Support device, support system, support method, and program

Abstract

To provide a support device for presenting an example sentence including explanation of words to a user.SOLUTION: A support device presents an example sentence including explanation of words to a user. The support device 1 comprises a storage unit 13 which stores a plurality of text sentences included in a past patent document created in the past. A data acquisition unit 141 acquires claim data corresponding to claims of a new patent document created newly. A word extraction unit 143 extracts one or more words which become objects explained in a specification of the new patent document, among the words written in the claim corresponding to the claim data. A search unit 145 searches for an explanatory sentence which is a text sentence which explains a selection word which is the word selected from one or more words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit 13. A display processing unit 146 associates one or more words and the explanatory sentence searched for by the search unit 145 with each other and causes a display unit 12 to display them.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a support device, a support system, a support method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] There is known an input support device that searches for and displays example sentences corresponding to characters input by a user (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] In writing a patent specification, a sentence explaining the words described in the claims is described. Therefore, in a device for supporting the creation of a patent specification, it is required to present to the user an example sentence including an explanation of the word. However, the device described in Patent Document 1 displays an example sentence corresponding to the input item name and characters in response to the input of the item name and a part of the characters that the user wants to input. Therefore, the conventional device has a problem that it also displays an example sentence that does not include an explanation of the word.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object thereof is to provide a support device for presenting to the user an example sentence including an explanation of a word.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] In the support device according to the first aspect of the present invention, a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past, a data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a new patent document to be newly created, among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data, a word extraction unit that extracts one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document, a search unit that searches for an explanatory sentence, which is a text sentence that explains a selected word, which is a word selected from the one or more words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit, and a display processing unit that associates the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched by the search unit and causes the display unit to display them.

[0007] The search unit may search for the explanatory sentence as a text sentence including a sentence in which the selected word and a predetermined particle are combined.

[0008] The search unit inputs the past patent document into a learned model that has learned, as teacher data, a word to be explained, the text sentence including the word, and a flag indicating whether or not the text sentence explains the word, and acquires the text sentence output by the learned model as the explanatory sentence, thereby searching for the explanatory sentence.

[0009] The apparatus further includes a document selection unit that selects, as a selected past patent document, one or more of the past patent documents in which the degree of coincidence between the plurality of words included in the claim data and the plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents is equal to or greater than a threshold value, and the search unit may search for the explanatory sentence from the plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent document.

[0010] The display processing unit may cause the display unit to display, in association with each of the one or more words, information indicating whether or not each of the one or more words is included in the selected past patent document.

[0011] The apparatus further includes an operation reception unit that receives an operation of selecting the selected word from the one or more words, and the search unit may search for the explanatory text that is a text sentence explaining the selected word in response to the operation reception unit receiving the operation.

[0012] The storage unit stores a word and a synonym of the word in association with each other, and the search unit may search for the explanatory text that is a text sentence explaining the one or more words and one or more of the synonyms stored by the storage unit as synonyms of the one or more words.

[0013] When the search unit searches for a plurality of the explanatory texts corresponding to the one or more words and the one or more synonyms, the display processing unit may cause the display unit to display the explanatory text after replacing one or more of the synonyms included in the plurality of the explanatory texts with the one or more words.

[0014] After the display processing unit displays a selected text sentence selected by a user from the plurality of text sentences included in the past patent document in a display area for editing the specification of the new patent document, the display processing unit may display the explanatory text at a position immediately before or immediately after the position where the selected word is displayed in the selected text sentence.

[0015] When different symbols are attached to a plurality of the selected words included in a plurality of the explanatory texts retrieved from a plurality of the past patent documents by the search unit, the display processing unit may replace the different symbols with one symbol and then cause the display unit to display the plurality of the explanatory texts.

[0016] In the support system according to the second aspect of the present invention, there are provided a support device that searches for an explanatory text for explaining a word, and a terminal device that receives the explanatory text from the support device. The support device includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past, a data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document from the terminal device, a word extraction unit that extracts one or more words to be explained in the specification of the new patent document among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data, a search unit that searches for the explanatory text, which is a text sentence for explaining a selected word that is one of the one or more words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit, and associates the one or more words with the searched explanatory text and transmits the result to the terminal device. The terminal device includes a claim data transmission unit that transmits the input claim data to the support device, and a display unit that associates and displays on the display unit the one or more words received from the support device and the explanatory text searched by the search unit.

