System & Method For Acquiring Online Data By Mimicking Human Behavior

Abstract

A networked computer system includes a number of different data acquisition components for obtaining case data from an online web portal. The acquisition scanner can be configured in a number of different ways, including so as to imitate a human browser behavior, initiate separate instantiations for better case control, and maintain a download log to improve efficiency and performance.

Description

RELATED APPLICATION DATA[0001]The present application claims priority to and is a continuation-in-part of the following applications, all filed Jan. 20, 2012: Ser. Nos. 13 / 355,218; 13 / 355,232; 13 / 355,241; 13 / 355,298; 13 / 355,342; and 13 / 355,392, all of which claim priority to provisional application Ser. No. 61 / 434,588 filed Jan. 20, 2011 and Ser. No. 61 / 442,049 filed Feb. 11, 2011 and all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present invention relates to systems and methods for collecting, compiling and analyzing data from an online database. The invention has particular use in environments where an online system has restrictions or other impediments to automated / robotic access of electronic information.BACKGROUND[0003]The applications referenced above describe a variety of embodiments for accessing and assessing online electronic information, including from the USPTO PAIR website. As these disclosures note, the PAIR system as currently consti...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

As these disclosures note, the PAIR system as currently constituted and presented, does not contain any accessible electronic database to permit the general public to perform conventional search, inspection operations for cases.

For instance, in its current incarnation the user is required to know in advance and specify a specific case number (which may be difficult or impossible to locate) before they can see the data associated with such case, and even then the data is not organized in a fashion that makes it easy to review.

The PAIR system has been in existence for several years and yet has not been improved upon despite its obvious limitations.

In fact the PTO has made every effort to make the information difficult to obtain through a variety of access limiting mechanisms, including using CAPTCHA codes and timeout mechanisms.

As is apparent, this is extremely limiting as many persons do not know what these numbers are, and the PAIR system provides no insight or guidance on what the numbers might be.

Again, however, there is no general search capability at this point to allow the user to locate items of interest in the file, such as comments, text, etc., associated with this case (or other cases).

While the tabs are reasonably well organized, one other significant problem with the PAIR site is that it is extremely difficult to navigate within a conventional browser, because many of the conventional function buttons do not operate in a consistent manner.

For example while reviewing one screen, it is often impossible to simply go “back” one screen to look at another entry.

Instead, the page load fails and the user is required to resubmit the query all over again.

In addition, the system frequently times out and requires the user to re-log in all over again, which because of the recaptcha mechanism, is time consuming.

In turn this means that a large amount of very useful data is kept effectively hidden from the general public, which is undesirable and does not advance the purpose of the patent laws.

The problem is most acute in cases of reexaminations, which are a form of post-issuance patent challenge.

Since reexamination cases are frequently associated with ongoing litigation, the financial stakes are often high and the public interest factor much larger.

Yet as with un-issued cases the public is stuck using the very limited PAIR system for obtaining information about ongoing cases.

Because the data is effectively inaccessible, it is difficult to predict basic information about cases, such as how long they will last, what strategies work or do not work, etc.

Clearly, there is a need for systems and methods to improve the limitations in the current PAIR (and similar) systems and existing approaches might attempt to do so, but are not sufficient.

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