KR20090097971A - Method and system for searching patent - Google Patents

Abstract

A method and a system for searching a patent are provided to enable the searching regardless of country by providing a translated word of synonym or searching terminology. A searching unit(110) searches a prior art from a prior art database for a search form, and the search form is written through the combination of a search terminology with a keyword by a user. A keyword combining unit(120) produces an inputted search terminology based on the search form. A keyword extractor(130) extracts a keyword through a text mining technique from a target technology, and a similarity calculator(140) calculates the similarity according to a quantitative ratio. The quantitative ratio is the ratio that an extracted keyword is included in the prior art.

Description

Patent search system and search method {Method and system for searching patent}

The present invention relates to a patent search system and a search method, and more specifically, to provide a synonym of an input search word or to automatically translate a search word so that a search can be performed regardless of a country, or a combination of a categorized search term such as a major classification, a middle classification, and a small classification. The present invention relates to a patent retrieval system and a retrieval method that enable efficient retrieval of prior art.

Today, securing industrial property rights is closely related to the competitiveness of a company. If you develop a new product without knowing the existence of a preceding patent right, you may be caught in a patent dispute or you may be hurt by management due to excessive royalty payments and you have to give up the new product.

In an effort to meet these demands, a thorough analysis of industrial property rights on related technologies and the determination of the direction of technology development based thereon are required. That is, the contents may include information analysis on the existence of preceding source patent rights, possibility of avoiding source patent rights, and trends in technology development of competitors.

Therefore, prior art search prioritized to secure industrial property rights is an indispensable process.

In the related art, a patent is searched by simply combining search terms or using bibliographic information such as publication number and application number, which are patent information, and further searching by using a specific applicant and IPC.

However, it is difficult for ordinary people without expertise in patents to determine whether the searched prior art is the information they are looking for, and if the search word is simple, there are a number of undesired prior arts that have to be searched one by one.

The present invention devised to solve the problems of the prior art as described above is a patent retrieval system to search the prior art using information known to the user, and to provide a prior art search including a variety of additional services And it is an object of the present invention to provide a search method.

In addition, the present invention provides a synonym of a search word input from a user or by automatically translating the search word to provide a search word irrespective of a country, and thus has another object of searching the prior art in a wider range.

In addition, the present invention has yet another object of searching the prior art, by classifying the corresponding technology, by writing a search expression using the search terms generated for each classification, so as not to be confused in the prior art requiring classification. .

In addition, the present invention has another object of determining the similarity with the target technology by searching the prior art corresponding to the patent number or sentence of the target technology and calculating the similarity with the target technology.

The above object of the present invention is a search unit for searching the prior art corresponding to the search expression received through the input of a search word or a combination of keywords from the terminal; A keyword combination unit for creating a search term input from the terminal as a search expression; A keyword extraction unit for extracting keywords by text mining techniques; A similarity calculating unit for calculating a similarity between the target technology for searching the prior art and the corresponding prior art of the target technology; It is achieved by a patent retrieval system including a DB management unit for managing a database and a control unit for controlling the retrieval unit, keyword combination unit, keyword extraction unit, similarity calculator and DB manager.

Accordingly, the patent search system and the search method of the present invention have an advantage that a search can be performed regardless of a country by providing a synonym of a search word or a translation word of a search word in a search expression for searching the prior art. There is an effect to search the prior art.

In addition, the present invention has another effect of determining the similarity between the target technology and the searched prior art by calculating the similarity between the target technology and the searched prior art.

In addition, the present invention provides a further service, such as display and display the prior art and the target technology to search, to store a search formula for storing, searching the searched prior art, and to further facilitate the prior art search It works.

In addition, the present invention has another effect that can be searched not to be confused in the prior art search requiring classification by creating a search formula for each classification.

The terms or words used in this specification and claims are not to be construed as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, and the inventors may appropriately define the concept of terms in order to best describe their invention. It should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that the present invention.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the specification and the drawings shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, various modifications that can be replaced at the time of the present application It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram of a patent search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 1, a search server 100 and a terminal 200 may be configured. The search server 100 may include a search unit 110, a keyword combination unit 120, a keyword extraction unit 130, and a similarity calculation unit ( 140, the DB manager 150, and the controller 160. In addition, the search unit 110 includes a search term translation means 112.

