JP5574775B2 - Idea organization support device and idea organization support program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology for organizing technical ideas, and more particularly, to a technology effective when applied to an idea organization support device and an idea organization support program that analyze technical documents classified by technical items and support idea organization. Is.

  One of the main tasks in a company's intellectual property department, etc., is to discover ideas from the development department and apply for patents. At that time, members of the Intellectual Property Department (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “Intellectual Property Department”) discuss with members of the Development Department (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “Developer”), Refine your ideas. In this process, an intellectual property member and a developer may use an idea support tool as disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example. In addition, the intellectual property staff and the developer, for example, Cyber Patent Desk (registered trademark) provided by NRI Cyber Patent Co., Ltd. (see Non-Patent Document 1) in order to compare and examine the idea to be examined and the published patent document. Patent documents may be searched using a patent search tool such as the above.

  On the other hand, in general, the theme of technology development and product development is selected based on human intuition and experience while taking into account the trends in technology and market, and patent applications are filed behind the scenes. Therefore, there are many cases in which technology development or the like is advanced on a theme for which another company has already established a patent network, resulting in useless investment. Therefore, in order to avoid such waste and to develop technology linked with patent strategy, first create a patent map and focus on technologies where there is no other company's patent network or where other companies are weak. Development may take place.

  Here, the general patent map creation method is only to create a patent map using IPC, and it is totally unclear whether the selected theme is likely to obtain a patent right. It cannot be said that it supports the technological development that has been made. Therefore, a theme selection device as disclosed in Patent Document 2 is also proposed as a computer system that can automatically select a development theme that is highly probable to acquire a patent right and that matches the needs of society. Has been.

JP-A-2005-63312 JP 2008-242753 A

NRI Cyber Patent Co., Ltd., NRI CYBER PATENT, [online], [Search on Saturday, February 28, 2009], Internet <URL: http://www.patent.ne.jp/>

  When the intellectual property staff and the developer discuss, if the technical position of the idea to be examined is not grasped, it may be difficult to phase the recognition between the intellectual property staff and the developer. This can be a hindrance to effective discussions. Also, if the positioning is not grasped, systematic discussion is difficult.

  On the other hand, when discussing and deciding the direction of idea development and technology development, it is highly probable that patent rights can be obtained and if the path can be shown in a direction that matches the needs of society, It is possible to hold more effective discussions between the finance staff and developers.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to make it easy for a user to grasp the technical position of an idea, and to automatically select a useful theme that matches the needs of society and an idea organization support device and an idea organization support To provide a program. The above and other objects and novel features of the present invention will be apparent from the description of this specification and the accompanying drawings.

  Of the inventions disclosed in this application, the outline of typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  An idea organization support device according to a representative embodiment of the present invention includes a document acquisition unit that acquires a technical document, an item extraction unit that extracts a first technical item from the technical document acquired by the document acquisition unit, When displaying a theme selection unit that extracts a second technical item as a candidate for a theme from a tree structure including the first technical item, and a tree structure including the first technical item, the first technical item is displayed. And an item display unit for displaying information specifying the second technical item together.

  In another aspect, the idea organization support device according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention extracts a first technical item from a document acquisition unit that acquires a technical document and the technical document acquired by the document acquisition unit. And the technical document to which the first technical item and the third technical item are assigned for all other third technical items included in the tree structure including the item extracting unit and the first technical item. When displaying the document number deriving unit for acquiring the number and the tree structure including the first technical item, the first technical item is highlighted and displayed for each of the third technical items. And an item display unit that displays information on the number of technical documents acquired by the document number deriving unit.

  The present invention can also be applied to a program that causes a computer to function as the above idea organization support apparatus.

  Among the inventions disclosed in the present application, effects obtained by typical ones will be briefly described as follows.

  According to the representative embodiment of the present invention, the user can easily grasp the technical position of an idea, and it is possible to automatically select a useful theme that matches the needs of society. Become.

It is the figure which showed the outline | summary of the structural example of the idea rearrangement assistance apparatus which is one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the outline | summary of the structural example of the theme selection part in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the specific content of the electronic document in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the data structure and specific data of the search condition in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the data structure and specific data of the patent document list | wrist in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the data structure and specific data of the literature information table in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the analysis result screen in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed another example of the analysis result screen in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed another example of the analysis result screen in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the automatic selection setting screen in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the related technology display screen in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the data structure and specific data of the assessment rate table in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the example of the data structure and specific data of F term overview information in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the existing F term information in one embodiment of this invention, and the example of concrete data. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the nonexistence F term information in one embodiment of this invention, and the example of concrete data. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the needs and F term related information in one embodiment of this invention, and the example of concrete data. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the theme information in one embodiment of this invention, and the example of concrete data. It is a flowchart which shows an outline | summary about the example of a creation process of the needs and F term relevant information in one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an outline | summary about the example of the production | generation process of the theme information 205 in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the detail about the example of the process which takes out F term group with a high priority from the nonexistence F term information in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the detail about another example of the process which takes out F term group with high priority from non-existence F term information in one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an outline | summary about the example of a series of processes in one embodiment of this invention. It is the figure which showed the data structure of the highlight display table in one embodiment of this invention, and the example of concrete data.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that components having the same function are denoted by the same reference symbols throughout the drawings for describing the embodiment, and the repetitive description thereof will be omitted.

  First, terms used in this specification will be described. The “tree structure” is a “tree” structure in the graph theory. A “partial tree” is a part of a tree structure, which itself is a complete tree structure. The tree structure is represented by “nodes” and “edges” connecting the nodes. A “root node” is a node at the top of a tree structure. The “patent document” is a document published in, for example, an open patent gazette or a patent gazette.

  When an intellectual property member examines a patent application with a developer, an idea organizing support apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is based on electronic materials including the idea under consideration, such as text data and voice data. Generate search conditions corresponding to ideas. The idea organizing support apparatus searches patent documents under the search conditions, and describes the theme code from the patent documents obtained as a result of the search and one or more F terms derived from the theme code (hereinafter referred to as “F-term group”) Extract). This theme code and F-term group correspond to the technical concept of the idea under consideration.

  The idea rearrangement support device expands and displays the F-term having the extracted theme code as a root node for each depth of the tree structure. At this time, the display corresponding to the F term group extracted above is emphasized by giving a color different from the display corresponding to the other F terms. This will help you understand at a glance where the technical concepts included in the idea under consideration are located in the overall concept, that is, the position of the idea and deepen your discussion.

  Here, the theme code and F-term are technical items having a tree structure with a concept as a node, developed by the Japan Patent Office for machine search. For example, one concept is represented as 5B705 (theme code) KK04 (F-term). The theme code indicates a higher level concept, and the F term indicates a lower level concept. There is no F-term with the same symbol in one theme code. However, the same symbol F-term is used between a plurality of theme codes. Therefore, the concept node cannot be specified only by the F term. Therefore, throughout this specification, a combination of a theme code and one F-term derived from the theme code is made to correspond to one technical item. Hereinafter, the term “F-term” refers to a combination of a theme code and an F-term derived from the theme code.

<System configuration>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of an idea organization support device 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. Each functional block shown in the figure can be realized in hardware by an element such as a computer CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a mechanical device, and in software by a computer program or the like. , Depicts functional blocks realized by their cooperation. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software.

  The idea organization support device 100 is connected to a display such as an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) (not shown) and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and has a storage device (not shown), and includes an electronic document data extraction unit 111, audio data conversion, and the like. Unit 112, condition generation unit 120, patent document search unit 130, patent document acquisition unit 140, F-term extraction unit 150, F-term display control unit 160, support information derivation unit 170, F-term selection unit 180, related technology search unit 191 And an automatic search unit 192.

  The electronic document data extraction unit 111 acquires an electronic document 301 including an idea that is considering a patent application from an external device or a storage device. The electronic document 301 is, for example, text data created by a developer to explain an idea. The electronic document data extraction unit 111 performs formal processing such as header / footer removal and format information removal on the electronic document 301. The electronic document data extraction unit 111 passes the processed electronic document 301 to the condition generation unit 120. An example of the electronic document 301 is shown in FIG. 3 described later.

