Intellectual property management device, intellectual property management method, and program

Abstract

To provide an intellectual property management device that enables a plurality of persons to conveniently share information related to intellectual property.SOLUTION: An intellectual property management device for managing information related to intellectual property includes a processor, which obtains an application number that identifies an application for the intellectual property; acquires an event related to the intellectual property; generates, on the basis of the application number, an interactive communication space where a plurality of participants can participate; provides, via a communication space, a topic related to the event for intellectual property identified by the application number; and receives a response to the topic from a participant in the communication space.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an intellectual property management device, an intellectual property management method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, an intellectual property system capable of supporting the creation of intellectual property is known. This intellectual property system includes a display data generating unit that generates display data for displaying a screen on a user terminal operable by a user, where a user and a character can exchange information on matters related to intellectual property, a communication unit that transmits the display data to the user terminal and receives information on the intellectual property from the user terminal, a requirement sufficiency judging unit that judges whether or not a judgment target included in the information on the intellectual property satisfies a substantial requirement for the intellectual property to be protected based on the information on the intellectual property received by the communication unit by calculation using a trained model that has learned information on examinations on the substantial requirements made in the past by examiners, and a character image generating unit that generates an action expression image that makes the character express different actions according to the judgment result in the requirement sufficiency judging unit, and the display data generating unit generates display data that at least displays the action expression image generated by the character image generating unit on the user terminal (see Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-102099 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The intellectual property system of Patent Document 1 judges whether the subject of judgment included in the information on the intellectual property satisfies the substantive requirements for the protection of the intellectual property, but does not take into consideration how to share information on notifications (intellectual property-related events) that occur, for example, from the Patent Office, patent office, intellectual property department, etc., after the intellectual property has been applied for. Therefore, no consideration is given to a community in which such notifications are shared among related persons.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above circumstances, and provides an intellectual property management device, an intellectual property management method, and a program that enable information related to intellectual property to be appropriately shared among a plurality of people. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present disclosure is an intellectual property management device that manages information related to intellectual property, comprising a processor, which acquires an application number that identifies an application related to the intellectual property, acquires an event related to the intellectual property, generates an interactive communication space in which multiple participants can participate based on the application number, provides topics related to the event related to the intellectual property identified by the application number via the communication space, and accepts responses to the topics from participants participating in the communication space.

[0007] One aspect of the present disclosure is an intellectual property management method for managing information related to intellectual property, the intellectual property management method including the steps of acquiring an application number that identifies an application related to the intellectual property, acquiring an event related to the intellectual property, generating an interactive communication field in which multiple participants can participate based on the application number, and providing topics related to the event related to the intellectual property identified by the application number via the communication field, and accepting responses to the topics from participants participating in the communication field.

[0008] One aspect of the present disclosure is a program for causing a computer to execute each step of the intellectual property management method described above. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present disclosure, information regarding intellectual property can be conveniently shared among multiple people. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an intellectual property management system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] Image to explain the communication space [Diagram 3] A hierarchical diagram of multiple communication spaces [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between pieces of information stored in a memory; [Diagram 5] Flowchart showing a first operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 6A] 11 is a flowchart showing a second operation example of the intellectual property management device. [Figure 6B] 6A is a flowchart showing a second operation example of the intellectual property management device. [Figure 7] Flowchart showing a third operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 8] Flowchart showing a fifth operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 9A] Flowchart showing a sixth operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 9B] Flowchart showing a sixth operation example of the intellectual property management device (continuation of FIG. 9A) [Figure 10] Flowchart showing a seventh operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 11] A flowchart showing an example of a sequential basis confirmation process [Figure 12] Flowchart showing an eighth operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 13] Flowchart showing a tenth operation example of the intellectual property management device [Figure 14] A diagram showing a first example of a patent event notification [Figure 15] Figure showing the second example of patent event notification DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described in detail with reference to the drawings as appropriate. However, more detailed description than necessary may be omitted. For example, detailed description of already well-known matters or description of substantially the same configuration may be omitted. This is to avoid the following description becoming unnecessarily redundant and to facilitate understanding by those skilled in the art. Note that the attached drawings and the following description are provided to enable those skilled in the art to fully understand the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the subject matter described in the claims.

[0012] <Configuration of intellectual property management system> 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an intellectual property management system 5 in an embodiment of the present disclosure. The intellectual property management system 5 includes an intellectual property management device 100, a patent office DB (database) 200, an external DB (database) 300, and one or more user terminals 50. The intellectual property management device 100, the patent office DB 200, the external DB 300, and the user terminals 50 are connected to each other via a network NT in a wired or wireless manner so as to be able to communicate with each other. The intellectual property management system 5 is a social network system related to intellectual property.

[0013] The intellectual property management device 100 manages information about intellectual property within the company (own company) in which the intellectual property management device 100 is installed. The intellectual property includes, for example, patents, utility models, designs, trademarks, or other intellectual property. In this embodiment, the explanation will be mainly about patents, but the invention can also be applied to other intellectual property. The intellectual property management device 100 may be a server device or a PC (Personal Computer).

[0014] The Patent Office DB 200 is a database server for various types of information managed by the Patent Office and its related organizations. Various intellectual property is also managed in the Patent DB 200.

[0015] The external DB300 is a database server managed by an external company or the like and used for an intellectual property management service provided by the external company or the like. The external DB300 also manages, for example, information on intellectual property managed by the intellectual property management service and deadlines related to intellectual property and deadlines set a predetermined period before the deadline. The information on intellectual property may include patent application information, inventor information, registration information, examination progress information, pension information, and the like.

[0016] The user terminal 50 is a terminal carried by a user who performs processing related to intellectual property. The user may include, for example, an inventor, an intellectual property department staff member (also simply referred to as an intellectual property staff member), or the superior of the inventor or the intellectual property staff member. The user is one of the parties involved in the intellectual property, but is not limited to this. The user terminal 50 may include, for example, a mobile terminal, a tablet terminal, or a PC. The user terminal 50 has a processor, a memory, a communication device, an operation device, a display device, etc., like a general terminal.

[0017] The intellectual property management device 100 includes a processor 110, a memory 120, and a communication device .

[0018] The processor 110 realizes various functions by executing programs stored in the memory 120. The processor 110 may include an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a DSP (Digital Signal Processor), etc. The processor 110 may be configured with various integrated circuits (e.g., LSI (Large Scale Integration), FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array)). The processor 110 controls the operation of each part of the intellectual property management device 10 and performs various processes.

[0019] The memory 120 includes a primary storage device (e.g., a random access memory (RAM) or a read only memory (ROM)). The memory 120 may include a secondary storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD)) or a tertiary storage device (e.g., an optical disk or an SD card). The memory 120 may include other storage devices. The memory 120 stores various data, information, programs, etc.

[0020] The communication device 130 communicates various data or information, etc. The communication method used by the communication device 130 may be a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), or cellular communication for mobile phones (e.g., LTE, 5G), etc.

[0021] The memory 120 includes an in-house intellectual property information DB (database) 121. The in-house intellectual property information DB 121 holds information on intellectual property such as in-house patents. The information on intellectual property includes application information (e.g., application number, application date, applicant name) on the intellectual property, inventor information (e.g., inventor name), etc. The memory 120 may also hold intellectual property of other companies set as a watch target, and a learning model for determining the similarity of intellectual property.

[0022] The processor 110 includes, as its functional components, an event information acquisition unit 111, a community generation unit 112, a dialogue control unit 113, and a task processing unit 114.

[0023] The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires the application number of an application related to intellectual property. The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information related to intellectual property. The event information acquisition unit 111 may acquire the application number and event information from the Patent Office DB 200 or the external DB 300 via the communication device 130. The event information acquisition unit 111 may acquire the application number and event information from the Patent Office DB 200 or the external DB 300 via the communication device 130. Furthermore, the event information acquisition unit 111 may derive event information related to intellectual property based on some acquired information.

