and an integer between the two specified claim numbers is interpolated. After that, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 sets the parent-child relationship information with “N” as the child claim number, with the number initially included in the specified location and the number added by interpolation as the parent claim number. Generate.

Here, “associating the claim number of the parent claim with the claim number of the child claim” means that the information of one of the claim number of the parent claim and the claim number of the child claim is It means that information can be acquired. Therefore, the parent-child relationship information may include information including the claim number of the parent claim and the claim number of the child claim as a set, and the claim number of the parent claim and the claim number of the child claim. It may be the information which links to. In the latter case, the parent-child relationship information may be, for example, information that associates the claim number of the parent claim with a pointer or address indicating the position where the claim number of the child claim is stored. In the present embodiment, the former case will be described. Further, the claim number of the parent claim and the claim number of the child claim may not be directly associated with each other. For example, the third information may correspond to the claim number of the parent claim, and the claim number of the child claim may correspond to the third information. Moreover, the data format of parent-child relationship information is not ask | required. The parent-child relationship information may be, for example, DBMS table data, two-dimensional array data, or CSV format data. In addition, the method of acquiring parent-child relationship information is already well-known, and the method is not ask | required. For example, the method is described in the following document. A specific method by which the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 acquires parent-child relationship information will be described later.
References: Akihiro Niimori, Yukari Oya, Hidekazu Tanikawa, “Analysis of Claim Citation Relationship Using Claim Analysis Tool”, The 6th Academic Conference of the Intellectual Property Society of Japan, p172-175, 2008

  The parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 stores the parent-child relationship information acquired by the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20. The storage in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 may be temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be long-term storage. The parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  The claim tree generation unit 22 can visually distinguish the additional format for each claim using the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 and the additional format information output by the output unit 18. Generate a claim tree image. The visual distinction according to the additional format may be, for example, color distinction or shape distinction, and a display method (for example, presence or absence of blinking or rotation, blinking interval, rotation It may be a distinction between different directions and speeds, or may be another distinction (for example, distinction by displaying “external addition” and “internal addition” texts). In the present embodiment, a case will be described in which the visual distinction of the additional format is the distinction by color. Further, the claim tree generation unit 22 also uses the external addition target term and the internal addition target term output by the output unit 18, and corresponds the external addition target term and the like to the external addition target term and the like. A claim tree image displayed in association with a claim may be generated. Here, the claim tree image is an image showing a dependency relationship between claims included in two or more claims information. By looking at the claim tree image displayed on the monitor or the claim tree image printed on paper or the like, the dependency relationship between the claims included in the two or more claims information can be understood. The claim tree image generated by the claim tree generator 22 may be vector data, raster data, a character-based image, or an image described in a markup language. It doesn't matter what the data format is.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the claim tree generation unit 22 includes claim graphic generation means 31, vertical connection line generation means 32, intersection graphic generation means 33, and claim tree image storage means 34. In the following description, “vertical direction”, “horizontal direction”, “up / down direction”, and the like mean a vertical direction, a horizontal direction, an up / down direction, and the like when a claim tree image is displayed.

  The claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic in the claim tree image. A claim figure is a figure corresponding to each claim in two or more claims information. That is, one claim figure corresponds to one claim information. The claim graphic is preferably a graphic showing information that can identify each claim, for example, a claim number. The claimed figure may be constituted by vector data, may be constituted by raster data, or may be constituted by a character code. Further, the claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic of a color corresponding to the additional format of each claim using the additional format information accumulated in the storage unit 19 by the output unit 18. Further, when there is an external addition target term or an internal addition target term stored in the storage unit 19 by the output unit 18, the claim graphic generation means 31 includes the external addition target term or the like. Generate a figure. The claim graphic generating means 31 has the same height as the claim graphic corresponding to the claim with the number one preceding the number of the claim corresponding to the claim graphic. Or, it is generated so as to be downward. Therefore, in the claim tree image, the claim graphics are displayed from the top to the bottom in the ascending order of the claim numbers. It should be noted that generating the claim graphic is not particularly limited as long as it is a process for finally specifying the position of the claim graphic in the claim tree image. Therefore, generating the claim graphic may include, for example, a process of generating the claim graphic itself or a process of determining the position of the claim graphic stored in a recording medium (not shown). Further, in the present embodiment, the claim graphic generating means 31 is arranged so that the claim graphic is lower than the claim graphic corresponding to the claim number one prior to the corresponding claim number. The case where a claim figure is produced | generated is demonstrated.

  The vertical connection line generation means 32 generates a vertical connection line on the right side of the claim graphic corresponding to the claim indicated by the parent-child relationship information as a dependent claim (parent claim). The vertical connection line is a line extending downward from the claim graphic corresponding to the claim indicated by the parent-child relationship information as a dependent claim. The vertical connection line may include a line that does not extend in the vertical direction, that is, a horizontal line, as long as the vertical connection line includes a line extending in the vertical direction (may be inclined). This vertical connection line may be constituted by vector data, may be constituted by raster data, or may be constituted by a character code. The generation of the vertical connection line is not particularly limited as long as the process finally identifies the position of the vertical connection line in the claim tree image. Therefore, generating the vertical connection line may include, for example, a process of generating the vertical connection line itself, or may be a process of determining the position of the vertical connection line stored in a recording medium (not shown). .

  The intersection graphic generation means 33 generates a horizontal connecting line on the left side from the claim graphic corresponding to the claim indicated as the dependent claim (child claim) by the parent-child relationship information. Here, the horizontal connection line is a line extending with respect to a vertical connection line extending from a claim graphic corresponding to a dependent subject dependent on a claim indicated as a dependent claim by parent-child relationship information. This horizontal connection line may be constituted by vector data, may be constituted by raster data, or may be constituted by a character code. The intersection graphic generation unit 33 generates a horizontal connection line and generates an intersection graphic at a position where a vertical connection line extending from the dependent term and a horizontal connection line extending from the dependent term intersect. Here, the intersection graphic is a graphic indicating an intersection. The existence of this intersection graphic makes clear the dependency of the claims. That is, even if a horizontal connecting line extending from one claim intersects with a vertical connecting line extending from another claim, if there is no intersection figure at the intersecting position, the two claims are dependent. You can see that it is not. This intersection graphic may be constituted by vector data, may be constituted by raster data, or may be constituted by a character code. The generation of the horizontal connection line may be a process for finally specifying the position of the horizontal connection line in the claim tree image, and the process thereof does not matter. Therefore, generating the horizontal connection line may include, for example, a process of generating the horizontal connection line itself, or may be a process of determining the position of the horizontal connection line stored in a recording medium (not shown). . In addition, the generation of the intersection graphic may be a process for finally specifying the position of the intersection graphic in the claim tree image, and the process thereof does not matter. Therefore, generating the intersection graphic may include, for example, a process of generating the intersection graphic itself, or may be a process of determining the position of the intersection graphic stored in a recording medium (not shown). The intersection graphic may be, for example, a filled circular graphic, a filled rectangular graphic, a filled triangular graphic, or other graphic. .

  The complaint tree image storage means 34 stores a complaint tree image. This claim tree image is generated by the claim graphic generating means 31, the vertical connection line generating means 32, and the intersection graphic generating means 33. The storage in the claim tree image storage means 34 may be a temporary storage in a RAM or the like, or may be a long-term storage. The claim tree image storage means 34 can be realized by a predetermined recording medium (for example, a semiconductor memory, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, etc.).

  In the present embodiment, the case where the claim tree generation unit 22 has the configuration shown in FIG. 2 will be described. However, the claim tree generation unit 22 has other configurations and will be described in the present embodiment. Needless to say, the claim tree may be generated by a method other than the above.

