Information processing device, information processing method, and program

Abstract

To facilitate the creation of a patent specification describing explanations in an appropriate order.SOLUTION: An information processing device 1 includes a storage unit 13 for storing a plurality of text sentences included in a reference patent document, a data acquisition unit 141 for acquiring claim data corresponding to the range of a patent claim of a new patent document to be newly created, a word extraction unit 143 for extracting a plurality of words to be explained in a specification of the new patent document among words described in the range of the patent claim corresponding to the claim data, an order determination unit 144 for determining an order of explaining a plurality of selection words being two or more words among the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit 143, a retrieval unit 146 for retrieving explanatory sentences being text sentences for respectively explaining the plurality of selection words from a plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit 13, and a display processing unit 147 for displaying a plurality of explanatory sentences corresponding to the plurality of selection words in a display unit 12 in the order determined by the order determination unit 144.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

Technical Field

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

Background Art

[0002] There is known an information processing apparatus 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. Even if a patent specification is created using the example sentences displayed by the information processing apparatus of Patent Document 1, there is a problem that it is difficult for a person reading the patent specification to understand the meaning of the sentence unless the explanation is given in an appropriate order.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of these points, and an object thereof is to be able to create a patent specification in which explanations are described in an appropriate order.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] An information processing apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes: a storage unit for storing a plurality of text sentences contained in a reference patent document; a data acquisition unit for acquiring claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created new patent document; a word extraction unit for extracting a plurality of words from the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; an order determination unit for determining the order in which to explain a plurality of selected words, which are two or more words, from the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit; a search unit for searching for explanatory texts, which are text sentences that explain each of the plurality of selected words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in the storage unit; and a display processing unit for displaying the plurality of explanatory texts corresponding to the plurality of selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit.

[0007] The display processing unit may display a setting screen on the display unit for accepting operations to select the multiple selected words from the multiple words and to set the order of the multiple selected words, and the order determination unit may determine the order in which the multiple selected words are explained based on the content of the operations performed on the setting screen.

[0008] The order determination unit may determine the order in which the operations for selecting the multiple selection words on the setting screen are performed as the order in which the multiple selection words are explained.

[0009] The storage unit may further store a format file indicating the format of the specification in the new patent document, and the sequence determination unit may determine the order in which the plurality of selected words are described in the order corresponding to the format indicated in the format file.

[0010] The storage unit stores a plurality of the format files, and the information processing device further includes an operation receiving unit that receives an operation to select a format file to be used by the sequence determination unit from among the plurality of format files, and the sequence determination unit may determine the order in which to explain the plurality of selected words in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file selected by the operation received by the operation receiving unit.

[0011] The sequence determination unit may determine the order in which the multiple selection words are described in the order in which they are described in the claims corresponding to the claim data.

[0012] The storage unit stores a plurality of the reference patent documents, and the search unit may search for the explanatory text from a predetermined number of the reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the amount in which the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit are included in each of the plurality of reference patent documents.

[0013] The storage unit stores a plurality of the reference patent documents, and the search unit may search for the explanatory text from a plurality of text sentences contained in a predetermined number of the plurality of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the types of words contained in each of the plurality of reference patent documents from among the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit.

[0014] The storage unit stores a plurality of the reference patent documents, and the display processing unit may, if the explanatory text of the selected word is included in the plurality of reference patent documents, cause the display unit to display one or more of the explanatory texts included in a predetermined number of the reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims.

[0015] A program according to a second aspect of the present invention causes a computer to function as: 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 a plurality of words from the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; an order determination unit that determines the order in which a plurality of selected words, which are two or more words, are explained from the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit; a search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the plurality of selected words, from the plurality of texts stored in a storage unit that stores a plurality of texts contained in a reference patent document; and a display processing unit that causes the plurality of explanatory texts corresponding to the plurality of selected words to be displayed in a display unit in the order determined by the order determination unit.

[0016] A third aspect of the present invention is an information processing method which includes the steps of: obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document executed by a computer; extracting a plurality of words from the words described in the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; determining the order in which to explain a plurality of selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted plurality of words; searching for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the plurality of selected words, from the plurality of text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores a plurality of text sentences contained in a reference patent document; and displaying the plurality of explanatory texts corresponding to the plurality of selected words in the determined order on a display unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0017] According to the present invention, it becomes easier to create a patent specification in which the explanation is presented in an appropriate order. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0018] [Figure 1] This is a diagram showing an overview of the information processing device 1. [Figure 2] This is a diagram showing the configuration of the information processing device 1. [Figure 3] This is a diagram showing an example of an order setting screen. [Figure 4] This is a diagram showing an example of a specification selection screen. [Figure 5] This is a diagram showing an example of a screen on which a plurality of explanatory texts are displayed. [Figure 6] This is a diagram showing an example of an explanatory text selection screen. [Figure 7] This is a diagram showing an example of a format file. [Figure 8] This is a diagram showing an example of the description of the claims and the explanatory text in the patent specification. [Figure 9] This is a diagram showing an example of the search process of the search unit 146. [Figure 10] This is a flowchart showing the processing flow in the information processing apparatus 1. [Figure 11] This is a diagram showing the configuration of the information processing system S.