[0024] Events related to intellectual property include, for example, occurrence of each notification or procedure from the patent office, patent office, intellectual property department, etc. in the process from application to registration and expiration of intellectual property (for example, patent, utility model, design, or trademark). In addition, event information includes, for example, information indicating the occurrence of each notification or procedure as the above-mentioned event.

[0025] The community generation unit 112 may generate an interactive communication field in which multiple participants can participate, based on the application number. The community generation unit 112 may also generate the above communication field based on event information. The community generation unit 112 may also generate a communication field based on the application number and event information. When a communication field including the parties involved in an arbitrary intellectual property or the parties involved in this event has not been generated when an event of this intellectual property occurs (when event information is acquired), the community generation unit 112 may newly generate a communication field including the parties involved in this intellectual property or the parties involved in this event. Specific examples of communication fields will be described later.

[0026] The dialogue control unit 113 controls the transmission or reception of various information between multiple participants participating in a communication field in any communication field. The various information may include, for example, a message in text or symbols, a message in voice, an image (still image or video), content, information on pressing a social button (for example, a good button, a bad button, or other social buttons), or other information. In other words, the dialogue control unit 113 controls the dialogue between multiple participants participating in a communication field and controls the posting of messages, etc. The dialogue control unit 113 provides a topic related to an event related to an intellectual property identified by an application number via any communication field, and accepts responses to the topic from participants participating in the communication field. The dialogue control unit 113 provides a topic related to an event via any communication field, and accepts responses to the topic from participants participating in the communication field.

[0027] Topics related to the event may include, for example, various notifications from the Patent Office, patent office, or intellectual property department, or various information provided about each event occurring in the process of acquiring rights related to intellectual property. In addition, responses to topics related to the event may include reports of receipt of information provided about the event by participants participating in the communication space, responses about how to respond to the event (for example, a response policy to a notice of reasons for refusal, whether or not to request examination), and the like.

[0028] The task processing unit 114 processes tasks related to intellectual property. The tasks here include, for example, patent expiration date management, intellectual property search processing, similarity determination processing of multiple intellectual properties, learning processing related to learning models, etc. The learning models are created based on neural networks and deep learning. The learning models include, for example, a learning model that determines the similarity of multiple patents.

[0029] Furthermore, the task processing unit 114 controls the actions and processing of avatars as characters on the intellectual property management system 5 that appear in the communication field. The avatars can participate in any communication field as participants. The task processing unit 114 adds the avatars as participants to the communication field. The dialogue control unit 113 controls the avatars to post various messages to the communication field. The dialogue control unit 113 causes the avatars to have dialogues such as sending and receiving messages with other participants who participate in the communication field in which the avatar participates. The task processing unit 114 allows the avatars to perform the automatic response of the system based on the event information, but the person related to the event information may post the contents of the automatic response instead of the avatar, that is, in his / her own name.

[0030] Furthermore, in the user terminal 50, the operation device accepts various input operations (for example, inputting a message for posting or replying, pressing a social button, etc.), and the communication device transmits information obtained by the input operation to the intellectual property management device 100. Furthermore, in the user terminal 50, the communication device may acquire various information from the intellectual property management device 100, and the display device may display according to the acquired information. The display device may display, for example, a message posting screen including a message posted in a communication field in which the user of the user terminal 50 participates, and other information. The communication device may send and receive information via the communication field.

[0031] Next, the communication field will be described.

[0032] The communication space of this embodiment has a communication space similar to that of various existing communication tools (for example, Microsoft Teams (registered trademark) and Slack (registered trademark)). Microsoft Teams (registered trademark) includes teams and channels as communication spaces. Teams are created in units of collaborative work groups such as work, project teams, departments, and sections. Channels are created for each theme, such as the topic or field of collaborative work within a team, and chat contents and shared files can be categorized. Slack (registered trademark) includes workspaces and channels as communication spaces.

[0033] Fig. 2 is an image diagram for explaining a communication field. Possible communication fields CN include a communication field CN1 in which multiple inventors of a patent (persons HM, HM1) participate, a communication field CN1 in which multiple persons HM2 with a function related to intellectual property in a certain organization participate, and a communication field CN3 in which parties involved in patents (persons HM, HM3) (for example, patent inventors, patent intellectual property officers, or the superiors of these persons) participate. In addition, in the communication fields CN1 and CN3, it is also possible to add avatars AR as participants together with such persons HM.

[0034] 3 is a diagram showing a plurality of communication fields CN in a hierarchical manner. Here, as an example, a communication field that can be generated within a company will be described. Note that, although the description will be mainly given within a company, this embodiment may be applied to other organizations (for example, schools, public institutions, and other organizations).

[0035] A company's communication field may include a company-wide top-level communication field in which all people in the company participate. A company's communication field can also be generated taking into consideration various perspectives. A company's communication field may include a communication field centered on an affiliated organization in which at least some people in the organization in the company participate. A communication field centered on an affiliated organization may include a communication field for a large organization, a communication field for a medium organization, and a communication field for a small organization. A large organization's communication field may be a communication field that includes communication fields for multiple medium organizations. A medium organization's communication field may be a communication field that includes communication fields for multiple small organizations.

[0036] A company's communication space may include a product or service-based communication space that includes at least some of the people involved in the product or service offering within the company. For example, a product or service-based communication space may include a large product category communication space, a medium product category communication space, and a small product category communication space. The large product category communication space may be a communication space that includes multiple medium product category communication spaces. The medium product category communication space may be a communication space that includes multiple small product category communication spaces.

[0037] The communication forum of a company may include a communication forum centered on a function in which at least some of the people with various functions in the company participate. For example, the communication forum centered on a function may include a communication forum for the intellectual property function TOP, which includes all people with intellectual property functions, a communication forum for a large organization of intellectual property functions, which is an organization in which people with intellectual property functions are divided into a plurality of groups, etc. The communication forum centered on a function may include a communication forum for legal functions, a communication forum for functions that perform public relations activities or standardization activities, etc., a communication forum for functions that perform advertising or public relations, etc., a communication forum for functions that perform business planning, business planning, product planning, etc., or a communication forum for a technical manager (such as a CTO), as in the case of intellectual property functions.

[0038] The company's communication space may include a communication space as a private chat group in which any number of people can participate. The private chat group may include a private chat group for each patent (for each patent) within the company. The private chat group may include a private chat group for each patent (for each patent on alert) designated as a target for vigilance within the company. The private chat group may include a private chat group for each patent investigation (for each investigation). Note that the patents on alert can be arbitrarily set by the task processing unit 114.

[0039] Among the communication fields in a company, the communication fields other than the private chat group may be communication fields as public chats.

[0040] Furthermore, a communication space based on an organizational axis may include a top-level workspace or channel in which employees and related parties of all group companies of the company participate. A communication space based on an organizational axis may include workspaces or channels of independent accounting units such as a company, business division, or business unit. A communication space based on an organizational axis may include workspaces or channels of small to medium-sized organizational units such as a center, factory, research institute, department, or section. A communication space based on a product axis may include workspaces or channels of customer purchasing units such as brands, product categories, products, or services. A communication space based on a job type axis may include workspaces or channels of intellectual property functions, product development, research and development, business planning, etc.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between the various pieces of information held in memory 120. As shown in FIG.

[0042] The memory 120 holds various tables such as a patent table, an employee table, a private (PRV) chat table, and a public (PUB) chat table. The patent table holds information about patents, for example, holding patent application numbers as keys. The employee table holds information about employees, for example, holding information such as employee names, organizations to which employees belong, products or services in which employees are involved, and employee job functions, using employee IDs as keys. Employees here include inventors, superiors, intellectual property officers, etc. The private chat table holds information about private chats to be generated, for example including information about URLs of communication spaces as private chats. The public chat table holds information about public chats to be generated, for example including information about URLs of communication spaces as public chats.

