Program, information processing system, and information processing method

Abstract

To provide a more useful information processing system, and the like.SOLUTION: A program causes at least one computer to execute the following steps: a reception step of receiving an input to an input screen from a user, the input including information on contents of multiple claims and information on hierarchical relationships between the claims, the information not including claim numbers indicating numbers of terms or descriptions on reference sources for each of the claims, and a result of the input being reflected on the input screen so that the overall hierarchical structure of the claims can be identified; and an output step of outputting, when receiving an operation from the user on a first object, a draft file of scope of claims, claims or scope of utility model registration claims including claim numbers and the descriptions on the reference sources for each of the claims, on the basis of the information and the hierarchical structure.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a program, an information processing system, and an information processing method. [Background technology]

[0002] In Patent Document 1, the present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for analyzing claims, and according to one embodiment, the method can include a step of (a) dividing claims described in the claims of a patent document into independent claims and dependent claims, (b) dividing the independent claims and the dependent claims into citations and cited claims of the cited claims to analyze the citation relationships, (c) determining the coordinates of the independent claims and the dependent claims according to the claim numbers and the citation relationships, and (d) arranging the claims according to the coordinates of the independent claims and the dependent claims determined in (c). The method of analyzing claims according to the present invention describes that the claims can be easily understood by structuring the claims hierarchically. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Special Publication No. 2019-537184 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention aims to provide a more useful information processing system and the like. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] According to one aspect of the present invention, a program is provided. The program causes at least one computer to execute the following steps: In the receiving step, a user's input to an input screen is received. The input includes a description of the contents of a plurality of claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each of the claims. The description does not include a claim number indicating the item number of each claim or an explanation of the citation, and the input result is reflected on the input screen so that the hierarchical structure of the entire claim can be grasped. In the output step, when an operation by a user on a first object is accepted, a draft file of the claims, the scope of claims, or the scope of claims of a registered utility model is output based on the description and the hierarchical structure, including the claim number and the explanation of the citation for each claim.

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, a more beneficial information processing system and the like can be provided. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0007] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an information processing system 1. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the server 2. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 3. [Figure 4] 2 is an activity diagram showing an example of the flow of information processing executed by the information processing system 1. FIG. [Diagram 5] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of an input screen. [Figure 6] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0008] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Various characteristic features shown in the following embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0009] Incidentally, the program for realizing the software appearing in this embodiment may be provided as a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, or may be provided so as to be downloadable from an external server, or may be provided so that the program is started on an external computer and its functions are realized on a client terminal (so-called cloud computing).

[0010] In addition, in this embodiment, the term "unit" may include, for example, a combination of hardware resources implemented by a circuit in the broad sense and software information processing that can be specifically realized by these hardware resources. In addition, in this embodiment, various information is handled, and this information is represented, for example, by physical values ​​of signal values ​​representing voltage and current, high and low signal values ​​as a binary bit collection consisting of 0 or 1, or quantum superposition (so-called quantum bits), and communication and calculation can be performed on the circuit in the broad sense.

[0011] In addition, a circuit in the broad sense is a circuit realized by at least appropriately combining a circuit, circuitry, a processor, a memory, etc. In other words, it includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (e.g., a simple programmable logic device (SPLD), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), etc.

[0012] 1. Hardware Configuration This section describes the hardware configuration.

[0013] <Information Processing System 1> FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an information processing system 1. The information processing system 1 includes a server 2 and an information processing device 3. The server 2 and the information processing device 3 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via an electric communication line. The information processing system 1 is made up of one or more devices or components. For example, if the information processing system 1 is made up only of the server 2, the information processing system 1 would be the server 2, and if the information processing system 1 is made up only of the information processing device 3, the information processing system 1 would be the information processing device 3. These components will be described below.

[0014] <Server 2> 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the server 2. The server 2 includes a communication unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a control unit 23, and these components are electrically connected via a communication bus 20 inside the server 2. Each component will be further described.

[0015] The communication unit 21 is preferably a wired communication means such as USB, IEEE1394, Thunderbolt (registered trademark), wired LAN network communication, etc., but may also include wireless LAN network communication, mobile communication such as 3G / LTE / 5G, BLUETOOTH (registered trademark) communication, etc. as necessary. In other words, it is more preferable to implement it as a collection of multiple communication means. In other words, the server 2 may communicate various information from the outside via the communication unit 21 and the network.

[0016] The storage unit 22 stores various information defined by the above description. This can be implemented, for example, as a storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD) that stores various programs and the like related to the server 2 executed by the control unit 23, or as a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores temporarily required information (arguments, arrays, etc.) related to the calculation of the program. The storage unit 22 stores various programs, variables, etc. related to the server 2 executed by the control unit 23.

