Using hyperbolic trees to visualize data generated by patent-centric and group-oriented data processing

Abstract

A system, method, and computer program product for processing data are described herein. The system maintains first databases of patents, and second databases of non-patent information of interest to a corporate entity. The system also maintains one or more groups. Each of the groups comprises any number of the patents from the first databases. The system, upon receiving appropriate operator commands, automatically processes the patents in one of the groups in conjunction with non-patent information from the second databases. Accordingly, the system performs patent-centric and group-oriented processing of data. A group can also include any number of non-patent documents. The groups may be product based, person based, corporate entity based, or user-defined. Other types of groups are also covered, such as temporary groups. The processing automatically performed by the system relates to (but is not limited to) patent mapping, document mapping, patent citation (both forward and backward), patent aging, patent bracketing/clustering (both forward and backward), inventor patent count, inventor employment information, patent claim tree analysis, and finance. Other functions and capabilities are also covered, including the ability to utilize hyperbolic trees to visualize data generated by the system, method, and computer program product.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method of displaying data, comprising the steps of:

(1) access ing patent-related documents;

(2) accessing one or more groups each comprising any number of said patent-related documents;

(3) automatically generating a hyperbolic tree containing data from any of said patent-related documents; and

(4) allowing a user to selectively focus on at least some of said data that is displayed in a portion of said hyperbolic tree by performing a patent citation tree function, wherein said patent citation tree function is a backward patent citation tree function or a forward patent citation tree function.

2. A method of processing and presenting data, comprising the steps of:

(1) receiving a backward patent citation command or a forward patent citation command;

(2) receiving an indication of a number of levels to cite;

(3) retrieving patent citation information pertaining to a user-selected patent;

(4) constructing a patent citation hyperbolic tree using said retrieved patent citation information; and

(5) displaying said patent citation hyperbolic tree.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein step (3) comprises the steps of:

retrieving information identifying patents that are cited in said user-selected patent for said number of levels if a backward patent citation command was received; and

retrieving information identifying patents that cite said user-selected patent for said number of levels if a forward patent citation command was received.

4. A method of processing and presenting data, comprising the steps of:

(1) retrieving patent citation information pertaining to a user-selected patent, wherein said patent citation information is backward patent citation information or forward patent citation information;

(2) constructing a patent citation hyperbolic tree using said retrieved patent citation information; and

(3) emphasizing nodes of said patent citation hyperbolic tree according to time-based criteria, wherein said time-based criteria includes at least one of filing date, priority date, length of pendency, effective filing date, invention date, critical date, on-sale date, public disclosure date, and public use date.

5. A method of processing and presenting data, comprising the steps of:

(1) identifying claim dependencies of claims in a user-selected patent;

(2) constructing a patent claims hyperbolic tree for said user-selected patent using said identified claim dependencies; and

(3) displaying said patent claims hyperbolic tree, wherein the text of each claim in said patent claims hyperbolic tree may be selectively displayed.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein step (1) comprises the step of:

parsing and analyzing text in said user-selected patent corresponding to said claims to identify said claim dependencies.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein step (2) comprises the step of:

generating a claims dependency graph using said identified claim dependencies.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein step (2) further comprises the step of:

constructing said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency graph.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein step (2) further comprises the steps of:

mapping said claims dependency graph to a claims dependency tree; and

constructing said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency tree.

10. The method of claim 5, wherein step (3) comprises the step of:

(a) modifying display properties of nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-selected criteria.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

modifying display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to any combination of:

(i) whether a node corresponds to a patent or claim; and

(ii) whether a node corresponds to an independent claim or a dependent claim.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein step (a) comprises the step of:

modifying display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-defined criteria.

13. The method of claim 10, further comprising the step of:

displaying a legend that describes said user-selected criteria.

14. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

(4) receiving an operator command to display a claim represented in said patent citation hyperbolic tree; and

(5) displaying said represented claim.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein step (5) comprises the steps of:

displaying text of said represented claim apart from said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator; and

displaying text of said represented claim in the context of said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator.

16. A system of processing and presenting data, comprising:

information retrieving means for retrieving patent citation information pertaining to a user-selected patent, wherein said patent citation information is backward patent citation information or forward patent citation information;

tree constructing means for constructing a patent citation hyperbolic tree using said retrieved patent citation information; and

tree displaying means for displaying said patent citation hyperbolic tree comprising emphasizing means for emphasizing nodes of said patent citation hyperbolic tree according to time-based criteria, wherein said time-based criteria includes at least one of filing date, priority date, length of pendency, effective filing date, invention date, critical date, on-sale date, public disclosure date, and public use date.

17. A system of processing and presenting data, comprising:

dependency identifying means for identifying claim dependencies of claims in a user-selected patent;

tree constructing means for constructing a patent claims hyperbolic tree for said user-selected patent using said identified claim dependencies; and

tree displaying means for displaying said patent claims hyperbolic tree, wherein the text of each claim in said patent claims hyperbolic tree may be selectively displayed.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein said dependency identifying means comprises:

means for parsing and analyzing text in said user-selected patent corresponding to said claims to identify said claim dependencies.

19. The system of claim 14, wherein said tree constructing means comprises:

means for generating a claims dependency graph using said identified claim dependencies.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein said tree constructing means further comprises:

means for constructing said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency graph.

21. The system of claim 19, wherein said tree constructing means further comprises:

means for mapping said claims dependency graph to a claims dependency tree; and

means for constructing said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency tree.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein said tree displaying means comprises:

modifying display properties means for modifying display properties of nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-selected criteria.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein said modifying display properties means comprises:

means for modifying display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to any combination of:

(i) whether a node corresponds to a patent or claim; and

(ii) whether a node corresponds to an independent claim or a dependent claim.

24. The system of claim 22, wherein said modifying display properties means comprises:

means for modifying display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-defined criteria.

25. The system of claim 22, further comprising:

means for displaying a legend that describes said user-selected criteria.