[0043] For example, the relationships between the tables are as follows: Information about patents in the patent table and information about employees in the employee table are associated one-to-many. Information about employees in the employee table and information about public chats in the public chat table are associated one-to-many. In other words, public channels (public chats) are associated with employee attributes. Information about patents in the patent table and information about private chats in the private chat table are associated one-to-one or one-to-many.

[0044] Therefore, the community generating unit 112 may generate a communication field such as a private chat or a public chat in association with the application number. The community generating unit 112 may also generate a communication field based on the type of intellectual property-related event along with the application number.

[0045] <Operation of intellectual property management system> Next, an example of the operation of the intellectual property management system 5 will be described. 5 is a flowchart showing a first operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The first operation example shows an overview of processing when an event occurs. In the first operation example, each time an event related to a patent occurs, information related to the patent and information related to the event are posted to a communication field based on the application number of the patent.

[0046] The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information of any patent (S11). The event information related to a patent includes, for example, information indicating the occurrence of a patent application, a publication related to a patent (for example, publication of a patent application or publication of a registered patent), a request for examination of a patent, registration of a patent, a notice of reasons for refusal for a patent application, an objection to a registered patent, etc. These event information related to patents may be acquired from the Patent Office DB 200 or the external DB 300 via the communication device 130, or may be acquired from the memory 120. In addition, the event information related to these patents may be acquired as event information when a user operation is performed on the user terminal 50 and input information based on the user operation is acquired via the communication device 130.

[0047] The event information acquisition unit 111 determines whether the event information is related to a patent that is set as a watchdog (watchdog patent) (S12). In this case, the event information acquisition unit 111 may determine whether the application number of the patent related to the event included in the event information matches the application number of the watchdog patent stored in the memory 120. If the acquired event information is event information related to a watchdog patent, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies (posts) the content of the event related to the watchdog patent in a private chat for the watchdog patent (S13). The private chat for the watchdog patent is a private chat that includes as participants those involved in monitoring the watchdog patent. The content of the event may include, for example, that the watchdog patent has been made public.

[0048] If the acquired event information is not event information related to a caution patent, the event information acquisition unit 111 judges whether the applicant of the patent related to the event information is the company itself (S14). In other words, it judges whether the patent related to the event information is the company's patent or a patent of another company. In this case, the applicant of the patent related to the event included in the event information may be referred to.

[0049] If the patent related to the event information is a company patent, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for this patent of the contents of the event related to this patent (S15). The contents of this event may include, for example, information indicating that the application for this patent has been completed. Furthermore, the private chat for this patent may be, for example, a private chat including the inventor, the intellectual property officer, and their superior as participants. If there are multiple inventors, the superior of the organization to which each inventor belongs may be included. Note that if a private chat for this patent has not been generated when a patent event occurs, the community generation unit 112 may generate a private chat for this patent, and the dialogue control unit 113 may notify the generated private chat of the contents of the event.

[0050] The dialogue control unit 113 posts the event contents to various communication spaces other than the private chat. For example, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the event contents to at least one of the following communication spaces: a communication space centered on the organization to which the inventor or intellectual property person belongs, a communication space centered on the product or service related to the patent, and a communication space centered on the job function of the inventor or intellectual property person (S16). The dialogue control unit 113 may determine one or more communication spaces to notify the event contents based on the type of event (for example, whether the event is related to application, publication, request for examination, registration, reasons for refusal, or opposition).

[0051] Furthermore, the dialogue control unit 113 may determine which information of the event contents to make public (notify), that is, the scope of disclosure of the event contents, based on the communication field to which the event contents are notified. For example, the dialogue control unit 113 may make the scope of disclosure in the communication field of the organization to which the intellectual property officer belongs wider than the scope of disclosure in the communication field of the organization to which the inventor belongs, so that more information regarding the event is made available to the intellectual property officer.

[0052] Furthermore, the dialogue control unit 113 may vary the timing of notifying the event contents based on the communication field to which the event contents are notified. For example, the dialogue control unit 113 may notify the event contents to the communication field of the organization to which the intellectual property officer belongs earlier than to the communication field of the organization to which the inventor belongs.

[0053] On the other hand, if the patent related to the event information is a patent of another company, the task processing unit 114 determines the similarity with the patents already applied for or the patents not yet applied for (own patents) of the company (S17). An own patent is a patent whose right holder is the company itself. The task processing unit 114 extracts the company's patents similar to the patents of the other companies by determining the similarity between the patents of the other companies and one or more of the company's patents based on a learning model that determines the similarity between a plurality of patents (S17). The patents already applied for may be obtained, for example, from the external DB 300 via the communication device 130, or may be obtained from the in-house intellectual property information DB 121 in the memory 120. The patents not yet applied for may be obtained, for example, from the in-house intellectual property information DB 121 in the memory 120.

[0054] The dialogue control unit 113 notifies (posts) the content of the event related to the other company's patent in the private chat for the extracted company's patent (S18). The content of this event may include, for example, information indicating that a other company's patent similar to the company's patent has been discovered.

[0055] According to the first operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 can easily notify events related to patents in an interactive communication space. Event information may include various notifications from the Patent Office (notice of reasons for refusal, various assessments, objections, etc.), notifications from the intellectual property department or patent office (notice of application, foreign application review, request for examination, withdrawal), and others (cited, referred). The intellectual property management device 100 automatically generates a communication space including people related to the target patent as participants according to the type of event. Even if there is a person who does not like discussion or conversation in an open communication space, the intellectual property management device 100 can automatically identify the stakeholder and create a private chat that includes the stakeholder as a participant. Therefore, the intellectual property management device 100 can omit the effort of identifying the stakeholder and starting the chat.

[0056] In addition, by including the superiors of the affiliated organizations in the people related to patents, the intellectual property management device 100 can reduce the effort of explaining the contents of discussions and investigations between the inventor and the intellectual property officer to the superiors with approval and decision-making authority, and can quickly obtain rework under the guidance of the approver or decision-maker. Therefore, it is expected that the effort required for corrections will be reduced and the speed of intellectual property management will be improved.

[0057] 6A and 6B are flowcharts showing a second operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The second operation example is an operation example when an event related to a request for examination occurs.

[0058] The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information indicating that it is X days before the deadline for the examination request for a specific patent (S21). The dialogue control unit 113 notifies (posts) the event content to the private chat for this patent (S22). This event content includes, for example, information indicating that it is X days before the deadline for the examination request. The dialogue control unit 113 acquires a response (event response) to the notification of the event content via the private chat for this patent (S23). That is, it acquires an instruction regarding the examination request contained in the response. If the event response is not obtained, the dialogue control unit 113 may re-notify the event content via the private chat for this patent to prompt the response. In addition, the event content may include, as supplementary information, statistical information regarding judgment cases of examination requests for similar patents similar to this patent and the presence or absence of examination requests.

[0059] The task processing unit 114 judges whether the event response indicates that a request for examination is to be made, that is, whether the request for examination is to be made in the department (own department) that has the rights to this patent (S24). If the request for examination is to be made in the own department (Yes in S24), the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for this patent to encourage the consideration of amending the claims of this patent (S25).

[0060] On the other hand, if the department does not request examination (No in S24), the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the event contents to communication spaces other than the private chat for this patent (S26). The other communication spaces may include at least one of the communication spaces of the organization to which the inventor or intellectual property officer of this patent belongs, the communication spaces of the product or service related to this patent, and the communication spaces of the function of the inventor or intellectual property officer of this patent. The dialogue control unit 113 obtains a response to the notification of the event contents (event response) via the private chat to which the event contents were notified (S27).