The terminal 200 accesses the search server 100 to search for a patent, inputs a search word, a patent number, and the like, and receives the prior art corresponding thereto, and determines whether the terminal is subscribed to the search server 100. If not, in the prior art search through membership, various services are received.

The search unit 110 of the search server 100 receives a search word from the terminal 200 or searches the prior art in the prior art DB 152 using a search formula completed through a combination of keywords.

In addition, when the search word translation means 112 receives a search word from the terminal 200 or combines the synonyms of the received search word in the synonym DB 154 into a search expression, the search word translation means 112 automatically translates the search word. Regardless of the search provided.

This means that when the search expression is completed in Korean, the search word is translated into English and Japanese to make the search expression, and when the search expression is completed in English, the search expression is translated into Korean and Japanese. If you do not specify a particular country, you can search the prior art for multiple countries with one search.

The keyword combination unit 120 creates a search expression according to a classification when a search expression is divided into a large classification, a middle classification, and a small classification. Subcategory is to create a search expression between the small classification, the word corresponding to the subcategory is to create a search expression between the middle classification.

Even if the subclass belongs to the same classification, the words are combined by '+' or 'or', and the subclass and the subclass are combined by '*' or 'and'.

In addition, when a word having a similar meaning to a search word received from the terminal 200 is combined in the synonym DB 154 and combined with the search word received, the prior art can be searched in a wider range.

The keyword extractor 130 extracts a keyword of the target technology input from the terminal 200 to determine the similarity between the target technology for searching the prior art and the searched prior art. It is preferable to use a text mining technique.

The target technology received from the terminal 200 may be a patent, technology, or any sentence. In the case of a patent, a patent number is input to search for a corresponding patent, and a keyword is extracted. In the case of a technology or a sentence, a keyword is extracted within an input range.

When the keyword of the target technology is extracted, the keyword combination unit 120 creates a search expression, and the searcher 110 searches for the corresponding prior art. The searched one or more prior art also extracts the same keyword as the keyword of the target technology, and also extracts synonyms of the target technology keyword.

The similarity calculator 140 determines the similarity by comparing the keyword of the target technology extracted by the keyword extractor 130 with the keyword of the searched one or more prior arts. It is preferable to calculate the ratio using the number of keywords, and the similarity can be calculated by weighting the keywords.

The prior art is divided into purposes, effects, configurations, etc. to indicate which parts of the target technology are similar to each other so that the user can easily determine the prior art.

The DB manager 150 manages the database so that the connection between the search server 100 and the database is not disconnected and the database to be searched by the search unit 110 is well connected. In addition, the database can be stored, modified, and deleted without problems.

Databases connected to the DB management unit 150 are prior art DB 152, synonym DB 154, customer DB 156, customer information DB 158.

Prior art DB 152 is a DB used to search the prior art based on a search word received from the terminal 200 or a search formula combined by the search server 100. Prior art DB 152 includes not only patents but also utility models.

The synonym DB 154 is to provide a word having a similar meaning to the search word in addition to the search word received from the terminal 200. If the inputted search word is 'cell phone', it provides synonyms such as 'mobile phone' and 'terminal' to provide a search for prior art in a wider range.

The customer DB 156 is a DB that stores the search expression or searched prior arts according to the customer. When accessing the search server 100, when the user connects through a login, a user's own storage space is created, and a search formula or a searched prior art combined with the storage space can be stored. In addition, it is possible to conveniently classify the searched prior art by creating a folder.

The customer information DB 158 is a DB that manages personal information when personal information necessary for joining is input when the terminal 200 accesses the search server 100 for the first time. When added or withdrawn by the user's terminal 200 to be deleted from the DB. The administrator cannot browse and modify the information in the customer information DB 158 without permission.

In addition, when the user accesses and logs in to the search server 100 through the terminal 200, the user undergoes a user authentication process through the customer information DB 158.

The controller 160 controls the search server 100, and controls the search unit 110, the keyword combiner 120, the keyword extractor 130, the similarity calculator 140, and the DB manager 150. do.

2 is a flowchart of a patent retrieval method according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, when a user's terminal accesses a search server for searching the prior art (S205), it is determined whether a user is a member (S210).