26. The system of claim 14, further comprising:

means for receiving an operator command to display a claim represented in said patent citation hyperbolic tree; and

claim displaying means for displaying said represented claim.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein said claim displaying means comprises:

means for displaying text of said represented claim apart from said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator; and

means for displaying text of said represented claim in the context of said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator.

28. A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer program logic stored therein, wherein said computer program logic comprises:

dependency identifying means for enabling a computer to identify claim dependencies of claims in a user-selected patent;

tree constructing means for enabling the computer to construct a patent claims hyperbolic tree for said user-selected patent using said identified claim dependencies; and

tree displaying means for enabling the computer to display said patent claims hyperbolic tree, wherein the text of each claim in said patent claims hyperbolic tree may be selectively displayed.

29. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein said dependency identifying means comprises:

means for enabling the computer to parse and analyze text in said user-selected patent corresponding to said claims to identify said claim dependencies.

30. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein said tree constructing means comprises:

means for enabling the computer to generate a claims dependency graph using said identified claim dependencies.

31. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein said tree constructing means further comprises:

means for enabling the computer to construct said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency graph.

32. The computer program product of claim 30, wherein said tree constructing means further comprises:

means for enabling the computer to map said claims dependency graph to a claims dependency tree; and

means for enabling the computer to construct said patent claims hyperbolic tree from said claims dependency tree.

33. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein said tree displaying means comprises:

modifying display properties means for enabling the computer to modify display properties of nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-selected criteria.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein said modifying display properties means comprises:

means for enabling the computer to modify display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to any combination of:

(i) whether a node corresponds to a patent or claim; and

(ii) whether a node corresponds to an independent claim or a dependent claim.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein said modifying display properties means comprises:

means for enabling the computer to modify display properties of said nodes of said patent claims hyperbolic tree according to user-defined criteria.

36. The computer program product of claim 33, further comprising:

means for enabling the computer to display a legend that describes said user-selected criteria.

37. The computer program product of claim 28, further comprising:

means for enabling the computer to receive an operator command to display a claim represented in said patent citation hyperbolic tree; and

claim displaying means for enabling the computer to display said represented claim.

38. The computer program product of claim 37, wherein said claim displaying means comprises:

means for enabling the computer to display text of said represented claim apart from said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator; and

means for enabling the computer to display text of said represented claim in the context of said user-selected patent if so instructed by an operator.

39. The method claim 5, wherein said step (3) comprises displaying data in said patent claims hyperbolic tree such that at least some of said data is displayed in a portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree, the method further comprising the steps of:

(4) enabling a user to traverse to another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree; and

(5) dynamically presenting, responsive to step (4), other of said data in said another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree.

40. The system of claim 17, wherein said tree displaying means comprises displaying data in said patent claims hyperbolic tree such that at least some of said data is displayed in a portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree, the system further comprising:

user enabling means for enabling a user to traverse to another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree; and

dynamic presentation means, responsive to said user enabling means, for dynamically presenting other of said data in said another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree.

41. The computer program product of claim 28, wherein said tree displaying means comprises displaying data in said patent claims hyperbolic tree such that at least some of said data is displayed in a portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree, wherein said computer program logic further comprises:

user enabling means for enabling the computer to allow a user to traverse to another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree; and

dynamic presentation means, responsive to said user enabling means, for enabling the computer to dynamically present other of said data in said another portion of said patent claims hyperbolic tree.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention is generally related to tools for data processing, and more particularly related to tools for patent-centric and group-oriented data processing. These tools comprise diverse capabilities for data presentation and processing, including data presentation and processing using hyperbolic trees.

2. Related Art

Patents are becoming more and more important to a business's success, especially in today's global economy. Patents can be viewed as a new type of currency in this global economy because they grant the holder with a right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the patented technology. In some industries, product turnover is fairly rapid. However, core technology, product features, and markets change at a much slower rate. Accordingly, even in fast-moving industries, patents which cover core technology are very valuable at protecting a company's research and development investment for an extended period of time.

Patents are also valuable as revenue generators. In 1993, for example, the revenue generated from patents by U.S. companies was over $60 billion. Fred Warshofsky, The Patent Wars, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1994. These patent revenue dollars are rising each year.

Patents are further valuable because they collectively represent a vast technological database. Much of this database is only available as issued patents (i.e., it is not released in any other form). According to Larry Kahaner's book, Competitive Intelligence, Simon & Schuster, 1996, "More than 75 percent of the information contained in U.S. patents is never released anywhere else."

If corporations searched this database before developing and releasing new products they might be able to avoid costly patent infringement litigation. Often, however, corporations do not conduct such patent searches. One significant reason for this is the difficulty in identifying relevant patents, and the difficulty in analyzing patents. Computerized search tools are becoming available to the public, such as web sites on the Internet, that can be used to conduct patent searches. Many companies and practitioners are reluctant to use such tools, however, due to the concern that their highly sensitive patent searches will not be maintained in confidence when using such tools.

More and more corporations are recognizing the value of patents. The number of patents applied for and issued to U.S. companies is increasing every year, especially in fast moving industries such as computer software and biotechnology. Many international companies have also recognized the value of patents. In fact, foreign companies regularly rank among the leaders in issued U.S. patents.

Of course, not all patents are as valuable to the patent owner or patent licensees as others. Some owned or licensed patents provide little or no value to the corporate entity. These patents become a drain on corporate resources, both in obtaining the patents, paying maintenance fees, and paying license fees. It is difficult for corporations to assess the value of their patents because automated tools for patent analysis do not exist.

Yet, for all the heightened awareness being paid to patents in some quarters, patents remain one of the most underutilized assets in a company's portfolio. This is due, at least in significant part, to the fact that patent analysis, whether for purposes of licensing, infringement, enforcement, freedom to operate, technical research, product development, etc., is a very difficult, tedious, time consuming, and expensive task, particularly when performed with paper copies of patents.