[0061] The task processing unit 114 judges whether the event response indicates that an examination request will be made, that is, whether an examination request will be made in a department (another department) that does not have the rights to this patent (S28). If an examination request will be made in another department (Yes in S28), the community generating unit 112 adds the people involved in the organization (another department) that will make the examination request to the private chat for this patent (S29). Then, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for this patent to encourage the consideration of amending the claims of this patent (S29).

[0062] On the other hand, if the examination is not requested by another department (No in S28), the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for this patent to encourage the consideration of selling this patent to an outside party (S30).

[0063] According to such a second operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 can smoothly confirm whether or not an examination request has been made by using the communication field. In addition, even if an examination request is not made, the intellectual property management device 100 can smoothly communicate with other departments by using the communication field while listening to opinions regarding the inventor who is the subject of the examination request. Note that the second operation example can also be applied to events other than examination requests (for example, inventory of registered patents (inventory review and evaluation), foreign applications).

[0064] 7 is a flowchart showing a third operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The third operation example is an operation example when an event related to a notice of reasons for refusal occurs.

[0065] The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information from the Patent Office (S31). The event information here includes information indicating that a notice of rejection has been received. The dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for this patent of the contents of the event related to this patent (S32). The event contents here include information indicating that a notice of rejection has been received. This private chat for this patent may include, for example, the inventor, the intellectual property officer, and their superiors. The dialogue control unit 113 notifies at least one of the communication fields centered on the organization to which the inventor or intellectual property officer belongs, the communication field centered on the product or service to which the patent is related, and the communication field centered on the job function of the inventor or intellectual property officer of the event contents (S33).

[0066] According to such a third operation example, after receiving a notice of reasons for refusal, the intellectual property management device 100 can quickly provide information on the contents of the event to various communication venues that people related to the event participate in. Note that the third operation example is also applicable to events other than notices of reasons for refusal (for example, application, publication, opposition, registration, or cited).

[0067] Next, a fourth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100 will be described. The fourth operation example is an operation example in the case where a standby function that waits for notification of event contents on a public chat is enabled. The task processing unit 114 enables and disables the standby function, and stores the enabled or disabled setting information in the memory 20. The task processing unit 114 may also set standby conditions for the standby function (for example, a period for which notification of event contents is postponed).

[0068] First, the event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information related to a predetermined patent. When the standby function is enabled, the task processing unit 114 waits for notification of the event content related to the event information to a public chat (for example, a communication space taking into account each of the above axes), which is a communication space other than a private chat. The task processing unit 114 may specify the enablement and disablement of the standby function by a user operation on the user terminal 50 using a social button on the private chat. As a result, the intellectual property management device 100 can postpone posting of the event content to the public channel for a predetermined period of time, for example, when the standby function is enabled by a participant of the private chat.

[0069] On the other hand, when the waiting function is not enabled, the task processing unit 114 immediately notifies the event content related to the event information to a public channel, which is a communication space other than a private chat, without waiting for the notification.

[0070] While the basic principle is to disclose information and situations beyond organizational boundaries, there are cases where it is desirable to postpone disclosing information in public chat depending on the contents of patents and events. Even in such cases, according to the fourth operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 can adjust the timing of notifying the public chat of the contents of the event according to the setting of enabling or disabling the standby function by the user operation using the user terminal 50 in the private chat.

[0071] 8 is a flowchart showing a fifth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The fifth operation example is an operation example when a similar patent is discovered.

[0072] The task processing unit 114 may sequentially determine the similarity between the company's own patent and other patents after the filing of the application for each of the company's own patents. The similarity between a plurality of patents here means, for example, that the contents of the application specifications related to the patents are similar to each other. The other patents here may be patents related to event information (e.g., publication) acquired by the event information acquisition unit 111, or may be other company's own patents within the company. When the task processing unit 114 determines that there is another patent similar to the company's own patent, the event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information indicating the existence of a similar patent (S41).

[0073] The task processing unit 114 may detect similar patents by AI (Artificial Intelligence), that is, may detect similar patents by inference using a learning model that determines the similarity of multiple patents. The learning model may be stored in the memory 120. For example, the task processing unit 114 may detect similar patents according to LSA (Latent Semantic Analysis). In LSA, the frequency of occurrence of words in a document is expressed in a matrix. Each row of this matrix corresponds to a vector that indicates the characteristics of the document, and the similarity between a vector of a document and a vector of another document is calculated to obtain the similarity between multiple documents. An index such as cosine similarity is used to calculate the similarity of vectors. Cosine similarity is the cosine value of the angle between two vectors. Other than LSA, for example, WORD2VEC or DOC2VEC may be used to detect similar patents. The task processing unit 114 can obtain a vector expression of the words that appear by machine learning the learning model using a large-scale language dictionary such as WIKIPEDIA as input for WORD2VEC. WORD2VEC is a method for obtaining vectors on a word-by-word basis. DOC2VEC is an extended method for obtaining vectors on a document-by-document basis instead of on a word-by-word basis. Even when using DOC2VEC vectors, it is possible to calculate document similarity using indices such as cosine similarity, just like LSA, and to search for the most similar documents.

[0074] The task processing unit 114 determines whether the similar patent is a company patent (S42). If the similar patent is a company patent, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat used for each of the multiple similar patents of the event content (S43). The event content includes, for example, information indicating that a similar patent exists within the company. Then, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat used for each of the multiple similar patents to perform an operation to encourage new discoveries and collaboration within the company (S44).

[0075] On the other hand, if the similar patent is a company's own patent, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat for the company's own patent among the similar patents of the event content (S45). For example, the content includes information indicating that a patent of another company similar to the company's own patent has been discovered. The dialogue control unit 113 then notifies the private chat for the company's own patent to take action to encourage the company to take measures against the competitor (S46).

[0076] 9A and 9B are flowcharts showing a sixth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The sixth operation example is an operation example when an in-house patent is detected as a similar patent, and is, for example, an operation subsequent to step S44 in FIG.

[0077] The task processing unit 114 judges whether the inventors of similar patents, patent A and patent B, are the same (S51). Information on the inventors of the company's patents is held, for example, in the in-house intellectual property information DB 121, and this information may be referenced. Note that, if there are multiple inventors, the task processing unit 114 may judge that the inventors of patent A and patent B are the same if at least one inventor is the same, or may judge that the inventors of patent A and patent B are the same only if all inventors are the same. Here, it is assumed that the application for patent A is the earlier application and the application for patent B is the later application.

[0078] If patent A and patent B have the same inventor, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat of the parties concerned with patent A that it has detected the existence of patent B, which is similar to patent A (S52). At this time, the dialogue control unit 113 may post the specification of the application for patent A, the specification of the application for patent B, the reason for the AI's determination of similarity, etc., in the private chat of the parties concerned with patent A, to provide information necessary for the participants in this private chat to make a decision.

[0079] The dialogue control unit 113 performs a sequential basis confirmation process via the private chat of the person concerned with patent A (S53). The details of the sequential basis confirmation process will be described later. The dialogue control unit 113 sends a notification via the private chat of the person concerned with patent A to prompt the generation of a combined private chat including the private chat of the person concerned with patent A and the private chat of the person concerned with patent B (S54).

[0080] Similarly, if patent A and patent B have the same inventor, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat of the parties involved in patent B that it has detected the existence of patent A, which is similar to patent B (S55). At this time, the dialogue control unit 113 may post the specification of the application for patent A, the specification of the application for patent B, the reason for the AI's determination of similarity, etc., in the private chat of the parties involved in patent B, to provide information necessary for the participants in this private chat to make a decision.