  The audio data conversion unit 112 acquires electronic audio data 302 including an idea that is considering a patent application from an external device or a storage device. The voice data 302 is, for example, recorded data that records a conversation between a developer and an intellectual property member. The voice data conversion unit 112 converts the acquired voice data 302 into an electronic document, for example, text data and passes it to the condition generation unit 120. Here, a known voice processing technique is used for the process of converting the voice data 302 into an electronic document.

  The condition generation unit 120 acquires an electronic document 301 or audio data 302 (an electronic document obtained by converting the electronic document 301) including an idea for which a patent application is being considered from an external or storage device, and the electronic document 301 is acquired from the acquired electronic document 301. A search condition 102 that briefly indicates the idea included in 301 is generated. An example of the search condition 102 is shown in FIG. 4 described later.

  The condition generation unit 120 includes, for example, a text extraction unit 121, a keyword extraction unit 122, and a repeated word extraction unit 123. The condition generation unit 120 sets the search condition generated by any one of the sentence extraction unit 121, the keyword extraction unit 122, and the repeated word extraction unit 123 as the search condition 102 generated by the condition generation unit 120. Which one to select is set in advance by a user such as an intellectual property member or developer.

  The text extraction unit 121 extracts a search target sentence that should be a search target from the input electronic document 301 according to a predetermined text extraction condition and sets it as a search condition. This extraction is realized using existing techniques. This sentence extraction condition is determined in advance by the user.

  The keyword extraction unit 122 refers to the keyword table 101 stored in the storage device, extracts keywords registered in the keyword table 101 from the input electronic document 301, and uses them as search conditions. The keyword table 101 is a database created in advance by a user and includes general technical terms and the like. Note that the keyword extraction unit 122 may count the number of times the keyword appears in the electronic document 301. Then, the keyword extracting unit 122 may exclude keywords whose number is equal to or less than a specified number. The excluded keyword is not included in the search condition generated by the keyword extraction unit 122. Thereby, the search object can be further narrowed down.

  In addition, the keyword extraction unit 122 may weight the keyword using the number of times the keyword appears in the electronic document 301 as the weight of the keyword. In this case, although the details will be described later, the weighted keyword is converted into a search formula 103 for input to the patent search tool 133. When the patent search tool 133 can perform a search by weighting a keyword, the search formula 103 can be appropriately weighted by using the weighting performed by the keyword extraction unit 122. Therefore, it is possible to obtain a search result that is more suitable for an idea that is considering a patent application.

  The repetitive word extraction unit 123 extracts words used repeatedly in the input electronic document 301 as search conditions. In particular, the repeated word extraction unit 123 extracts words that are repeated two or more times. Similar to the keyword extraction unit 122 described above, the repeated word extraction unit 123 may weight the number of times a word appears in the electronic document 301 as the weight of the word. The prescribed number in the keyword extracting unit 122 and the predetermined number in the repeated word extracting unit 123 may be determined by experiments so that a good search result can be obtained.

  The condition generation unit 120 may input the search target sentence extracted by the sentence extraction unit 121 to the keyword extraction unit 122. In this case, the search condition 102 generated by the condition generation unit 120 is a keyword extracted from the search target sentence by the keyword extraction unit 122. As a result, keywords that are more suitable for the idea of considering the patent application can be extracted. The same applies to the case where the search target sentence extracted by the sentence extraction unit 121 is repeatedly input to the word extraction unit 123.

  The patent document search unit 130 searches for patent documents based on the search condition 102 generated by the condition generation unit 120 or a search condition input from the outside (hereinafter collectively referred to as “search condition 102”). In the patent document search unit 130, the search condition 102 is converted into a search expression 103 according to a predetermined rule, and the search expression 103 is input to the patent search tool 133. The patent document search unit 130 includes, for example, a search expression generation unit 131, a patent search tool 133, and a search range setting unit 132. As the patent search tool 133, for example, a function of a cyber patent desk (registered trademark) is incorporated and used. The functions of the patent digital library provided by the Industrial Property Information / Training Hall may be incorporated.

  The search formula generation unit 131 converts the search condition 102 into a search formula 103 in a format used by the patent search tool 133. The search expression generation unit 131 is configured to be able to select three algorithms for converting the search condition 102 into a search expression. For example, the search expression generation unit 131 includes an OR unit 131-1, an AND unit 131-2, and a synonym OR unit 131-3 that correspond to these three algorithms.

  The OR unit 131-1 generates a search expression 103 that combines all the elements of the search condition 102 with the OR condition. For example, when “chat, video conference, conversation” is input to the OR unit 131-1 as the search condition 102, the OR unit 131-1 generates “chat + video conference + conversation” as a search expression. Here, “+” is a symbol indicating a logical sum (OR) in the search formula of the patent search tool 133.

  The ANDing unit 131-2 generates a search expression 103 in which all the elements of the search condition 102 are combined with the AND condition. That is, all elements of the search condition 102 are treated as co-occurrence words. For example, when “chat, video conference, conversation” is input to the AND unit 131-2 as the search condition 102, the AND unit 131-2 generates “chat * video conference * conversation” as a search expression. Here, “*” is a symbol indicating logical product (AND) in the search formula of the patent search tool 133.

  The synonym OR unit 131-3 receives the search formula generated by the AND unit 131-2, and generates a search formula 103 in which the synonyms are re-wrapped in the OR condition. For example, when “chat” is defined as a synonym of “conversation”, the search expression “chat * video conference * conversation” generated by the AND unit 131-2 is changed to “(chat + conversation) * video conference”. change. Whether or not it is a synonym may be determined based on a known synonym dictionary. When the search expression 103 generated by the synonym OR unit 131-3 is employed, a search expression that enables a more accurate search can be automatically generated.

  The search expression generation unit 131 uses, as the search expression 103 corresponding to the input search condition 102, the search expression generated by the ORing unit 131-1, the search expression generated by the ANDing unit 131-2, and the synonym ORing unit 131. -3 selects one of the search expressions generated. This selection condition is set in advance by the user. Note that when the input search condition 102 is a search target sentence, the search expression generation unit 131 selects a search expression generated by the ORing unit 131-1 because the number of sentences is generally not so large. May be. When the input search condition 102 is a keyword or a word, the search expression generation unit 131 may select a search expression generated by the OR unit 131-1 if the number of elements is less than a predetermined number. The predetermined number may be determined by experiment so that the number of patent documents obtained as a result of the search falls within a desired range.

  The search range setting unit 132 sets a search range by specifying a search target document, a search period, a search item, and the like for the patent search tool 133.

  The patent document acquisition unit 140 obtains a list of patent documents obtained as a result of the search by the patent search tool 133 or a list of patent documents designated from the outside (hereinafter collectively referred to as “patent document list 104”) as a publication number or the like. In the form of a list of document IDs. At this time, if the patent document acquisition unit 140 can obtain, for example, a score indicating the degree of similarity from the patent search tool 133, it may be acquired in association with the document ID. In particular, when the concept search function of Cyber Patent Desk (registered trademark) is used as the patent search tool 133, a similarity score indicating the degree of similarity with the search target sentence is obtained together with the search result. Therefore, when a search target sentence is used as the search formula 103, the patent document acquisition unit 140 may acquire a similarity score associated with the document ID of the search result.

  An example of the patent document list 104 is shown in FIG. Here, the document ID is an ID that uniquely identifies a patent document. If there is no search result by the patent search tool 133, the patent document acquisition unit 140 may cause the condition generation unit 120 to generate a more lenient search condition.

  The F-term extraction unit 150 extracts an F-term group from the patent documents specified by the document ID included in the patent document list 104. The F term extraction unit 150 includes, for example, each unit of a document information acquisition unit 151, a target document determination unit 152, and a target F term determination unit 153. The F-term extraction unit 150 sets the F-term group determined by the target document determination unit 152 or the F-term group determined by the target F-term determination unit 153 as the F-term group to be extracted. Which one to select is set in advance by the user.

  The document information acquisition unit 151 uses, for each document ID included in the patent document list 104, the patent document identified by the document ID by using the above-described patent search tool 133 or by referring to an external database (not shown). If there is an F-term group attached to, get it. The document information acquisition unit 151 records the document ID, the theme code attached thereto, and the F term in the document information table 105 in association with each other. When the patent document acquisition unit 140 acquires the similarity score, the document information table 105 associates the document ID of the patent document, the theme code and F term attached thereto, and the similarity score corresponding to the patent document. May be recorded. An example of the document information table 105 is shown in FIG.