Software providers have been slow in developing software tools for aiding in the patent analysis process. As a result, there are few automated tools for patent analysis currently available. There are software tools available for managing corporate patent prosecution and payment of maintenance fees, such as products from Master Data Corporation. The patent analysis capabilities of these tools are limited. These tools, for example, cannot be used to facilitate the analysis and development of business strategies to increase corporate shareholder value through the strategic and tactical use of patents.

A number of patent searching tools are available, such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Automated Patent System (APS), and the on-line search services offered by Lexis and Westlaw. Other providers of patent information and patent search tools include Derwent, MicroPatent, Questel, Corporate Intelligence, STN, IFI/Plenum, The Shadow Patent Office (EDS), IBM, and CAS. These tools are not analysis tools. Instead, they are search tools. These tools enable a user to identify patents that satisfy a specified key word search criteria. In essence, these tools provide the user with the ability to possibly find "the needle-in-the-haystack." However, these tools have limited, if any, automated functions to aid a user in analyzing the patents, whether the company's own patents or those of competitors, for the purpose of making tactical and strategic business decisions based on the patents.

SmartPatents Inc. (SPI) of Mountain View, Calif., provides electronic tools for analyzing patents. These tools, collectively called the SmartPatent Workbench, are very useful for analyzing patents. With the SmartPatent Workbench, a user can view the text and image of a patent, conduct text searches in the patent, copy and paste portions of the patent to other documents, build a case of patents, annotate the case and the patents in the case, import and export patents and cases, etc. The SmartPatent Workbench is commercially available from SPI, and is described in a number of publicly available documents, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,679 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,623,681, incorporated by reference herein.

The SmartPatent Workbench is a patent analysis tool. The SmartPatent Workbench is primarily designed to assist a user in working with a single patent or a small collection of patents at a time. However, there are many instances when it would be very beneficial to be able to automatically and simultaneously analyze, correlate, or otherwise process multiple patents.

For example, in some instances it would be beneficial to automatically analyze the inventorship of a collection of patents. More particularly, it would be beneficial to identify the persons who are named most frequently on a collection of patents. It would be very useful if this task could be performed automatically. However, no existing software tools can perform this task automatically.

For the most part, existing patent-related tools can process only the information contained in patents. (It is noted, however, that the SmartPatent Workbench has functions to annotate patents with any information, whether or not patent related, and has additional functions to search within annotations.) These tools do not have functions for correlating, analyzing, and otherwise processing patent-related information with non-patent related information, including but not limited to corporate operational data, financial information, production information, human resources information, and other types of corporate information. Such non-patent information is critically important when evaluating the full strategic and tactical value and applicability of any given patent, or developing a corporate patent business strategy for gaining competitive advantage and increasing shareholder value based on patents.

Consider, for example, FIG. 1. A typical corporation 102 includes a research and development (R&D) department 104, a finance department 112, a manufacturing department 108, and a legal department 116 (that includes a licensing department 122 and a patent department 124). In the course of performing their respective duties, these departments generate, collect, and maintain information, such as R&D information 106, financial information 114, manufacturing information 110 (such as bill of material information), licensing information 118, and patent information 120 (that includes the patents obtained by the company, and perhaps patents obtained by competitors).

A business analyst 126 may be assigned the job of evaluating the value of the corporation's patent portfolio (represented as part of the patent information 120). In order to fully and accurately analyze the value and applicability of the corporation's patent portfolio, the analyst 126 should ideally take into account non-patent information, such as R&D information 106, financial information 114, manufacturing information 110, and licensing information 118.

For example, a patent's value may be linked to whether it covers technology that the corporation is currently using, or that the corporation may use in the future. Thus, an analysis of the patent should include an analysis of and correlation with manufacturing information 110 and R&D information 106. Also, a patent's value may be linked to whether it has generated licensing revenue. Thus, an analysis of the patent should include an analysis of and correlation with licensing information 118. Further, a patent's value may be linked to the degree of success of the corporation's commercial products that correspond to the patent (i.e., the commercial embodiments of the patented technology). Thus, an analysis of the patent should include an analysis of and correlation with financial information 114.

The processing described above, however, is usually not done (or it is done in an ad hoe, unorganized, incomplete, inefficient, and/or ineffective manner) because it is difficult or, in many cases, impossible to manually collect, organize, correlate, and process all of the information pertinent to the patents under study. Often times, it is a difficult or even impossible task to simply identify the relevant patents. Accordingly, it would be very beneficial to have automated tools that automatically process patent-related information and non-patent related information for making corporate business decisions. Existing patent-related tools do not have this capability.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Briefly stated, the present invention is directed to a system, method, and computer program product for processing data. The present invention maintains first databases of patents, and second databases of non-patent information of interest to a corporate entity.

The present invention also maintains one or more groups. Each of the groups comprises any number of patents from the first databases. The present invention, upon receiving appropriate operator commands, automatically processes the patents in one or more of the groups in conjunction with non-patent information from the second databases. Accordingly , the present invention performs patent-centric and group-oriented processing of data.

A group can also include any number of non-patent documents.

The groups may be defined by the business practices of the corporation and could include groupings that are product based, person based, corporate entity based, or user-defined. Other types of groups also fall within the scope of the invention. For example, the invention supports temporary groups that are automatically generated in the course of the automatic processing performed by the invention.

The processing automatically performed by the invention relates to (but is not limited to) patent mapping, document mapping, document/patent citation (both forward and backward), document/patent aging, patent bracketing/clustering (both forward and backward), inventor patent count, inventor employment information, and finance. Other functions also fall within the scope of the invention.

The present invention includes the ability to display data in a wide range of formats, including the ability to display and process data using hyperbolic trees.