  The claim tree output unit 23 outputs the claim tree image generated by the claim tree generation unit 22. Here, the output may be, for example, display on a display device (for example, a CRT or a liquid crystal display), transmission via a communication line to a predetermined device, printing by a printer, or output to a recording medium. It may be accumulated or delivered to another component. The claim tree output unit 23 may or may not include an output device (for example, a display device or a printer). The claim tree output unit 23 may be realized by hardware, or may be realized by software such as a driver that drives these devices.

  The claim information storage unit 11, the clue phrase storage unit 12, the determination information storage unit 14, the storage unit 19, the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21, and the claim tree image storage unit 34 are arbitrarily combined. The storage unit and the storage unit may be realized by the same recording medium, or may be realized by separate recording media. In the former case, for example, an area storing claim information is the claim information storage unit 11, and an area storing determination information is the determination information storage unit 14.

  Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described using a flowchart. FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the overall operation of the information processing apparatus 1.

  (Step S101) The information processing apparatus 1 determines whether to generate a claim tree image. For example, the information processing apparatus 1 may determine that a claim tree image is to be generated using a predetermined event (for example, an instruction to generate a claim tree image is received) as a trigger. It may be determined that an image is generated. If a complaint tree image is to be generated, the process proceeds to step S102. If not, the process of step S101 is repeated until it is determined that a complaint tree image is to be generated. This determination may be performed by any component of the information processing apparatus 1 (for example, the additional format determination unit 15 or the claim tree generation unit 22), and may be performed by a control unit (not illustrated) included in the information processing apparatus 1. You may go.

  (Step S102) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 acquires parent-child relationship information using two or more claims information, and stores the parent-child relationship information in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21. Details of the process of acquiring and accumulating parent-child relationship information will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  (Step S103) The additional format determination unit 15 determines the additional format for each claim information stored in the claim information storage unit 11. In addition, the external addition target term acquisition unit 16 and the internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 appropriately acquire the external addition target term and the like according to the addition format. The output unit 18 accumulates additional format information, external addition target terms, and the like in the storage unit 19. Details of this processing will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

(Step S104) The claim tree generation unit 22 uses the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21, the additional format information stored in the storage unit 19, the external addition target term, and the like. A claim tree image is generated, and the claim tree output unit 23 outputs the claim tree image. Then, the process returns to step S101. Details of this process will be described later with reference to FIG.
In the flowchart of FIG. 3, the process ends when the power is turned off or the process is terminated.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing details of the process (step S102) for acquiring parent-child relationship information in the flowchart of FIG.
(Step S201) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 sets a counter i to 1.

  (Step S202) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 reads the data of claim i from two or more claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11.

  (Step S203) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 determines whether claim i is a dependent claim. When the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 is included in claim i, that is, when there is a description that cites another claim in claim i Further, it is determined that claim i is a dependent claim. If it is a dependent item, the process proceeds to step S204. If not, the process proceeds to step S207.

  (Step S204) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 specifies a dependent claim of claim i, that is, a parent claim cited by claim i.

  (Step S205) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 generates parent-child relationship information related to the dependency relationship between claim i and the dependent claim of claim i. The parent-child relationship information is information for associating the claim number “i” of claim i as a child claim number and the claim number of a dependent claim of claim i as a parent claim number, for example. Also good.

  (Step S206) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 stores the parent-child relationship information generated in step S205 in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21. When the parent-child relationship information is already stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21, the parent-child relationship information generated in step S205 is added.

  (Step S207) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 increments the counter i by 1.

  (Step S208) The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 determines whether or not the claim i exists in the two or more claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11. If it exists, the process returns to step S202. If it does not exist, the series of processes for acquiring parent-child relationship information ends, and the process returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  The flow chart of FIG. 4 describes the case where the processing proceeds in order from claim 1. However, since claim 1 cannot be a dependent claim, the processing proceeds from claim 2. Also good.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing details of the additional format determination processing (step S103) in the flowchart of FIG.
(Step S301) The additional format determining unit 15 sets the counter i to 1.

  (Step S302) The additional format determination unit 15 reads the data of claim i from two or more claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11.

  (Step S303) The dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines whether the claim i is a dependent claim or an independent claim using the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12. Specifically, if any dependent claim clue is included in claim i, it is determined that claim i is a dependent claim, otherwise, claim i is an independent claim. It will be judged. This determination result may be temporarily stored in a recording medium (not shown). If it is determined to be a dependent claim, the process proceeds to step S304. If not, that is, if it is determined to be an independent claim, the process proceeds to step S314.

  (Step S304) The additional format determination unit 15 determines whether the read data of claim i includes any external additional clue phrase stored in the determination information storage unit 14. If the data of claim i includes any external additional clue phrase, the process proceeds to step S309, and if not, the process proceeds to step S305.

  (Step S305) The additional format determination unit 15 determines whether the read data of claim i includes any internal additional clue phrase stored in the determination information storage unit 14. If the data of claim i includes any internal additional cue phrase, the process proceeds to step S306. Otherwise, the process proceeds to step S312.

  (Step S306) The additional format determination unit 15 determines that claim i is an internal addition. The additional format determination unit 15 may temporarily store additional format information indicating the determination result in a recording medium (not shown) in association with the claim number “i”, for example.

  (Step S307) The internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 acquires the internal addition target term from the data of claim i. The internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 may temporarily store the acquired internal addition target term on a recording medium (not shown).

  (Step S308) The output unit 18 stores the additional format information corresponding to claim i and the internal addition target term in the storage unit 19. At the time of the accumulation, it is preferable to accumulate in association with the claim number “i”.

  (Step S309) The additional format determination unit 15 determines that claim i is an external addition. The additional format determination unit 15 may temporarily store additional format information indicating the determination result in a recording medium (not shown) in association with the claim number “i”, for example.

  (Step S310) The external addition target term acquisition unit 16 acquires an external addition target term from the data of claim i. The external addition target term acquisition unit 16 may temporarily store the acquired external addition target term on a recording medium (not shown).

  (Step S311) The output unit 18 accumulates the additional format information corresponding to claim i and the external addition target term in the storage unit 19. At the time of the accumulation, it is preferable to accumulate in association with the claim number “i”.

  (Step S312) The additional format determination unit 15 determines that the claim i is in another format. Note that “other formats” may be set to internal addition (in this case, the additional format determination unit 15 determines claim i as internal addition), and is set to external addition. Alternatively, in this case, the additional format determination unit 15 may determine that the claim i is an external addition, or may be determined as a format different from the internal addition and different from the external addition. The additional format determination unit 15 may temporarily store additional format information indicating the determination result in a recording medium (not shown) in association with the claim number “i”, for example.

  (Step S313) The output unit 18 stores the acquired additional format information in the storage unit 19. At the time of the accumulation, it is preferable to accumulate in association with the claim number “i”.

  (Step S314) The additional format determination unit 15 increments the counter i by one.

  (Step S315) The additional format determination unit 15 determines whether or not the claim i exists in the two or more claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11. If it exists, the process returns to step S302. If it does not exist, the series of processing for determining the additional format ends, and the process returns to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing details of the process (step S104) for generating a claim tree image in the flowchart of FIG.
(Step S401) The claim graphic generating means 31 sets a counter i to 1.

  (Step S402) The claim graphic generation means 31 reads the parent-child relationship information related to claim i from the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21. Here, the parent-child relationship information relating to claim i is parent-child relationship information indicating a dependency relationship in which claim i is a dependent claim (parent claim) or a dependent claim (child claim). When claim i is an independent claim having no dependent claim, there is no parent-child relationship information related to claim i. In that case, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads null parent-child relationship information.