[0017] The control unit 23 performs processing and control of the overall operation related to the server 2. The control unit 23 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) not shown. The control unit 23 realizes various functions related to the server 2 by reading out a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 22. That is, information processing by the software stored in the storage unit 22 is specifically realized by the control unit 23, which is an example of hardware, so that each step related to each function described below can be executed. This will be described in further detail in the next section. Note that the control unit 23 is not limited to being single, and may be implemented with multiple control units 23 for each function. Also, a combination of these may be used.

[0018] <Information processing device 3> 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the information processing device 3. The information processing device 3 includes a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, a control unit 33, a display unit 34, and an input unit 35, and these components are electrically connected via a communication bus 30 inside the information processing device 3. Descriptions of the communication unit 31, the storage unit 32, and the control unit 33 are omitted because they are similar to the descriptions of the respective units in the server 2.

[0019] The display unit 34 may be included in the housing of the information processing device 3 or may be externally attached. The display unit 34 displays a screen of a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be operated by the user. This is preferably implemented by using display devices such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, and a plasma display according to the type of the information processing device 3.

[0020] The input unit 35 may be included in the housing of the information processing device 3, or may be externally attached. For example, the input unit 35 may be implemented as a touch panel integrated with the display unit 34. If it is a touch panel, the user can input a tap operation, a swipe operation, or the like. Of course, a switch button, a mouse, a QWERTY keyboard, or the like may be adopted instead of the touch panel. That is, the input unit 35 accepts an operation input made by the user. The input is transferred as a command signal to the control unit 33 via the communication bus 30, and the control unit 33 can execute a predetermined control or calculation as necessary.

[0021] 2. Functional configuration of Server 2 The control unit 23 is configured to execute a receiving step, an output step, a specifying step, a managing step, a changing step, and a display control step. The specifying step, the managing step, the changing step, and the display control step may be omitted.

[0022] The receiving step is a step for receiving input from a user on the input screen, which will be described in detail later.

[0023] The output step is a step of outputting a draft file of claims, claims or claims for utility model registration, including a claim number and an explanation of the cited source for each claim, based on the description and the hierarchical structure, when an operation on the first object by a user is accepted. Details will be described later.

[0024] The identifying step is a step of identifying a specific claim that is located before and closest to the first claim among the second claims that are one level above the first claim, which is a claim having a citation in the hierarchical structure. Details will be described later.

[0025] The management step is a step of managing category information for each claim, and when a claim is a dependent claim having a citation and the claim description does not include category information, managing the category information of an independent claim that the dependent claim directly or indirectly cites as category information for the dependent claim, as will be described in detail later.

[0026] The change step is a step of changing the hierarchical structure of the entire claims reflected on the input screen in response to a predetermined operational instruction by the user, as will be described in detail later.

[0027] The display control step is a step of updating and displaying the input screen so that the hierarchical structure can be grasped when a selection instruction for the second object by the user is received. Specifically, the display control step controls so that visual information such as a screen, an image including a still image or a moving image, an icon, a message, etc. is displayed on the display unit 34 of the information processing device 3. The display control step may generate only rendering information for displaying the visual information on the display unit 34 of the information processing device 3. Details will be described later.

[0028] 3. Information processing flow In this section, a flow of an information processing method executed by the information processing system 1 will be described. As shown below, the information processing method includes the following steps. The program of this embodiment is a program for executing each step of the information processing method of the information processing system 1. Note that the order of the processes can be changed as appropriate, multiple processes may be executed simultaneously, or some processes may be omitted.

[0029] 3.1 Condition examples The scope of claims for a patent, the scope of claims for a utility model registration, or the scope of claims for a utility model registration (hereinafter referred to as the scope of claims, etc.) must state all matters that the applicant considers necessary to specify the invention or device for which he / she wishes to obtain a patent or utility model right for each claim. There are several rules for the preparation of the scope of claims, etc. For example, when dividing claims into categories and recording a claim by citing other claims, the claim should in principle be recorded following the citing claim, and the cited claim number should be recorded as "Claim 1", etc. However, during the revision stage of claims, claims may be added, deleted, or rearranged. Each time a claim is added, deleted, or rearranged, the user modifies the claim number and the description of the citation that he / she has written in each claim.

[0030] In this embodiment, an information processing method is described in which, when a user inputs a description of the contents of multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each of the claims via the input screen of the display unit 34, the control unit 23 outputs a draft file of the claims, etc., including the claim number and an explanation of the citation.

[0031] 3.2 Overview of the process

[0032] 4 is an activity diagram showing an example of the flow of information processing executed by the information processing system 1. Below, an explanation will be given along with each activity of this activity diagram.