[0017] In the support method according to the third aspect of the present invention, there are provided steps of: acquiring claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; extracting one or more words to be explained in the specification of the new patent document among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; referring to a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past, and searching for an explanatory text, which is a text sentence for explaining a selected word that is one of the one or more words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit; and associating and displaying on a display unit the one or more words and the explanatory text searched in the searching step.

[0018] In the program according to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the computer is caused to execute steps of: obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; extracting one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; referring to a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past, and searching for an explanatory sentence that is a text sentence for explaining a selected word that is one of the one or more words from among the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit; and associating the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched in the searching step and causing the display unit to display them.

Advantages of the Invention

[0019] According to the present invention, it is possible to present to the user an example sentence including an explanation of a word.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0020]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0021] [Overview of Support Device 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of the support device 1. The support device 1 is a device for assisting in creating a document containing sentences that explain the meaning of words, such as a patent specification. The support device 1 is an information processing device such as a personal computer. Hereinafter, an example will be described in which the support device 1 is a terminal operated by a user for the purpose of creating a patent specification.

[0022] The support device 1 extracts candidates for explanatory sentences that explain the words described in the patent specification to be newly created from past patent documents, which are past patent specifications, and presents the extracted candidates. The words described in the patent specification are, for example, the words included in the claims (i.e., claims). The support device 1 inserts the explanatory sentence of the candidate selected by the user from the presented candidates for explanatory sentences into the text of the new patent specification created by the user.

[0023] Specifically, the support device 1 acquires claim data, which is text data corresponding to the claims in the patent application documents. The support device 1 extracts the words to be explained in the specification being created by the user from among the words included in the claim data. The support device 1 searches for an explanatory sentence, which is a text sentence explaining the extracted word, from a past patent document database in which past patent documents, which are past patent specifications, are stored. The support device 1 displays the explanatory sentence of the searched word in association with the word. The support device 1 inserts the explanatory sentence selected by the user from the displayed explanatory sentences of the words into the document being edited by the user. In this way, the support device 1 supports the user in creating a new patent specification by enabling the user to reuse the explanatory sentences of the words described in the past patent documents in the newly created patent specification.

[0024] [Configuration Example of Support Device 1] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the support device 1 according to the embodiment. The support device 1 includes an operation unit 11, a display unit 12, a storage unit 13, and a control unit 14. The control unit 14 includes a data acquisition unit 141, an operation reception unit 142, a word extraction unit 143, a document selection unit 144, a search unit 145, and a display processing unit 146.

[0025] The operation unit 11 receives an operation input from the user of the support device 1 and outputs a control signal corresponding to the received operation to the operation reception unit 142. The operation unit 11 is, for example, a mouse, a keyboard, or the like. The display unit 12 responds to the control signal from the control unit 14 and displays an image or a display screen generated by the display processing unit 146. The display unit 12 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, or the like.

[0026] The storage unit 13 includes, for example, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive). The storage unit 13 stores various programs for operating the support device 1. The storage unit 13 stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past. The past patent documents are patent specifications, published patent gazettes, patent laid-open gazettes, or the like created in the past. The storage unit 13 may store words and synonyms of the words in association with each other. The storage unit 13 stores, for example, a table associating words with synonyms.

[0027] The control unit 14 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The control unit 14 functions as the data acquisition unit 141, the operation reception unit 142, the word extraction unit 143, the document selection unit 144, the search unit 145, and the display processing unit 146 by executing the control program stored in the storage unit 13.