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0019] [Overview of Information Processing Apparatus 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overview of the information processing apparatus 1. The information processing apparatus 1 is an apparatus for assisting in creating a document including sentences that explain the meaning of words, such as a patent specification. The information processing apparatus 1 is an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, for example. Hereinafter, an example will be described in which the information processing apparatus 1 is a terminal operated by a user for the purpose of creating a patent specification.

[0020] The information processing apparatus 1 extracts candidates for explanatory texts that explain the words to be described in the newly created patent specification from a reference patent document that is a pre-written patent specification, and presents the extracted candidates. The reference patent document is, for example, a patent specification created for a past patent application.

[0021] The words included in the patent specification are, for example, the words included in the patent claims. The information processing device 1 inserts the explanatory text selected by the user from the presented list of explanatory texts into the text of the new patent specification created by the user.

[0022] Specifically, the information processing device 1 first obtains claim data, which is text data corresponding to the claims in the patent application document. Next, the information processing device 1 extracts several words from the claim data that are to be explained in the specification created by the user. The information processing device 1 then determines the order in which to explain the extracted words.

[0023] The information processing device 1 searches the reference patent document database, which stores previously written patent documents, for explanatory texts that explain each of the extracted words, and selects several explanatory texts. The information processing device 1 then inserts the selected explanatory texts into the document being edited by the user in the order determined. In this way, the information processing device 1 assists the user in properly creating a new patent specification by enabling the user to reuse the explanatory texts of words described in the reference patent document in the appropriate order in the newly created patent specification.

[0024] [Example configuration of information processing device 1] Figure 2 shows the configuration of an information processing device 1 according to an embodiment. The information processing device 1 comprises an operation unit 11, a display unit 12, a storage unit 13, and a control unit 14. The control unit 14 comprises a data acquisition unit 141, an operation reception unit 142, a word extraction unit 143, a sequence determination unit 144, a document selection unit 145, a search unit 146, and a display processing unit 147.

[0025] The operation unit 11 receives operations from the user of the information processing device 1 and outputs control signals corresponding to the received operations to the operation reception unit 142. The operation unit 11 is, for example, a mouse or keyboard. The display unit 12 responds to control signals from the control unit 14 and displays images or display screens generated by the display processing unit 147. The display unit 12 is, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display.

[0026] The storage unit 13 includes, for example, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), a hard disk, or an SSD (Solid State Drive). The storage unit 13 stores various programs for operating the information processing device 1. The storage unit 13 stores multiple text sentences contained in a pre-created reference patent document. The reference patent document is a previously created patent specification, a published patent gazette, or a patent publication, etc. The storage unit 13 may also store words and their synonyms in association. For example, the storage unit 13 stores a table of words and their synonyms. The storage unit 13 may also store a format file that shows the format of the specification in a new patent document. Details of the format file will be described later.

[0027] The control unit 14 is, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit). By executing the control program stored in the memory unit 13, the control unit 14 functions as a data acquisition unit 141, an operation reception unit 142, a word extraction unit 143, an order determination unit 144, a document selection unit 145, a search unit 146, and a display processing unit 147.

[0028] The data acquisition unit 141 acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document. Claim data is text data that indicates the scope of rights for which a patent is sought. If the claims are divided into multiple claims, the claim data is data that indicates all or part of the claims. As an example, the data acquisition unit 141 acquires text data as claim data that corresponds to the text entered on a screen for inputting the text text of the claims. The data acquisition unit 141 may also acquire 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. Once the data acquisition unit 141 has acquired the claim data, it outputs the claim data to the word extraction unit 143 and the document selection unit 145.

[0029] The operation reception unit 142 identifies the user's operation based on the signal input from the operation unit 11. The operation reception unit 142 accepts an operation to select a word from a set of words. The selected word is the word to be used to search for explanatory text in the reference patent document. If the operation received by the operation reception unit 142 is an operation to select a word from a set of words included in the keyword selection screen, which will be described later, displayed by the display processing unit 147, the operation reception unit 142 outputs the selected word to the search unit 146.

[0030] Furthermore, the operation reception unit 142 accepts operations to set the order in which explanations corresponding to multiple selected words are written. The operation reception unit 142 notifies the order determination unit 144 of the details of the operations to set the order. Details of the operations to set the order will be described later.

[0031] The word extraction unit 143 extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document. After acquiring the claim data from the data acquisition unit 141, the word extraction unit 143 performs morphological analysis. Based on the analysis results, the word extraction unit 143 identifies at least one noun, adjective, or adverb contained in the claim data and extracts the identified words as words to be explained in the specification of the new patent document. The word extraction unit 143 outputs the extracted words to the search unit 146.