If not a member through the membership registration (S215), and if the member is logged in to authenticate the member (S220).

A search menu is selected for prior art search (S225), and the search menu may be divided into number search, field search, and similar patent search.

When the similar patent search is selected, if the target technology is a patent, a patent number is input, and if the technology is a technology, the content or sentence is input (S230). It is preferable that the patent number is any one of an application number, a publication number, a notification number, and a registration number. When a patent number is input, a patent corresponding to the number is searched.

The searched patent or technology extracts a keyword using a text mining technique (S235), and searches the prior art based on the extracted keyword (S240). Step S235 includes searching for a synonym for the keyword or by automatically translating the keyword to create a search expression. Also, when searching, by selecting Exclude same applicant, applicants, such as the subject technology, provide the search to exclude from the search.

By comparing the searched one or more prior art and the target technology, the similarity with the target technology is calculated (S245). The similarity calculation is calculated by determining how much the keyword extracted from the target technology occupies in the searched prior art, and calculating the similarity by weighting the key keywords.

If a field search is selected in the search menu, it is determined whether a search expression is written (S250). If not, the search is performed by inputting contents corresponding to one or more fields (S255). If the search expression is not written, the search is performed by using the IPC, the applicant, the inventor, the agent, the country, the date, and the like. In the IPC field, for example, 'G06F17 / 60 + H04Q' is entered to precede the corresponding classification. Search for skills.

When creating a search expression, a search word is input from a terminal or a stored search expression is used. If the user accesses through login, the search expression or the searched prior arts can be stored, and the stored search expression can be called up.

If the search terms are listed, by searching for a synonym having a similar meaning to the search term or translating the search term (S265), the search terms provide a search for prior art in a wide range using many search terms.

When the search word is completed through a synonym or translation, a search expression is prepared by combining the search terms (S270). When a search term is searched by category, the search terms in the category are combined using '+' or 'or', and the search terms of the classification and classification are combined by '*' or 'and' to create a search expression.

The prior art is searched by the created search expression (S275), and the searched prior arts are displayed on the user terminal (S280). When searching for prior art, the country, literature selection, search area selection, etc. are pre-selected to search the prior art corresponding thereto, and the country is the country to be searched, and provides a list of Korea, USA, Japan, Europe, etc. The document selection is a kind of prior art to search, and provides patent publication, patent announcement / registration, utility publication, utility announcement / registration, and the like. In addition, selecting a search area selects an area to be searched and provides a name + summary + claim, a name of the invention, a summary, a claim, and the like.

The completed search expression is stored separately so that it can be used later. When searching the prior art using one or more search expressions, the search results and the results of the search expression are stored as a history. In addition, the searched prior art can be stored in the storage space.

After searching, you can filter out prior art that is not covered by duplicates or by IPC. The overlapping case is that when a patent is registered after the publication, both a public patent and a registered patent exist. This compares an applicant, an application date, a name, etc., and deletes duplicate documents, leaving only one document.

The display includes a batch view, a comparison, etc. The batch view is to display the selected prior arts by selecting one or more of the searched prior arts from the user terminal, and the comparison displays the target technology and the selected prior arts together. It can be compared at a glance. In addition, when the searched prior art is displayed, the sort order may be selected and sorted accordingly, and the sort order may include using a similarity ratio, an application number, a publication number, and the like.

The searched prior art may be stored in a storage space of a server, but may also be stored in a personal computer. When a desired item is selected and stored, only a selected item is generated and provided as a file. In addition, drawings can be downloaded together. The items include summaries, representative claims, claim numbers, IPCs, applicants, inventors, priority numbers, publication numbers, and the like.

When the number search is selected in the search menu, the patent number is input (S285), and the prior art corresponding thereto is searched (S275). Even if the target technology is a patent, the prior art is searched by the patent number. The patent number is preferably any one of the application number, publication number, notification number and registration number.

In addition, after the patent number is input in the number search, the process proceeds to steps S275 and S280, and the menu to be displayed is applied in the same manner as the field search.

3 is an embodiment of a patent search system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 3, the search menu 310 includes a field search, a number search, and a similar patent search. FIG. 3 is a screen displayed when the field search is selected.

The search number display unit 320 is a place where a record of searching the prior art is output. For example, when the patent of KR 2004-0123456 is searched, 50 Koreans and 20 US are searched. Information is displayed that 30 searches have been made.