[0028] The data acquisition unit 141 acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document. The claim data is text data indicating a sentence for specifying the scope of the right for which a patent is sought. When the claims are divided into a plurality of claims, the claim data is data indicating all or part of the claims. As an example, the data acquisition unit 141 acquires, as claim data, text data corresponding to the text sentence input to a screen for inputting the text of the claims. The data acquisition unit 141 may acquire the claim data by reading an electronic file containing the claim data from a storage medium or by acquiring it from an external device via a communication line. When the data acquisition unit 141 acquires the claim data, it outputs the claim data to the word extraction unit 143 and the document selection unit 144.

[0029] Based on the signal input from the operation unit 11, the operation reception unit 142 specifies the operation content of the user. The operation reception unit 142 receives an operation of selecting a selected word from one or more words. The selected word is a word to be searched for in the description of past patent documents. When the received operation content is an operation of selecting a selected word from a plurality of words included in a keyword selection screen, which will be described later, and displayed by the display processing unit 146, the operation reception unit 142 outputs the selected word to the search unit 145.

[0030] The word extraction unit 143 extracts one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data. When the word extraction unit 143 acquires the claim data from the data acquisition unit 141, it performs morphological analysis. Then, based on the analysis result, the word extraction unit 143 identifies at least one of the nouns, adjectives, or adverbs included in the claim data, and extracts the identified word as a word to be described in the specification of the new patent document. The word extraction unit 143 outputs the extracted word to the search unit 145.

[0031] The document selection unit 144 selects one or more past patent documents with a degree of match equal to or greater than a threshold between a plurality of words included in the claim data and a plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents as selected past patent documents. The selected past patent documents are the past patent documents for which the explanatory text of the words is to be extracted. For example, the document selection unit 144 identifies the number of occurrences of each word in the claim data in the past patent documents, and selects as the selected past patent documents those past patent documents that contain words whose number of occurrences is equal to or greater than the threshold. The document selection unit 144 may select as the selected past patent documents those past patent documents that contain a plurality of words whose number of occurrences is equal to or greater than the threshold.

[0032] The document selection unit 144 may select as the selected past patent documents those past patent documents that contain the plurality of words in the same order as the order in which the plurality of words are described in the claim data. Further, the document selection unit 144 may select as the selected past patent documents those past patent documents that contain the plurality of words at a distance equal to the distance between each of the plurality of words in the claim data.

[0033] As an example, the document selection unit 144 may calculate the degree of match based on the sum of the number of times each word included in the claim data appears in the past patent documents. The document selection unit 144 may calculate a score determined from the number of times each word in the claim data appears in the past patent documents for each word, and calculate the degree of match by calculating the sum of the scores for each word. The document selection unit 144 may calculate the degree of match based on the number of words commonly included in the past patent documents among the plurality of words included in the claim data. For example, when the words included in the claim data are "electrode group", "capacitive method", and "transparent touch panel", the document selection unit 144 determines that the degree of match of a document containing two types of words, "capacitive method" and "transparent touch panel", is higher than the degree of match of a document containing only one type of word, "electrode group".

[0034] In addition, words that are repeatedly used in a document are considered important words. Therefore, the document selection unit 144 may calculate the degree of match based on the number of words that appear a predetermined number of times or more in past patent documents among the words included in the claim data, or based on the ratio of important words to the extracted words.

[0035] Furthermore, the document selection unit 144 may calculate the degree of match based on the relationship between the distances at which important words appear in the claim data and the distances at which the same combination of words appears in past patent documents. Note that the document selection unit 144 may use the words specified by the user as important words. Note that the document selection unit 144 may perform the above-described processing by treating a word and its synonyms as the same word.

[0036] The document selection unit 144 may select the selected past patent document based on an operation in which the user selects one or more past patent documents from a plurality of past patent documents. In this case, the document selection unit 144 displays the specification selection screen shown in FIG. 3 via the display processing unit 146 to prompt the user to select the selected past patent document. On the specification selection screen, the display processing unit 146 may display past patent documents for which the degree of match obtained from the document selection unit 144 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. In the example of the specification selection screen shown in FIG. 3, when the operation receiving unit 142 receives an operation in which the "Copy" button is pressed, the document selection unit 144 selects the past patent document selected by the user as the selected past patent document. The document selection unit 144 outputs the selected past patent document to the search unit 145.