Further features and advantages of the invention, as well as the structure and operation of various embodiments of the invention, are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 represents the generation and maintenance of documents in a conventional corporate entity;

FIG. 2 illustrates the document-centric and patent-centric operation of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an enterprise server according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a potential deployment of the enterprise server of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the databases of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a network client (and potentially a web client) according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a web server according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram and a data transfer diagram illustrating the searching features of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of the analysis modules which form a part of the enterprise server of FIG. 4;

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of a computer useful for implementing components of the invention;

FIG. 12A illustrates the orientation of FIGS. 12B-12M relative to one another;

FIGS. 12B-12M illustrates the tables and attributes in the databases of FIG. 6 according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 13-17 illustrate example document databases;

FIG. 18 illustrates an example display format depicting the hierarchical organization of groups according to the present invention;

FIGS. 19-21 illustrates example group tables;

FIGS. 22 and 23A illustrate example bill of materials (BOM) data structures (also called BOM structures, or BOMs);

FIG. 23B, when considered in conjunction with FIG. 23A, illustrate the concept of shared groups;

FIGS. 24-26 illustrate example BOM groups;

FIGS. 27-31 illustrate example security tables;

FIG. 32 illustrates an example corporate organizational structure;

FIGS. 33-36 illustrate example corporate entity databases;

FIG. 37 illustrates an example person table;

FIG. 38 illustrates an example employee table;

FIG. 39 illustrates an example validated inventor table;

FIGS. 40-43, 44A and 44B illustrate example patents used to describe the patent bibliographic databases;

FIG. 45 is a dataflow diagram illustrating a generic extract and load operation;

FIG. 46 is a dataflow diagram illustrating an exemplary extract and load process for the patent bibliographic databases;

FIG. 47 is a dataflow diagram illustrating an exemplary extract and load process for the BOM databases;

FIG. 48 illustrates an alternative process for obtaining corporate BOM data;

FIG. 49 is a dataflow diagram representing an exemplary process for extract and load of the person databases and the employee databases;

FIG. 50 is a dataflow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for extract and load of the validated inventor table;

FIG. 51 is a dataflow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for extract and load of the corporate entity databases;

FIG. 52 is a dataflow diagram illustrating an exemplary process for extract and load of other corporate entity databases;

FIGS. 53-57 illustrate example user interface display formats pertinent to the searching features of the present invention;

FIG. 58 is an example user interface display format pertinent to display of group information;

FIGS. 59-60 are examples of patent mapping display formats;

FIGS. 61-65 are examples of patent citation report display formats;

FIGS. 66-70 are examples of patent aging display formats;

FIGS. 71-73 are examples of patent clustering/bracketing display formats;

FIGS. 74-77 are examples of inventor patent count display formats;

FIGS. 78-80 are examples of employment information display formats;

FIG. 81 illustrates the interaction between the enterprise server and a client;

FIG. 82 illustrates the interaction between the enterprise server and a network client;

FIG. 83 illustrates the interaction between the enterprise server and a web client;

FIG. 84 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the patent mapping module according to the embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 85 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the patent/document mapping module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 86 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the patent citation module when conducting a backward patent citation search according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 87 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the patent citation module when performing a forward patent citation search according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 88A and 88B collectively illustrate a flowchart representing the operation of the patent aging module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 89 is a flowchart representing the operation of the patent bracketing/clustering module when performing a backward patent bracketing/clustering function according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 90 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the patent bracketing/clustering module when performing a forward patent bracketing/clustering function according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 91 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the inventor patent count module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 92 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the inventor employment information module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 93 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the importing patent data module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 94 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the exporting patent data module according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 95 is a flowchart representative of a generic extract and load process according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 96 is a flowchart of a extract and load process for the patent bibliographic databases;

FIG. 97 is a flowchart of a extract and load process for the BOM databases;

FIG. 98 is a flowchart of a extract and load process for an employee databases;

FIG. 99 is a flowchart of a extract and load process for the validated inventor databases;

FIG. 100 is an extract and load flowchart for the corporate entity databases;

FIG. 101 is a flowchart representative of the interaction between a client and the enterprise server;

FIG. 102 is a flowchart representative of a patent mapping and mining process;

FIG. 103 is a flowchart representative of a situation assessment process;

FIG. 104 is a flowchart representative of a competitive analysis process;

FIG. 105 is a flowchart representative of a clustering and/or bracketing process;

FIG. 106 is a flowchart representative of an inventor analysis process;

FIG. 107 is a flowchart representative of a financial analysis process;

FIG. 108 is a flowchart representative of a strategic planning process;

FIG. 109 is a flowchart representative of an example methodology process involving patent mapping and mining, situation assessment, and strategic planning process;

FIG. 110 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the security module;

FIG. 111 is an example display format showing the display of patent text in a first window and notes in a second window;

FIG. 112 is an example display format showing the display of patent text in a first window and patent image in a second window;

FIG. 113 illustrates a block diagram of the virtual patent system of the present invention;

FIG. 114 is a architecture block diagram of the network client (and in some embodiments the web client);

FIG. 115 is used to describe a generic group import function of the present invention;

FIG. 116 is an example user login screen shot;

FIGS. 117 and 118 represent an example console screen shot;

FIGS. 119 and 120 are screen shots for creating a new group;

FIGS. 121 and 122 are example screen shots for searching through the databases;

FIGS. 123 and 124 are example screen shots for displaying text and images of documents;

FIG. 125 is an example screen shot for creating a document note;

FIGS. 126 and 127 are example screen shots for editing group properties;

FIGS. 128 and 129 are example screen shots for invoking patent-centric and group-oriented functions;

FIG. 130 is an example screen shot for adding a document to a group;

FIG. 131 is an example screen shot for importing data;

FIG. 132 is an example screen shot for exporting data;

FIG. 133 is another example console screen shot;

FIG. 134 is an example screen shot for creating a group note;

FIGS. 135-137 illustrate example tools bars from the console screen display;

FIG. 138 illustrates a search hierarchy used to describe the searching algorithm according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 139 is a flowchart depicting the operation of the present invention when performing searches according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 140 illustrates an example Patent Search screen according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 141-143 illustrate example Search Result screens according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 144 illustrates an example display screen that shows bibliographic and abstract information on a document that is not stored in the repository;

FIGS. 145A, 145B, and 145C illustrate an example display screen that shows information on a document that is stored in the repository;