  The target document determination unit 152 selects a patent document from the document information table 105 in one of the following five modes. The target document determination unit 152 sets the F term group of the selected patent documents as the F term group determined by the target document determination unit 152. Which of the five modes is used is preset by the user.

  First mode: The target document determination unit 152 randomly selects a predetermined number (for example, five) of patent documents from the document information table 105. In this case, even when the number of patent documents obtained as a result of the search by the patent document search unit 130 is large, the number of F terms determined by the target document determination unit 152 can be kept appropriate.

  Second mode: The target document determination unit 152 selects a predetermined number (for example, five) of patent documents from the document information table 105 having the newest publication date. In this case, the F-term group determined by the target document determination unit 152 can be more in line with the current situation.

  Third mode: When the document information table 105 includes a similarity score, the target document determination unit 152 selects the patent document having the highest similarity score, that is, the best match with the search condition 102. In this case, an F-term group that more appropriately represents a concept included in an idea that is considering a patent application can be obtained.

  Fourth mode: When the document information table 105 includes a similarity score, the target document determination unit 152 selects a predetermined number (for example, five) of patent documents having a higher similarity score. In this case as well, an F-term group can be obtained that more appropriately represents the concept included in the idea that is considering the patent application.

  Fifth mode: The target document determination unit 152 selects the first patent document in the document information table 105.

  The target F-term determining unit 153 determines, from the document information table 105, a set of the first statistical processing mode and the second statistical processing mode (a set relating to a difference in statistical processing), a complete match mode, and a partial match mode as shown below. The F-term group is determined by one of the four patterns of the combination with the group (a group relating to the difference in the matching method of the F-term). Which combination is selected is set in advance by the user.

  First statistical processing mode: The target F-term determining unit 153 first selects a theme code having the highest appearance frequency among the theme codes included in the document information table 105. Next, a patent document having the selected theme code is selected from the document information table 105. The group of patent documents selected here is referred to as a first group. In the document information table 105 shown in FIG. 6, the theme code with the highest appearance frequency is “5B075” (5 times). Therefore, the document IDs of the patent documents belonging to the first group are “JP 2003-0001”, “JP 2003-0002”, “JP 2003-0003”, “JP 2003-0004”, “JP 2003-0005”. ”. When this first statistical processing mode is used, the determination of the theme code, that is, the F-term group with emphasis on the technical field can be realized.

  Second statistical processing mode: The target F-term determination unit 153 views the theme code and one F-term derived from the theme code as one element, and then determines the appearance frequency of each element in the document information table 105. calculate. Then, the target F term determining unit 153 selects a patent document having an element having the highest appearance frequency. The group of patent documents selected here is referred to as a second group. In the document information table 105 shown in FIG. 6, the element “5B080AB02” and the element “5B080AL07” each appear four times, and the appearance frequency is the highest. Accordingly, there are four document IDs of patent documents belonging to the second group: “JP 2003-0006”, “JP 2003-0007”, “JP 2003-0008”, and “JP 2003-0009”. When this second statistical processing mode is used, it is possible to realize determination of F terms, that is, F term groups with emphasis on technical elements.

  Perfect match mode: If there is a patent document in which the theme code and the F term completely match among the patent documents belonging to the first group or the second group, the target F term determination unit 153 will completely match the theme. Select chord and F-term. The F terms selected in this way are taken as an F term group determined by the target F term determining unit 153.

  For example, for the first group obtained by processing the document information table 105 of FIG. 6 in the first statistical processing mode, the theme code and F term of “JP 2003-0003” and “JP 2003-0003” are described. The theme code and F-term of “0004” are in perfect agreement. Therefore, the F terms “KK02”, “KK13”, “kk34”, and “KK41” of the theme code “5B075” are set as the F-term group determined by the target F-term determining unit 153.

  Further, regarding the second group obtained by processing the document information table 105 in FIG. 6 in the second statistical processing mode, “JP 2003-0006”, “JP 2003-0007”, “JP 2003” is described. The three theme codes “-0008” and the F-term are completely matched. Therefore, the F terms “AB02” and “AL07” of the theme code “5B080” are set as the F term group determined by the target F term determining unit 153.

  Partial match mode: In the combination of the first statistical processing mode and the partial match mode, the target F-term determining unit 153 includes the element having the highest appearance frequency among the patent documents belonging to the first group (the first element and Narrow down the patent literature with The target F-term determining unit 153 selects an element (referred to as a second element) having the next highest appearance frequency after the first element among the elements of the narrowed down patent literature. The F-term of the first element and the F-term of the second element selected in this way are set as an F-term group determined by the target F-term determining unit 153. Note that the target F term determination unit 153 may select an element having the second highest appearance frequency after the second element, and may select more elements based on the appearance frequency.

  For example, for the first group obtained by processing the document information table 105 of FIG. 6 in the first statistical processing mode, the first element is the element “5B075KK02” and the element “5B075KK13” (both appear three times), and narrowed down The document IDs of the patent documents are “JP 2003-0002”, “JP 2003-0003”, and “JP 2003-0004”. The second element is the element “5B075KK34” and the element “5B075KK41” (both appear twice). Therefore, the F term group determined by the target F term determining unit 153 is the F terms “KK02”, “KK13”, “KK34”, and “KK41” of the theme code “5B075”.

  In addition, in the combination of the second statistical processing mode and the partial match mode, the element used when selecting the second group in the second statistical processing mode is the first element. The target F-term determining unit 153 selects an element (second element) having the second highest appearance frequency after the first element among the elements of the patent documents belonging to the second group. The F-term of the first element and the F-term of the second element selected in this way are taken as an F-term group determined by the target F-term determining unit 153. Note that the target F-term determining unit 153 may select an element having the next highest application frequency after the second element, or may select more elements based on the appearance frequency.

  For example, for the second group obtained by processing the document information table 105 of FIG. 6 in the second statistical processing mode, the first element is the element “5B080AB02” and the element “5B080AL07”. The second element is the element “5B080AM08” (appears once). Accordingly, the F-term group determined by the target F-term determining unit 153 is the F-terms “AB02”, “AL07”, and “AM08” of the theme code “5B080”.

  Differences between the complete match mode and the partial match mode will be described. In the exact match mode, the number of documents in the extracted F-term group acquired by the document number deriving unit 172, which will be described later, is small, but the number of documents counted as the number of documents is likely to be similar to the idea under consideration. . On the other hand, in the partial match mode, the number of documents in the extracted F-term group obtained by the document number deriving unit 172 is large, but the document counted as the number of documents may be an idea similar to the idea under consideration. Becomes lower.

  In other words, the technology can be specified (displayed) by narrowing down the scope when considering an idea regarding a technical field or technical element having a large number of applications in the exact match mode. Therefore, the exact match mode is suitable for such a case. In the partial match mode, when an idea is considered regarding a technical field or a technical element with a small number of applications, the technology can be specified (displayed) by expanding the scope. Therefore, the partial match mode is suitable for such a case. In the complete match mode, for example, only the technology composed of the technical elements A, B, and C is specified (displayed), whereas in the partial match mode, for example, A and B include the technical elements A and B. All of the technology consisting of B, the technology consisting of A, B and C, and the technology consisting of A, B and D are specified (displayed).

  The F-term display control unit 160 uses a theme code specified from outside or a theme code of an F-term group extracted by the F-term extraction unit 150 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “extraction theme code”) as a root node. An F-term map, which will be described later with reference to FIG. At that time, the F-term display control unit 160 corresponds to an F-term group designated from the outside or an F-term group extracted by the F-term extraction unit 150 (hereinafter collectively referred to as “extracted F-term group 106”). Is highlighted. Here, the F-term map is a graph of the theme code and the tree structure of the F-term. The theme code and F-term group specified from the outside may correspond to the idea to be examined. The F-term display control unit 160 includes, for example, each of a partial tree display control unit 161 and a coloring enhancement unit 162.