[0037] The search unit 145 searches for an explanatory text that is a text sentence explaining a selected word, which is a word selected from one or more words, from a plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit 13. The search unit 145 searches, as an explanatory text that explains a word, for a text sentence including the selected word among the words included in the claim data extracted by the word extraction unit 143 from past patent documents stored in the storage unit 13. The search unit 145 searches for a text sentence including the selected word from, for example, the selected past patent document input from the document selection unit 144. The search unit 145 may use, as the explanatory text, one sentence including the selected word, or may use, as the explanatory text, a plurality of sentences including the sentences before and after the sentence including the selected word, or may use, as the explanatory text, all the sentences included in the paragraph including the selected word.

[0038] The search unit 145 may search for an explanatory text including a text sentence in which the selected word is combined with a predetermined particle as the explanatory text. As an example, the search unit 145 searches for a text sentence including a sentence including a subject in which the selected word, which is a noun, is combined with a predetermined particle. The particle includes words used as particles. The predetermined particle is, for example, a particle pre-registered as a particle used in an explanatory text, such as "は (wa)", "が (ga)", "とは (to wa)", or "においては (ni oite wa)". By operating in this way, the search unit 145 can increase the probability of extracting a sentence that explains the meaning, property, or operation of the word.

[0039] The search unit 145 may search for an explanatory text that is a text sentence explaining the selected word in response to the operation reception unit 142 receiving an operation. FIG. 4 shows an example of a keyword selection screen for selecting a word for which an explanatory text is to be searched. On the keyword selection screen shown in FIG. 4, a "search" button is arranged in association with the word input from the word extraction unit 143. When the "search" button is pressed by the user's operation, the search unit 145 determines the word associated with the button as the selected word, and searches for an explanatory text that explains the selected word from the past patent documents stored in the storage unit 13.

[0040] It is considered that the search unit 145 has a higher probability of finding an explanation text of a word closer to the user's intention by searching for the explanation text from past patent documents in the technical field highly relevant to the technical field of the claims corresponding to the claim data. Therefore, the search unit 145 may search for the explanation text from a plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent document. That is, the search unit 145 may search for the explanation text of the selected word for the selected past patent document input from the document selection unit 144.

[0041] In addition, by the search unit 145 also searching for an explanation text that explains a synonym of the selected word, the possibility of finding an explanation text that can be used as the explanation text of the selected word is increased. Therefore, the search unit 145 may search for an explanation text that is a text sentence explaining one or more words and one or more synonyms stored by the storage unit 13 as synonyms of the one or more words. The search unit 145 refers to the information associating the words and synonyms stored in the storage unit 13 to identify the synonyms of the selected word. Then, the search unit 145 searches for an explanation text that explains the identified synonyms. With the search unit 145 configured in this way, in the support device 1, it is possible to easily find an explanation text along with the user's intention with a small number of operations.

[0042] [Example of an operation screen for searching for an explanation text] Here, the flow of searching for an explanation text will be described with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the screen transition from when the user selects a word for which an explanation text is to be searched on the keyword selection screen to when the searched explanation text is inserted into the document being edited by the user. FIG. 5(a) shows an example in which the keyword selection screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed superimposed on the window in which the document editing software is launched. In the window in which the document editing software is launched, the document being edited by the user is displayed. When the user presses the "Search" button associated with the word on the keyword selection screen, the display processing unit 146 displays the search result display screen shown in FIG. 5(b).

[0043] FIG. 5(b) is an example of a search result display screen that displays a list of sentences retrieved as explanatory sentences for explaining the selected word and prompts the user to make a selection. In this way, the display processing unit 146 causes the display unit to display by associating one or more words with the explanatory sentences retrieved by the search unit 145. That is, the display processing unit 146 displays, on the search result display screen, by associating, as the search result of the explanatory sentences, the word and the explanatory sentence of the word obtained as the search result. As a method of associating and displaying the word and the explanatory sentence, the display processing unit 146 may highlight and emphasize the selected word included in the explanatory sentence, or may display the selected word in a predetermined column of the search result display screen.