[0081] The dialogue control unit 113 sequentially performs a grounds confirmation process via the private chat of the person concerned with patent B (S56). The dialogue control unit 113 issues a notification via the private chat of the person concerned with patent B to prompt the generation of a combined private chat including the private chat of the person concerned with patent A and the private chat of the person concerned with patent B (S57).

[0082] The dialogue control unit 113 judges whether or not both the parties concerned with patent A and the parties concerned with patent B have responded, via their respective private chats, agreeing to the creation of a joint private chat (S58).

[0083] If both parties agree to generate the combined private chat (Yes in S58), the community generation unit 112 generates the combined private chat (S59). The dialogue control unit 113 sequentially performs a basis confirmation process via the combined private chat (S60).

[0084] The dialogue control unit 113 notifies the participants of the collaboration via the combined private chat (S61). In step S61, for example, an avatar is added as a participant of the combined private chat. Then, the dialogue control unit 113 controls the avatar to post a message in the combined private chat expressing hope for friendly and positive collaboration between the participants of patent A and patent B. The dialogue control unit 113 may also control the avatar to post a business philosophy or the like relating to the collaboration in the combined private chat. Then, the dialogue control unit 113 allows free dialogue between the participants of the combined private chat via the combined private chat (S62).

[0085] 10 is a flowchart showing a seventh operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The seventh operation example is an operation example when a patent of another company is detected as a similar patent, and is, for example, an operation subsequent to step S46 in FIG.

[0086] The task processing unit 114 judges whether or not a patent of another company among the similar patents is set as a caution patent (attention setting) (S71). Whether or not it is a caution patent can be determined, for example, by referring to the setting information of the patent to be watched in the memory 20.

[0087] If a patent of another company is set as a watchful patent (Yes in S71), the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat of the person concerned who monitors the watchful patent every time the status of the other company's patent that is a watchful patent is updated (S72). It is possible to determine whether the status has been updated, for example, by checking the difference from the event content of the previous event information related to the same patent. The dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat of the person concerned who monitors the watchful patent to investigate surrounding patents, focusing on this other company's patent (S73).

[0088] The dialogue control unit 113 and the task processing unit 114 may also perform sequential basis confirmation processing in the same manner as when similar patents are both company patents. In this case, even if one of the similar patents is a patent of another company, the dialogue control unit 113 may also perform sequential basis confirmation processing via a private chat of the people involved who are monitoring the alert patent.

[0089] According to the fifth to seventh operation examples, when a company's own patent is detected as a similar patent, the intellectual property management device 100 can encourage collaboration among the parties involved in the company's own patent. Also, when the similar patents are a company's own patent and a patent of another company, the intellectual property management device 100 can encourage measures against the other company's patent.

[0090] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the sequential basis confirmation process described above.

[0091] In the sequential basis confirmation process, if the avatar is not included as a participant in a private chat about similar patents (for example, a private chat of a person involved in patent A, a private chat of a person involved in patent B, or a combined private chat), the task processing unit 114 adds the avatar to the participants. The dialogue control unit 113 controls the avatar to post an explanatory message about the similarities between the similar patents in this private chat (S81).

[0092] The dialogue control unit 113 acquires (accepts) reactions to the explanatory message from participants (members) other than the avatars participating in the private chat (S82). Note that users post messages and reactions to the communication field via the operation device of the user terminal 50. Note that the reaction here may be, for example, pressing a like button or a bad button on the private chat.

[0093] This allows the intellectual property management device 100 to refer to the views of participants other than the avatar in addition to the views of the AI ​​(learning model). Also, since correct answer data that participants think is correct in response to the views of the AI ​​is obtained, the intellectual property management device 100 can improve the detection accuracy of the learning model by training the learning model using this correct answer data. A neural network or deep learning may be used for training the learning model.

[0094] The dialogue control unit 113 notifies the avatar to reply to this private chat with its opinion on the similarity of the similar patents (S83). In this case, the avatar may reply with one of 10 levels as its opinion on the similarity. The dialogue control unit 113 may also notify the avatar to reply to this private chat with its opinion in free text. The opinion in free text becomes material for AI learning. Therefore, the intellectual property management device 100 can improve the detection accuracy of the learning model by training the learning model using the opinion in free text as correct answer data.

[0095] The dialogue control unit 113 acquires (accepts) responses to the private chat from participants (members) other than the avatars who are participating in the private chat, regarding their views on the similarity between similar patents (S84). Note that messages, reactions, and other comments posted by users to the communication field are posted via the operation device of the user terminal.

[0096] The task processing unit 114 generates a patent search formula based on the reactions and opinions from the participants (S85). In this case, the task processing unit 114 may use AI natural language processing to extract components included in the reactions and opinions and components not included in the reactions and opinions, and generate a keyword search formula based on the conditions of these components. Then, the dialogue control unit 113 notifies the private chat of information indicating the generated patent search formula (S85).

[0097] In this way, even when the similar patents are both the company's own patents or when the similar patents are both the company's own patents and another company's patents, the dialogue control unit 113 may post an explanatory message or the like about the similarities between the similar patents in a communication space (for example, a joint private chat or a private chat of the people involved who are monitoring the suspicious patents) according to the type of similar patents (whether one of the similar patents is another company's patent or both are the company's own patents). The dialogue control unit 113 may obtain an evaluation of the determination result of the similarity of the similar patents based on the learning model through the communication space according to the type of similar patents. The task processing unit 114 may update the learning model based on this evaluation.

[0098] According to such a sequential grounds confirmation process, the intellectual property management device 100 can present the reasons and grounds for determining that a patent is similar in a private chat about similar patents, and participants in the private chat can confirm these reasons and grounds. Furthermore, the intellectual property management device 100 can appropriately update the learning model by allowing participants to provide their views on the similarity determination results by referring to the reasons and grounds, thereby improving the accuracy of similar patent determination.

[0099] 12 is a flowchart showing an eighth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The eighth operation example is an operation example when an inventor comes up with an invention.

[0100] First, when an inventor comes up with an invention, the user terminal 50 carried by the inventor transmits invention occurrence information indicating that the inventor has come up with the invention to the intellectual property management device 100. The invention occurrence information is generated, for example, based on a user operation input to the user terminal 50. In the intellectual property management device 100, the event information acquisition unit 111 acquires the invention occurrence information as event information (application consideration event) via the communication device 130 (S91).

[0101] The task processing unit 114 adds the avatar as a participant in any chat (an original chat that exists at the time the invention is created, and can be a private chat or a public chat) (S92). The original chat is a communication space that was created before the application was filed. The task processing unit 114 analyzes the conversation in the original chat using, for example, a learning model, and notifies the original chat of search information for patent search (for example, a search formula or a search statement) (S93). This search information for patent search is information for searching patent documents that are similar to the invention that the inventor has come up with.

[0102] The dialogue control unit 113 receives a request for creating an independent application chat from a participant (user) other than the avatar participating in the original chat to the avatar of the original chat (S94). The community generation unit 112 generates a communication field as the application chat in accordance with the request for creating the application chat to the avatar.

[0103] The task processing unit 114 copies the dialogue on the original chat about the patent to the chat for application (S95). In this case, the task processing unit 114 may use a learning model to roughly extract the range related to the invention in the dialogue by natural language processing and copy it. The task processing unit 114 may also limit the posting period on the original chat for copying.

[0104] The task processing unit 114 notifies the original chat of candidates for participants to be added to the chat for application (S96). In this case, the task processing unit 114 may notify people who participated in the conversation in the original chat, a superior of the organization to which the person belongs, or a person in charge of intellectual property rights as candidates for participants, or may notify other people as candidates.

[0105] The task processing unit 114 notifies the participants other than the avatar in the chat for filing an application to instruct the avatar to prepare for filing an application for the invention that has been conceived (S97).