[0033] First, the control unit 23 of the server 2 causes the display unit 34 of the information processing device 3 to display an input screen in a form that can be viewed by the user (activity A101).

[0034] Next, the control unit 23 accepts user input as a receiving step via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34. The user input to the input screen includes a description of the contents of the multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each of the claims. The description of the contents of the multiple claims does not include claim numbers indicating the paragraph numbers of each of the claims or explanations regarding the citations (activity A102).

[0035] Next, the control unit 23 reflects the input results on the input screen of the display unit 34 (activity A103). The input results are reflected on the input screen so that the hierarchical structure of the entire claim can be grasped.

[0036] The hierarchical structure of the claims as a whole indicates the citation relationship between multiple claims. In the claims, etc., dependent claims are set by citing previously described claims and adding limitations. In this way, the relationship between multiple claims included in the claims, etc. becomes hierarchical due to the citation relationship. The user checks the hierarchical structure of the claims as a whole reflected on the input screen, and performs a predetermined operation to instruct a change to the hierarchical structure as necessary. The user can instruct the predetermined operation by, for example, mouse operation, keyboard operation, touch operation, or voice instruction.

[0037] Next, the control unit 23 accepts a predetermined operation by the user regarding the hierarchical structure via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34 (activity A104).

[0038] Next, as a change step, the control unit 23 may change the hierarchical structure of all the claims reflected on the input screen in response to a predetermined operation instruction by the user (activity A105). The control unit 23 may accept an instruction regarding the change of the hierarchical structure from the user via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34 of the information processing device 3, and change the hierarchical structure. According to this embodiment, the user can change the hierarchical structure of all the claims by performing a predetermined operation.

[0039] Next, the control unit 23 receives an instruction from the user regarding the position of the cited source via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34 (activity A106). That is, the control unit 23 receives an instruction from the user regarding whether the cited source information should be described at the front or the back. In other words, whether the explanation regarding the cited source should be described at the front or the back of the claim may be determined by the user's instruction. According to this embodiment, whether to include a character string regarding the quotation at the front of the claim or at the back of the claim can be determined by the user's selection.

[0040] Next, the control unit 23 accepts a press of an output button by the user via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34 (activity A107).

[0041] Next, the control unit 23 assigns claim numbers to the received inputs related to the multiple claims (activity A108). For example, the claim numbers may be assigned to the claims from the top to the bottom on the input screen, such as "Claim 1," "Claim 2," "Claim 3," and so on.

[0042] Next, the control unit 23 acquires one claim from the input regarding the multiple claims received via the input screen (activity A109). For example, the control unit 23 acquires "Claim 1".

[0043] Next, the control unit 23 judges whether the acquired claim has a citation or not (activity A110). For example, it is judged that "Claim 1" has no citation. Next, the control unit 23 specifies that "Claim 1" is an independent claim (activity A111). If there are subsequent claims, the information processing returns to activity A110.

[0044] Next, the control unit 23 obtains the next claim, "Claim 2", and then determines whether or not "Claim 2" has a citation. If the control unit 23 determines that "Claim 2" has a citation, the control unit 23 advances information processing to activity A112.

[0045] Next, the control unit 23 identifies the citation of "Claim 2" (activity A112). The control unit 23 identifies the citation based on a predetermined rule. For example, the control unit 23 identifies the citation based on the rule that "among the second claims in the hierarchy one level above the first claim, which is a claim having a citation, the specific claim that is located before the first claim and closest to the first claim, and the claim immediately preceding the first claim (however, if the immediately preceding claim is the specific claim, only the specific claim) are identified as the citation." Specifically, the citation is as follows: The claim in the hierarchy one level above "Claim 2," which is located before "Claim 2" and closest to "Claim 2," is "Claim 1." In this case, the specific claim is "Claim 1." Since "Claim 1" is the claim immediately preceding "Claim 2," the control unit 23 identifies only "Claim 1" as the citation of "Claim 2."

[0046] In other words, the control unit 23, in the identifying step, identifies a specific claim that is located before and closest to the first claim among the second claims that are one level above the first claim, which is a claim having a citation in the hierarchical structure. The control unit 23 may identify the claims from the specific claim to the claim immediately preceding the first claim (however, if the immediately preceding claim is the specific claim, only the specific claim) as the citation.

[0047] Next, the control unit 23 judges whether or not "Claim 2" includes category information (activity A113). Here, information indicating the category of each claim is defined as category information. For example, the control unit 23 can check whether or not category information is present based on whether or not it has an identifier related to the category information. If "Claim 2" does not have an identifier related to the category information, the control unit 23 judges that "Claim 2" does not have category information, and advances information processing to activity A114.