[0032] The order determination unit 144 determines the order in which to explain multiple selected words, which are two or more words from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143. The order in which to explain multiple selected words is the order in which to insert multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to each of the multiple selected words into the patent specification being created by the user. As an example, the order determination unit 144 determines the order in which to explain multiple selected words based on the content of the operations performed on the order setting screen displayed on the display unit 12 by the display processing unit 147. For example, the order determination unit 144 determines the order in which to explain multiple selected words based on the order in which the operations for selecting multiple selected words were performed on the order setting screen.

[0033] Figure 3 shows an example of the order setting screen. The order setting screen includes multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143, checkboxes for selecting each word, and a field indicating the order of the selected words. As shown in Figure 3(a), when the user selects the first word, "capacitive method," "1" is displayed in the field indicating the order of "capacitive method." Subsequently, as shown in Figure 3(b), when the user selects the second word, "electrode," "2" is displayed in the field indicating the order of "electrode." By repeating this word selection operation, the user can set the order in which multiple selected words are explained.

[0034] The order setting screen shown in Figure 3 displays a "Search" button and an "Insert Description" button. When the user presses the "Search" button, the search unit 146 searches for descriptions of the selected words from the multiple text sentences stored in the storage unit 13, as will be described later. When the user presses the "Insert Description" button, the display processing unit 147 displays a screen in which the searched descriptions have been inserted into the patent specification being edited by the user in the set order.

[0035] The document selection unit 145 selects one or more reference patent documents as selected reference patent documents in which the degree of agreement between multiple words contained in the claim data and multiple words contained in each of the multiple reference patent documents is above a threshold. The selected reference patent documents are the reference patent documents from which explanatory texts of the words are to be extracted. For example, the document selection unit 145 identifies the number of occurrences of each word in the reference patent documents for each word contained in the claim data, and selects reference patent documents that contain words whose occurrence count is above a threshold as selected reference patent documents. The document selection unit 145 may also select reference patent documents as selected reference patent documents if they contain multiple words whose occurrence count is above a threshold.

[0036] Furthermore, the document selection unit 145 may select a reference patent document as a selected reference patent document if the type of word it contains is relatively important among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143. A type of word with relatively high importance is, for example, a word that appears in an independent claim or a word that appears frequently in the claims. A type of word with relatively high importance may also be a word specified by the user.

[0037] The document selection unit 145 may select a reference patent document as a selected reference patent document if the multiple words in the claim data are in the same order as the multiple words in the claim data. Alternatively, the document selection unit 145 may select a reference patent document as a selected reference patent document if the multiple words in the claim data are in the same distance from each of the multiple words.

[0038] As an example, the document selection unit 145 may calculate the degree of similarity by summing the number of times each word included in the claim data appears in the reference patent document. The document selection unit 145 may calculate a score for each word included in the claim data, determined from the number of times that word appears in the reference patent document, and then calculate the degree of similarity by summing the scores for each word. The document selection unit 145 may also calculate the degree of similarity based on the number of words included in the reference patent document that are common to multiple words included in the claim data. For example, if the words included in the claim data are "electrode group," "capacitive method," and "transparent touch panel," the document selection unit 145 will determine that the degree of similarity of a document containing both "capacitive method" and "transparent touch panel" is higher than the degree of similarity of a document containing only one type of word, "electrode group."

[0039] Furthermore, words that are repeatedly used in a document are considered important words. Therefore, the document selection unit 145 may calculate the degree of similarity based on the number of words that appear in the reference patent document more than a predetermined number of times among the words included in the claim data, or the ratio of important words to the extracted words.

[0040] Furthermore, the document selection unit 145 may calculate the degree of similarity based on the relationship between the distance between important words in the claim data and the distance between the same combination of words in the reference patent document. The document selection unit 145 may also use words specified by the user as important words. The document selection unit 145 may also treat a word and its synonyms as the same word and perform the above processing.

[0041] The document selection unit 145 may select selected reference patent documents based on an operation in which the user selects one or more reference patent documents from a plurality of reference patent documents. In this case, the document selection unit 145 displays the specification selection screen shown in Figure 4 via the display processing unit 147 to prompt the user to select selected reference patent documents. On the specification selection screen, the display processing unit 147 may display reference patent documents whose degree of matching obtained from the document selection unit 145 is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold. In the example of the specification selection screen shown in Figure 4, when the operation reception unit 142 receives an operation in which the "Copy" button is pressed, the document selection unit 145 selects the reference patent documents selected by the user as selected reference patent documents. The document selection unit 145 outputs the selected selected reference patent documents to the search unit 146.

[0042] The search unit 146 searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain multiple selected words, from among multiple texts stored in the storage unit 13. For example, the search unit 146 searches for multiple texts corresponding to multiple selected words whose order has been determined by the sequence determination unit 144, from the reference patent documents stored in the storage unit 13, as multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple selected words. The search unit 146 may use a single sentence containing a selected word as an explanatory text, or multiple sentences including the sentences before and after the sentence containing the selected word as an explanatory text, or all sentences in a paragraph containing a selected word as an explanatory text.