  (Step S403) The claim graphic generating means 31 determines whether or not claim i is subordinate to another claim using the parent-child relationship information read in step S402. Specifically, the claim graphic generation unit 31 determines that the claim i is subordinate to another claim when the subordinate relationship in which the claim i becomes the subordinate claim is indicated by the parent-child relationship information. If the claim i is dependent on another claim, the process proceeds to step S404; otherwise, that is, if the claim i is an independent claim, the process proceeds to step S406.

  (Step S404) The claim graphic generating means 31 is lower than the claim graphic corresponding to the claim (i-1) and on the right side of the vertical connection line extending from the dependent claim on which the claim i is dependent. Then, a claim graphic corresponding to claim i is generated. The claim graphic is generated by specifying the claim graphic image displayed in the claim tree image and the position where the claim graphic image is displayed, and the claim tree image including the claim graphic. Is to generate As described above, the image of the claim graphic may be an image stored in advance in a recording medium (not shown). Further, when generating the claim graphic, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads the additional format information corresponding to the claim i stored in the storage unit 19 and the addition target term, and adds the additional format information. A claim figure corresponding to the addition format indicated by the above is generated, and a text corresponding to the addition target term is added to the claim figure.

  (Step S405) The intersection graphic generation means 33 generates a horizontal connection line and an intersection graphic for the claim graphic corresponding to claim i. The details of the process of generating the horizontal connection line and the intersection graphic will be described later with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  (Step S406) The claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic corresponding to the claim i on the left side below the claim graphic corresponding to the claim (i-1).

  (Step S407) The claim graphic generation means 31 determines whether another claim is dependent on the claim i using the parent-child relationship information read in step S402. Specifically, the claim graphic generation means 31 determines that another claim is subordinate to the claim i when the subordinate relationship in which the claim i becomes a dependent claim is indicated by the parent-child relationship information. . If another claim is dependent on claim i, the process proceeds to step S408, and if not, the process proceeds to step S409.

  (Step S408) The vertical connection line generation means 32 generates a vertical connection line on the right side of the claim graphic corresponding to claim i so as to extend downward from the claim graphic. The end point of this vertical connection line, that is, the end point opposite to the claim graphic, may be, for example, the lowest position of the claim tree image, or may be a position according to the dependent claim of claim i. . The generation of the vertical connection line means that the image of the vertical connection line displayed in the claim tree image and the position where the image of the vertical connection line is displayed, and the claim tree image including the vertical connection line Is to generate If the thickness or the like of the vertical connecting line is determined in advance, only the display position may be determined.

  (Step S409) The claim graphic generating means 31 increments the counter i by one.

  (Step S410) The claim graphic generation means 31 determines whether or not the claim i exists in the two or more claims information stored in the claim information storage unit 11. And when it exists, it returns to step S402, and when it does not exist, it progresses to step S411.

  (Step S411) The claim tree output unit 23 reads and outputs the generated claim tree image, that is, the claim tree image stored in the claim tree image storage means 34. Then, a series of processes for generating and outputting a claim tree image is completed, and the process returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 6, the case where the claim graphic generation means 31 performs management of the counter i and determination using the parent-child relationship information has been described. However, other components may perform these processes. These processes may be distributed by two or more components, or a dedicated control means (not shown) for performing these processes may be provided.

  Further, in the flowchart of FIG. 6, it has been described that the claim graphic generation unit 31 generates the claim tree image so that the claim graphic corresponding to the independent claim is leftmost in step S406. Good. For example, the claim graphic generation unit 31 may generate a claim tree image so that the corresponding claim graphic is on the right side as the claim number is increased.

  In the flowchart of FIG. 6, the case where the vertical connection line corresponding to a certain claim graphic is generated in a single process in step S <b> 408 has been described. However, when the horizontal connection line is generated, the vertical connection line is shortened. If the two do not intersect, the process of extending the vertical connection line may be performed.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing details of the process (step S405) for generating the horizontal connection line and the intersection graphic in the flowchart of FIG.

  (Step S501) The intersection graphic generation means 33 sets the counter j to 1.

  (Step S502) The intersecting point graphic generation means 33, among the dependent claims that are dependent on the claim i, up to the vertical connection line extending from the claim graphic corresponding to the j-th dependent claim, It is determined whether or not a horizontal connection line extends from the claim graphic corresponding to claim i. If it is extended, the process proceeds to step S504. If it is not extended, the process proceeds to step S503. For example, in the case where the horizontal connection line has already extended from the claim graphic corresponding to claim i, the coordinates of the end points of the vertical connection line and the coordinates of the end points of the horizontal connection line are determined. You may acquire and judge by whether an intersection exists in a connection line of both. When the intersection exists, the determination result is “Yes”. It should be noted that if the horizontal connecting line does not extend from the claim graphic corresponding to claim i, the determination result is of course “No”.

  (Step S503) The intersection graphic generation means 33 generates a horizontal connection line from the claim graphic corresponding to the claim i to the vertical connection line extending from the claim graphic corresponding to the j-th dependent claim. The generation of the horizontal connection line means that the image of the horizontal connection line displayed in the claim tree image and the position where the image of the horizontal connection line is displayed, and the claim tree image including the horizontal connection line Is to generate If the thickness or the like of the horizontal connection line is determined in advance, it is only necessary to determine the display position.

  (Step S504) The intersection point graphic generation means 33 crosses the intersection point of the horizontal connection line extending from the claim graphic corresponding to claim i and the vertical connection line extending from the claim graphic corresponding to the jth dependent claim. Generate a figure. Note that generating an intersection graphic means specifying an image of an intersection graphic displayed in the claim tree image and a position where the image of the intersection graphic is displayed, and generating a claim tree image including the intersection graphic. It is. As described above, the image of the intersection graphic may be an image stored in advance in a recording medium (not shown).

  (Step S505) The intersection graphic generation means 33 increments the counter j by one.

  (Step S506) The intersection graphic generation means 33 determines whether or not the j-th dependent term exists. If it exists, the process returns to step S502. If it does not exist, the series of processes for generating the horizontal connection line and the intersection graphic is completed, and the process returns to the flowchart of FIG.

  Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 1 according to this embodiment will be described using a specific example. In this specific example, the information processing apparatus 1 is a PC (Personal Computer), and the claim tree output unit 23 displays a claim tree image on a display (not shown) connected to the PC.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing two or more claims information stored in the claims information storage unit 11 in this specific example. As shown in FIG. 8, the text of five claims is indicated by two or more claims information. Each claim information is text information from a tag such as [Claim 1] to a punctuation mark “.”.

  The subordinate claim clues stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 are, as described above, (claims (\ d + | from | ~ | ------ | \-| to | or | or | Or |, |, | and | and | claim) * \ d +) | (the \ d + term).

  Further, it is assumed that the external additional clue phrase stored in the determination information storage unit 14 is the one described in (1-2) above. That is, the external additional cue phrase includes an additional adverb and an owned verb. Additional adverbs include “further” and “further”. In addition, possessive verbs include “comprise”, “have”, “include”, “contain”, “contain”, “contain”, and “consist of”. As shown in (B), morphological analysis It is assumed that the basic form acquired by performing the above and the possessed verbs are matched or inconsistent.

  Further, it is assumed that the internal additional clue phrase stored in the determination information storage unit 14 is the one described in (2-1) above. That is, it includes a command term, a sequence of one or more nouns, and a subject particle. The instruction terms are “above”, “above”, “the”, and “their”. The main particles are “ha”, “ga”, and “mo”.

  Further, the external addition target term acquisition unit 16 acquires the external addition target term as described above using the delimiter clue phrases “to” “to” and “to”. Those break clue phrases may be stored in a recording medium (not shown) included in the external addition target term acquisition unit 16. Moreover, the internal addition object term acquisition part 17 shall acquire the internal addition object term which is a term corresponding to the continuation of one or more nouns as mentioned above.