[0048] Next, the control unit 23 manages the category information of "Claim 2" (activity A114). That is, the control unit 23 writes the category information to the working memory in the storage unit 22. If "Claim 2" cites "Claim 1", which is an independent claim, the control unit 23 manages the category information of "Claim 1" as the category information of "Claim 2". If the directly cited claim is not an independent claim, the category information of the indirectly cited independent claim may be managed as the category information of the dependent claim. An indirectly cited independent claim refers to an independent claim that is ultimately cited when tracing the higher claims that are the citations in order. In other words, the control unit 23 may manage the category information of each claim as a management step. If a claim is a dependent claim that has a citation and does not include category information in its description, the category information of the independent claim that the dependent claim cites directly or indirectly may be managed as the category information of the dependent claim.

[0049] Next, the control unit 23 generates a draft of the claim, including a claim number and an explanation of the cited source, based on the description of the content of the claim and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each claim (activity A115).

[0050] Next, the control unit 23 repeats the process of acquiring the next claim in sequence. When the control unit 23 acquires "Claim N" and determines in activity A113 that "Claim N" includes category information, the control unit 23 advances the information processing to activity A116.

[0051] Next, the control unit 23 judges whether the category information included in "Claim N" is different from the category of the independent claim it directly or indirectly cites (activity A116). If the control unit 23 judges that the category information of "Claim N" is different from the category of the independent claim it cites, it advances the information processing to activity A117. However, if the control unit 23 judges that "Claim N" does not contain category information different from the category of the independent claim it cites, it advances the information processing to activity A114.

[0052] Next, the control unit 23 generates a draft of claim N including all claims linked to the second category information as citations and having the first category information (activity A117). For example, the second category information is the category information of "claim 1" which is an independent claim. When the category information of "claim 1" to "claim M" is managed as "information processing system" and the category information of "claim N" is "information processing method", the control unit 23 generates a draft of "claim N" including all claims linked to "information processing system", which is an example of the second category information, as citations and having "information processing method", which is an example of the first category information, such as "an information processing method, comprising each step of the information processing system described in any one of claims 1 to M."

[0053] In other words, if a claim is a dependent claim and its description includes first category information, and further, the first category information is different from the second category information of an independent claim to which the dependent claim directly or indirectly cites, the control unit 23 may, as an output step, output a draft file by citing all claims having the second category information.

[0054] When the control unit 23 has completed obtaining the content description of all claims, the control unit 23 then outputs, as an output step, a draft file of the claims, etc., including the claim number and an explanation of the cited source for each claim, based on the content description and hierarchical structure of multiple claims (activity A118).

[0055] In summary, the program causes at least one computer to execute the following steps: In the reception step, a user's input to an input screen is received. The input includes a description of the contents of a plurality of claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each claim. The description does not include a claim number indicating the item number of each claim or an explanation of the citation. The input result is reflected on the input screen so that the hierarchical structure of the entire claim can be grasped. In the output step, when a user's operation on an output button, which is an example of a first object, is received, a draft file of the claims, the scope of claims, or the scope of claims for a utility model registration, including the claim number and an explanation of the citation for each claim, is output based on the description and the hierarchical structure.

[0056] According to this aspect, a user can obtain a draft file of the claims by inputting information including a description of the contents of multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each of the claims, without having to enter the claim numbers of each claim or an explanation of the citations.

[0057] 4. Details of data processing This section provides additional details about the information processing outlined above.

[0058] 5 is a schematic diagram showing an example of an input screen. The input screen 4 includes areas 41 to 49 and an object Ob1. The areas 41 to 49 are areas for receiving input of the content of claims. The object Ob1 is an output button. The areas 41 to 49 include the content of claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of the claims.

[0059] For example, the claim description in area 41 is "An information processing system, comprising a processor capable of executing a program to perform each of the following steps, wherein in the XX step, the system is...." The claim description in area 42 is "The XX step is...." In this way, the claim description in area 42 does not include a claim number indicating the item number of each claim, nor an explanation of the cited source.

[0060] In the input screen 4, information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each claim is input by the user according to the position of the corner brackets. For example, when a claim in area 42 cites a claim in area 41, the user inputs corner brackets in area 42 that are indented by one step from the corner brackets in area 41. In this manner, the user can indicate the hierarchical relationship according to the number of indents added to the corner brackets. When the control unit 23 receives corner brackets indented by one step, the control unit 23 understands that this is an instruction to move down one level. In other words, the hierarchical structure may be configured so as to be understandable according to a hierarchical level identifier representing the hierarchical level.