[0106] According to such an eighth operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 allows free discussion in a free communication space (for example, original chat) when an invention is discovered, and when it seems possible to apply for a patent for the discovered invention, allows discussion on the application to be held using the application chat. This makes it easier for inventors to come up with inventions with free ideas, and allows the intellectual property department to easily share information on inventions that lead to patent applications.

[0107] Next, a description will be given of a ninth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The ninth operation example is an operation performed when a patent of the company is cited in media other than a patent.

[0108] The event information acquisition unit 111 continuously acquires information from various media (e.g., television, newspapers, the Web, papers, academic journals, and various events (e.g., academic conferences and exhibitions)) via the communication device 130, and monitors whether or not there is any technology related to the patent in the media information. For example, when the event information acquisition unit 111 detects that information capable of identifying a patent (e.g., an application number) is included in a sentence in a newspaper, it acquires event information indicating that the patent has been cited in the media.

[0109] When event information indicating that a patent has been cited in media is acquired, the task processing unit 114 judges whether or not the cited patent is a patent of the company. If the cited patent is a patent of the company, the processor 110 performs the same process as steps S32 to S33 in Fig. 7. If the cited patent is a patent of another company, the processor 110 performs the same process as steps S71 to S73 in Fig. 10.

[0110] According to the ninth operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 can, for example, detect the citation of the company's patent at a prestigious academic conference or an international conference, and can praise the company's researchers by notifying the communication forum that the patent has been cited. This can be encouraging for the researchers and can also be a trigger for communication, such as questions about the contents of the patent, via each communication forum.

[0111] 13 is a flowchart showing a tenth operation example of the intellectual property management device 100. The tenth operation example is an operation example when an employee resigns.

[0112] The event information acquisition unit 111 acquires event information indicating that an employee is retiring. The event information acquisition unit 111 can acquire information indicating that an employee is retiring from the employee information within the company stored in the memory 20 (S101).

[0113] The dialogue control unit 113 controls the avatar to notify candidates for the retiree's successor on the chat in which the retiree participates (S102). In this case, the task processing unit 114 may refer to the employee information stored in the memory 20, extract co-inventors who jointly invented another patent with the retiree, employees who were involved in the same product or service development as the retiree, or employees who have filed patent applications in technical fields similar to the technical field of the retiree, and propose them on the chat.

[0114] The dialogue control unit 113 acquires the nomination of a successor from the retiring employee through the chat (S103). The dialogue control unit 113 notifies the avatar through the chat to request the nominated successor to take over (S104).

[0115] According to the tenth operation example, the intellectual property management device 100 can determine an appropriate successor as soon as the retiring employee is identified. The intellectual property management device 100 may also implement the tenth operation example not only when an employee retires but also when an employee is transferred or the like.

[0116] Next, the avatar will be described in detail.

[0117] The avatar appears in the communication field with a name and an image as a window into the UI (User Interface) of the intellectual property management system 5. The communication field is displayed, for example, by a display device of the user terminal 50 (see, for example, Figs. 14 and 15).

[0118] The task processing unit 114 may generate an avatar for providing information to a participant (e.g., an inventor) in the communication field according to the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit 111. The dialogue control unit 113 controls dialogue-type exchanges between the avatar and the participant. The task processing unit 114 may also control the avatar to post on behalf of a participant other than the avatar in the communication field. In other words, it is possible to make the poster of a post of a specific participant appear in the name of the avatar, not in the name of the participant.

[0119] Furthermore, when the intellectual property management system 5 automatically posts in the communication field, the task processing unit 114 may post in the name of a person such as an inventor, instead of an avatar. In other words, the name of the poster in the communication field may be replaced from an avatar to another person. As an example, when a patent related to an invention by Taro Yamada (human) is registered, the task processing unit 114 may automatically post in the communication field, under the name of Yamada, that a patent with the content "XXX" has been registered. An automatic post by the system is synonymous with a post by an avatar. When there are multiple inventors, the task processing unit 114 may post in the communication field under the name of a person with a high contribution rate (degree of contribution) or the name of the lead inventor, and may mention the other inventors.

[0120] Furthermore, the task processing unit 114 can notify the avatar via the communication field of the person's evaluation results, such as whether multiple patents that have been determined to be similar based on the learning model are similar or dissimilar, and can register the evaluation results in the memory 20. Furthermore, the task processing unit 114 can train the learning model based on the evaluation results and update the learning model.

[0121] FIG. 14 is a diagram showing a first example of a notification of an event related to a patent. FIG. 15 shows that an automatic posting by the system (a posting by an avatar) is posted under the name of the avatar (for example, "avatar Edison"). In this case, the task processing unit 114 assigns the name of the avatar to the poster of the automatically posted message. Therefore, the intellectual property management system 5 can give the impression to participants participating in a communication field (for example, a communication field of a medium-sized organization AB) that an authority is making a top-down announcement. This notification method is suitable for cases such as urging participants to take action with a deadline.

[0122] FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a second example of a notification of a patent-related event. FIG. 15 shows that an automatic posting by the system (a posting by an avatar) is posted in the name (for example, "xxx") of a person involved in the event (for example, the inventor himself). In this case, the task processing unit 114 assigns the name of the person to the poster of the automatically posted message. Therefore, since it is treated as if the inventor himself posted it, for example, when another member who is highly interested in intellectual property activities presses a "like" button using a user terminal 50 in the communication field, the inventor himself is notified of the "like" via the communication field. This further increases the motivation of the inventor himself for his patent activities. Therefore, the effect of encouragement and praise from others is high.

[0123] <Effects of the intellectual property management system> In large companies, patent development is often the individual work of engineers, and it is difficult to promote patent applications without incentives. On the other hand, as with OSS (Open Source Software), employees can do an excellent job by being motivated by being recognized by the community, even if there is no compensation. The intellectual property management system 5 of this embodiment can provide a platform for developing intellectual property (e.g., patents) in a community. The intellectual property management system 5 allows inventors to easily recognize whether their applied for or registered patent is attracting attention outside the company.

[0124] The intellectual property management device 100 can obtain each intellectual property event (OA (Office Action), deadlines for each office, cited, objections, etc.) from an external or internal database, generate a communication field formed by different participants depending on the content of the event, and provide information through the communication field. The intellectual property management device 100 can also generate an avatar for providing information to participants (e.g., inventors) depending on the event, and can have an interactive exchange between the avatar and the participants in the communication field. The intellectual property management device 100 can also post automatic posts in the name of the person involved in the automatic post.

[0125] Furthermore, the intellectual property management device 100 can generate a community where employees who are not aware of the existence of each other gather together. The intellectual property management device 100 is expected to not only develop patents, but also to come up with ideas for new products and services through serendipity. The intellectual property management device 100 can also improve the motivation of participants in communication spaces to deal with intellectual property issues by expressing personified icons, avatars, characters, etc., and by providing emotional effects, and is expected to reduce the workload of the intellectual property department.

[0126] In addition, the intellectual property management device 100 can reduce the work of inventors and intellectual property personnel and prevent missed communication by automatically posting information to the communication space in response to external triggers such as various intellectual property-related events (e.g., application, registration, rejection, or invalidation trial). Furthermore, the intellectual property management device 100 can automatically extract employees who are conducting research and development of technology similar to the technical content of the patent, or employees who are involved in work such as development and advertising of products or services that may incorporate the patent, as related employees. Then, the intellectual property management device 100 can mention the extracted employees (notifications that attract the attention of individuals or groups) in the communication space, and involve people who are not directly involved in the application or registration of the patent, thereby promoting cross-sectional communication within the company.

[0127] In addition, the intellectual property management device 100 can share patent-related information with employees who need it in a timely manner, and can provide an opportunity for communication between employees. Therefore, the intellectual property management device 100 can contribute to the creation, deepening, or utilization of ideas for intellectual property development, product development, business development, etc., within a corporate organization that uses this system (intellectual property management system 5).