  It is assumed that the user operates the information processing apparatus 1 and inputs an instruction to start generating a claim tree image. Then, the instruction is accepted, and the information processing apparatus 1 determines that it is time to generate a claim tree image (step S101). And the parent-child relationship information acquisition part 20 performs the process which acquires and accumulate | stores parent-child relationship information (step S102).

  A process for acquiring and storing the parent-child relationship information will be specifically described. First, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 reads the data of claim 1 from the claim information storage unit 11 (steps S201 and S202). Here, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 reads, as data of claim 1, from the text following [Claim 1] to the text before [Claim 2].

  Next, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 determines whether claim 1 is a dependent claim (step S203). Since there is no description corresponding to the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12 in the read data of claim 1, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 determines that the claim 1 It is determined that the term is an independent term instead of a term, and the processing related to claim 2 is performed (steps S207 and S208).

  Similarly to the above description, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 reads the data of claim 2 from the two or more claims information of FIG. 8 (step S202), and determines whether claim 2 is a dependent claim ( Step S203). Since the read data of claim 2 includes a description corresponding to the subordinate claim clue, that is, “claim 1”, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 determines that claim 2 Judged as a term. Then, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 specifies the claim by acquiring the claim number “1” of the “claim 1” and temporarily storing it on a recording medium (not shown) (step S204). Thereafter, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 uses the number “1” of the temporarily stored claim as the parent claim number, and the number “2” of “Claim 2” currently focused on (that is, the counter at that time) Parent-child relationship information having a child claim number as the value of i is generated (step S205) and stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 (step S206). The first record of the parent-child relationship information shown in FIG. 9 is accumulated as described above. Next, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 proceeds to the processing related to claim 3 (steps S207 and S208). Thus, the process of acquiring and storing parent-child relationship information is repeated, so that the parent-child relationship information finally becomes as shown in FIG.

  Next, the process (step S103) for determining the additional format for each claim information will be described. First, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the data of claim 1 (steps S301 and S302). This can be performed by the same process as the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 described above. The additional format determination unit 15 instructs the dependency relationship determination unit 13 to determine the dependency relationship of claim 1. In response to the instruction, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 reads the data of claim 1 from the claim information storage unit 11 and also reads the dependent claim clue phrase stored in the clue phrase storage unit 12, and the dependent claim. It is determined whether or not a description matching the term clue phrase exists in the data of claim 1. In this case, since it does not exist, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines that claim 1 is an independent claim and passes the determination result to the additional format determination unit 15 (step S303). Then, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the data of the next claim 2 without determining the additional format for claim 1 (steps S314, S315, and S302). Also in this case, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines the dependency relationship of claim 2 in the same manner as described above. In this case, since the description of “claim 1” exists in the claim information of claim 2 and there is a description that matches the dependent claim clue phrase, the dependency determination unit 13 determines that claim 2 is dependent. It is determined that it is a claim, and the determination result is passed to the additional format determination unit 15 (step S303). Then, the additional format determination unit 15 divides the claim information of claim 2 into morphemes by performing morpheme analysis on the claim information of claim 2, acquires the part of speech of each morpheme, Of the morphemes, the basic form is further acquired for those to be used. Then, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the external additional cue phrase from the determination information storage unit 14, and uses the result of the morpheme analysis to describe the description matching the external additional cue phrase in the data of claim 2. Judge whether or not. In this case, since the additional adverb “further” and the description “comprising” whose basic form matches the possessive verb “comprising” exist in claim 2, the additional form determining unit 15 determines that claim 2 is external. It is determined that it is an addition, and that effect is passed to the output unit 18 (steps S304 and S309). Further, the external addition target term acquisition unit 16 acquires a continuous “audio system” of the noun immediately before the description “comprising” whose basic form matches the possessed verb as an external addition target term and passes it to the output unit 18 ( Step S310). In this case, since there is no description that matches the delimiter clue phrase, the external addition target term is not acquired using the delimiter clue phrase. The output unit 18 associates the additional number information “external addition” and the additional target term “audio system” with the claim number of the claim information of interest, that is, the value “2” of the counter i at that time. Is stored in the storage unit 19 (step S311). The first record in FIG. 10 shows additional format information and the like accumulated in this way. In the table of FIG. 10, a claim number, additional format information of claim information corresponding to the claim number, and an addition target term (external addition target term or internal term) of claim information corresponding to the claim number (Addition target term) are associated with each other.

  Thereafter, the additional format determination unit 15 reads data of the next claim 3 (steps S314, S315, S302). Also in this case, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines that claim 3 is a dependent claim (step S303). Further, the additional format determination unit 15 determines that claim 3 is external addition (steps S304 and S309), and the external addition target term acquisition unit 16 acquires the external addition target term “antenna” ( Step S310). And the output part 18 accumulate | stores those information in the memory | storage part 19 (step S311). In this way, the second record in FIG. 10 is accumulated.

  Thereafter, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the data of the next claim 4 (steps S314, S315, S302). Also in this case, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines that claim 4 is a dependent claim (step S303). Further, the additional format determination unit 15 divides the claim information of claim 4 into morphemes by performing morpheme analysis on the claim information of claim 4, acquires the part of speech of each morpheme, Of the morphemes, the basic form is further acquired for those to be used. Then, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the external additional cue phrase from the determination information storage unit 14, and uses the result of the morphological analysis to describe the description matching the external additional cue phrase in the data of claim 4. Judge whether or not. In this case, since there is no description matching the external additional cue phrase (step S304), the additional format determination unit 15 reads the internal additional cue phrase from the determination information storage unit 14, and the result of the morphological analysis Is used to determine whether a description matching the internal additional cue phrase exists in the data of claim 4. In this case, since the instruction term “above”, the continuous noun “engine”, and the main particle “ha” are successively present in that order, the additional format determination unit 15 is the internal addition of claim 4 And the fact is passed to the output unit 18 (steps S305 and S306). Further, the internal addition target term acquisition unit 17 acquires a continuous “engine” of nouns sandwiched between the instruction term “above” and the subject particle “ha” as an internal addition target term and passes it to the output unit 18 ( Step S307). The output unit 18 accumulates the additional format information “internal addition” and the addition target term “engine” in the storage unit 19 in association with the claim number “4” at that time (step S308). The third record in FIG. 10 shows additional format information and the like accumulated in this way.

  Thereafter, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the data of the next claim 5 (steps S314, S315, S302). Also in this case, the dependency relationship determination unit 13 determines that claim 5 is a dependent claim (step S303). Further, the additional format determination unit 15 divides claim 5 into morphemes by performing morpheme analysis on claim information of claim 5, acquires the part of speech of each morpheme, and among the morphemes, Get more basic forms for what you use. Then, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the external additional clue phrase from the determination information storage unit 14, and uses the result of the morphological analysis to determine whether a description matching the external additional clue phrase exists in claim 5. to decide. In this case, there is no description that matches the external additional cue phrase (step S304). Therefore, the additional format determination unit 15 reads the internal additional cue phrase from the determination information storage unit 14, and uses the result of the morphological analysis to determine whether there is a description matching the internal additional cue phrase in claim 5. to decide. In this case, there is no description that matches the internal additional cue phrase (step S305). Therefore, the additional format determination unit 15 determines that claim 5 is the additional format of “others” and passes the fact to the output unit 18 (step S312). In this case, since the addition format is unknown, the acquisition process of the addition target term is not performed. Then, the output unit 18 accumulates the additional format information “others” in the storage unit 19 in association with the claim number “5” at that time (step S313). The fourth record in FIG. 10 shows additional format information and the like accumulated in this way. In this way, the table stored in the storage unit 19 is finally as shown in FIG.