  The subtree display control unit 161 refers to a list of theme codes and F terms (not shown) held in the storage device or supplied from the outside, and determines the F terms according to the subtree structure having the extracted theme codes as root nodes. Display the map. At this time, the subtree display control unit 161 displays the F terms separately for each depth from the root node in the F term map. Edges between nodes indicate concept inclusion relationships. For example, when the theme code of the F-term group extracted by the F-term extraction unit 150 is “5B075”, all the F-terms derived from the theme code “5B075” are shown in the example of the F-term map of FIG. Expanded and displayed.

  The coloring emphasizing unit 162 emphasizes and displays the nodes corresponding to the extracted F-term group 106 in the F-term map displayed by the subtree display control unit 161 by coloring them with a color different from the other nodes. In addition, when the partial match mode is used in the target F-term determining unit 153, the coloring emphasizing unit 162 selects the node of the extracted F-term group 106 corresponding to the first element as the extracted F-term group corresponding to the second element. It is displayed with emphasis over the node 106. For example, the node of the extracted F-term group 106 corresponding to the first element is colored with a darker color than the node of the extracted F-term group 106 corresponding to the second element. As a result, the difference in importance among the emphasized nodes can be grasped at a glance.

  For example, when the combination of the first statistical processing mode and the partial match mode is used in the target F-term determining unit 153 with respect to the example of the document information table 105 shown in FIG. Corresponding extracted F-term groups 106 are F-terms “KK02” and “KK13” of the theme code “5B075”, and extracted F-term groups 106 corresponding to the second element are F-terms “KK34” and “KK41” of the theme code “5B075”. It is. Therefore, as shown in the example of the F-term map of FIG. 7, the nodes of the F-terms “KK02” and “KK13” of the theme code “5B075” are displayed in a darker color, and the theme code “5B075” The nodes of the F terms “KK34” and “KK41” are displayed in a lighter color.

  The support information deriving unit 170 is displayed on the F-term map displayed by the F-term display control unit 160 or displayed together with the F-term map, and is referred to when an intellectual property member or developer organizes discussions or ideas. You can get useful information. The support information deriving unit 170 includes, for example, each of an assessment rate deriving unit 171, a document number deriving unit 172, and a theme selecting unit 200.

  The assessment rate deriving unit 171 searches for patent documents using a patent search tool using the extracted F-term group 106 as a search condition. The patent search tool here may be the same as the above-described patent search tool 133 or may be a different known one. In the search condition, the extracted F-term group 106 may be bundled with AND or OR.

  The appraisal rate deriving unit 171 derives the proportion of patent documents that have been patented (hereinafter referred to as patent appraisal rate) from the patent documents obtained as a result of the search, and the F term display control unit 160 displays it together with the F term map. To do. An example is shown in the assessment rate display area below the F-term map of FIG. Thereby, the user can obtain one index indicating whether or not the idea considering the patent application can be patented. Therefore, it is particularly useful when the intellectual property member judges whether or not to apply for a patent.

  The document number deriving unit 172 searches for patent documents using a patent search tool using the extracted F-term group 106 as a search condition. The patent search tool here may be the same as the above-described patent search tool 133 or may be a different known one. In the search condition, the extracted F-term group 106 may be bundled with AND or OR. The document number deriving unit 172 displays the number of patent documents obtained as a result of the search together with the F-term map by the F-term display control unit 160. An example is shown in the document number display area below the F-term map of FIG.

  Thereby, it is possible to obtain an index of the number of applications in the technical field to which the idea that is considering the patent application belongs. The intellectual property member can determine whether or not to apply for a patent based on the “congestion level” in the field indicated by this indicator.

  In addition to the extracted F-term group 106, the document number deriving unit 172 adds the corresponding F-term with AND or OR for each node of the subtree having the extracted theme code as the root node in the search condition. Search for. For example, for the node “KK00” in the F-term map example of FIG. 7 to be described later, “KK00” in addition to “KK02”, “KK13”, “KK34”, and “KK41” included in the extracted F-term group 106. And the search condition is searched as “KK02 * KK13 * KK34 * KK41 * KK00” (in the case of AND).

  Here, the number of patent documents obtained as a result of the search corresponds to the corresponding node on the F-term map (the F-term added to the search condition (“KK00” in the above example)) by the F-term display control unit 160. ) May be displayed. An example is shown in each node of the F-term map of FIG. In the example of FIG. 8, the number of patent documents is displayed at each node. However, the color emphasis unit 162 changes the color of the node according to the number of documents (for example, a node with a larger number of documents). The color may be warm, and the smaller the number of nodes, the colder the color).

  As a result, for example, when an intellectual property member or developer considers developing an idea by further improving or adding functions based on the target technical field or technical element, each technical field or technology indicated by this indicator The direction of development can be determined based on the “crowdness” of the elements. That is, as an orientation for developing ideas, for example, an F-term having a small number of patent documents can be selected as an (additional) theme.

  The theme selection unit 200 is highly likely to obtain a patent right in the F term group corresponding to each node of the subtree whose root node is the extracted theme code to be displayed on the F term map, and matches the needs of society. The F-term group indicating that it is a useful theme is selected and displayed on the F-term map by the F-term display control unit 160. An example is shown in an F-term map of FIG. 9 to be described later. In FIG. 9, a combination of nodes (F terms) marked with the same numerals (for example, “KK14”, “KK24”, “MM02” marked with “1”. “Combination” indicates an F-term group selected as a useful theme by the theme selection unit 200.

  As a result, for example, when an intellectual property member or developer considers setting a new development theme, the discussion can be made based on the theme indicated by this index, and the idea can be discovered and developed. Details of the theme selection unit 200 will be described later.

  The F-term selection unit 180 includes an input processing unit 181, a selection condition setting unit 182, and a selection execution unit 183. The F-term selection unit 180 automatically selects an F-term associated with the emphasized F-term (that is, the F-term included in the extracted F-term group 106) in the F-term map displayed by the subtree display control unit 161. (Automatic selection mode) or by user designation (user designation mode). Whether to select automatically or by user designation is set in advance by the user. Each mode will be described below.

1. User designation mode The user confirms on the display an F-term map that has been highlighted as shown in FIG. Also, an F-term map on which information for supporting discussion is displayed as shown in FIGS. Then, the user determines an F-term to be replaced with a surrounding F-term from the highlighted F-term group. The user clicks and drags the F-term to be replaced using an input device, for example, a mouse, and drops it on the surrounding F-term. Then, the input processing unit 181 cancels the color emphasis of the F-term node to be replaced, and color-emphasizes the F-term node designated by the drag / drop. This is equivalent to making the technical concept indicated by the F-term as the movement source higher, lower, or shifted.

  The input processing unit 181 generates, as a new search condition, a combination of a newly highlighted F-term and another F-term group that has already been highlighted. For example, when the user drags and drops “KK13”, which is one of the emphasized F-terms, onto the adjacent F-term “KK14” on the F-term map shown in FIG. Generates an F-term group “KK02, KK14, KK34, KK41” of the theme code “5B075” as a new search condition. The new search condition is input to the related technology search unit 191.

2. Automatic selection mode The selection condition setting unit 182 allows the user to set F-term selection conditions. Therefore, the selection condition setting unit 182 displays an automatic selection setting screen (to be described later with reference to FIG. 10) on the display. The user determines a selection condition on the automatic selection setting screen. The selection condition setting unit 182 passes the determined selection condition to the selection execution unit 183.

  The selection condition is set so that an F-term within a predetermined distance from the F-term of the emphasized F-term group is selected in the structure of the subtree shown in the F-term map. Here, the distance is the number of edges. The selection condition is a condition for determining how much and in which direction the highlighted display of which F term among the F terms of the F term group emphasized on the F term map is moved. The selection conditions include the number of F terms, the hierarchy (depth from the root node), and the direction of movement on the F term map. Note that the predetermined distance is, for example, three edges, and may be set to a value that indicates a range of deviation particularly assumed by the user.

  The condition of the number of F terms, as shown in the F term number setting area in the upper part of FIG. 10, is a condition for increasing, decreasing, or making the number of F terms to be selected as a new search condition unchanged. It is. The hierarchical condition is a condition indicating whether priority is given to the upper F term, the lower F term, or the deep node, as shown in the middle hierarchy setting area of FIG. . For example, as shown in FIG. 8 to be described later, based on the number of documents of each node obtained in the document number deriving unit 172, priority may be given to a node having a small number of documents (a node that is not crowded). Good.