[0128] In this embodiment, the description has been given with respect to patents (patent documents), but the intellectual property management system 5 also functions effectively for other intellectual property such as trademarks or designs. Trademarks and designs may contain image information, but as in the case of documents, the processor 110 of the intellectual property management device 100 can represent the image as a vector and derive the similarity of the vector, and can distinguish similar trademarks or similar designs based on this similarity. In the case of trademarks, character strings may be included along with the image, but the processor 110 can evaluate the similarity of the character string portion with high accuracy by performing OCR (optical character recognition) on the character string portion.

[0129] Although various embodiments have been described above with reference to the drawings, it goes without saying that the present disclosure is not limited to such examples. It is clear that a person skilled in the art can come up with various modified or amended examples within the scope of the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present disclosure. In addition, the components in the above embodiments may be arbitrarily combined within the scope of the invention.

[0130] In the above embodiment, the processor may be physically configured in any way. Furthermore, if a programmable processor is used, the processing contents can be changed by changing the program, so that the degree of freedom in the design of the processor can be increased. The processor may be configured as one semiconductor chip, or may be physically configured as multiple semiconductor chips. When configured as multiple semiconductor chips, each control in the above embodiment may be realized by a different semiconductor chip. In this case, it can be considered that the multiple semiconductor chips constitute one processor. Furthermore, the processor may be configured as a semiconductor chip and a member (such as a capacitor) having a different function. Furthermore, one semiconductor chip may be configured so as to realize the functions of the processor and other functions. Furthermore, multiple processors may be configured as one semiconductor chip.

[0131] The order of execution of each process, such as operations, procedures, steps, and stages, in the devices, systems, programs, and methods shown in the claims, specifications, and drawings, is not specifically stated as "before," "prior to," etc., and can be realized in any order unless the output of a previous process is used in a later process. Even if the operational flow in the claims, specifications, and drawings is explained using "first," "next," etc. for convenience, it does not mean that it is essential to perform the process in this order.

[0132] (Overview of the embodiment) As described above, the intellectual property management device 100 of the above embodiment manages information related to intellectual property. The intellectual property management device 100 includes a processor 110. The processor 110 acquires an application number that identifies an application related to an intellectual property, acquires an event related to the intellectual property, generates an interactive communication field CN in which multiple participants can participate based on the application number, provides a topic related to the event related to the intellectual property identified by the application number via the communication field CN, and accepts replies to the topic from the participants participating in the communication field CN.

[0133] This allows the intellectual property management device 100 to generate a communication field linked to the application number of the intellectual property. Therefore, when some event related to the intellectual property occurs, topics related to the event and answers to those topics can be easily shared in the communication field based on the application number of the intellectual property related to the event. Therefore, the intellectual property management device 100 can suitably share information related to the intellectual property among multiple people.

[0134] In addition, the processor 110 may obtain a first event among multiple events related to intellectual property, generate different communication fields according to the type of each event, provide topics related to the first event through the communication field corresponding to the first event, and accept responses to the topic from participants participating in the communication field.

[0135] As a result, the intellectual property management device 100 generates a communication field according to the type of event, so that information can be easily shared via the communication field for each type of event.

[0136] In addition, the processor 110 may acquire an application consideration event (e.g., invention occurrence information) indicating that an application for intellectual property is being considered, and in response to acquiring the application consideration event, may duplicate the content of a conversation posted in any communication space (e.g., an original chat) generated before the application in a communication space for the application (e.g., an application chat).

[0137] As a result, the intellectual property management device 100 can, for example, hold free discussions in a free communication space when discovering an invention, and when it seems possible to file an application for the discovered invention, hold discussions about filing the application using a communication space for filing. This makes it easier for inventors to come up with inventions with free ideas, and allows the intellectual property department to easily share information about inventions that can lead to applications.

[0138] The first event may include an application publication event or a predetermined notification event from a patent office. The communication space corresponding to the first event may be a first communication space in which inventors and IP personnel of patents related to the first event participate. The processor 110 may post the content of the first event in the first communication space.

[0139] This allows the intellectual property management device 100 to quickly share information via a communication field including participants related to the first event.

[0140] The first event may also include an event related to a foreign application, a request for examination, or an inventory evaluation review. The communication field corresponding to the first event may be a first communication field in which the inventors and intellectual property officers of the patent related to the first event participate. The processor 110 may notify the contents of the first event through the first communication field and accept a response to the contents of the first event. The processor 110 may notify the contents of the first event through a second communication field different from the first communication field in response to the response to the contents of the first event in the first communication field and accept a response to the contents of the first event.

[0141] In this way, the intellectual property management device 100 can first determine whether the department most related to the event needs information about the event, and if not, determine in turn whether other departments need information about the event. This makes it possible to efficiently determine whether a patent related to the event is necessary, and to utilize the patent related to the event as much as possible.

[0142] The first event may also include similar intellectual property information indicating that the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property are similar. When the first intellectual property is the company's intellectual property and the second intellectual property is the company's intellectual property, the processor 110 may notify a third communication field in which a person related to the first intellectual property participates and a fourth communication field in which a person related to the second intellectual property participates to prompt the generation of a combined communication field including the third communication field and the fourth communication field.

[0143] In this way, the intellectual property management device 100 can easily generate a joint communication field including parties involved in multiple similar intellectual properties in response to the acquisition of the first event. Therefore, for example, parties involved in both intellectual properties who do not usually have contact with each other can interact with each other, which is expected to generate new ideas.

[0144] The first event may include similar intellectual property information indicating that the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property are similar. When the first intellectual property is the company's intellectual property, the second intellectual property is the intellectual property of another company, and the other company's intellectual property is set as an intellectual property to be monitored, the processor 110 may notify a fifth communication field in which a person who monitors the other company's intellectual property participates every time the status of the other company's intellectual property is updated.

[0145] As a result, when there is intellectual property of another company that is similar to the company's own intellectual property, the intellectual property management device 100 can easily share new information each time the status is updated via a communication field that monitors the intellectual property that is under surveillance.

[0146] The intellectual property management device 100 may further include a memory 120. The memory 120 may hold a learning model for determining similarity between a plurality of intellectual properties. The processor 110 may post a message indicating the basis of a determination result of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model to a communication field including at least one of the third communication field and the fourth communication field. The processor 110 may also post a message indicating the basis of a determination result of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model to a fifth communication field.

[0147] This allows the intellectual property management device 100 to grasp the grounds for inference made by the learning model, and allows participants in the communication field to discuss the judgment of similarity.

[0148] Furthermore, the processor 110 may obtain an evaluation of the result of the judgment of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model via a communication field including at least one of the third communication field and the fourth communication field, and update the learning model based on the evaluation. The processor 110 may obtain an evaluation of the result of the judgment of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model via a fifth communication field, and update the learning model based on the evaluation.

[0149] This enables the intellectual property management device 100 to update the learning model based on the evaluations (e.g., reactions and opinions) of participants in the communication field, thereby improving the accuracy of future similarity determinations.

[0150] Furthermore, the processor 110 may add an avatar AR as a participant participating in the communication field, and control, via the communication field, an interaction between the participant participating in the communication field and the avatar AR.

[0151] In this way, the intellectual property management device 100 can increase the motivation of participants in a communication field to handle intellectual property issues by, for example, causing the avatar to have emotions.

[0152] The processor 110 may also add an avatar as a participant participating in the communication field, and post a post by the avatar through the communication field under the name of a first participant among multiple participants participating in the communication field.