[0061] In the input screen 4, the control unit 23 receives information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each claim by using corner brackets and indents (activity A102). Based on the positional relationship of the corner brackets, the control unit 23 reflects the hierarchical structure of the entire claim on the input screen 4 so that the hierarchical structure of the entire claim can be grasped (activity A103). In this manner, the user can check the hierarchical structure of the entire claim reflected on the input screen 4 and refine the hierarchical structure of the entire claim.

[0062] The user can issue an instruction to change the hierarchical structure by performing a predetermined operation via the input screen 4. For example, when changing the position of area 45 to be after area 42 and before area 43 on the input screen 4, the user can issue an instruction to change the hierarchical structure by selecting area 45, cutting area 45, and pasting area 45 after area 42. The control unit 23 accepts the instruction to change via the input screen 4 and changes the hierarchical structure.

[0063] The user checks the hierarchical structure reflected on the input screen, and if no change instruction is required, presses object Ob1. When the pressing of object Ob1 is accepted, control unit 23 executes the processing of activities A108 to A118, and outputs a draft file of claims, etc.

[0064] In activity A108, the control unit 23 assigns claim numbers in order from the area displayed at the top of the input screen 4. That is, area 41 is "Claim 1", area 42 is "Claim 2", area 43 is "Claim 3", area 44 is "Claim 4", area 45 is "Claim 5", area 46 is "Claim 6", area 47 is "Claim 7", area 48 is "Claim 8", and area 49 is "Claim 9".

[0065] In activities A109 to A117, the control unit 23 sequentially acquires each claim from the area 41 corresponding to claim 1, and generates a draft of each claim. Here, the generated draft includes the claim number and an explanation of the citation for each claim. For example, area 42 does not include the claim number indicating the paragraph number or the explanation of the citation, but the draft generated by the control unit 23 based on area 42 includes information that the claim number is "Claim 2" and that the citation is "Claim 1."

[0066] In the input screen 4, when the character string "and" is included at the end of the line following the corner brackets, the control unit 23 determines that category information is included. The control unit 23 manages the character string written before "and" as category information. 4. Variations The information processing system 1 according to the above embodiment may be configured as follows.

[0067] In the preparation of claims, etc., there are cases where claims are written as multi-multi claims in the review stage, and then revised so as not to include multi-multi claims before filing. Therefore, in the output step, the control unit 23 may output a draft file with only specific claims as citations when there are multiple identified citations. When the user inputs information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim that includes multi-multi claims, the control unit 23 outputs a draft file of claims, etc. that cites only specific claims. In this manner, even if the user inputs information regarding the hierarchical relationships between claims that includes multi-multi claims, the control unit 23 can output a draft file of claims, etc. that does not include multi-multi claims.

[0068] The input screen may be in the format of input screens 5 to 8. Of course, this is not limiting.

[0069] (Input screen 5) The input screen may be in a table format. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. The input screen 5 includes an area 51 and an object Ob2. The area 51 includes a plurality of cells, each of which is identified by a horizontal row and a vertical column. The horizontal rows of the area 51 are numbered 1 to 9, and the vertical columns of the area 51 are numbered A to I. Each of the multiple cells is configured to receive a user input. The object Ob2 is an example of an output button.

[0070] For example, the area 51 includes cells 52 to 55. Cell 52 is a cell in the first row and column A, cell 53 is a cell in the second row and column A, cell 54 is a cell in the fourth row and column B, and cell 55 is a cell in the fifth row and column B. Corner brackets are input into cells 52 and 54, and the corner brackets are identifiers for inputting information about the hierarchical relationship. The contents of the claims are input into cells 53 and 55. Cells 52 and 53 are inputs from the user regarding one claim, and cells 54 and 55 are inputs from the user regarding another claim. In the input screen 5, the corner brackets are entered one line above the description of the contents of the claims, and the control unit 23 grasps the information about the hierarchical relationship from the positions of the corner brackets.

[0071] In the input screen 5, the control unit 23 identifies the citation relationship based on the position of the cell in which information on the hierarchical relationship is input. The control unit 23 assigns claim numbers to the cells in which information on multiple hierarchical relationships is input, starting from the cell with the smallest row number. That is, the cell 52 located in the first row in the input screen 5 is "Claim 1", and the cell 54 located in the fourth row, which has the second smallest row number, is "Claim 2". In addition, in the input screen 5, the control unit 23 grasps the hierarchical level based on the position of the vertical column. That is, the cell 52 written in column A is an independent claim. The cell 54 written in column B is a dependent claim that depends on the independent claim. Every time the input cell is moved to the right in a row, the control unit 23 grasps that the hierarchical level is lowered by one.