[0043] The search unit 146 may search for text sentences containing a sentence in which a selected word and a predetermined particle are combined, as explanatory sentences. For example, the search unit 146 searches for text sentences containing a subject in which a selected word (which is a noun) and a predetermined particle are combined. The particle includes words used in a particle-like manner. The predetermined particle is a particle that has been pre-registered as a particle used in explanatory sentences, such as "wa," "ga," "towa," or "oide wa." By operating in this manner, the search unit 146 can increase the probability of extracting a sentence that explains the meaning, nature, or action of a word.

[0044] The search unit 146 may search for explanatory texts that describe the selected words in response to the operation reception unit 142 receiving an operation. For example, when the user presses the "Search" button displayed on the order setting screen shown in Figure 3, the search unit 146 searches for multiple explanatory texts that describe each of the multiple selected words from the reference patent documents stored in the storage unit 13.

[0045] It is believed that the search unit 146 can more accurately find a description of a word that is closer to the user's intent by searching for descriptive texts from reference patent documents in technical fields that are highly relevant to the technical field of the claims corresponding to the claim data. Therefore, the search unit 146 may search for descriptive texts from multiple text sentences contained in a predetermined number of standard patent documents that are relatively highly relevant to the claims, based on the amount in which multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143 are included in each of the multiple reference patent documents. In other words, the search unit 146 may search for descriptive texts of selected words targeting the selected reference patent documents input from the document selection unit 145.

[0046] Furthermore, the search unit 146 may search for explanatory texts from a predetermined number of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the types of words contained in each of the multiple reference patent documents from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143. For example, the search unit 146 searches for explanatory texts from reference patent documents that contain words of a high importance type. Words of a high importance type are, as described above, for example, words listed in independent claims, words that appear frequently in the claims, or words specified by the user.

[0047] Furthermore, by having the search unit 146 also search for descriptive texts that explain synonyms of the selected word, the likelihood of finding a descriptive text that can be used as a descriptive text for the selected word increases. Therefore, the search unit 146 may search for descriptive texts that are texts explaining one or more words and one or more synonyms that the memory unit 13 has stored as synonyms of one or more words. The search unit 146 refers to the information stored in the memory unit 13 that associates words with synonyms and identifies synonyms of the selected word. Then, the search unit 146 searches for descriptive texts that explain the identified synonyms. With the search unit 146 configured in this way, the information processing device 1 can easily find a descriptive text that matches the user's intent with fewer operations.

[0048] The display processing unit 147 displays various texts or images on the display unit 12. The display processing unit 147 also displays an order setting screen on the display unit 12 for accepting operations to select multiple words from a set of words and to set the order of the selected words.

[0049] Furthermore, the display processing unit 147 displays multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple selected words on the display unit 12 in the order determined by the order determination unit 144. For example, when the "Insert Explanatory Text" button is pressed on the order setting screen shown in Figure 3(b), the display processing unit 147 displays the explanatory text for "Capacitive Method," which was determined to be the first in the order, at the top, and the explanatory text for "Electrode," which was determined to be the second in the order, in the second position.

[0050] Figure 5 shows an example of a screen displaying multiple explanatory texts. In Figure 5, the explanatory text for "electrode" is displayed following "capacitive method" in the patent specification being edited by the user. By having the display processing unit 147 display multiple explanatory texts in this order, the user can quickly include multiple explanatory texts in the desired order in the patent specification.

[0051] The display processing unit 147 may display a description selection screen on the display unit 12 containing multiple description candidates for each selected word before the user inserts multiple description sentences into the patent specification being edited. In this case, the display processing unit 147 displays the multiple description candidates on the display unit 12 in the order of the selected words determined by the order determination unit 144.

[0052] Figure 6 shows an example of a description selection screen. In the description selection screen shown in Figure 6, three candidate descriptions for the first selected word, "capacitive method," are displayed, followed by three candidate descriptions for the second selected word, "electrode." When the user selects one or more candidates from the displayed candidates, the selected candidate descriptions are inserted into the window where the document editing software is running. With this configuration, when there are multiple candidate descriptions for a single selected word, the user can include multiple desired descriptions corresponding to multiple selected words in the patent specification in a desired order.

[0053] If the explanatory text for the selected word is included in multiple reference patent documents, the display processing unit 147 may display one or more explanatory texts from a predetermined number of standard patent documents that are relatively highly relevant to the claims on the display unit 12. For example, the display processing unit 147 receives notification from the document selection unit 145 regarding the frequency of occurrence of the selected word in the reference patent documents, and displays the explanatory text from the reference patent document with the highest frequency of occurrence of the selected word on the display unit 12. By operating in this manner, the display processing unit 147 can reduce the time it takes for the user to select an explanatory text.

[0054] The display processing unit 147 may display multiple explanatory texts on the display unit 12 along with information indicating the degree of relevance. By displaying information indicating the degree of relevance to the claims, the display processing unit 147 makes it easier for the user to select the appropriate explanatory text.