[0044] Then, when the operation reception unit 142 receives an operation of selecting a suitable explanatory sentence from among the displayed candidate explanatory sentences, the display processing unit 146 inserts the selected explanatory sentence into the window in which the document editing software is activated, as shown in FIG. 5(c). The display processing unit 146 inserts the selected explanatory sentence at a predetermined position. The predetermined position is, for example, the end of the document being edited or the location designated as the input position on the screen.

[0045] Here, when the explanatory sentence selected by the user is inserted at a position corresponding to the selected word entered in the specification being edited, it is highly convenient for the user. Therefore, after the display processing unit 146 displays the selected text sentence selected by the user from a plurality of text sentences included in the past patent document in the display area for editing the specification of the new patent document, the display processing unit 146 may display the explanatory sentence at a position immediately before or immediately after the position where the selected word is displayed in the selected text sentence.

[0046] The display processing unit 146 causes the searched explanatory text to be displayed on the search result display screen, and inserts the explanatory text selected by the user from among the explanatory texts displayed on the search result display screen at a position immediately before or after the position where the selected word is displayed in the window in which the document editing software is running. The display processing unit 146 may insert the explanatory text immediately before or after a period that separates the sentence containing the selected word from other sentences in the window being edited. The display processing unit 146 may insert the explanatory text into the specification by causing the text indicating the selected word and the explanatory text to be replaced in the window in which the document editing software is running. With such a configuration, the display processing unit 146 can insert the explanatory text at a position desired by the user, and can reduce the user's operations.

[0047] Incidentally, on the keyword selection screen, if information indicating whether the explanatory text corresponding to the word is included in the selected past patent documents is displayed, the user's operation for searching for selected past patent documents that do not include the explanatory text can be reduced, which is highly convenient. Therefore, the display processing unit 146 may cause the display unit 12 to display information indicating whether each of one or more words is included in the selected past patent documents, in association with each of the one or more words. That is, the display processing unit 146 determines whether the word obtained from the word extraction unit 143 is included in the selected past patent document obtained from the document selection unit 144, and causes the display unit 12 to display a screen indicating whether each word is included in the selected past patent document.

[0048] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a modified example of the screen configuration of the keyword selection screen. In the keyword selection screen shown in FIG. 6, "●" and "★" are displayed before the extracted words. Here, "●" indicates that the word is included in the selected past patent document, and "★" indicates that the word is not included in the selected past patent document. Note that "●" and "★" are merely examples, and whether the word is included in the selected past patent document may be displayed in any manner such as a difference in font size or color.

[0049] [Search Processing Using a Machine-Learned Model] The search unit 145 may perform a search process using machine learning. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the search process of the search unit. The search unit 145 inputs past patent documents into a learned model that has been trained using, as teacher data, a word to be explained, a text sentence including the word, and a flag indicating whether the text sentence is a sentence explaining the word, and acquires the text sentence output by the learned model as an explanatory sentence, thereby searching for an explanatory sentence.

[0050] Specifically, the search unit 145 generates a learned model that has learned the relationship between a word and an explanatory sentence that explains the word, using, as teacher data, a word to be explained, a text sentence including the word, and a flag indicating whether the text sentence is a sentence explaining the word. The search unit 145 inputs a selected past patent document or a plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent document and a selected word into the generated learned model, thereby identifying an explanatory sentence that explains the selected word included in the selected past patent document.

[0051] [Word replacement process] When the search unit 145 searches for an explanatory sentence of a synonym similar to the selected word, if an explanatory sentence of the synonym is inserted into the specification created by the user, the user will need to perform the operation of replacing the synonym with the selected word. Therefore, when the search unit 145 searches for a plurality of explanatory sentences corresponding to one or more words and one or more synonyms, the display processing unit 146 may display, on the display unit, the explanatory sentence after replacing one or more synonyms included in the plurality of explanatory sentences with one or more words. When the search unit 145 searches for an explanatory sentence corresponding to a synonym of the selected word and the display processing unit 146 receives an operation of inserting the searched explanatory sentence into the document being edited, the display processing unit 146 replaces the synonym included in the explanatory sentence with the selected word and then inserts the explanatory sentence after the replacement with the selected word into the document being edited. Since the display processing unit 146 is configured in this way, the user's work can be reduced, and thus the time required for creating the specification can be shortened.