[0153] This allows the intellectual property management device 100 to present content that is normally posted systematically as if it was posted by a person involved in the event. In this case, the person involved can be motivated by receiving thumbs-ups or other comments from other participants in the communication space. [Industrial Applicability]

[0154] The present disclosure is useful for an intellectual property management device and an intellectual property management method that allow a plurality of people to suitably share information about various intellectual property-related events. [Explanation of symbols]

[0155] 5 Intellectual Property Management System 50 User terminals 100 Intellectual property management device 110 Processor 111 Event Information Acquisition Department 112 Community Generation Department 113 Dialogue control section 114 Task Processing Unit 120 Memory 121 In-house intellectual property information DB 130 Communication Devices 200 Patent Office DB 300 external DB

Claims

1. An intellectual property management device for managing information related to intellectual property, a processor; The processor: Obtain an application number that identifies the intellectual property application; Capture intellectual property events, Based on the application number, an interactive communication space is generated in which multiple participants can participate; providing, via the communication space, topics relating to the event relating to the intellectual property identified by the application number, and accepting responses to the topics from participants participating in the communication space; Intellectual property management device.

2. The processor: obtaining a first event of a plurality of events relating to the intellectual property; generating different communication fields according to the type of each event; providing a topic related to the first event via the communication field corresponding to the first event, and accepting responses to the topic from participants participating in the communication field; The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

3. The processor: Acquire an application consideration event indicating that an application for intellectual property is being considered, In response to the acquisition of an application consideration event, the content of the conversation posted in any communication space created before the application is copied to the communication space for the application.

3. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. the first event includes an application publication event or a predetermined notification event from a patent office; the communication space corresponding to the first event is a first communication space in which inventors and intellectual property officers of patents related to the first event participate; the processor posts content of the first event to the first communication space; The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

5. the first event includes an event related to a foreign filing, a request for examination, or an inventory valuation review; the communication space corresponding to the first event is a first communication space in which inventors and intellectual property officers of patents related to the first event participate; The processor: notifying the user of the content of the first event via the first communication field and receiving a response to the content of the first event; notifying the user of the content of the first event via a second communication field different from the first communication field in response to a response to the content of the first event in the first communication field, and receiving a response to the content of the first event; The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

6. the first event includes similar intellectual property information indicating that a first intellectual property and a second intellectual property are similar; When the first intellectual property is the intellectual property of the company and the second intellectual property is the intellectual property of the company, the processor issues a notification to each of a third communication field in which a person related to the first intellectual property participates and a fourth communication field in which a person related to the second intellectual property participates, prompting the generation of a combined communication field including the third communication field and the fourth communication field. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

7. the first event includes similar intellectual property information indicating that a first intellectual property and a second intellectual property are similar; When the first intellectual property is the company's own intellectual property, the second intellectual property is the intellectual property of another company, and the intellectual property of the other company is set as an intellectual property to be monitored, the processor notifies a fifth communication forum in which a person who monitors the intellectual property of the other company participates that the status of the intellectual property of the other company has been updated. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

8. a memory, The memory holds a learning model for determining similarity between a plurality of intellectual properties; The processor: posting a message indicating the basis of the determination result of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model to a communication space including at least one of the third communication space and the fourth communication space; The intellectual property management device according to claim 6.

9. a memory, The memory holds a learning model for determining similarity between a plurality of intellectual properties; The processor: posting a message indicating the basis of the result of the determination of the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model to the fifth communication space; The intellectual property management device according to claim 7.

10. The processor: obtaining an evaluation of a result of determining the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model via a communication field including at least one of the third communication field and the fourth communication field; updating the learning model based on the evaluation; The intellectual property management device according to claim 8.

11. The processor: obtaining an evaluation of a result of determining the similarity between the first intellectual property and the second intellectual property based on the learning model via the fifth communication field; updating the learning model based on the evaluation; The intellectual property management device according to claim 9.

12. The processor: adding an avatar as a participant participating in the communication field; controlling a dialogue between the avatar and a participant participating in the communication field via the communication field; 3. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1 or 2.

13. The processor: adding an avatar as a participant participating in the communication field; posting a post by the avatar via the communication field under the name of a first participant among a plurality of participants participating in the communication field; 3. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1 or 2.

14. An intellectual property management method for managing information related to intellectual property, comprising: obtaining an application number identifying an application relating to the intellectual property; acquiring an event relating to intellectual property; a step of generating an interactive communication space in which a plurality of participants can participate based on the application number; providing a topic related to the event relating to the intellectual property identified by the application number through the communication space, and accepting responses to the topic from participants participating in the communication space; An intellectual property management method comprising:

15. A program for causing a computer to execute each step of the intellectual property management method according to claim 14.

16. The event information is obtained by at least one of the following means: from a patent office database or an external database via a communication device; from a memory; or by input based on a user operation. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

17. The processor generates a private chat for the subject patent if one has not already been generated; The participants of the private chat include at least the inventor, the intellectual property officer, and their superiors, and if there are multiple inventors, the superiors include the superiors of the organizations to which each inventor belongs. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

18. The answer includes at least one of characters or symbols, audio, still images or videos, content, and information on pressing social buttons including a like button or a bad button. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

19. The content of the event includes, as supplementary information, at least one of cases of decisions on requests for examination in patents similar to the specified patent or statistical information on whether or not requests for examination were made. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

20. The communication venue includes a team, a channel, or a workspace.

3. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1 or 2.

21. The events include filing a patent application, publication of an application or publication of a granted patent, a request for examination, a registration, a notice of rejection, and an opposition. The intellectual property management device according to claim 2.

22. The processor, The system's automatic posting can be done under the name of an avatar or a person. If the poster's name is the person's name, a reaction to the post made under the person's name can be notified to the person associated with the person's name.

3. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1 or 2.

23. When there are multiple inventors, the processor uses the name of the inventor with the highest contribution rate or the lead inventor as the name of the automatic posting and mentions the other inventors.

23. The intellectual property management device according to claim 22.

24. The processor causes the avatar to perform an emotional performance. The intellectual property management device according to claim 12.

25. The processor, Allowing the avatar to post on behalf of other participants and / or allowing the system to automatically post on behalf of a person; The intellectual property management device according to claim 13.

26. The processor acquires a reaction by a like button or a bad button in the communication field. The intellectual property management device according to claim 12.

27. ​​The processor acquires a reaction by a like button or a bad button in the communication field. The intellectual property management device according to claim 13.

28. Further comprising a memory, the memory holds a patent table, an employee table, a private chat table, and a public chat table; The patent table holds information using the application number as a key, The tables are related to each other in a predetermined one-to-one or one-to-many relationship. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

29. The private chat table and the public chat table include URL information of each communication space.

29. The intellectual property management device according to claim 28.

30. The communication space includes a private chat group in which any number of people participate, The private chat group includes a private chat of a patent unit, a patent alert unit, or a research unit; The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

31. The communication space includes a communication space centered on at least one of the organization to which the person belongs, a product or service, and a job function. The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

32. The processor, Continuously obtain information from television, newspapers, the web, papers, academic journals, or exhibitions via communication devices, If it is detected that the acquired information contains patent identification information, it is determined whether the patent identified by the patent identification information is a company patent or a patent of another company; If the patent is a company patent, notify the content of the event related to the patent in a private chat for the patent; If the patent is a patent of another party, determine whether the patent of the other party is set as a caution patent; When the other party's patent is set as the alert patent, a notice is sent to a private chat of the person concerned who is monitoring the alert patent to investigate surrounding patents, focusing on the other party's patent; The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

33. The processor, According to the information on the retirement or transfer event, co-inventors who jointly invented with the retiring or transferred employee, employees who worked on the same product as the retiring or transferred employee, or employees in a technical field similar to that of the retiring or transferred employee are extracted as successor candidates; Upon receiving the nomination of said successor, notify Avatar to request the succession; The intellectual property management device according to claim 1.

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