[0055] [Other examples of how order is determined] In the above explanation, the order determination unit 144 has been shown as an example in which it determines the order in which to explain multiple selected words based on the order in which the user selected words using the order setting screen shown in Figure 3. However, the order determination unit 144 may determine the order in which to explain multiple selected words by other methods.

[0056] As a second method, the sequence determination unit 144 may determine the order in which the multiple selected words are described in the claims corresponding to the claim data. For example, if the word extraction unit 143 extracts words from the claims in the order shown in Figure 3, namely "electrode," "electrode group," "capacitive method," "transparent touch panel," "display device," and "coordinate detection circuit," the sequence determination unit 144 will determine the order in which the multiple selected words are described, namely "electrode," "electrode group," "capacitive method," "transparent touch panel," "display device," and "coordinate detection circuit."

[0057] If the user selects multiple words from the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 143, the order determination unit 144 may determine the order in which the selected multiple words are described in the claims, which is the order in which the selected multiple words are described. If it is sufficient to describe the words in the patent specification in the order in the claims, the order determination unit 144 can process the words in this way, eliminating the need for the user to be conscious of the order when selecting words, thus improving the user's work efficiency.

[0058] As a third method, the sequence determination unit 144 may determine the order in which to explain multiple selected words in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file stored in the storage unit 13. The format file is a file containing data indicating multiple items to be described in the patent specification and the order in which the multiple items are described.

[0059] Figure 7 shows an example of a format file. In the format file shown in Figure 7, the items that should be included in the explanation for each selected word are listed along with the symbols (A), (B), (C), and (D) corresponding to the order in which the selected words are listed.

[0060] Figure 8 shows examples of explanatory text in patent claims and patent specifications. Figure 8(a) shows an example of patent claims, and Figure 8(b) shows an example of a patent specification that includes multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple words included in the patent claims in Figure 8(a). The symbols (A), (B), (C), and (D) in the patent claims shown in Figure 8(a) are symbols assigned by the user to determine the order of the multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple words.

[0061] The sequence determination unit 144 searches for codes corresponding to codes included in the format file of Figure 7 within the claims, and determines the order in which multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to multiple words are written according to the order of codes described in the format file.

[0062] In Figure 8(a), the symbol (A) corresponds to "(meth)acrylate oligomer," the symbol (B) corresponds to "monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer," the symbol (C) corresponds to "compound having a carbonate group," and the symbol (D) corresponds to "photoinitiator." In this case, the sequence determination unit 144 determines the order in which to write the explanatory text, based on the order of (A), (B), (C), and (D) specified in the format file of Figure 7, in the order of "(meth)acrylate oligomer," "monofunctional (meth)acrylate monomer," "compound having a carbonate group," and "photoinitiator."

[0063] The display processing unit 147 may determine the order in which to insert multiple explanatory sentences for a single selected word into the patent specification, based on the relationship between the text contained in the multiple explanatory sentences for a single selected word and the word contained in the format file. In the example shown in Figure 8(b), the display processing unit 147 places a sentence containing text indicating the definition of the substance corresponding to the selected word (for example, "is", "is selected from", "is chosen") at the "definition" position in the format file.

[0064] The display processing unit 147 determines that sentences containing text indicating the role or effect of a substance corresponding to the selected word (for example, "can do ~" or "has the effect of ~") indicate the role of the substance corresponding to the selected word, and places such sentences in the "Role" position in the format file. The display processing unit 147 also determines that sentences containing the selected word and a word indicating quantity indicate the quantity of the substance corresponding to the selected word, and places them in the "Quantity" position in the format file. By operating in this manner, the display processing unit 147 can reduce the time it takes for the user to create a patent specification in accordance with the format file. Furthermore, by using the format file, even users unfamiliar with creating patent specifications can create a patent specification with multiple explanatory sentences in the appropriate order.

[0065] Incidentally, when the field of invention is the same, the content to be described in the patent specification and the order in which the explanatory text should be described are often similar. Therefore, the storage unit 13 may store multiple format files corresponding to multiple fields of invention, and the operation reception unit 142 may accept an operation to select the format file to be used by the order determination unit 144 from among the multiple format files. The operation reception unit 142 accepts from the user the selection of a field of invention, such as an invention of organic compounds, an invention of inorganic compounds, an invention of a method for producing compounds, an invention of medicines, or an invention of agriculture.

[0066] The sequence determination unit 144 determines the order in which to describe multiple selected words in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file selected by the operation received by the operation reception unit 142. For example, the sequence determination unit 144 selects a format file stored in the storage unit 13 in association with the selected field of invention, and determines the order in which to write the explanatory text based on the selected format file. This operation of the sequence determination unit 144 makes it easier to write multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple words included in the claims in an order appropriate to the field of invention.

[0067] [Search processing using machine learning models] The search unit 146 may perform the search process using machine learning. Figure 9 shows an example of the search process of the search unit 146. The search unit 146 may search for explanatory texts by inputting a reference patent document into a trained model that has been trained using the word to be explained, a text sentence containing the word, and a flag indicating whether or not the text sentence is an explanatory text as training data, and obtaining the text sentence output as an explanatory text by the trained model.