[0072] In other words, the input screen may display a plurality of areas in a table format. The plurality of areas is configured to receive user input. The input result is reflected on the input screen in a manner that allows the user to grasp the hierarchical structure of the entire claim according to the positional relationship of the plurality of areas receiving the input. According to this aspect, the user can indicate the hierarchical level of the claim by selecting a cell to be input from among the cells displayed in a table format and inputting information including the description of the content of the claim.

[0073] (Input screen 6) In the tabular input screen, an input area for information regarding hierarchical relationships and an input area for describing the contents of the claims may be provided in advance. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. The input screen 6 includes areas 61-70 and an object Ob3. Area 61 is an area for accepting input of information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim. Areas 62-70 are areas for accepting input of the description of the contents of the claims. Object Ob3 is an output button.

[0074] The area 61 is composed of horizontal rows and vertical columns. The horizontal rows are numbered 1 to 11, and the vertical columns are named A, B, and C. The user can specify the order of the claims by the horizontal rows, and the hierarchical level of the claims by the vertical columns. For example, if the claim to be input is an independent claim, the user checks column A; if the claim to be input is a claim that cites an independent claim, the user checks column B; and if the claim to be input is a claim that further cites a claim that cites an independent claim, the user checks column C. In the input screen 6, the control unit 23 can identify the citation relationship by the position of the cell in which information on the hierarchical relationship is input.

[0075] In area 61, "white circles" are input in lines 1 to 7, and "black squares" are input in lines 8 and 9. A first identifier "white circle" is input for dependent claims in the same category, and a second identifier "black square" is input for dependent claims in a different category. The control unit 23 accepts input of a second identifier different from the first identifier as information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each claim. In such a case, the control unit 23 may determine that the description of the content of the claim corresponding to the second identifier includes different category information.

[0076] Areas 69 and 70 include character strings enclosed in square brackets. The entries that indicate the inclusion of different category information may be configured with a predetermined identifier. The predetermined identifier may be a predetermined symbol or character string, but is preferably in a manner different from the hierarchical level identifier. (Input screen 7) The control unit 23 may display the tree-structured input screen 7 in advance on the display unit 34 of the information processing device 3. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the input screen. The input screen 7 includes areas 71-79, an object Ob4, and an object Ob5. The areas 71-79 are areas that accept input of the description of the contents of the claims. The object Ob4 is an object that accepts the addition of an area for inputting a dependent claim. For example, when the control unit 23 accepts the pressing of the object Ob4 in the area 71, the control unit 23 may generate a new area in the hierarchy one level below the area 71. The object Ob5 is an output button. In this manner, the user can visually grasp the citation relationship of the claims and input the description of the contents of a plurality of claims. Note that the selection of an area to be input by the user on the tree-structured input screen 7 displayed on the display unit 34 corresponds to the user's input instruction of information regarding the hierarchical relationship. The control unit 23 can identify the citation relationship based on the positional relationship of the areas into which the description of the contents of the claims is input by the user.

[0077] In other words, the input screen displays a plurality of areas in a format including a tree structure. The plurality of areas may be configured to receive user input. The result of the input may be reflected on the input screen in a manner that allows the user to grasp the hierarchical structure of the entire claim according to the positional relationship of the plurality of areas receiving the input.

[0078] (Input screen 8) The following aspects may be adopted for accepting information related to the hierarchical structure. Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram showing another example of an input screen. The input screen 8 includes an object 81, areas 82-85, objects 86-89, and an object Ob6. The object 81 is an object that accepts the addition of an area for inputting an independent claim. The areas 82-85 are areas that accept the input of the content of the claim. The objects 86-89 are objects that accept the addition of an area for inputting a dependent claim. The object Ob6 is an output button.

[0079] In other words, the input screen includes a second object for selecting a hierarchical level. Object 81 and objects 86 to 89 are examples of second objects for selecting a hierarchical level. Furthermore, in the display control step, when an instruction to select the second object by the user is received, the input screen is updated and displayed so that the hierarchical structure can be grasped. According to this embodiment, the user can input the contents of multiple claims while visually grasping the citation relationships of the claims.

[0080] In the above embodiment, corner brackets and indents are used as the hierarchical level identifiers, but other symbols or character strings may be used as the hierarchical level identifiers, preferably symbols that are treated as special symbols when filing with the Patent Office.

[0081] In the above embodiment, an indentation of the corner brackets is used as the hierarchical level identifier, but the hierarchical level identifier may be, for example, an indentation of the description. In other words, the description of the content of the claim itself may be indented to serve as the hierarchical level identifier.

[0082] In the above embodiment, the control unit 23 accepts instructions from the user regarding the position of the cited source via the input screen displayed on the display unit 34 in activity A106, but the control unit 23 may also accept a specification of a description rule for the description of the cited source. For example, the control unit 23 may accept a specification of a description rule that states "In (category information) described in claim X" at the beginning. In this manner, the control unit 23 can generate a description of the cited source that matches the description rule that the user has used up to now.