  Next, a process (step S104) for generating and outputting a claim tree will be described. In this process, it is assumed that the claim tree generator 22 holds information that associates the additional format shown in FIG. 11 with the display attributes in a recording medium (not shown). In the information of FIG. 11, the color as a display attribute corresponding to the additional format can be known. The claim tree generator 22 generates a claim graphic displayed in a color corresponding to the additional format determined by the additional format determination unit 15.

  First, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads the parent-child relationship information related to claim 1 from the parent-child relationship information shown in FIG. 9 held in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 (steps S401 and S402). In FIG. 9, since the records in which claim 1 is included in the parent claim number or the child claim number are the first, third, and fifth records, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads out these records. .

  Next, the claim graphic generating means 31 determines whether claim 1 is subordinate to another claim (step S403). This determination may be made based on whether or not claim 1 is included in the child claim number of the read parent-child relationship information. In this case, since claim 1 is not included in the child claim number of the read parent-child relationship information, the claim graphic generation means 31 determines that claim 1 is an independent claim, and claims tree A claim graphic corresponding to claim 1 is generated so as to be the leftmost of the image (step S406).

  Here, the generation of the claim graphic will be described. The claim graphic corresponding to claim 1 is described as "Claim 1" and surrounded by a square frame as shown in the claim tree image of FIG. The claim graphic generation means 31 generates the claim graphic and determines the position where the claim graphic is displayed.

  It is assumed that the position in the claim tree image is specified by coordinates (x, y), with the upper left corner of the claim tree image as the origin, the x-axis set to the right, and the y-axis set downward. Further, the position of the claim graphic is represented by the center position of the right side of the claim graphic. In addition, the x-axis value of the claim graphic corresponding to the independent term is “45”. The x-axis value of the claim graphic displayed Nth from the left is assumed to be “45 × N”. Further, it is assumed that the y-axis value of the claim graphic corresponding to claim N is “14 × N + 11”. The length of the claim graphic in the x-axis direction is “35”, and the length in the y-axis direction is “14”.

  Then, the claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic corresponding to claim 1, and associates the claim graphic with position information (45, 25) which is information indicating the coordinates of the claim graphic. And stored in the claim tree image storage means 34. The first record in FIG. 13 is the data of the claim tree image generated as described above. In FIG. 13, graphic information and position information are associated with each other. For example, in the first record of the claim tree image, the claim figure “Claim1.gif” corresponding to claim 1 is associated with the position of the figure in the claim tree image. As a result, when the claim tree image corresponding to the first record in FIG. 13 is displayed, the claim graphic 101 is displayed as shown in FIG.

  Next, the claim graphic generating means 31 determines whether another claim is dependent on the claim 1 (step S407). This determination may be made based on whether or not claim 1 is included in the parent claim number of the parent-child relationship information read in step S402. In this case, since claim 1 is included in the parent claim number of the read parent-child relationship information, the claim graphic generation means 31 determines that another claim is subordinate to claim 1, and claims Among the claims subordinate to item 1, the largest number of the claim is obtained. Here, as described above, since the first, third, and fifth records in FIG. 9 are read, the largest number of the claims subordinate to claim 1 is “5”.

  Here, when the largest number of the claim subordinate to claim i is “N”, the vertical connecting line generating means 32 “5” from the right side of the claim graphic corresponding to claim i in the x-axis direction. The vertical connection line is extended by “,” and then the vertical connection line is extended in the y-axis direction until the y-axis value becomes “14 × N + 11”.

  In this case, the vertical connection line generating means 32 receives the largest number “5” of the claim subordinate to claim 1 from the claim graphic generating means 31 and receives the right of the claim graphic corresponding to claim 1. It extends from (x, y) = (45, 25) to (x, y) = (50, 25), and from (x, y) = (50, 25) to (x, y) = (50 , 81) is generated. Specifically, the vertical connection line generation unit 32 generates the vertical connection line corresponding to claim 1 by storing the second record of FIG. 13 in the claim tree image storage unit 34 (step S408). In the second record of FIG. 13, the graphic information “Line” indicates that the corresponding graphic is a line. The corresponding position information indicates the positions of the end points of the vertical connection lines and the via points. When the claim tree images corresponding to the first and second records in FIG. 13 are displayed, the claim graphic 101 and the vertical connection line 201 are displayed as shown in FIG.

  Next, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads the parent-child relationship information related to claim 2 from the parent-child relationship information shown in FIG. 9 (steps S409, S410, S402). In FIG. 9, since the records in which claim 2 is included in the parent claim number or the child claim number are the first, second, and sixth records, the claim graphic generation means 31 reads these records. .

  Next, since the claim number is included in the child claim number of the read parent-child relationship information, the claim graphic generation means 31 determines that claim 2 is subordinate to another claim (step) S403). The claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic corresponding to claim 2 on the right side of the vertical connection line of claim 1 on which claim 2 is dependent, that is, at the second position from the left. . At that time, the claim graphic generation means 31 refers to the table of FIG. 10 stored in the storage unit 19 and adds the additional format information “external addition” corresponding to the claim number 2 and the addition target term “audio”. Read "system". Further, the claim graphic generation means 31 refers to the information of FIG. 11 and acquires the display attribute “red” corresponding to the read additional format information “external addition”. Then, the claim graphic generation means 31 sets the color of the claim graphic corresponding to claim 2 to “red” and includes the addition target term “audio system” in the claim graphic. Specifically, the claim graphic generation means 31 generates a claim graphic “Claim2.gif” corresponding to claim 2 which is displayed in red and has the addition target term “audio system”, and the claim graphic is displayed. The information is stored in the claim tree image storage unit 34 in association with the position information (90, 39) (step S404). The third record in FIG. 13 is the data of the claim tree image generated as described above.

  Next, the intersection graphic generation means 33 generates a horizontal connection line extending from the claim graphic 102 corresponding to claim 2 and an intersection graphic (step S405). Specifically, the intersection graphic generation means 33 receives from the claim graphic generation means 31 the parent-child relationship information in which claim 2 is included in the child claim number, that is, the first record in FIG. Whether or not the horizontal connection line extends from the claim graphic 102 corresponding to claim 2 to the vertical connection line 201 extending from the claim graphic 101 corresponding to claim 1 which is a dependent claim of claim 2. Judgment is made (steps S401 and S402). In this case, since the horizontal connection line does not extend from the claim graphic 102 corresponding to claim 2, the intersection graphic generation means 33 determines that the horizontal connection line does not extend, and corresponds to claim 2. A horizontal connection line is generated from the claim graphic 102 to the vertical connection line 201 (step S403). Specifically, the fourth record of FIG. 13 is stored in the claim tree image storage means 34 so as to be a horizontal connection line from the claim graphic 102 to the vertical connection line 201.

  Next, the intersection graphic generation means 33 generates an intersection graphic at the intersection of the generated horizontal connection line and the vertical connection line 201 extending from the claim graphic 101 corresponding to claim 1 (step S404). ). Specifically, the intersection graphic generation means 33 generates an intersection graphic “Node1.gif” which is a filled circular graphic, and the intersection graphic corresponds to position information (50, 39) indicating the position of the intersection. In addition, it is stored in the claim tree image storage means 34. The fifth record in FIG. 13 is accumulated in this way.

  Since claim 2 is dependent only on claim 1, the process of generating the horizontal connection line and the intersection graphic is finished (steps S405 and S406), and the vertical connection line generation means 32 is the vertical as in the above description. A connecting line is generated (steps S407 and S408). The sixth record in FIG. 13 is accumulated in this way.