FIG. 146 illustrates an example display screen used to illustrate the hyperlinking capabilities of the present invention;

FIG. 147 illustrates an example "Patents In Repository" screen;

FIG. 148 illustrates an example display screen corresponding to the Skim Images function of the present invention;

FIG. 149 is a flowchart depicting a demand paging algorithm according to an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 150 illustrates a URL message format;

FIG. 151 illustrates the commands that are transferred between a browser in the web client and the Enterprise server;

FIG. 152 illustrates the interaction between the browser in a web client and the Enterprise server;

FIG. 153 illustrates a stacked folder icon used to represent shared groups;

FIG. 154 illustrates an example console used to describe shared groups;

FIG. 155 illustrates an example console used to describe temporary groups;

FIG. 156 illustrates a group links tab that lists a group's links in the group hierarchy;

FIGS. 157-160 are flowcharts representing the operation of the patent citation tree function when performed by a network client interacting with the enterprise server;

FIG. 161 is an example console used to illustrate the operation of the patent citation tree function;

FIG. 162 is an example drop-down menu used to illustrate the manner in which an operator selects the citation analysis function;

FIG. 163 is an example dialog box used to indicate how an operator defines a citation analysis command;

FIG. 164 illustrates an example patent citation tree;

FIG. 165 illustrates an example display that is generated when an operator selects a patent represented in the patent citation tree of FIG. 164;

FIGS. 166 and 167 are flowcharts representing the operation of the patent citation tree function when performed by a web client interacting with the enterprise server via the web server;

FIGS. 168-170 are flowcharts illustrating the operation of the patent claims tree function;

FIG. 171 illustrates an example patent claims tree;

FIGS. 172 and 173 illustrate example displays which are presented when the operator selects a claim represented in the patent claims tree of FIG. 171;

FIGS. 174 and 175 are additional patent citation visualizations according to embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 176 is a flowchart representing additional operation related to the patent citation tree function;

FIGS. 177 and 178 illustrate example hyperbolic trees;

FIG. 179 represents the mapping from a graph to a tree;

FIG. 180 represents an example parent/child table;

FIG. 181 illustrates a citation analysis graph corresponding to the patent/child table of FIG. 180;

FIG. 182 illustrates an example patent bibliographic information table;

FIG. 183 illustrates an example tree corresponding to the citation analysis graph of FIG. 181;

FIG. 184 illustrates an example claims dependency graph;

FIG. 185 illustrates an example claims dependency tree corresponding to the claims dependency graph of FIG. 184; and

FIG. 186 illustrates a web client in greater detail.

In the following text, reference is sometimes made to existing U.S. patents. Also, some of the figures reference or illustrate existing U.S. patents. For illustrative purposes, information from and/or about these patents has sometimes been modified or created in order to support the particular examples being discussed. Accordingly, the information provided herein about these existing U.S. patents should be considered to be fictional unless verified through comparison with copies of the actual U.S. patents that are available from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Table of Contents

Overview of the Invention

Components of the Invention

Customer Corporate Entity Databases

Document Databases

Document Bibliographic Databases

Patent Bibliographic Databases

Other Document Bibliographic Databases

Notes Database

Groups Databases

Predefined Groups Databases

Bill of Materials (BOM) Databases

Corporate Entity Databases

Inventor Databases (and Employees and Person Databases)

User-Defined Group Databases

Financial Databases

Security Database

Enterprise Server

Document Storage and Retrieval Module

Notes Module

Searching Module

Automatic Searches Related to Groups

Searching Algorithm

Grouping Module

Analysis Modules

Server Administration Module

Server Configuration Module

Command Dispatch Module

Clients

Network Clients

Web Clients

Enterprise Server API (Application Programming Interface)

Commands Processed by the Server Administration Module 418

Commands Processed by the Document Storage and Retrieval Module 408

Commands Processed by the Grouping Module 412

Commands Processed by the Notes Module 414

Commands Processed by the Analysis Modules 416

Client/Server Interaction

Patent-Centric URL Commands

Translation

Client Architecture

Databases

Document Bibliographic Databases

Group Databases

User Defined Groups

Predefined Group Databases

Bill of Materials (BOM) Databases

Corporate Entity Databases

Inventor, Employee, and Person Databases

Financial Databases

Security Databases

Enterprise Server and Client Functional Modules

Patent Mapping Module

Patent Citation Module

Patent Aging Module

Patent Clustering and Bracketing Module

Financial Module

Inventor Patent Count Module

Inventor Employment Information Module

Exporting Patent Data Module

Importing Patent Data Module

Methodology Embodiments

Patent Mapping and Mining

Situation Assessment

Competitive Analysis

Clustering and/or Bracketing

Inventor Analysis

Financial Analysis

Strategic Planning

Integrated Methodology Embodiment

User Interface

User Login

Console

Console Tool Bars

Creating a New Group

Editing Group Properties

Shared Groups

Invoking Patent-Centric and Group-Oriented Analysis Functions

Adding Documents to a Group

Adding a Document Note

Adding a Group Note

Searching

Web Searching

Importing Data

Exporting Data

Data Presenting and Processing Using Hyperbolic Trees

General Description of Hyperbolic Trees

Patent Citation Tree

Patent Citation Tree (Network Client)

Patent Citation Tree (Web Client)

Additional Patent Citation Visualizations

Patent Claims Tree

Conclusion

Overview of the Invention

The present invention is directed to a system, components of the system, a method, components of the method, and a computer program product for patent-centric and group-oriented data processing. Such processing includes, but is not limited to, reporting, analyzing, and planning.

The present invention is intended to aid a corporate entity in developing business-related strategies, plans, and actions. Accordingly, the present invention is also referred to herein as a business decision system and method.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual representation of the invention. The present invention processes patent information 204, which is herein defined to include (but not limited to) U.S. and non-U.S. patents (text and/or images) and post issuance documents (such as Certificates of Correction), and patent-related information, which includes information about patents (herein called patent bibliographic information). Accordingly, the processing performed by the invention is said to be "patent-centric" or "patent-specific."