Noise elimination is performed when the number of searches of the prior art is determined by the user that the search of the prior art is large or unnecessary, and this is to remove duplicate cases or remove similar low cases. Removing a duplicate case is removed by using the name of the invention, application number, etc., because when the published patent is registered and searched duplicated with the published patent and registered patent. In addition, the low similarity calculates the similarity, and removes the low similarity through a predetermined criterion, and the low similarity means that the similarity is low, the less relevant the target technology.

The download stores the prior art selected by the user among the searched prior arts in the user's terminal or stores them in a search server for use in a desired processor.

The search result display unit 330 displays a menu of display or download after searching the prior art, and the comparison is to simultaneously display the target technology and the selected prior art, and the batch view is selected when one or more of the searched prior arts are selected. It is to display the prior art collectively.

In addition, the original print may print all pages of the original text of the selected prior art, and the abstract print is referred to as an abstract in which the name, patent number, summary, claims, etc. of the invention are displayed, and prints only this portion.

4 is another embodiment of a patent retrieval system according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4, this screen is displayed when the similar patent search 410 is selected in the search menu.

The same applicant selection unit 420 searches for the prior art except for the same applicant, when the target technology for which the prior art is to be searched is a patent or a company or individual who holds the patent, so that unnecessary search is not executed.

When the target technology is a technology other than a patent, the sentence input unit 430 may input the contents of the technology as a sentence, extract a keyword of the target technology, and calculate the similarity based on the sentence. The content of the technology is to input the content of the thesis, the main sentence, etc., and it is used when it is difficult for a user who is not familiar with the patent to enter the content of the technology for each category.

Although the present invention has been shown and described with reference to the preferred embodiments as described above, it is not limited to the above embodiments and those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Various changes and modifications will be possible.

1 is a block diagram of a patent search system according to an embodiment of the present invention,

2 is a flowchart of a patent retrieval method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is an embodiment of a patent search system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is another embodiment of a patent retrieval system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

<Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings>

100: search server 110: search unit

112: search word translation means 120: keyword combination unit

130: keyword extraction unit 140: similarity calculation unit

150: DB management unit 152: prior art DB

154: synonym DB 156: customer DB

158: customer information DB 200: terminal

310: search menu 320: search number display unit

330: search result display unit 410: similar patent search

420: the same applicant selection unit 430: sentence input unit

Claims (9)

In order to search the prior art of the target technology, A search unit for searching the prior art from the prior art DB by using any one or more of a search formula written through a combination of a keyword and a keyword input by the user through the terminal; A keyword combination unit for creating a search term input from the terminal as a search expression; A keyword extraction unit for extracting a keyword from the target technology using a text mining technique; A similarity calculating unit for calculating a similarity using the quantitative ratio of the keywords extracted by the keyword extracting unit included in the prior art; Control unit for controlling the DB management unit, the search unit, the keyword combination unit, the keyword extraction unit, and the similarity calculation unit for managing the DB Patent search system comprising a. The method of claim 1, The search unit includes a search word translation means for translating the synonym of the keyword provided from the synonym DB into a language of another country, and then to create a search form. The method of claim 1, The keyword combination unit is a patent search system that can be classified and searched by the major classification, medium classification and small classification. The method of claim 3, Patent search system that combines a plurality of keywords in the classification of any one of the above major, minor and minor classification '+' or 'or'. The method of claim 3, Patent search system for combining the '*' or 'and' between the same classification among the major, medium and small categories. Selecting a number search, field search, or similar search from a search menu by a user; Searching for a patent by inputting a patent number to the similar search or inputting contents of a target technology; Extracting keywords using test mining from the retrieved patent and target technology; Searching the prior art using the keyword; And Calculating a similarity between the prior art and the target technology by calculating a ratio of the keywords extracted from the target technology to the prior art; Patent search method comprising a. The method of claim 6, The searching of the prior art using the keyword may include searching for a synonym for the keyword or automatically translating the keyword to create a search expression and then searching. The method of claim 6, The user selects the field search from the search menu to create a search formula consisting of search terms or to search the prior art by inputting the content corresponding to the field. The method of claim 8, And searching for synonyms of the search word and translating the same into another language.

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