  In this way, it is assumed that the process for generating the claim tree image is completed up to claim 5. Then, the claim tree output part 23 reads the claim tree image memorize | stored in the claim tree image memory | storage means 34, and displays it on a display (step S411). The whole of FIG. 12 is a complaint tree image displayed in this way. In FIG. 12, claim graphics 101 to 105 corresponding to each claim, vertical connection lines 201 to 204, horizontal connection lines 301 to 304, and intersection graphics 401 to 408 are displayed. By viewing this display, the user can easily grasp the dependency relationship of the claims visually. For example, a horizontal connection line 303 extending from the claim graphic 104 corresponding to claim 4 intersects with a vertical connection line 202 extending from the claim graphic 102 corresponding to claim 2, but at the intersection. It can be seen that claim 4 is not dependent on claim 2 because there is no figure. Further, the claim graphic 106 corresponding to claim 6 is displayed on the leftmost side, and the vertical connection line does not extend from the claim graphic 106, so that the claim 6 is an independent claim, and other claims. It is easy to see that is not dependent. Further, the user can easily see that the claims 2 and 3 are external additions, the claim 4 is internal additions, and the claim 5 is other addition forms by viewing the display. I understand. The shaded display in FIG. 12 indicates a color display corresponding to the display attribute in FIG. For claims 2 to 4, the addition target term is displayed below the frame of the text indicating the claim number or the like in the claim graphic. Therefore, by seeing this display, the user adds “audio system” and “antenna” by external addition in claims 2 and 3, respectively, and in claim 4, by “internal addition”, “engine” is related. You can easily know that the limitation is made.

The vertical connection line in this specific example is an example, and the vertical connection line may be a line that does not have a horizontal portion and extends immediately downward from the right side of the claim graphic.
Further, in this specific example, the claim tree image of FIG. 12 shows an outline of display based on the data of the claim tree image shown in FIG. 13, and the display position of each figure is not accurate. Absent.

  In this specific example, the case where the claim tree generation unit 22 generates a claim tree image of vector data has been described. As described above, the claim tree generation unit 22 generates a claim tree image of raster data. Also good. In that case, the process of specifying the image of the claim graphic and the display position thereof adds the image of the claim graphic to the corresponding display position in the claim tree image as the raster data.

  Further, in this specific example, the case where each figure is generated in the order of the claim figure, the horizontal connection line, the intersection figure, and the vertical connection line is described for a certain claim. However, the claim tree image can be appropriately generated. If possible, the order in which those figures are generated does not matter.

  Further, in this specific example, the case where the external addition target term or the internal addition target term is displayed below the rectangle indicating the claim number in the claim graphic has been described. May be. For example, in the claim graphic, the addition target term may be displayed inside a rectangle. In this case, the size of the rectangle may be appropriately increased so that the addition target term is appropriately displayed inside the rectangle.

  Further, in this specific example, in the claim tree image, the case where the externally added claim and the internally added claim are visually distinguished by color has been described. However, as described above, by a method other than color. An external addition claim and an internal addition claim may be visually distinguished. For example, the claim graphic generating means 31 generates a claim graphic partially including the character string “external addition” as a claim graphic corresponding to the claim determined to be external addition, A claim graphic having a character string “internal addition” in part as a claim graphic corresponding to the determined claim may be generated.

  Further, in this specific example, in the claim graphic corresponding to the independent claim, the components included in the independent claim (for example, “body”, “engine”, “tire”) are displayed in the claim graphic. It may be. In that case, the claim graphic generation means 31 or other constituent elements may perform processing for acquiring the constituent elements from the independent claims.

  As described above, according to the information processing apparatus 1 according to the present embodiment, it is possible to generate a claim tree image indicating the additional format of the dependent claims. As a result, the user who sees the claim tree can easily know whether each claim is an external addition, an internal addition, or another form. In addition, since the addition target term is also displayed, it is possible to easily know the name of the component added externally or the name of the component added internally.

  In the present embodiment, since it is determined whether or not it is external addition, and then whether or not it is internal addition, when performing the determination of internal addition, It is clear that the following claim is not an external addition, and the above-described determination (2-1) can be made. On the other hand, when the internal addition determination is performed without the external addition determination, the additional format determination unit 15 performs the determination of (2-2) in order to increase the accuracy of the internal addition determination. Alternatively, the determination of (2-1) may be made after confirming that the additional adverb is not included in the claim information to be determined. In the latter case, if the adjunct adverb is included in the claim information to be determined, the additional form determination unit 15 does not determine that the claim information is internal addition.

  Moreover, although this embodiment demonstrated the case where the parent-child relationship information acquisition part 20 acquires parent-child relationship information collectively, it does not need to be so. For example, the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 acquires the claim number indicating the parent claim of the claim information only for the noticed claim information, and acquires only the parent-child relationship information related to the claim information. You may accumulate | store in the parent-child relationship information storage part 21. FIG. In this case, the storage of the parent-child relationship information in the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21 may be temporary.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the addition target term is acquired has been described, but additional description information that is an explanation for the addition target may also be acquired. The additional explanation information about external addition is external additional explanation information, and the additional explanation information about internal addition is internal additional explanation information. For example, the external additional explanation information is a character string before the external addition target term specified as described above, and after the character string after the delimiter cue phrase or the beginning of the document or a line feed symbol. It can be acquired by acquiring a subsequent character string. The process of acquiring the external additional explanation information may be performed by, for example, an external additional explanation information acquisition unit (not shown). In addition, for example, for the internal additional explanation information, a character string after the main particle specified as described above (if there is a punctuation mark “,” “,” immediately after the main particle, It can be obtained by obtaining a character string preceding the line feed symbol, the next internal additional clue phrase, or the subordinate claim clue phrase. The process of acquiring the internal additional explanation information may be performed by an internal additional explanation information acquisition unit (not shown), for example.

  Moreover, although the case where the internal addition target term is acquired has been described in the present embodiment, the internal addition target term may not be acquired. When the acquisition of the internal addition target term is not performed, the information processing apparatus 1 may not include the internal addition target term acquisition unit 17.

  Moreover, although the case where the external addition target term is acquired has been described in the present embodiment, it is not necessary to acquire the external addition target term. If the external addition target term is not acquired, the information processing apparatus 1 may not include the external addition target term acquisition unit 16.

  Needless to say, clue phrases used in the determination of external addition and internal addition are not limited to those described in this embodiment. A clue phrase other than that described may be used to appropriately determine whether the dependent claim is an external addition or an internal addition.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the additional format determination unit 15 determines external addition or internal addition has been described, but the additional format of the dependent claims that are neither external addition nor internal addition is further added. You may make it classify | categorize. For example, the additional format determination unit 15 may determine whether the dependent claim is a “category change” claim. Specifically, the additional format determination unit 15 specifies a category of a dependent claim that is a determination target and a category of a parent claim (dependent claim) on which the dependent claim is dependent. If they are the same, it may be determined that they are not category change claims, and if they are different, it may be determined that they are category change claims. The specification of a parent claim corresponding to a certain claim can be known from the parent-child relationship information, for example, when parent-child relationship information can be used. Further, even when the parent-child relationship information cannot be used, the parent bill corresponding to the target claim is obtained by using the same method as the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20 acquires the parent-child relationship information. Terms can be specified. Here, the category may be three types of “device”, “method”, and “program”, may be four types of “device”, “method”, “program”, and “recording medium”, or may be a program, As the recording medium is included in the device, there may be two types of “device” and “method”. Further, the additional format determination unit 15 determines whether or not certain claim information is a claim of the method, and a method clue phrase “method” which is a clue phrase included in the claim of the method is the rear end of the claim information. You may judge by whether it exists (for example, immediately before the last punctuation mark). If it exists, it becomes a method claim. If not, it is a method claim. In addition, the additional format determination unit 15 determines whether or not certain claim information is a claim of the program, by any of the program clue phrases “program” and “software” that are clue phrases included in the claim of the program. You may judge by whether it exists in the rear end of claim information. If it exists, it becomes a claim of the program. If it does not exist, it is not a claim of the program. Further, the additional format determination unit 15 determines whether or not certain claim information is a claim for the recording medium, and determines whether or not the recording medium claim phrase “recording medium”, “storage medium”, “media” is a clue phrase of the claim for the recording medium. May be determined by whether or not any of the following exists at the rear end of the claim information. If it exists, it becomes a claim of the recording medium. If it does not exist, it is not a claim for the recording medium. Note that a category change clue phrase including a method clue phrase, a program clue phrase, and a recording medium clue phrase may be included in the determination information stored in the determination information storage unit 14. Further, when determining a category of a claim, the additional format determination unit 15 determines whether the claim is a method claim, a program claim, or a recording medium claim. (If the category does not include “recording medium”, an unnecessary determination may not be made). If none of the above applies, the additional format determination unit 15 may determine that the claim is a claim of the device. In this way, by identifying the parent claim of a certain claim, identifying the category of the claim and the category of the parent claim, and determining whether they are the same It is possible to determine whether or not the claim being noticed is a category change claim.