[0052] In addition, there may be a case where the reference signs attached to the selected words in the description text retrieved by the search unit 145 are different from the reference signs attached to the selected words in the specification created by the user. Even in this case, after the description text is inserted into the specification, the user has to perform an operation of replacing the reference signs. Therefore, when the search unit 145 attaches different reference signs to a plurality of selected words included in a plurality of description texts retrieved from a plurality of past patent documents, the display processing unit 146 may replace the different reference signs with one reference sign and then display the plurality of description texts on the display unit.

[0053] Specifically, when the operation reception unit 142 receives an operation of inserting a description text into the document being edited, the display processing unit 146 replaces the reference signs corresponding to the selected words included in the description text with the reference signs corresponding to the selected words in the document being edited by the user, and then inserts the replaced description text into the document being edited. When no reference signs are attached to the specification being edited by the user, the display processing unit 146 may delete the reference signs from the description text retrieved from the past patent document. When no reference signs are attached to the specification being edited by the user, the display processing unit 146 may display a screen for setting the reference signs to be attached to the selected words and attach the input reference signs to the selected words.

[0054] [Flow of processing in support device 1] FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the support device 1. The flowchart shown in FIG. 8 starts from the time when the support device 1 is activated and the preparation for retrieving the description text is complete.

[0055] The data acquisition unit 141 acquires claim data (S01). When the data acquisition unit 141 acquires the claim data, it outputs the claim data to the word extraction unit 143. The word extraction unit 143 extracts the words included in the input claim data (S02). The word extraction unit 143 outputs the extracted words to the document selection unit 144 and the search unit 145. The document selection unit 144 selects, based on the input words, a document including words that match the claim data from past patent documents (S03). The document selection unit 144 outputs the selected past patent document to the search unit 145.

[0056] The display processing unit 146 displays a keyword selection screen on which the words extracted by the word extraction unit 143 are arranged (S04). The search unit 145 determines whether a word has been selected on the keyword selection screen (S05). If the operation reception unit 142 has not received a word selection (NO in S05), the search unit 145 returns to S05 and makes a determination again. If the operation reception unit 142 has received a word selection (YES in S05), the search unit 145 proceeds to S06 for processing.

[0057] The search unit 145 searches the past patent documents stored in the storage unit 13 for the description text of the selected word (S06). The display processing unit 146 causes the display unit 12 to display a search result display screen showing the search result of the description text (S07). The display processing unit 146 determines whether the operation reception unit 142 has received a selection of the description text (S08). If the operation reception unit 142 has not received a selection of the description text (NO in S08), the display processing unit 146 returns to S08 and makes a determination again. If the operation reception unit 142 has received a selection of the description text (YES in S08), the display processing unit 146 proceeds to S09 for processing.

[0058] The display processing unit 146 inserts the selected description text into a predetermined position in the window where the document editing software is running (S09). The operation reception unit 142 determines whether an end condition is satisfied (S10). The end condition is, for example, that the user has performed an operation to close the keyword selection screen. If the end condition is satisfied (YES in S10), the operation reception unit 142 ends the processing. If the end condition is not satisfied (NO in S10), the operation reception unit 142 proceeds to S05 and waits for a word selection operation.

[0059] [Effect by Support Device 1] As described above, the support device 1 includes a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past. Then, the word extraction unit 143 extracts one or more words to be explained in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data acquired by the data acquisition unit 141, and the search unit 145 searches for an explanatory sentence that is a text sentence explaining a selected word, which is a word selected from the one or more words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit. The display processing unit 146 associates the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched by the search unit 145 and displays them on the display unit 12.

[0060] With the support device 1 configured in this way, it is possible to present to the user an example sentence containing an explanation of the words included in the claims created by the user, so that the user can save the trouble of creating an explanatory sentence for the word. Also, even when the user lacks knowledge about the word, it is possible to create a high-quality specification by reusing the explanatory sentences of past patent documents.