  The movement direction condition is a condition for shifting, upgrading, or subordinate in the same hierarchy as shown in the movement direction setting area in the lower part of FIG. By these, the user can set the above-mentioned selection conditions according to the direction of developing an idea. The selection condition may include other conditions, for example, the number of edges as a unit of movement.

  The selection execution unit 183 selects the target F-term from the F-term group emphasized on the F-term map according to the determined selection condition, and moves the highlighted display according to the selection condition. Then, a combination of a newly colored and highlighted F-term and another F-term group already highlighted is generated as a new search condition.

  For example, consider the case where the selection condition shown in FIG. In this case, from the F-term group “KK02, KK13, KK34, KK41” emphasized in the F-term map of FIG. 7, the highlighting of “KK34”, which is the lowest F-term, is changed to “KK35” without changing the number of F-terms. Shift. Then, an F-term group “KK02, KK13, KK35, KK41” of the theme code “5B075”, which is a new search condition, is generated.

  The related technology search unit 191 searches for patent documents using the patent search tool 133 under the new search condition generated by the F-term selection unit 180. The related technology search unit 191 displays the search result on the display in the form of a related technology display screen described later with reference to FIG. Also, the related technology search unit 191 passes the search result to the automatic search unit 192. Here, in particular, the logical product of the F terms selected by the F term selector 180 is used as the search condition.

  The automatic search unit 192 derives the patent assessment rate from the search result by the related technology search unit 191 in the same manner as the assessment rate deriving unit 171 described above. The automatic search unit 192 stores the search condition used in the related technology search unit 191 and the corresponding patent assessment rate in the assessment rate table 107 in association with each other. The automatic search unit 192 also stores in the assessment rate table 107 the patent assessment rate corresponding to the F term group extracted by the F term extraction unit 150. FIG. 12 described later shows an example of the assessment rate table 107.

  When the patent search rate is derived, the automatic search unit 192 returns the processing to the selection execution unit 183 of the F-term selection unit 180. The selection execution unit 183 causes the selection condition to be applied again to the F-term group used in the search by the related technology search unit 191. For example, the F term group used for the search by the related technology search unit 191 is the F term group “KK02, KK13, KK35, KK41”. If the selection condition shown in FIG. 10 is applied again, the F-term group “KK02, KK14, KK35, KK41” is obtained. The selection execution unit 183 inputs the F term group thus obtained to the related technology search unit 191 as a new search condition. The search result in the related technology search unit 191 is input to the automatic search unit 192 again.

  Therefore, it can be said that the idea organization support device 100 has a loop structure including the F-term selection unit 180, the related technology search unit 191 and the automatic search unit 192. This loop structure starts from the extracted F-term group 106 extracted by the F-term extracting unit 150 and sequentially selects the F-term group according to the selection condition set by the selection condition setting unit 182.

  The above loop structure calculates the patent assessment rate for each of the selected F-term groups and records it in the assessment rate table 107. When the loop structure selects the F-term group a predetermined number of times, the loop operation is stopped, and the F-term group with the highest patent assessment rate is presented to the user with reference to the assessment rate table 107. As a result, the user can obtain useful guidelines as to in which direction the idea for which the patent application is being considered is developed to increase the patent appraisal rate. Further, an F-term group having a high patent appraisal rate may be presented to the user.

  In the above loop structure, when an F-term group having a patent assessment rate exceeding a predetermined threshold value is found, the loop operation may be stopped and the F-term group may be presented to the user. In this case, for example, in the case of a so-called defense application, a desired F-term group can be quickly found by setting the threshold value low. The loop structure may display the contents of the assessment rate table 107 on the display in a tabular format in order to provide the user with a judgment material.

  In the above example, the F-term group having the highest patent assessment rate around the extracted F-term group 106 is automatically searched and presented, but the F-term group selected by the theme selection unit 200 is selected and presented. You may do it. Further, for example, similarly to the processing in the document number deriving unit 172, the number of documents is acquired by searching patent documents using the F term group as a search condition, and the F term group having the smallest number of documents (the least crowded) is selected. You may make it select.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of specific contents of the electronic document 301. When the keyword extraction unit 122 receives the electronic document 301, the keyword extraction unit 122 searches the electronic document 301 for a keyword registered in the keyword table 101. The example of FIG. 3 shows a case where “chat”, “TV conference”, “conversation”, “discussion”, and “activation” are registered in the keyword table 101 as keywords. In addition, the repeated word extracting unit 123 extracts words that are repeatedly used from the electronic document 301 a predetermined number of times. The example of FIG. 3 shows a case where the word “conversation” is repeatedly used.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a data configuration of the search condition 102 and an example of specific data. 4 shows an example in which the keyword extraction unit 122 extracts keywords from the electronic document 301 shown in the example of FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the patent document list 104 and an example of specific data. The patent document list 104 includes a document ID. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the document information table 105 and an example of specific data. The document information table 105 stores a document ID, a theme code, and an F term in association with each other. The document information table 105 may include a similarity score.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of an analysis result screen output by the idea organization support device 100. The analysis result screen has, for example, an F-term map, a lower assessment rate display area, and a document count display area. The F term map is a graph in which the root node “5B075” is the left end, nodes having the same depth are arranged in the same column, and become deeper toward the right. The F-term display control unit 160 indicates a subtree including all F-terms to be emphasized. A part of the subtree that does not include any F-terms to be emphasized is omitted for easy viewing.

  8 and 9 are diagrams showing another example of the analysis result screen output by the idea organization support device 100. FIG. In the example of FIG. 8, for each node on the F-term map, information on the number of patent documents when the F-term corresponding to the corresponding node is added as a search condition in addition to the extracted F-term group 106 is displayed. Yes. In the example of FIG. 9, each node on the F-term map is marked with the same number for each F-term group selected as a useful theme by the theme selection unit 200 described later. .

  FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an automatic selection setting screen output by the idea organization support device 100. The automatic selection setting screen has, for example, an F-term number setting area, a hierarchy setting area, and a movement direction setting area in order from the top, and further has an OK button. The user selects the conditions indicated in the F-term number setting area, the hierarchy setting area, and the movement direction setting area, and presses the OK button. Then, the selection condition setting unit 182 acquires those conditions as the determined selection conditions.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a related technology display screen output by the idea organization support device 100. The related technology display screen includes, for example, a search condition area and a search result area in order from the top. In the search condition area, search conditions used in the related technology search unit 191 are displayed. In the search result area, patent documents obtained as a result of searching patent documents under the search conditions are displayed as a list of document IDs. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a data configuration of the assessment rate table 107 and an example of specific data. The appraisal rate table 107 includes a theme code and F-term that are search conditions, and a patent appraisal rate.

<Theme Selection Department>
Below, the detail of the theme selection part 200 is demonstrated. The theme selection unit 200 has a function equivalent to that of the theme selection device described in Patent Document 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an outline of a configuration example of the theme selection unit 200. The theme selection unit 200 has a function of selecting a useful theme for technology development with reference to the patent information 303 and the general information 304, and includes a needs extraction unit 210, needs / F-term related information creation unit 220, and F-term overview information. A creation unit 230, an existing F-term information creation unit 240, a non-existence F-term information creation unit 250, and a theme information creation unit 260 are included.

  The theme selection unit 200 also acquires patent information 303 and general information 304 from an external device or a storage device. The patent information 303 is electronic data related to a patent document and the like, and is, for example, a patent publication or a published patent publication. The general information 304 is news, papers, and the like. The electronic document 301 may be used as the general information 304.

  The needs extraction unit 210 extracts needs based on the general information 304 or the patent information 303. The needs / F-term related information creating unit 220 creates the needs / F-term related information 204 based on the needs extracted by the needs extracting unit 210 and the F-terms given to each document of the patent information 303, and stores them. Hold on. The existing F-term information creating unit 240 creates the existing F-term information 202 based on the F-term assigned to each document of the patent information 303 and holds it in the storage device.