More generally, the present invention processes any documents, some of which are related to patents, and others which are unrelated to patents. These documents are preferably of interest to a business entity, and include contracts, licenses, leases, notes, commercial papers, other legal and/or financial papers, etc., as well as patents.

For illustrative purposes, the invention is often described herein with respect to patents. However, it should be understood that the invention is also applicable to all types of documents, and the structures, functions, and operations described herein are applicable to all types of documents, whether patent or non-patent.

The present invention also processes other information, preferably business-related information, including (but not limited to) research and development (R&D) information 206, financial information 216, patent licensing information 214, manufacturing information 208, and other relevant business information 210 (which may, for example, include human resources information). This other information is generally called non-patent information (since it includes documents other than patents and may further include information from operational and non-operational corporate databases).

The present invention is adapted to maintain and process massive amounts of documents (several hundred thousand or more). It is often necessary to maintain and process this large number of documents in order to develop strategic, patent-related business plans for the customer.

According to the present invention, processing of the patent information 204 can be conducted either with or without consideration of any of the other information 206, 216, 214, 210, 208.

For example, a user 212 (who may be a business analyst) may be assigned the job of evaluating the value of the corporation's patent portfolio (represented as part of the patent information 204). In order to fully analyze the value and applicability of the corporation's patent portfolio, the user 212 must take into account other information, such as R&D information 206, financial information 216, manufacturing information 208, and licensing information 214, for both the corporation and its competitors.

For example, a patent's value may be linked to whether it covers technology that the corporation is currently using, or that the corporation may use in the future. For this and other purposes, the present invention includes functions for automatically analyzing the patent information 204 in conjunction with manufacturing information 208 and/or R&D information 206. Also, a patent's value may be linked to whether it has generated licensing revenue. For this and other purposes, the present invention includes functions for automatically analyzing the patent information 204 in conjunction with the licensing information 214. Further, a patent's value may be linked to the degree of success of the corporation's commercial products related to the patent (i.e., the commercial embodiments of the patented technology). For this and other purposes, the present invention includes functions for automatically analyzing the patent information 204 in conjunction with the financial information 216.

The invention could also be used to determine the value of a corporate entity's patent portfolio for purposes of a merger or acquisition. The invention could also be used in a merger or acquisition context to determine a corporate entity's business direction. For example, if Company A is interested in acquiring Company B, Company A could use the invention to categorize all of Company B's patents into groups. The nature of these groups would be an indication of the types of work that Company B is involved in. Other uses of the invention are described below. Further uses of the invention will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevant art(s) based on the discussion contained herein.

The present invention is group enabled. According to the present invention, a group is a data structure that includes a collection of patents. The patents in a group typically follow a common theme or characteristic (although this is not a mandatory requirement of groups). For example, a first group may include patents that map to a product being manufactured and sold by a company. A second group may include patents that map to a product or product feature being considered for future manufacture and sale by a company. A third group may include patents owned by a corporate entity. A fourth group may include patents each having a particular person named as an inventor. A fifth group may include patents owned by a competitor. A sixth group may include patents related to a research project. A seventh group may include licensed patents. An eighth group may include patents and/or non-patent documents related to a litigation in which the customer is involved or has an interest (such a group is also herein called a case). A ninth group may include patents and other documents arbitrarily selected by a customer.

The present invention is capable of automatically processing the patents in a group, or the patents in multiple groups (alternatively, the invention can automatically process a single patent). Accordingly, the present invention is said to support "group-oriented" data processing.

Being able to automatically process information on a group basis is a very important feature of the invention, and proves to be very valuable and useful. Consider the above example of FIG. 2, where the user 212 has the task of evaluating the value of the corporation's patent portfolio. Suppose that the corporation has two products on the market, Product A and Product B. Product A generated $10 million in revenue, and Product B generated $30 million in revenue. The corporation has 5 patents that map to Product A, and 3 patents that map to Product B. If the user 212 analyzes this data without regard to groups, then the user 212 will find that the corporation's revenue per patent is $5 million. That is, for every $5 million in revenue, the corporation obtains a patent. Suppose that a relevant industry benchmark indicates that a company should obtain a patent for every $6 million of revenue. According to this scenario, the user 212 will conclude that the corporation is potentially seeking greater patent protection than the industry benchmark with respect to its technology.

Consider, now, the scenario where the user 212 analyzes the data with regard to groups, in this case a first group composed of patents that map to Product A, and a second group composed of patents that map to Product B. The user 212 will find that corporation's revenue per patent is $2 million for the first group (i.e., patents that map to Product A), and $10 million for the second group (i.e., patents that map to Product B). According to this scenario, the user 212 will conclude that the corporation is potentially devoting too much of its patent-related resources with respect to its technology related to Product A (it is "overpatenting" technology related to Product A), and potentially devoting too little of its patent-related resources with respect to its technology related to Product B (it is "underpatenting" technology related to Product B).

In addition, an analysis of the patents relative to a product may indicate that the core features or technology of the product are not patented and, thus, could be freely and legally copied by a competitor. This could adversely affect the product's price floor and revenue stream. With this information in hand, the company could then take steps to more comprehensively patent its technology (or make a conscious and knowledgeable decision to not seek further patent protection). Without group-oriented processing of the patents related to the product, this information is unavailable. Without this information, the company is more likely to make unwise and costly business decisions.

As indicated by the above example, group-oriented processing yields information on a scale whose granularity is defined by the definition of the group. The information produced by group-oriented processing is specific to the patents in the group. Accordingly, as with the above example, group-oriented processing is often more useful and more illuminating than non-group-processing.

Also, the invention supports hierarchically structured groups. The invention, in performing a function requested by the operator, may identify a particular group. Such identification of this group may yield very useful information, as apparent from the above example. This group, however, may have a number of parent and/or child groups. The operator may be able to uncover additional useful data by viewing, analyzing, and/or processing these parent and child groups, either with or without the original group.