[0068] Specifically, the search unit 146 uses the word to be explained, the text sentence containing the word, and a flag indicating whether the text sentence explains the word as training data to generate a trained model that learns the relationship between a word and an explanatory sentence that explains the word. The search unit 146 identifies an explanatory sentence that explains the selected word contained in the selected reference patent document by inputting the selected reference patent document or multiple text sentences contained in the selected reference patent document and the selected word into the generated trained model. The search unit 146 may also input the reference patent document into the trained model, which outputs whether the input text sentence indicates a definition of a substance, a role of a substance, or a quantity of a substance, and search for an explanatory sentence that corresponds to an item described in the format file.

[0069] [Word replacement process] If the search unit 146 searches for descriptive texts of synonyms similar to the selected word, and these descriptive texts are inserted into the specification being created by the user, the user will need to perform the task of replacing the synonyms with the selected word. Therefore, if the search unit 146 searches for multiple descriptive texts corresponding to one or more words and one or more synonyms, the display processing unit 147 may display the descriptive texts on the display unit after replacing one or more synonyms contained in the multiple descriptive texts with one or more words. When the search unit 146 searches for descriptive texts corresponding to synonyms of the selected word, the display processing unit 147, upon receiving an operation to insert the searched descriptive text into the document being edited, replaces the synonyms contained in the descriptive texts with the selected word and then inserts the descriptive texts with the selected word into the document being edited. By configuring the display processing unit 147 in this way, the user's workload can be reduced, making it possible to shorten the time required to create the specification.

[0070] Furthermore, there are cases where the codes attached to selected words in the description retrieved by the search unit 146 differ from the codes attached to selected words in the specification created by the user. In this case as well, the user would need to perform the task of replacing the codes after the description has been inserted into the specification. Therefore, the display processing unit 147 may, when the search unit 146 retrieves multiple description documents from multiple reference patent documents and multiple selected words are assigned different codes, replace the different codes with a single code and then display the multiple description documents on the display unit.

[0071] Specifically, when the operation reception unit 142 receives an operation to insert an explanatory text into the document being edited, the display processing unit 147 replaces the codes corresponding to the selected words contained in the explanatory text with the codes corresponding to the selected words in the document being edited by the user, and then inserts the replaced explanatory text into the document being edited. If the specification being edited by the user does not have codes assigned to it, the display processing unit 147 may delete the codes from the explanatory text retrieved from the reference patent document. If the specification being edited by the user does not have codes assigned to it, the display processing unit 147 may display a screen for setting the codes to be assigned to the selected words and assign the entered codes to the selected words.

[0072] [Processing flow in Information Processing Device 1] Figure 10 is a flowchart showing the processing flow in the information processing device 1. The flowchart shown in Figure 10 starts from the point when the information processing device 1 is activated and ready to search for explanatory text.

[0073] The data acquisition unit 141 acquires claim data (S01). Once 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 contained in the input claim data (S02). The word extraction unit 143 outputs the extracted words to the document selection unit 145 and the search unit 146. Based on the input words, the document selection unit 145 selects a document from the reference patent documents that contains words that match the claim data (S03). The document selection unit 145 outputs the selected reference patent document to the search unit 146.

[0074] The display processing unit 147 displays a keyword selection screen in which the words extracted by the word extraction unit 143 are placed (S04). The search unit 146 determines whether the selection and order setting of words has been accepted on the keyword selection screen (S05). If the operation reception unit 142 has not accepted the selection and order setting of words (NO in S05), the search unit 146 returns to S05 and makes the determination again. If the operation reception unit 142 has accepted the selection and order setting of words (YES in S05), the search unit 146 proceeds to S06.

[0075] The search unit 146 searches the reference patent documents stored in the storage unit 13 for the explanatory text of the selected word (S06). The display processing unit 147 displays a screen on the display unit 12 showing multiple explanatory texts in the set order (S07). Specifically, the display processing unit 147 inserts multiple explanatory texts corresponding to multiple selected words into the window where the document editing software is running, in the set order. For example, the display processing unit 147 inserts multiple explanatory texts in the set order after the position of the cursor.

[0076] [Effects of Information Processing Device 1] As described above, the information processing device 1 includes a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in reference patent documents created in the past. The word extraction unit 143 extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data acquired by the data acquisition unit 141 that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document, and the order determination unit 144 determines the order in which the multiple words are explained. The display processing unit 147 displays the multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple words on the display unit 12 in the order determined by the order determination unit 144.

[0077] With the information processing device 1 configured in this way, example sentences containing explanations of words included in the claims created by the user are arranged in the order in which they should be included in the patent specification. This eliminates the need for the user to rearrange the order of the explanations, thus shortening the time it takes for the user to create the patent specification. Furthermore, if multiple explanations are included in an order based on a format file containing information on the order in which the explanations should be included, even if the user is not familiar with creating patent specifications, it becomes possible to create a high-quality specification with explanations in the correct order.