[0083] In the above embodiment, the first object is an output button on the input screen, but the first object does not necessarily have to be a button on the input screen. The first object may be any object that accepts an operation instruction for executing the output of the draft.

[0084] The above-described information processing mode is merely an example, and the present invention is not limited to this, and can be modified as appropriate without departing from the technical concept of the invention.

[0085] Another aspect of the embodiment may be an information processing system. The information processing system includes at least one processor. The processor is configured to execute a program so that each step of the program is performed. The information processing system may be configured with multiple devices, or may be configured with one device. When the information processing system described in the claims is configured with one device, an example of the device is the server 2. In this case, the at least one processor is the control unit 23 of the server 2. When the information processing system described in the claims is configured with multiple devices, an example of the multiple devices is multiple information processing devices. In this case, the at least one processor is the control unit of each of the multiple information processing devices.

[0086] The overall configuration shown in Fig. 1 is an example, and is not limited thereto. For example, the server 2 may be distributed to two or more devices, or may be replaced by a cloud computing system. In addition, all processing may be performed by the server 2, or all processing may be performed by the information processing device 3. An application may be installed in the information processing device 3, and the information processing device 3 and the server 2 may cooperate to execute the above-mentioned processing.

[0087] The server 2 may be in an on-premise form or in a cloud form. As the server 2 in a cloud form, the above-mentioned functions and processes may be provided in the form of, for example, SaaS (Software as a Service) or cloud computing.

[0088] In the above embodiment, the server 2 performs various storage and control, but multiple external devices may be used instead of the server 2. In other words, various information and programs may be distributed and stored in multiple external devices using block chain technology or the like.

[0089] The program may be implemented by VBA that comes with Microsoft Word® or Microsoft Excel®.

[0090] It may be provided in any of the following ways:

[0091] (1) A program that causes at least one computer to execute the following steps: in a receiving step, a user input to an input screen is received, the input including a description of the contents of a plurality of claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationship of each of the claims, the description including neither a claim number indicating the item number of each of the claims nor an explanation of the cited source, the result of the input is reflected on the input screen so that the hierarchical structure of the entire claims can be grasped, and in an output step, when an operation by the user on a first object is received, a draft file of a scope of claims, a scope of claims, or a scope of claims for a registered utility model, including the claim number and the explanation of the cited source for each of the claims, based on the description and the hierarchical structure.

[0092] According to this aspect, when a user inputs information including a description of the contents of multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim, the user can output a draft file of the claims, etc., including the claim numbers and descriptions of the citations, without having to enter the numbers of each claim or descriptions of the citations.

[0093] (2) In the program described in (1) above, the identifying step further comprises identifying a specific claim that is located before and closest to the first claim among the second claims in the hierarchical structure of the first claim, which is the claim having the cited destination, and identifying the claims from the specific claim to the claim immediately preceding the first claim (however, if the claim immediately preceding the first claim is the specific claim, only the specific claim) as the cited destination.

[0094] According to this embodiment, the claims to be cited can be specified.

[0095] (3) In the program described in (2) above, in the output step, when there are multiple identified citations, the draft file is output with only the specific claim as the citation.

[0096] According to this embodiment, when the user inputs information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim including "a claim that cites a claim that alternatively cites the descriptions of two or more other claims (multiple claims), or a claim that alternatively cites the descriptions of two or more other claims," ​​it is possible to identify a claim that cites only one other claim.

[0097] (4) In the program described in any one of (1) to (3) above, when information indicating the category of each of the claims is defined as category information, the description of the independent claim that does not have the cited destination includes the category information, and further, in a management step, the category information of each of the claims is managed, and when the claim is a dependent claim that has the cited destination and the description does not include the category information, the category information of the independent claim that the dependent claim directly or indirectly cites is managed as the category information of the dependent claim.

[0098] According to this aspect, when writing dependent claims, even if the user does not enter information regarding the category, it is possible to output a draft file of the scope of claims, scope of claims, or scope of claims for utility model registration including the category information described for the claims to which the claims are cited (including directly or indirectly).

[0099] (5) In the program described in (4) above, if the claim is a dependent claim and its description includes first category information, and further, the first category information is different from second category information of the independent claim to which the dependent claim directly or indirectly cites, the output step outputs the draft file with all of the claims having the second category information as the citations.

[0100] According to this embodiment, for claims in different categories, it is possible to output a draft claim that cites all claims in the previously described category.