  The F-term overview information creation unit 230 creates an F-term group corresponding to all nodes of the partial tree whose root node is the extracted theme code, which is the theme code for the extracted F-term group 106, as the F-term overview information 201. The non-existing F-term information creation unit 250 creates non-existing F-term information 203 based on the existing F-term information 202 and the F-term overview information 201, and holds it in the storage device. The theme information creation unit 260 creates and outputs theme information 205 based on the needs / F-term related information 204 and the non-existing F-term information 203.

[Data structure]
FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the F-term overview information 201 and specific data examples. The F-term overview information 201 is information that covers the entire F-term for which the theme selection unit 200 selects a theme, and in this embodiment, an extracted theme code that is a theme code for the extracted F-term group 106. An F-term group corresponding to all the nodes of the sub-tree whose root node is is applicable. FIG. 13 shows an example in which each F term for the theme code “3E142” is held.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a data configuration of the existing F-term information 202 and an example of specific data. The existing F-term information 202 is information indicating a list of F-terms already assigned to each document of the patent information 303 (in particular, at least one F-term held in the F-term overview information 201 is assigned). It is.

  FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a data configuration of the nonexistent F-term information 203 and an example of specific data. The nonexistent F-term information 203 is information indicating an F-term or a combination of F-terms that is not given to the patent information 303. The item of candidate ID is an identifier for uniquely identifying an F-term or a combination of F-terms not assigned to the patent information 303. For example, the combination of F-term 1 “HT13” and F-term 2 “JJ01” corresponding to the candidate ID “002” is not given to any patent information 303.

  FIG. 16 is a diagram showing a data configuration of the needs / F-term related information 204 and an example of specific data. The needs / F-term related information 204 is information that associates the needs obtained by analyzing the patent information 303 and the general information 304 with the F-term. For example, needs “theft risk” include F-term 1 “GE21 (fingerprint authentication)”, F-term 2 “CC04 (timed PW)”, F-term 3 “AB02 (negative)”, F-term 4 “ER02 (credit)” "Is associated.

  FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the theme information 205 and an example of specific data. The theme information 205 is information extracted as a candidate for a useful theme from an F term or a combination of F terms not assigned to the patent information 303. The theme information 205 is associated with a rank indicating priority for each candidate ID. For example, the combination of F-term 1 “CC04”, F-term 2 “VR72”, F-term 3 “RR01”, and F-term 4 “MN02” indicated by candidate ID “003” of rank “1” is the theme code “3E142”. Is the most promising theme candidate.

[Theme selection process]
FIG. 18 is a flowchart showing an outline of an example of a process for creating the needs / F-term related information 204. When the process is started, patent information 303 or general information 304 is input to the theme selection unit 200 (S101). The needs extraction unit 210 of the theme selection unit 200 extracts needs based on the patent information 303 or the general information 304. For example, the theme selection unit 200 extracts the needs of each field by text analysis of the description in the “problem to be solved by the invention” column of the patent information 303 (S102). It should be noted that the theme selection unit 200 may perform needs extraction processing, or input needs specified directly or extracted externally to the theme selection unit 200.

  The needs / F-term related information creation unit 220 of the theme selection unit 200 searches the patent information 303 including the needs (S103). The theme selection unit 200 acquires the F term assigned to the searched patent information 303 (S104). The theme selection unit 200 creates the needs / F-term related information 204 by associating the needs with the F-term acquired in the process of step S104, holds the information in the storage device (S105), and ends the process.

  FIG. 19 is a flowchart showing an overview of an example of a process for creating theme information 205. When the process is started, the F-term overview information creation unit 230 of the theme selection unit 200 corresponds to all the nodes of the subtree whose root node is the extracted theme code that is the theme code for the extracted F-term group 106. Is created as F-term overview information 201 (S201). The existing F-term information creation unit 240 of the theme selection unit 200 creates the existing F-term information 202 based on the patent information 303 and holds it in the storage device (S202).

  The non-existing F-term information creating unit 250 of the theme selecting unit 200 is based on the F-term overview information 201 and the existing F-term information 202 and is not assigned to any patent document in the patent information 303. The absence F term information 203 is created and stored in the storage device (S203). Here, for example, the remaining F-term information 203 is obtained by subtracting the F-term or the combination in the existing F-term information 202 from the F-term in the F-term overview information 201 or a combination thereof.

  The theme information creation unit 260 of the theme selection unit 200 reads the needs / F-term related information 204 from the storage device (S204). Based on the needs / F-term related information 204, the theme selection unit 200 assigns a priority to the non-existing F-term information 203 and narrows it down. The theme selection unit 200 extracts F-term groups having a high priority from the non-existing F-term information 203, creates theme information 205, holds it in the storage device (S205), and ends the processing.

  FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating details of an example of processing for extracting an F-term group having a high priority from the non-existing F-term information 203 in step S205. When the theme selection target needs have been determined, the theme information creation unit 260 of the theme selection unit 200 increases the priority of candidates including the F terms associated with the needs. For example, when the need “theft risk” is determined as the theme selection target, the theme selection unit 200 has the candidate ID “003” including the F term “CC04 (timed PW)” associated with the need “theft risk”. The theme information 205 is created by increasing the priority of candidates.

  Further, the theme information creation unit 260 of the theme selection unit 200 increases the priority order of candidates including the F term when the theme F selection target F term is determined. For example, when the F term “JJ01 (parallel processing)” as the solving means is determined, the theme selection unit 200 increases the priority of the candidate with the candidate ID “002” including the F term “JJ01”. The theme information 205 is created. In the present embodiment, each F-term of the extracted F-term group 106 may be used as an F-term for selecting a theme.

  FIG. 21 is a diagram showing details of another example of processing for extracting an F-term group having a high priority from the non-existing F-term information 203 in step S205. The needs / F-term related information creation unit 220 of the theme selection unit 200 may rank the needs / F-term related information 204. For example, the theme selection unit 200 provides a need ranking item indicating the ranking of needs when creating the needs / F-term related information 204. The theme selection unit 200 ranks a plurality of F terms associated with each need in the order of “F term 1” → “F term 2” → “F term 3” →. It should be noted that by analyzing the frequency of assignment to the patent information 303, the F terms can be ranked for each need.

  In the needs / F-term related information 204 of FIG. 21, the order of F-terms increases toward the left and above. The theme selection unit 200 creates the theme information 205 by increasing the priority of the candidate ID “003” including the F term “CC04” located at the upper left of the needs / F term related information 204. The theme selection unit 200 can reduce noise contamination such as completely irrelevant theme candidates in the theme selection process by efficiently narrowing down the non-existing F-term information 203 based on the needs and the priority order of the F-terms.

  Through the above process, the theme selection unit 200 creates the needs / F-term related information 204 and the existing F-term information 202 based on the patent information 303 and the general information 304, and the F-term overview information 201 and the existing F-term information 202. The non-existence F term information 203 is created from The theme selection unit 200 assigns priorities to the non-existing F-term information 203 based on the needs / F-term related information 204, narrows down, extracts F-term groups with high priorities, and creates theme information 205. And output. As described above, the theme selection unit 200 narrows down the F-term group not given to the patent information 303 based on the needs, and thus selects a useful and promising theme that meets the current problem. be able to.

<Processing content>
Below, the content of the process in the idea arrangement | positioning assistance apparatus 100 by said structure is demonstrated. FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an outline of an example of a series of processes in the idea organization support device 100.

  When the process is started, the condition generation unit 120 acquires electronic material including the idea to be examined via the electronic document data extraction unit 111 or the audio data conversion unit 112 (S301). The condition generation unit 120 generates a search condition from the acquired electronic material (S302). The patent document search unit 130 searches for patent documents based on the search conditions (S303). The F-term extraction unit 150 extracts an F-term group from the search result (S304).

  The F-term display control unit 160 displays the F-term on the display according to the structure of the subtree having the extracted F-term group theme code as the root node (S305). The F-term display control unit 160 highlights the extracted F-term group (S306), derives a patent assessment rate corresponding to the F-term group, and displays it on the display (S307). Further, the number of documents corresponding to the F-term group is derived and displayed on the display, and further, the F-term corresponding to each displayed node is added to the F-term group as a search condition. Information on the number of documents obtained is derived and displayed on each node (S308). In addition, information on F-term groups related to useful themes selected by the theme selection unit 200 is displayed (S309).