[0078] [Differentiation] Figure 11 shows the configuration of an information processing system S according to a modified example. The information processing system S comprises an information processing device 2 and an information terminal 3. The information processing device 2 is a server that receives claim data and information indicating user operations from the information terminal 3 and transmits to the information terminal 3 the search results for words included in the claim data, search results for reference patent documents, and search results for explanatory texts describing those words. The information processing device 2 may be composed of a single computer, a plurality of computers cooperating with each other, or a cloud computing system which is a collection of computer resources.

[0079] The information processing 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 sequence determination unit 233, a document selection unit 234, a search unit 235, and a display processing unit 236. The information processing device 2 has functions corresponding to the information processing device 1, but differs in that it displays an operation screen to the user via the information terminal 3 and accepts user operations. In the following, the functions described for the information processing device 1 will be omitted, and the focus will be on the differences between the information processing device 2 and the information processing device 1.

[0080] The communication unit 21 is a network interface for sending and receiving data with the information terminal 3. The storage unit 22 and the control unit 23 have functions corresponding to the storage unit 13 and the control unit 14 in the information processing device 1, respectively. The data acquisition unit 231 acquires claim data from the information terminal 3 via the communication unit 21. The word extraction unit 232, the sequence determination unit 233, the document selection unit 234, the search unit 235, and the display processing unit 236 have functions corresponding to the word extraction unit 143, the sequence determination unit 144, the document selection unit 145, the search unit 146, and the display processing unit 147 in the information processing device 1, respectively, but they differ in that they receive user operations from the terminal device via the communication unit 21, transmit the results of their processing to the information terminal 3 via the communication unit 21, and display the patent specification editing screen on the display unit of the information terminal 3.

[0081] Information terminal 3 has functions corresponding to the operation reception unit 142. Specifically, information terminal 3 identifies the user's operation content and transmits the user's operation content to the information processing device 2. Information terminal 3 also receives data from the information processing device 2 and displays various operation screens on its display unit. Furthermore, information terminal 3 is equipped with a claim data transmission unit, and when the operation reception unit 142 receives a claim data input operation from the user, it transmits the input claim data to the information processing device 2.

[0082] Although the present invention has been described above using embodiments, 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 its gist. For example, all or part of the apparatus can be configured by functionally or physically distributing and integrating in any unit. Furthermore, new embodiments resulting from any combination of multiple embodiments are also included in the embodiments of the present invention. The effects of the new embodiments resulting from the combinations are combined with the effects of the original embodiments. [Explanation of symbols]

[0083] 1. Information Processing Device 2. Information Processing Device 3. Information terminals 11 Control section 12 Display section 13 Storage section 14 Control Unit 21 Communications Department 22 Memory section 23 Control Unit 141 Data Acquisition Unit 142 Operation Reception Section 143 Word Extraction Section 144 Order determining part 145 Document Selection Section 146 Search Section 147 Display Processing Unit 231 Data Acquisition Unit 232 Word Extraction Unit 233 Order determining part 234 Document Selection Section 235 Search Section 236 Display Processing Unit S Information Processing System

Claims

1. A storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from the multiple texts stored in the memory unit, A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, Equipped with, The display processing unit displays a setting screen on the display unit for accepting operations to select multiple selected words from the multiple words and to set the order of the multiple selected words. The order determination unit determines the order in which the multiple selected words are explained based on the content of the operations performed on the setting screen. Information processing device.

2. The order determination unit determines the order in which the operations for selecting the multiple selection words on the setting screen are performed in an order that explains the multiple selection words. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1.

3. A storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from the multiple texts stored in the memory unit, A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, Equipped with, The storage unit further stores a format file indicating the format of the specification in the new patent document, The order determination unit determines the order in which the multiple selected words are explained, in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file. Information processing device.

4. The storage unit stores a plurality of the aforementioned format files, The information processing device further includes an operation receiving unit that receives an operation to select a format file to be used by the sequence determination unit from among the plurality of format files, The sequence determination unit determines the order in which the multiple selected words are explained, in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file selected by the operation received by the operation reception unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.

5. A storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from the multiple texts stored in the memory unit, A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, Equipped with, The storage unit stores a plurality of the aforementioned reference patent documents, The search unit searches for the explanatory text from a predetermined number of texts contained in the plurality of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the amount in which the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction unit are included in each of the plurality of reference patent documents. Information processing device.

6. A storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from the multiple texts stored in the memory unit, A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, Equipped with, The storage unit stores a plurality of the aforementioned reference patent documents, The search unit searches for the explanatory text from a predetermined number of the reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the types of words contained in each of the multiple reference patent documents among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit. Information processing device.

7. A storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit that searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from the multiple texts stored in the memory unit, A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, Equipped with, The storage unit stores a plurality of the aforementioned reference patent documents, If the explanatory text for the selected word is included in the plurality of reference patent documents, the display processing unit will display one or more of the explanatory texts included in a predetermined number of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims on the display unit. Information processing device.