[0061] [Modification Example] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a support system S according to a modification example. The support system S includes a support device 2 and an information terminal 3. The support device 2 is a server that receives claim data and information indicating a user's operation from the information terminal 3 and transmits the words included in the claim data, the search results of past patent documents, and the search results of explanatory sentences explaining the words to the information terminal 3. The support device 2 may be configured by a single computer, may be configured by a plurality of computers cooperating with each other, or may be configured by cloud computing, which is a collection of computer resources.

[0062] The support device 2 includes a communication unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a control unit 23. The control unit 23 includes a data acquisition unit 231, a word extraction unit 232, a document selection unit 233, and a search unit 234. The support device 2 has functions corresponding to those of the support device 1, but is different in that it displays an operation screen to the user and accepts the user's operations via the information terminal 3. In the following, the functions described in the support device 1 will be omitted from the description, and the description will focus on the differences between the support device 2 and the support device 1.

[0063] The communication unit 21 is a network interface for transmitting and receiving data with the information terminal 3. The storage unit 22 and the control unit 23 each have functions corresponding to those of the storage unit 13 and the control unit 14 in the support device 1. The data acquisition unit 231 acquires claim data from the information terminal 3 via the communication unit 21. The word extraction unit 232, the document selection unit 233, and the search unit 234 each have functions corresponding to those of the word extraction unit 143, the document selection unit 144, and the search unit 145 in the support device 1, but are different in that they accept the user's operations from the terminal device via the communication unit 21, transmit the results processed by each of them to the information terminal 3 via the communication unit 21, and cause them to be displayed on the screen of the information terminal 3.

[0064] The information terminal 3 has functions corresponding to those of the operation reception unit 142 and the display processing unit 146. That is, the information terminal 3 identifies the content of the user's operation and transmits the content of the user's operation to the support device 2. Further, the information terminal 3 receives data from the support device 2 and causes various operation screens to be displayed on the display unit. Further, the information terminal 3 is provided with a claim data transmission unit, and when the operation reception unit 142 receives an input operation of claim data from the user, it transmits the input claim data to the support device 2.

[0065] [Effects of the Support System S] As described above, the support system S includes a support device 2 that searches for explanatory texts that explain words, and an information terminal 3 that receives the explanatory texts from the support device 2. The support device 2 includes a storage unit 22 that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past, a data acquisition unit 231 that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document from a terminal device, and a word extraction unit 232 that extracts one or more words to be explained in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data. The support device 2 further includes a search unit 234 that searches for an explanatory text, which is a text sentence that explains a selected word selected from the one or more words, from among the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit 22, and associates the one or more words with the searched explanatory text and transmits the result to the information terminal 3.

[0066] The information terminal 3 includes a claim data transmission unit that transmits the input claim data to the support device, and a display processing unit that associates the one or more words received from the support device 2 and the explanatory text searched by the search unit 234 and causes the display unit to display the result. By configuring the support device S in this way, a system is provided that can present examples containing explanations of words to the user while reducing the impact on the user's environment.

[0067] As described above, the present invention has been described using embodiments. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments, and various modifications and changes are possible within the scope of the gist. For example, all or part of the device can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit. Also, new embodiments resulting from any combination of multiple embodiments are included in the embodiments of the present invention. The effects of the new embodiments resulting from the combination have the effects of the original embodiments combined.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0068] 1 Support Device 2 Support Device 3 Information Terminal 11 Operation Unit 12 Display Unit 13 Memory unit 14 Control unit 141 Data acquisition unit 142 Operation reception unit 143 Word extraction unit 144 Document selection unit 145 Search unit 146 Display processing unit 21 Communication unit 22 Memory unit 23 Control unit 231 Data acquisition unit 232 Word extraction unit 233 Document selection unit 234 Search unit

Claims

1. A storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past; A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; A word extraction unit that extracts one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; A document selection unit that selects, as a selected past patent document, one or more of the past patent documents in which the degree of coincidence between the plurality of words included in the claim data and the plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents is equal to or greater than a threshold value; A search unit that searches for an explanatory sentence, which is a text sentence that explains a selected word that is a word selected from the one or more words, from among the plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent document and includes a sentence in which the selected word and a predetermined particle are combined; A display processing unit that associates the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched by the search unit and causes the display unit to display the result; An assistance device having the above components.