  The F-term selection unit 180 selects an F-term associated with the emphasized F-term by an instruction from the user referring to the displayed analysis result or automatically (S310). The related technology search unit 191 searches for patent documents using a search condition including the selected F-term (S311). The related technology search unit 191 displays the search result on the display (S312). The automatic search unit 192 calculates a patent assessment rate from the search result (S313). The calculated patent appraisal rate is stored in the appraisal rate table 107 in association with the F-term group serving as the search condition (S314).

  Here, it is determined whether or not the patent appraisal rate is calculated more than a predetermined number (S315). If not, the F-term selection unit 180 changes the F-term of the search condition (S316). The related technology search unit 191 searches the patent document with the search condition including the changed F-term (S317), and returns the process to step S313. In step S315, when the patent appraisal rate has been calculated a predetermined number of times, the F term group having the highest patent appraisal rate is presented to the user (S318).

  In addition, FIG. 22 demonstrated the case where the electronic material was input into the condition production | generation part 120 of the idea rearrangement assistance apparatus 100 from the outside. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a search condition may be input from the outside to the idea organization support device 100, and the process may be started from step S303. Further, the patent document list may be input from the outside to the idea organization support device 100, and the process may be started from step S304. Further, a theme code and an F-term group corresponding to an idea to be examined may be input from the outside to the idea organization support apparatus 100, and the process may be started from step S305.

  In the embodiment described above, examples of the storage device are a hard disk and a memory built in the computer. Further, based on the description of the present specification, each unit is divided into a CPU (not shown), a GUI (graphical user interface) control technology, a module of an application program installed in a computer managed by an OS (operating system), a system Those skilled in the art will understand that the present invention can be realized by a program module or a memory that temporarily stores the contents of data read from the hard disk.

<Example of usage status>
An example of a situation in which the idea organization support device 100 according to the present embodiment is effectively used will be described. When a proposal for invention is submitted from the development department, the intellectual property staff interviews the developer who drafted the proposal and refines the idea from the viewpoint of patent application. At the time of this interview, the intellectual property member inputs the electronic data of the proposal to the idea organization support device 100. Then, the idea organization support device 100 displays the F-term maps as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 on which the F-terms well indicating the ideas described in the proposal are emphasized.

  Intellectual property members and developers can proceed with discussions based on this F-term map, matching the phase of recognition. In the interview, if a list of related patents of competitors is input to the idea organizing support apparatus 100, it can be determined how close the idea of the proposal is to the related patent, and the idea of the proposal can be determined. At least preliminary guidance can be obtained as to whether the implementation would infringe the related patent.

  According to idea rearranging support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the structure of the partial tree as shown in FIGS. 7 to 9 having the theme code of the F-term group extracted by F-term extracting unit 150 as the root node. It appears on the display. There, the node corresponding to the F-term group extracted by the F-term extraction unit 150 is emphasized. Therefore, the user can visually grasp the positioning of the technical concept included in the patent document acquired by the patent document acquisition unit 140 at a glance. It is also possible to grasp the relationship with the concept indicated by another F-term having the theme code as a root node.

  In particular, consider a case where the patent document list 104 is input to the patent document acquisition unit 140 from the outside. In this case, the patent document list 104 is, for example, a list of published patent documents of competitors focused on by the user. According to the idea rearranging support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the positioning of technical concepts included in the patent documents of competitors can be visually grasped at a glance. Therefore, one judgment material when the user grasps the trends of competitors is given. It is also conceivable that a list of patent documents filed by the company is input from the outside. In this case, one judgment material is given for grasping the application status of the company and the status of patents owned.

  Also, consider a case where the search condition 102 is input to the patent document search unit 130 from the outside. In this case, the search condition 102 is, for example, a keyword that appears when an intellectual property member and a developer brainstorm. According to the idea organizing support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the positioning of the technical concept indicated by the keyword can be visually grasped at a glance. Users can therefore preliminarily consider ideas before putting them into electronic material.

  Also, consider a case where electronic material including an idea that is considering a patent application is input to the condition generation unit 120. According to the idea arrangement support device 100 according to the present embodiment, the positioning of technical concepts included in the idea can be visually grasped at a glance. It is also possible to visually grasp at a glance the useful and highly promising themes where patent rights can be obtained in the peripheral technical fields and technical elements, and the degree of crowding of patent applications in the peripheral technical fields and technical elements.

  Therefore, the user can easily visually determine which element of the original idea can be moved in which direction when expanding the idea or planning another pattern. This makes it possible to refine systematic ideas. In addition, even when there are many users, all of them can develop their thoughts based on the same F-term map, so the discussion can proceed smoothly.

  In addition, the idea organizing support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment newly searches a related technique by generating a search expression including an F term related to the emphasized F term group. Therefore, it is possible to more easily investigate and examine what kind of patent document exists in the technical field and technical element related to the idea that is considering the patent application. Thereby, one index when the user determines whether or not to apply for a patent is obtained.

  Moreover, in the idea organization support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, the selection conditions used by the automatic selection mode of the F-term selection unit 180 are emphasized F-terms in the structure of the subtree shown in the F-term map. It is set so that F terms within a predetermined distance from the F terms of the group are selected. Therefore, the search result by the related technology search unit 191 does not greatly depart from the technical concept included in the patent document acquired by the patent document acquisition unit 140, and the search result by the related technology search unit 191 can be used more effectively. .

  In addition, in the idea organizing support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment, when an electronic document including an idea that is considering a patent application is input to the condition generation unit 120, a patent document that can be related to the idea is simplified. Can know.

  The configuration and operation of the idea organization support device 100 according to the embodiment have been described above. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it is understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to each component and combination of processes, and such modifications are within the scope of the present invention.

  In the embodiment, the case where a theme code and F-term are used as technical items has been described. For example, the international patent classification may be used as a technical item, and the US Patent and Trademark Office class and subclass may be used.

<Modification>
A modification of the F-term extraction unit 150, the F-term display control unit 160, and the support information deriving unit 170 according to the embodiment will be described. In the first statistical processing mode, the target F-term determining unit 153 of the F-term extracting unit 150 according to the modified example gives an enhancement value that increases as the appearance frequency increases to the selected F-term. The target F-term determining unit 153 generates an emphasis display table 108 in which the selected F-term is associated with the emphasis value assigned thereto. FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a data configuration of the highlight table 108 and an example of specific data. The highlight display table 108 stores, for example, the theme code, the F term, and the highlight value in association with each other.

  In the second statistical processing mode, the target F-term determining unit 153 gives the selected element an emphasis value that increases as the appearance frequency increases, and generates the same emphasis display table 108 as described above. To do.

  The coloring emphasis unit 162 of the F-term display control unit 160 according to the modified example performs emphasis display based on the emphasis value stored in the emphasis display table 108. Specifically, the color for emphasizing the node may be darker as the emphasis value is higher. The color for emphasizing the node may be warmer as the emphasis value is higher. The node size may be increased as the emphasis value is higher. In any case, by performing highlighting based on the emphasis value, the position of the idea under consideration for the patent application in the structure of the subtree can be grasped in more detail at a glance. Note that these processes can also be applied when displaying the number of documents corresponding to each node as shown in FIG. 8 and indicating the degree of congestion by changing the color according to the number of documents. it can.

  A modification of the loop structure according to the embodiment will be described. The automatic search unit 192 included in the loop structure according to the modified example derives the number of documents in addition to the patent appraisal rate from the search result by the related technology search unit 191. In the embodiment, the loop structure is configured so as to find an F-term group having a high patent appraisal rate. In the loop structure according to the modification, the automatic search unit 192 stores the F-term group and the number of documents in the search result in association with each other in a document number table (not shown). The loop structure presents to the user the F-term group with the smallest number of documents. In this case, guidance is provided to direct ideas that are considering patent applications to areas that others are not paying attention to, in other words, areas that still have room for development.

  In the embodiment, the selection condition used by the F-term selection unit 180 in the automatic selection mode is a range of a predetermined distance from the F-term of the emphasized F-term group in the subtree structure indicated in the F-term map. Although the case where it is set so that the F term inside is selected has been described, it is not limited to this. For example, a selection condition that does not specify a range is possible.