[0101] (6) A program according to any one of (1) to (5) above, wherein whether the description of the cited source is written in the front or back of the claim is determined by instructions from the user.

[0102] According to this embodiment, whether to include a character string related to a citation at the beginning of a claim or at the end of a claim can be determined by a user's selection.

[0103] (7) A program according to any one of (1) to (6) above, further comprising, in a change step, changing the hierarchical structure of the entire claim reflected on the input screen in response to a predetermined operation instruction by the user.

[0104] According to this aspect, the user can change the hierarchical structure by changing the position of the description reflected on the input screen through a predetermined operation. Here, the predetermined operation instruction by the user includes selecting and dragging and dropping a claim whose order is to be changed, deleting a claim that is to be deleted, etc.

[0105] (8) In the program according to any one of (1) to (7) above, the hierarchical structure is configured so as to be comprehensible by a hierarchical level identifier representing a hierarchical level.

[0106] According to this aspect, the user can specify a hierarchical level by using a hierarchical level identifier.

[0107] (9) The program according to (8) above, wherein the hierarchical level identifier is an indentation relative to the description.

[0108] According to this embodiment, the user can indicate the hierarchical level by the indentation.

[0109] (10) A program according to any one of (1) to (7) above, wherein the input screen displays a plurality of areas in a tabular format, the areas being configured to accept the input from the user, and the results of the input are reflected on the input screen in a manner that allows the hierarchical structure of the entire claim to be grasped according to the positional relationship of the plurality of areas that accepted the input.

[0110] According to this aspect, the user can select a cell to input from among the cells displayed in tabular form, and input data including the content of the claim into the selected cell, thereby indicating the hierarchical level of the description.

[0111] (11) A program according to any one of (1) to (7) above, wherein the input screen displays a plurality of areas in a format including a tree structure, the areas being configured to accept the input from the user, and the results of the input are reflected on the input screen in a manner that allows the hierarchical structure of the entire claim to be grasped according to the positional relationship of the plurality of areas that accepted the input.

[0112] According to this aspect, the user can select an area to input from among multiple areas having a hierarchical structure displayed on the input screen based on the branch position, etc., and input data including the content of the claim into the selected area, thereby indicating the hierarchical level of the description.

[0113] (12) A program according to any one of (1) to (7) above, wherein the input screen includes a second object for selecting a hierarchical level, and further, in a display control step, when an instruction to select the second object is received from the user, the input screen is updated and displayed so that the hierarchical structure can be grasped.

[0114] According to this aspect, the user can specify a hierarchical level by selecting a second object that specifies the hierarchical level.

[0115] (13) An information processing system comprising at least one processor, the processor being configured to execute the program so that each step of the program described in any one of (1) to (12) above is performed.

[0116] According to this aspect, when a user inputs information including a description of the contents of multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim, the user can output a draft file of the claims, etc., including the claim numbers and descriptions of the citations, without having to enter the numbers of each claim or descriptions of the citations.

[0117] (14) An information processing method comprising the steps of the program according to any one of (1) to (12) above.

[0118] According to this aspect, when a user inputs information including a description of the contents of multiple claims and information regarding the hierarchical relationships of each claim, the user can output a draft file of the claims, etc., including the claim numbers and descriptions of the citations, without having to enter the numbers of each claim or descriptions of the citations. Of course, this is not the case.

[0119] Finally, although various embodiments of the present invention have been described, these are presented as examples and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention. The novel embodiments can be implemented in various other forms, and various omissions, substitutions, and modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention. The embodiments and their modifications are included within the scope and spirit of the invention, and are included in the scope of the invention and its equivalents described in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0120] 1: Information processing system 2: Server 20: Communication bus 21: Communications Department 22: Storage section 23: Control section 3: Information processing equipment 30: Communication bus 31: Communications Department 32: Storage section 33: Control section 34: Display section 35: Input section 4: Input screen 41 :Area 42 :Area 43 :Area 44 :Area 45 :Area 46 :Area 47 :Area 48 :Area 49 :Area 5: Input screen 51 :Area 52: Cell 53: Cell 54: Cell 55: Cell 6: Input screen 61 :Area 62 :Area 63 :Area 64 :Area 65: area 66: area 67 :Area 68 :Area 69 :Area 70: area 7: Input screen 71 :Area 72 :Area 73 :Area 74 :Area 75: area 76 :Area 77 :Area 78 :Area 79 :Area 8: Input screen 81: Object 82 :Area 83 :Area 84 :Area 85 :Area 86 : Object 87: Object 88: Object 89: Object Ob1 : Object Ob2 : Object Ob3 : Object Ob4 : Object Ob5 : Object Ob6 : Object

Claims

[Claim 1] The invention described in the specification.

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