2. The search unit inputs the past patent document into a learned model that has learned, as teacher data, a word to be explained, a text sentence including the word, and a flag indicating whether or not the text sentence explains the word, and obtains the text sentence output by the learned model as the explanatory sentence, thereby searching for the explanatory sentence. The assistance device according to claim 1.

3. The display processing unit causes the display unit to display, in association with each of the one or more words, information indicating whether or not each of the one or more words is included in the selected past patent document. The assistance device according to claim 1.

4. The device further includes an operation reception unit that receives an operation of selecting the selected word from the one or more words, The search unit searches for the explanatory sentence, which is a text sentence that explains the selected word, in response to the operation reception unit receiving the operation. The assistance device according to claim 1 or 2.

5. The storage unit stores in association a word and a synonym of the word, The search unit searches for the explanatory sentence, which is a text sentence that explains the one or more words and one or more of the synonyms stored by the storage unit as synonyms of the one or more words. The assistance device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. When the search unit searches for the plurality of the description texts corresponding to the one or more words and the one or more synonyms, the display processing unit causes the display unit to display the description text after replacing the one or more synonyms included in the plurality of the description texts with the one or more words. The support device according to claim 5.

7. In a display area for editing the specification of the new patent document displayed on the display unit, the display processing unit causes the display unit to display the description text selected by the user among the description texts searched by the search unit at a position immediately before or immediately after the position where the selected word is displayed. The support device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. When different signs are attached to the plurality of selected words included in the plurality of description texts retrieved from the plurality of past patent documents by the search unit, the display processing unit replaces the different signs with one sign and then causes the display unit to display the plurality of description texts. The support device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. A support device for searching for a description text that describes a word, and a terminal device that receives the description text from the support device. The support device includes: a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in past patent documents created in the past; a data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a new patent document to be newly created from the terminal device; a word extraction unit that extracts one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; a document selection unit that selects, as a selected past patent document, one or more of the past patent documents in which the degree of coincidence between the plurality of words included in the claim data and the plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents is equal to or greater than a threshold value; a search unit that searches, from the plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent document, for a text sentence that describes a selected word that is a word selected from the one or more words and that includes a sentence in which the selected word and a predetermined particle are combined, and associates the one or more words with the searched description text and transmits the result to the terminal device; and includes: The terminal device includes: a claim data transmission unit that transmits the input claim data to the support device; a display processing unit that causes a display unit to display, in association with each other, the one or more words received from the support device and the description text searched by the search unit; and includes: Support system.

10. Steps performed by a computer, obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; extracting one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; selecting, as selected past patent documents, one or more of the past patent documents in which the degree of match between the plurality of words included in the claim data and the plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents created in the past is equal to or greater than a threshold; referring to a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent documents, and searching for an explanatory sentence that is a text sentence that explains a selected word, which is a word selected from among the one or more words, and that includes a sentence in which the selected word is combined with a predetermined particle, from among the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit; associating the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched in the searching step and displaying the result on a display unit; A support method comprising the above steps.

11. A computer is caused to obtain claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; extract one or more words to be described in the specification of the new patent document from among the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data; select, as selected past patent documents, one or more of the past patent documents in which the degree of match between the plurality of words included in the claim data and the plurality of words included in each of the plurality of past patent documents created in the past is equal to or greater than a threshold; referring to a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences included in the selected past patent documents, and searching for an explanatory sentence that is a text sentence that explains a selected word, which is a word selected from among the one or more words, and that includes a sentence in which the selected word is combined with a predetermined particle, from among the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit; associating the one or more words with the explanatory sentence searched in the searching step and displaying the result on a display unit; A program for causing the above steps to be executed.

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