Accordingly, the invention supports and facilitates "data drilling" and/or "data mining."

As noted above, according to the present invention, processing of the patent information 204 is conducted with consideration of other information 206, 216, 214, 210, 208, called non-patent information. The process of assigning patents to groups is an example of processing patent information with non-patent information. This is the case, because groups are often created according to non-patent considerations. Accordingly, any subsequent processing of the patents in a group involve, by definition, non-patent considerations.

For example, the customer may create groups to represent its products. In this case, the groups are created according to the customer's production information. In another example, the customer may create groups to represent persons of interest. In this case, the groups are created according to HR (human resources) information. In another example, the customer may create groups to represent its competitors. In this case, the groups are created according to business information or practices. In another example, the customer may create groups based on its future products or feature requirement. In this case, the groups are created according to its R&D information.

All of these groups are created based on or in consideration of non-patent information, not patent information. Accordingly, any subsequent group processing of the patents contained in any of these groups represents, by definition, processing of the patent information 204 with consideration of, or in conjunction with, or based on non-patent information 206, 216, 214, 210, 208. This is the case, even if such subsequent group processing involves only, for example, patent bibliographic information (i.e., patent information), such as group processing based on patent issue dates or group processing based on patent references, since the groups being processed were created based on or in consideration of non-patent information, including non-patent information 206, 216,214,210,208.

A group may also contain non-patent documents. In fact, a group may contain only non-patent documents. Accordingly, a group is more generally defined as a collection of documents (such as patent documents only, non-patent documents only, or a combination of patent and non-patent documents). The documents in a group typically follow a common theme or characteristic (although this is not a mandatory requirement of groups). Referring to FIG. 2, the invention processes document information 204 alone, or in conjunction with other information 206, 216, 214, 210, 208 (which may or may not be related to the documents). Accordingly, the processing performed by the present invention is more generally described as being document-centric and group-oriented.

Components of the Invention

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system 302 according to an embodiment of the invention. The system 302 includes a plurality of databases 316 that store patent information and other information, such as R&D (research and development) information, financial information, licensing information, manufacturing information, HR (human resources) information, and any other information that may be pertinent to the analysis of the patent information. The terms "database" and "table" are used synonymously herein.

An enterprise server 314 accesses and processes the information in the databases 316. In particular, the enterprise server 314 includes modules that are capable of automatically accessing and processing the information in the databases 316 in a patent-centric (or document-centric) and group-oriented manner. These modules are also capable of automatically accessing and processing the information in the databases on a patent by patent basis ("one patent at a time"). Such processing includes, but is not limited to, reporting, analyzing, and planning.

The enterprise server 314 may be a single physical server, or may be a hierarchy of multiple servers 502, 504, 506, 508. An example of this multiple server embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 5. A given client 304, 306 may also connect to one or multiple servers. As is well known, in a client/server environment, some work is done by the client, some work is done by the server, and data flows between the client and the server.

The system 302 preferably includes two types of clients, network clients 306 and web clients 304. These clients 304, 306, pursuant to instructions from human operators or users (not shown), interact with the enterprise server 314 to access and process the information in the databases 316. For example, the clients 304, 306 may request that the enterprise server 314 retrieve certain information, or automatically analyze certain information. The enterprise server 314 performs the requested tasks, and sends the results to the requesting clients 304, 306. The clients 304, 306 present these results to their respective operators, and enable the operators to process the results.

Clients 304, 306 may also perform additional processing of data, such as creating a visualization of the data obtained from the enterprise server 314.

Generally speaking, the network clients 306 preferably communicate with the enterprise server 314 using the enterprise server 314's natural language, which is called the enterprise server API (described in detail below). Accordingly, the network clients 306 communicate directly with the enterprise server 314 via a communication network 312, which is preferably a network that uses the well known HTTP (hypertext transport) protocol. Other protocols could alternatively be used. This network 312 may be of any size, such as (but not limited to) a local area network or a wide area network (it can even be a global network).

The web clients 304 do not preferably utilize the enterprise server 314's natural language. Accordingly, the web clients 304 communicate with the enterprise server 314 via a web server 310, which translates between the language of the web clients 304 and the language of the enterprise server 314. This translation is described below.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the components of the present invention shown in FIG. 3 are implemented using well known computers, such as a computer 1102 shown in FIG. 11. The computer 1102 can be any commercially available and well known computer capable of performing the functions described herein, such as computers available from International Business Machines, Apple, Silicon Graphics Inc., Sun, HP, Dell, Compaq, Digital, Cray, etc.

The computer 1102 includes one or more processors (also called central processing units, or CPUs), such as a processor 1106. The processor 1106 is connected to a communication bus 1104. The computer 1102 also includes a main or primary memory 1108, preferably random access memory (RAM). The primary memory 1108 has stored therein control logic 1110 (computer software), and data 1112.

The computer 1102 also includes one or more secondary storage devices 1114. The secondary storage devices 1114 include, for example, a hard disk drive 1116 and/or a removable storage device or drive 1118. The removable storage drive 1118 represents a floppy disk drive, a magnetic tape drive, a compact disk drive, an optical storage device, tape backup, ZIP drive, JAZZ drive, etc.

The removable storage drive 1118 interacts with a removable storage unit 1120. As will be appreciated, the removable storage unit 1120 includes a computer usable or readable storage medium having stored therein computer software (control logic) and/or data. The removable storage drive 1118 reads from and/or writes to the removable storage unit 1120 in a well known manner.

Removable storage unit 1120, also called a program storage device or a computer program product, represents a floppy disk, magnetic tape, compact disk, optical storage disk, ZIP disk, JAZZ disk/tape, or any other computer data storage device. Program storage devices or computer program products also include any device in which computer programs can be stored, such as hard drives.

In an embodiment, the present invention is directed to computer program products or program storage devices having software that enables the computer 1102 to perform any combination of the functions described herein.