8. Computers, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple texts stored in a storage unit that stores multiple texts contained in a reference patent document. A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, It is a program designed to function as such. The display processing unit displays a setting screen on the display unit for accepting operations to select multiple selected words from the multiple words and to set the order of the multiple selected words. The order determination unit determines the order in which the multiple selected words are explained based on the content of the operations performed on the setting screen. program.

9. Computers, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple texts stored in a storage unit that stores multiple texts contained in a reference patent document. A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, It is a program designed to function as such. The sequence determination unit determines the order in which the plurality of selected words are described in the order corresponding to the format indicated by the format file indicating the format of the specification in the new patent document, which is stored in the storage unit. program.

10. Computers, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple texts stored in a storage unit that stores multiple texts contained in a reference patent document. A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, It is a program designed to function as such. The search unit searches for the explanatory text from a predetermined number of reference patent documents among the multiple reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the amount in which the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit are included in each of the multiple reference patent documents stored in the storage unit. program.

11. Computers, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple texts stored in a storage unit that stores multiple texts contained in a reference patent document. A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, It is a program designed to function as such. The search unit searches for the explanatory text from a predetermined number of reference patent documents among the multiple reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, based on the types of words contained in each of the multiple reference patent documents stored in the storage unit, among the multiple reference patent documents extracted by the word extraction unit. program.

12. Computers, A data acquisition unit that acquires claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, A word extraction unit extracts multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be described in the specification of the new patent document, The word extraction unit has a sequence determination unit that determines the order in which two or more selected words are explained from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit, A search unit searches for explanatory texts, which are texts that explain each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple texts stored in a storage unit that stores multiple texts contained in a reference patent document. A display processing unit that displays multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the order determined by the order determination unit on the display unit, It is a program designed to function as such. If the display processing unit contains the explanatory text for the selected word in a plurality of reference patent documents stored in the storage unit, it will display one or more of the explanatory texts contained in a predetermined number of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims in the display unit. program.

13. A computer executes The steps include obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, The steps include: extracting multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; The steps include: displaying a setting screen on the display unit for accepting operations to select multiple selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted multiple words, and to set the order of the multiple selected words; The steps include determining the order in which to explain the multiple selected words based on the operations performed on the settings screen, The steps include: searching for an explanatory text, which is a text that explains each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document; The steps include: displaying multiple explanatory sentences corresponding to the multiple selected words in the determined order on the display unit; An information processing method having

14. A computer executes The steps include obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, The steps include: extracting multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; The steps include determining the order in which to explain multiple selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted multiple words, The steps include: searching for an explanatory text, which is a text that explains each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document; The steps include displaying multiple explanatory texts corresponding to the multiple selected words in the determined order on the display unit, It has, In the step of determining the order, the order in which the multiple selected words are described is determined to correspond to the order indicated by the format file indicating the format of the specification in the new patent document stored in the storage unit. Information processing methods.

15. A computer executes The steps include obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, The steps include: extracting multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; The steps include determining the order in which to explain multiple selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted multiple words, The steps include: searching for an explanatory text, which is a text that explains each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document; The steps include displaying multiple explanatory texts corresponding to the multiple selected words in the determined order on the display unit, It has, In the search step, based on the amount of each of the multiple reference patent documents stored in the memory unit that the extracted multiple words are present in each of the multiple reference patent documents, the explanatory text is searched from the multiple text sentences contained in a predetermined number of the multiple reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims. Information processing methods.

16. A computer executes The steps include obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, The steps include: extracting multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; The steps include determining the order in which to explain multiple selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted multiple words, The steps include: searching for an explanatory text, which is a text that explains each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document; The steps include displaying multiple explanatory texts corresponding to the multiple selected words in the determined order on the display unit, It has, In the search step, based on the types of words contained in each of the multiple reference patent documents stored in the memory unit, the explanatory text is searched from the multiple text sentences contained in a predetermined number of the multiple reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims, among the multiple reference patent documents. Information processing methods.

17. A computer executes The steps include obtaining claim data corresponding to the claims of a newly created patent document, The steps include: extracting multiple words from the claims corresponding to the claim data that are to be explained in the specification of the new patent document; The steps include determining the order in which to explain multiple selected words, which are two or more words from the extracted multiple words, The steps include: searching for an explanatory text, which is a text that explains each of the multiple selected words, from among the multiple text sentences stored in a storage unit that stores multiple text sentences contained in a reference patent document; The steps include displaying multiple explanatory texts corresponding to the multiple selected words in the determined order on the display unit, It has, In the step of displaying, if the explanatory text of the selected word is included in a plurality of reference patent documents stored in the memory unit, one or more of the explanatory texts included in a predetermined number of reference patent documents that have a relatively high degree of relevance to the claims are displayed in the display unit. Information processing methods.

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