  In the embodiment, the case where electronic material including an idea that is considering a patent application is input to the condition generation unit 120 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, foreign patent documents may be input to the condition generation unit 120. In this case, an F-term group corresponding to the foreign patent document can be found and highlighted.

  In the embodiment, the case where the F-term group is derived from one theme code in FIG. 7 has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, when the F-term extraction unit 150 extracts F-term groups derived from two or more theme codes, the F-term display control unit 160 arranges the structure of subtrees having each of these theme codes as root nodes. It may be displayed.

  In the embodiment, the assessment rate deriving unit 171 has explained the case where the ratio of patented patent documents among the patent documents obtained as a result of the search is derived as the patent assessment rate, but is not limited thereto. For example, the assessment rate deriving unit may derive the patent assessment rates in chronological order and display them on the display. In this case, the user can obtain more detailed information from the viewpoint of patent appraisal. The same applies to the patent appraisal rate in the automatic search unit 192.

  In the embodiment, the subtree display control unit 161 refers to a list of theme codes and F terms (not shown) held in the storage device or supplied from the outside, and uses the theme codes of the extracted F terms as root nodes. The case where the F-term map is displayed according to the structure of the subtree to be described has been described, but is not limited thereto. The subtree display control unit 161 may display the F-term map according to the structure of the subtree including all the extracted F-term groups 106. In this case, the root node is not necessarily a theme code. Therefore, when all the extracted F-term groups 106 exist nearby, an appropriate F-term map becomes easier to see.

  In the embodiment, the contents of the extracted F-term group 106 are highlighted in the F-term map as reference information when the intellectual property member or developer discusses, and information on the F-term group that is a useful theme, A case has been described in which information on the number of documents indicating the degree of congestion for the F term corresponding to each node on the F term map is derived and displayed on each node. In addition to these, for example, the support information deriving unit 170 searches the patent document including the F-term corresponding to each node by the patent document search tool 133, and uses the frequently used words as keywords from each document of the search result by natural language processing Extract and retain the higher ones in association with each node. This information may be displayed, for example, by clicking each node on the F-term map with a mouse or the like, so as to facilitate understanding of the F-term corresponding to each node.

  Similarly, the support information deriving unit 170 searches the patent document including the F term corresponding to each node by the patent document search tool 133, and defines in advance from the applicant's item of each document as the search result. Based on an applicant-industry correspondence table (not shown) and the like, the applicant's industry is identified and statistically processed, and the upper one is associated with each node and held. In the same manner as described above, for example, by displaying each node on the F-term map by clicking the mouse with the mouse, etc. You may be able to obtain information on whether there are many applications from.

  As mentioned above, the invention made by the present inventor has been specifically described based on the embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. Needless to say.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention is applicable to an idea organization support device and an idea organization support program that analyze technical documents classified by technical items and support idea organization.

100 ... Idea organization support device,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 101 ... Keyword table, 102 ... Search condition, 103 ... Search formula, 104 ... Patent literature list, 105 ... Literature information table, 106 ... Extracted F term group, 107 ... Assessment rate table, 108 ... Highlighting table,
111 ... Electronic document data extraction unit, 112 ... Audio data conversion unit,
120 ... condition generation unit, 121 ... sentence extraction unit, 122 ... keyword extraction unit, 123 ... repeated word extraction unit,
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 130 ... Patent literature search part, 131 ... Search formula production | generation part, 131-1 ... ORing part, 131-2 ... ANDing part, 131-3 ... Synonym ORing part, 132 ... Search range setting part, 133 ... Patent search tool,
140 ... Patent document acquisition unit,
150 ... F-term extraction unit, 151 ... Document information acquisition unit, 152 ... Target document determination unit, 153 ... Target F-term determination unit,
160 ... F-term display control unit, 161 ... subtree display control unit, 162 ... color enhancement unit,
170 ... support information deriving unit, 171 ... assessment rate deriving unit, 172 ... number of documents deriving unit,
180 ... F-term selection unit, 181 ... input processing unit, 182 ... selection condition setting unit, 183 ... selection execution unit,
191 ... Related technology search unit, 192 ... Automatic search unit,
200 ... Theme selection department,
201 ... F-term overview information, 202 ... Existing F-term information, 203 ... Non-existing F-term information, 204 ... Needs / F-term related information, 205 ... Theme information,
210 ... Needs extraction unit, 220 ... Needs / F-term related information creation unit, 230 ... F-term overview information creation unit, 240 ... Existing F-term information creation unit, 250 ... Non-existence F-term information creation unit, 260 ... Creation of theme information Part,
301: Electronic document, 302: Audio data, 303: Patent information, 304: General information.

Claims (6)

A document acquisition unit for acquiring technical documents;
An item extraction unit for extracting a first technical item corresponding to the idea to be examined from the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition unit;
A theme for extracting, from a tree structure including the first technical item, a second technical item as a candidate for a technical item to be examined when the idea is developed and examined based on the first technical item. A selection department;
When displaying a tree structure including the first technical fields, the first and highlighted the technical items, possess a item display area for displaying the combined information specifying the second technical item ,
The theme selection unit
A technical item overview information creating unit for creating technical item overview information indicating a comprehensive list of tree structures including the first technical item;
An existing technical item creation unit that creates existing technical item information indicating technical items assigned to the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition unit;
Based on the technical item overview information and the existing technical item information, a technical item included in the technical item overview information indicates a combination of technical items not assigned to the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition unit. A non-existing technical item information creation unit for creating the existing technical item information;
Based on the indication determined for each combination of technology fields, to have a and theme information generating unit which extracts a combination of techniques items on the theme of candidates from the absence Technical item information and the second technical item An idea organization support device characterized by In the idea organization support device according to claim 1,
Further, for all other third technical items included in the tree structure including the first technical item, the number of technical documents to which the first technical item and the third technical item are assigned is obtained. has a number of documents deriving unit that,
The item display unit highlights and displays the first technical item when displaying the tree structure including the first technical item, and the document number deriving unit for each of the third technical items. ideas organize support device characterized a benzalkonium be displayed together information on the number of acquired technical literature by. In the idea rearrangement support device according to claim 1 or 2 ,
For a tree structure including the first technical item, a support information deriving unit that acquires a technical document to which the technical item is attached and extracts a keyword;
The item display unit is capable of displaying the information of the keyword extracted by the support information deriving unit for each technical item when displaying the technical item according to the tree structure. apparatus. In the idea rearrangement support device according to claim 1 or 2 ,
For all technical items included in the tree structure including the first technical item, there is a support information deriving unit that acquires the technical literature to which the technical item is assigned and extracts information relating to the type of industry of the creation subject. And
When displaying the tree structure including the first technical item, the item display unit is capable of displaying information on the business type of the creation subject extracted by the support information deriving unit for each technical item. An idea organization support device characterized by Document acquisition processing for acquiring technical documents;
An item extraction process for extracting a first technical item corresponding to the idea to be examined from the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition process;
A theme for extracting, from a tree structure including the first technical item, a second technical item as a candidate for a technical item to be examined when the idea is developed and examined based on the first technical item. Selection process,
When displaying the tree structure including the first technical item, the computer displays item display processing for displaying the first technical item in an emphasized manner and displaying information specifying the second technical item together. to be executed,
The theme selection process is:
A technical item overview information creating process for creating technical item overview information indicating a tree structure overview including the first technical item;
Existing technical item creation processing for creating existing technical item information indicating the technical items assigned to the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition processing;
Based on the technical item overview information and the existing technical item information, a technical item included in the technical item overview information indicates a combination of technical items not assigned to the technical literature acquired by the literature acquisition process. Non-existing technology item information creation processing for creating existing technology item information;
Based on the index required for each combination of technical items, a combination of technical items that are candidate themes is extracted from the non-existing technical item information, and the computer executes the theme information creation process as the second technical item is not ideas organize support programs characterized by Rukoto. In the idea organization support program according to claim 5,
Further, for all other third technical items included in the tree structure including the first technical item, the number of technical documents to which the first technical item and the third technical item are assigned is obtained. Let the computer execute the document number derivation process,
In the item display process, when displaying a tree structure including the first technical item, the first technical item is highlighted and displayed, and each of the third technical items is obtained by the document number derivation process. ideas organize support program characterized and Turkey be displayed together information on the number of acquired technical literature.

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