  In the present embodiment, the case where a claim tree is generated has been described. However, this need not be the case. When the claim tree is not generated, the information processing apparatus 1 may not include the parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 20, the parent-child relationship information storage unit 21, the claim tree generation unit 22, and the claim tree output unit 23. In that case, the output unit 18 may output information indicating an additional format for each claim as shown in FIG. Further, when the parent-child relationship information is not acquired as described above and the determination of the additional format using the dependent relationship of the claims is not performed, the claim information storage unit 11 stores one claim. Only the information is stored, and the information processing apparatus 1 may determine the additional format for the single claim information. The single claim information is preferably a dependent claim.

  In recent years, PML (Patent Markup Language), which is a markup language for structuring information such as claims and specifications in a multifaceted manner, has been developed. In the PML, information indicating the attribute and structure of each claim can be described using tags. Therefore, when the claim information stored in the claim information storage unit 11 is described by using the PML, the output unit 18 outputs the external information about the claim information determined to be externally added. The additional format information may be output by adding a tag (for example, <dependent-claim-structure type = “internalAddition”>) indicating that it is an additional addition. Further, the output unit 18 may add the addition target term to the claim information described using the PML. Specifically, when the addition target term is “audio system”, the output unit 18 adds “<target> audio system </ target>” to the claim information obtained for the addition target term. By doing so, the addition target term may be output. Using the claim information described in the PML output in this way, for example, a claim tree may be generated by the claim tree generation unit 22. In other apparatuses, the claim tree is generated in the same manner as the claim tree generation unit 22. A claim tree may be generated.

  Moreover, although the case where the information processing apparatus 1 is a stand-alone has been described in the above embodiment, the information processing apparatus may be a stand-alone apparatus or a server apparatus in a server / client system. In the latter case, the output unit may output information via a communication line.

  In the above embodiment, each process or each function may be realized by centralized processing by a single device or a single system, or may be distributedly processed by a plurality of devices or a plurality of systems. It may be realized by doing.

  In the above embodiment, information related to processing executed by each component, for example, information received, acquired, selected, generated, transmitted, or received by each component In addition, information such as threshold values, mathematical formulas, addresses, etc. used by each component in processing is retained temporarily or over a long period of time on a recording medium (not shown) even when not explicitly stated in the above description. It may be. Further, the storage of information in the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a storage unit (not shown). Further, reading of information from the recording medium (not shown) may be performed by each component or a reading unit (not shown).

  In the above embodiment, when information used by each component, for example, information such as a threshold value, an address, and various setting values used by each component may be changed by the user Even if it is not specified in the above description, the user may be able to change the information as appropriate, or it may not be. If the information can be changed by the user, the change is realized by, for example, a not-shown receiving unit that receives a change instruction from the user and a changing unit (not shown) that changes the information in accordance with the change instruction. May be. The change instruction received by the receiving unit (not shown) may be received from an input device, information received via a communication line, or information read from a predetermined recording medium, for example. .

  In the above embodiment, when two or more constituent elements included in the information processing apparatus 1 have communication devices, input devices, or the like, two or more constituent elements may physically have a single device. Or you may have separate devices.

  In the above 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. Note that the software that realizes the information processing apparatus in the above embodiment is the following program. In other words, this program stores a computer in a claim information storage unit in which one or more claim information that is information of a claim is stored as a dependent claim clue phrase that is a clue phrase used in a dependent claim. By determining whether each claim information is a dependent claim by determining whether each claim information is a dependent claim, and used when determining whether a claim is an internal addition or an external addition. Claims that have been determined to be dependent claims by the dependency determination unit using the determination information stored in the determination information storage unit in which determination information that is at least information including clue phrases is stored It functions as an additional format determination unit that determines whether the additional format of information is internal addition or external addition, and an output unit that outputs additional format information that is information indicating the determination result of the additional format determination unit It is because of the program.

  In the program, the functions realized by the program do not include functions that can be realized only by hardware. For example, a function that can be realized only by hardware such as a modem or an interface card in an output unit that outputs information is not included in at least the function realized by the program.

  Further, this program may be executed by being downloaded from a server or the like, and a program recorded on a predetermined recording medium (for example, an optical disk such as a CD-ROM, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory, or the like) is read out. May be executed by Further, this program may be used as a program constituting a program product.

  Further, the computer that executes this program may be singular or plural. That is, centralized processing may be performed, or distributed processing may be performed.

  FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an external appearance of a computer that executes the program and realizes the information processing apparatus 1 according to the embodiment. The above-described embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on the computer hardware.

  14, a computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905 and an FD (Floppy (registered trademark) Disk) drive 906, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, a monitor 904, and the like. Is provided.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an internal configuration of the computer system 900. In FIG. 15, in addition to the CD-ROM drive 905 and the FD drive 906, a computer 901 is connected to an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, a ROM 912 for storing a program such as a bootup program, and the MPU 911. A RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 that temporarily stores program instructions and provides a temporary storage space, a hard disk 914 that stores application programs, system programs, and data, and an MPU 911 and a ROM 912 are interconnected. And a bus 915. The computer 901 may include a network card (not shown) that provides connection to the LAN.

  A program that causes the computer system 900 to execute the functions of the information processing apparatus 1 according to the above embodiment is stored in the CD-ROM 921 or the FD 922, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905 or the FD drive 906, and stored in the hard disk 914. May be forwarded. Instead, the program may be transmitted to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored in the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into the RAM 913 when executed. The program may be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921, the FD 922, or the network.

  The program does not necessarily include an operating system (OS) or a third-party program that causes the computer 901 to execute the functions of the information processing apparatus 1 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 900 operates is well known and will not be described in detail.