Computer programs (also called computer control logic) are stored in main memory 1108 and/or the secondary storage devices 1114. Such computer programs, when executed, enable the computer 1102 to perform the functions of the present invention as discussed herein. In particular, the computer programs, when executed, enable the processor 1106 to perform the functions of the present invention. Accordingly, such computer programs represent controllers of the computer 1102.

The modules of the invention discussed herein, such as the grouping module 412, the analysis modules 416, etc., preferably represent software executing in the computer 1102.

The computer 1102 also includes a display unit 1122, such as a computer monitor, and one or more input devices 1124, such as a keyboard, a mouse, other pointing devices (such as a light pen and trackball), etc.

The computer 1102 further includes a communication or network interface 1126. The network interface 1126 enables the computer 1102 to communicate over communication networks, such as networks 308 and 312, which preferably use the well known HTTP communication protocol.

The components of the invention (shown in FIG. 3) are described in greater detail below. It should be understood that any specific software, hardware, or operating system implementations described herein are provided for purposes of illustration, and not limitation. The invention can work with software, hardware, and operating system implementations other than those described herein. Any software, hardware, and operating system implementations suitable for performing the functions described herein can be used.

Customer Corporate Entity

Preferably, the system 302 is adapted for use by a particular customer. Typically, the customer is a corporate entity. Accordingly, the customer is also called herein the customer corporate entity.

It should be understood, however, that the customer can be any organization or individual, such as an academic institution, a research organization, a non-profit or for-profit organization, or any person. Generally, the customer is any entity having an interest in patents.

The customer is an entity (such as a company) that has arranged to have use of the system 302 (by purchasing, leasing, or renting the system 302, for example).

The databases 316 and data contained therein are specific to the customer. For example, the databases 316 may contain information on the patents that the customer owns and/or licensees, and information on the patents that the customer's competitors owns and/or licenses. Also, the databases 316 may contain the customer's and the customer's competitors' R&D information, financial information, licensing information, manufacturing information, and HR information.

Also, the methodology functions supported by the enterprise server 314 may be specialized or augmented to meet the needs of the customer.

Implementation and use of the present invention may involve a number of persons associated with the customer corporate entity, such as employees, consultants, associates, and persons retained by the customer, such as attorneys. When interacting with the invention, these people are called operators or users. Table 1 lists some of such persons and their respective responsibilities according to an embodiment of the invention. These persons may be involved in all aspects of the invention for the customer, or may be involved in only some phases of the invention for the customer, such as the extract and load of the databases 316. It should be noted that the set up and use of the invention may also involve other people with different knowledge, skills, and/or abilities.

In the discussion contained herein, reference is often made to a user or an operator associated with the customer. It should be understood that the terms "user" and "operator" are synonymous, and refer to one or more persons from Table 1.

    TABLE 1
    Role/Function      Responsibilities
    Executive, PL, or  Ensure strategy meets short and long term
    Division Managers  business goals and plans
    Intellectual Property Analysis of patents as related to mapping,
    (IP) Attorneys     licensing, infringement, non-renewal, cross-
                       licensing etc.
    Technical Personnel Analysis of patents and how they relate to given
                       product functions and features. Also domain
                       R&D experts as needed for specific competitive
                       technology assessment
    MIS personnel      Help in data extraction from operational systems
    Marketing personnel Product Strategy, Features, Target Markets,
                       Competitive Analysis
    Business and       Economic implications, profit, loss, tax, market
    Financial Analysts share, etc.

    TABLE 2
                                       Implementation in Search
    Search                             Engine 424 (when using
    string                             Fulcrum as the Search Engine
    operator Meaning and Search Behavior 424)
    W/n     Search for term expression on Translate directly to
            left within n characters distance "WITHIN n CHARACTERS
            in either direction from term OF"
            expression on right.
    AND     Match only documents that  Translate directly to "&"
            satisfy the term expression on
            the left and the term expression
            on the right.
    OR      Match documents that satisfy Translate directly to ".vertline."
            the term expression on the left
            or the term expression on the
            right.
    NOT     Match only documents that do Translate directly to "!"
            not satisfy the term expression
            on the right.
    ( )     Parentheses. Used to group Leave as is.
            search expressions parts to
            control their order of
            evaluation.

    TABLE 3
    Search
    string                                         Implementation
    Element     Meaning and search behavior        in Fulcrum
    A-Z a-z     Alphabetic characters. A contiguous Leave as is.
                sequence of these (including any optional
                apostrophes) is considered a word for
                searching. All searching is case
                insensitive.
    0-9         Numeric characters. A contiguous   Leave as is.
                sequence of these (including any
                optional commas or periods) is considered
                a word for searching.
    '           Apostrophe. This character only appears in Translate
                the index when there is an alphabetic directly to """
                character on either side of it. In this case,
                you must search for it explicitly. For
                example, searching for "Adams" will
                not find "Adam's".
    ,.          Comma and period. Each of these    Leave as is.
                characters only appears in the index
                when there is a numeric character
                on either side of it. In this case,
                you must search for it explicitly.
                For example, searching for "4,234.03"
                will not find "423403".
    *           Wildcard matching zero or more     Translate
                characters in a single word.       directly to "%"
    ?           Wildcard matching exactly one      Translate
                character in a single word.        directly to "_"
    %           Fulcrum's wildcard matching zero or more Translate
                characters in a single word.       directly to ".backslash.%"
    .sub.--     Fulcrum's wildcard matching exactly one Translate
                character in a single word.        directly to ".backslash._"
    .backslash. Escape character in Fulcrum.       Translate
                                                   directly to
     ".backslash..backslash."
    Space       Space character.                   Leave as is.
    .sub.--     Behaves like the "other punctuation" Leave as is.
                below with the exception that when one
                or more dashes appear in the middle of
                a word in a search string, the search
                engine will search for both the version
                with all the dashes and the version with
                none of the dashes.
    !@#$% &_-   All other punctuation. These are treated as Leave as is.
    =+[]{};:< invisible word breaks. They are
    >"/.vertline.   not indexed, but will break words.