  Further, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, 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, according to the information processing apparatus and the like according to the present invention, an effect that it is possible to determine an additional format of a dependent claim is obtained. For example, a claim tree image indicating an additional format from two or more claims information It is useful as a device that automatically generates

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information processing apparatus 11 Claim information storage part 12 Clue phrase storage part 13 Dependency relationship judgment part 14 Judgment information storage part 15 Additional format judgment part 16 External addition object term acquisition part 17 Internal addition object term acquisition part 18 Output part 19 Storage unit 20 Parent-child relationship information acquisition unit 21 Parent-child relationship information storage unit 22 Claim tree generation unit 23 Claim tree output unit 31 Claim graphic generation unit 32 Vertical connection line generation unit 33 Intersection graphic generation unit 34 Claim tree image storage unit

Claims (4)

Information der of claim is, Ru information der containing claim number, claim information storage unit in which a plurality of claims information is memorize in dependency,
A dependency determination unit that determines whether each claim information is a dependent claim by determining whether the claim information includes a dependent claim clue that is a clue used in the dependent claim;
Information used to determine whether a claim is an internal addition or an external addition , a clue phrase included in the external addition claim information, an adverb that indicates addition, and an indication of possession One or more external additional clue phrases including a possessive verb that is a verb, and a clue phrase included in the internal addition claim information, which is a term used to indicate an antecedent, and one or more A determination information storage unit that stores determination information that is information including a continuation of nouns and one or more internal additional clue phrases including a subject particle that is a particle attached to the subject ;
When the additional adverb and the possessed verb are included in the claim information determined to be a dependent claim by the dependency relationship determination unit using the determination information stored in the determination information storage unit , When it is determined that the claim information is an external addition and the claim information includes the instruction term, the continuation of the one or more nouns, and the subject particle in that order, the claim information An additional format determination unit that determines that the information is internal addition ;
An external addition target term acquisition unit that acquires one or more terms to be owned by the possessed verb from claim information that is determined to be external addition by the additional format determination unit. When,
An internal addition target term acquisition unit that acquires an internal addition target term that is a term corresponding to a sequence of the one or more nouns from claim information that is determined to be internal addition by the additional format determination unit;
Additional format information that is information indicating the determination result of the additional format determination unit, the external addition target term acquired by the external addition target term acquisition unit, and the internal addition acquired by the internal addition target term acquisition unit An output unit for outputting a target term ;
A parent-child relationship information storage unit that stores parent-child relationship information that is information indicating a dependent parent-child relationship of each claim in a plurality of claims information;
By using the dependent claim clue phrase which is a clue phrase used in the dependent claim, the claim information storage unit identifies the claim number of the parent claim which is a claim to which one claim information is dependent. A parent-child relationship information acquisition unit for acquiring parent-child relationship information from a plurality of claims information stored in the storage, and storing the parent-child relationship information storage unit;
Using the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit, the additional format information output from the output unit, the external additional target term, and the internal additional target term, an additional format for each claim Can be visually differentiated, and a claim tree image is generated that displays an external addition target term or an internal addition target term in association with a claim corresponding to the external addition target term or the internal addition target term A claim tree generator to
An information processing apparatus comprising: a claim tree output unit that outputs a claim tree image generated by the claim tree generation unit. Wherein the visual distinction of the additional form of claim tree image distinguished by color, distinguished by the shape, of the distinction by the display method, either, the information processing apparatus according to claim 1. Information der of claim is, wherein Ru information der containing item number, and claim information storage unit in which a plurality of claims information is memorize in dependency, a dependency determination unit, claims internal This is information used to determine whether it is addition or external addition, and is a cue phrase included in the external addition claim information. An additional adverb that is an adverb indicating addition and an owned verb that is a verb indicating possession One or more external additional clue phrases including the following, a clue phrase included in the internal addition claim information, a term used to indicate an antecedent, and a sequence of one or more nouns: , A judgment information storage unit for storing judgment information that is information including one or more internal additional clue phrases including a subject particle that is a particle attached to the subject , an additional format judgment unit, and acquisition of an external addition target term and parts, and internal addition target term acquisition unit, an output unit, a plurality of Parent-child relationship information storing unit that parent-child relationship information is stored is information indicating a parent-child relationship between the dependent respective claims in Motomeko information, the parent-child relationship information acquiring unit, and the claim tree generation unit, and a claim tree output unit An information processing method processed using
The dependency relationship determination unit determines whether or not each claim information is a dependent claim by determining whether or not the dependent claim clue phrase that is a clue phrase used in the dependent claim is included in the claim information. A dependency determination step;
The additional adverb and the possessed verb are added to the claim information determined by the dependent relationship determination step by the additional relationship determination unit using the determination information stored in the determination information storage unit. Is included in the claim information, the claim term, the continuation of the one or more nouns, and the subject particle in that order are included in the claim information. An additional format determination step for determining that the claim information is an internal addition ,
The external addition target term that is one or more terms to be owned by the possessed verb from the claim information that the external addition target term acquisition unit has determined to be external addition in the additional format determination step. An external addition target term acquisition step for acquiring
The internal addition target term acquisition unit acquires an internal addition target term that is a term corresponding to a sequence of the one or more nouns from claim information that is determined to be internal addition in the addition format determination step. An internally added target term acquisition step,
The output unit includes additional format information that is information indicating a determination result in the additional format determination step, an external additional target term acquired in the external additional target term acquisition step, and an internal additional target term acquisition step. An output step for outputting the internal addition target term acquired in step 1,
The parent-child relationship information acquisition unit specifies a claim number of a parent claim that is a claim to which one claim information is dependent, using a dependent claim clue phrase that is a clue phrase used in the dependent claim. To acquire parent-child relationship information from a plurality of claims information stored in the claim information storage unit, and to store in the parent-child relationship information storage unit,
The claim tree generation unit uses the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit, the additional format information output in the output step, the external addition target term, and the internal addition target term. The additional format can be visually distinguished for each claim, and the external additional term or the internal additional target term is associated with the claim corresponding to the external additional target term or the internal additional target term. A claim tree generation step for generating a claim tree image to be displayed;
A claim tree output step in which the claim tree output unit outputs a claim tree image generated in the claim tree generation step . Computer
Claims dependent subclaims cue phrase is a cue phrase used in the claims, Ri information der claims, Ru information der including the claims number, more claims information in the dependency is remembers A dependency determination unit that determines whether each claim information is a dependent claim by determining whether the claim information is included in the claim information stored in the item information storage unit;
Information used to determine whether a claim is an internal addition or an external addition , a clue phrase included in the external addition claim information, an adverb that indicates addition, and an indication of possession One or more external additional clue phrases including a possessive verb that is a verb, and a clue phrase included in the internal addition claim information, which is a term used to indicate an antecedent, and one or more Using judgment information stored in a judgment information storage unit that stores judgment information that is information including one or more internal additional clue phrases including a continuation of nouns and a subject particle that is a particle attached to the subject When the additional adverb and the possessed verb are included in the claim information determined by the dependency relationship determination unit as a dependent claim, the claim information is determined to be an external addition, In the claim information, the instruction term , A series of the one or more noun, the in the case where the main particle are contained in that order, additional format determination unit to which the claim information is determined to be internal addition,
An external addition target term acquisition unit that acquires one or more terms to be owned by the possessed verb from claim information that is determined to be external addition by the additional format determination unit. ,
An internal addition target term acquisition unit that acquires an internal addition target term that is a term corresponding to a sequence of the one or more nouns from claim information that is determined to be internal addition by the additional format determination unit;
Additional format information that is information indicating the determination result of the additional format determination unit, the external addition target term acquired by the external addition target term acquisition unit, and the internal addition acquired by the internal addition target term acquisition unit An output unit that outputs the target term ,
By using the dependent claim clue phrase which is a clue phrase used in the dependent claim, the claim information storage unit identifies the claim number of the parent claim which is a claim to which one claim information is dependent. The parent-child relationship information that is the information indicating the dependent parent-child relationship of each claim in the plurality of claims information is acquired from the plurality of claims information stored in the step, and the parent-child relationship information is stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit Part,
Using the parent-child relationship information stored in the parent-child relationship information storage unit, the additional format information output from the output unit, the external additional target term, and the internal additional target term, an additional format for each claim A claim tree image that can be visually distinguished and displayed in correspondence with a claim corresponding to the external additional term or the internal additional target term corresponding to the external additional target term or the internal additional target term. Claim tree generator,
The program for functioning as a claim tree output part which outputs the claim tree image which the said claim tree generation part produced | generated .

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