Patent 8239358

Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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Prior art

Earlier patents, publications, and products that may anticipate or render the claims unpatentable.

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To identify the most relevant prior art for US Patent 8239358, I will examine the patent citations listed within the patent itself. "Prior art" refers to any evidence that an invention was already known or available to the public before the effective filing date of a patent application. This can include previously granted patents and published applications.

Based on the patent document US8239358, here are the cited prior art references that were considered by the examiner:

Patent Citations for US8239358

  1. US5384703A:

    • Full Citation: US5384703A, "Method and apparatus for summarizing documents according to theme"
    • Publication Date: 1995-01-24
    • Priority Date: 1993-07-02
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method and apparatus for summarizing documents based on identified themes. It focuses on extracting key information related to a specific subject within a document.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent potentially anticipates aspects of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7 related to the concept of generating a summary of documents. Specifically, the idea of producing a "digest, on a topic specified by said query, produced by analyzing syntax and semantics of said related documents, extracting sentences and text fragments" may be anticipated by a method that summarizes documents "according to theme."

  2. US5623652A:

    • Full Citation: US5623652A, "Method and apparatus for searching for information in a network and for controlling the display of searchable information on display devices in the network"
    • Publication Date: 1997-04-22
    • Priority Date: 1994-07-25
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method for searching information in a network and controlling its display. It focuses on presenting search results effectively to a user.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent might anticipate elements of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7 concerning the "means for interfacing with a user" and "means for presenting said multi-document summary to the user," as it deals with methods for displaying searchable information in a network.

  3. US5634051A:

    • Full Citation: US5634051A, "Information management system"
    • Publication Date: 1997-05-27
    • Priority Date: 1993-10-28
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a system for managing information, which could involve retrieval and organization of documents.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This may generally anticipate elements of the system claims (Claim 7) related to overall information retrieval and management.

  4. US5859972A:

    • Full Citation: US5859972A, "Multiple server repository and multiple server remote application virtual client computer"
    • Publication Date: 1999-01-12
    • Priority Date: 1996-05-10
    • Brief Description: This patent relates to a system involving multiple servers and client computers for managing and accessing information.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could potentially anticipate system architecture aspects of Claim 7, particularly where the "system core" interacts with various components across a network.

  5. US6181342B1:

    • Full Citation: US6181342B1, "Computer file directory system displaying visual summaries of visual data in desktop computer documents for quickly identifying document content"
    • Publication Date: 2001-01-30
    • Priority Date: 1998-07-06
    • Brief Description: This patent focuses on displaying visual summaries of documents in a computer file directory system to aid in quick content identification. While it mentions "visual summaries," the concept of providing a summary for quick content review is relevant.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent may anticipate the general idea of providing a "summary" to help users quickly understand document content, as described in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7, even if the summary format is visual rather than text-based.

  6. US6199077B1:

    • Full Citation: US6199077B1, "Server-side web summary generation and presentation"
    • Publication Date: 2001-03-06
    • Priority Date: 1998-12-08
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a system for generating and presenting web summaries on the server side.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent appears highly relevant as it explicitly covers "summary generation and presentation" for web content. It could potentially anticipate the "generating a multi-document summary" and "presenting said multi-document summary to the user" aspects of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  7. US6338059B1:

    • Full Citation: US6338059B1, "Hyperlinked search interface for distributed database"
    • Publication Date: 2002-01-08
    • Priority Date: 1998-12-17
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a search interface for distributed databases that uses hyperlinks.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent could potentially anticipate the "attached reference link to at least one related document" feature in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7, as well as the user's ability "to view a one of said related documents by choosing a one of said attached reference links."

  8. US6430563B1:

    • Full Citation: US6430563B1, "Integrated knowledge provider with logical hyperlinks"
    • Publication Date: 2002-08-06
    • Priority Date: 1997-10-07
    • Brief Description: This patent relates to a knowledge provider system that integrates information and uses logical hyperlinks.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): Similar to US6338059B1, this patent could anticipate the use of hyperlinks to navigate to source documents within the context of an information system as described in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  9. US6446065B1:

    • Full Citation: US6446065B1, "Document retrieval assisting method and system for the same and document retrieval service using the same"
    • Publication Date: 2002-09-03
    • Priority Date: 1996-07-05
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method and system for assisting in document retrieval, focusing on enhancing the retrieval process.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could generally anticipate the "searching the documents using a query from the user" aspects of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  10. US20040054973A1:

    • Full Citation: US20040054973A1, "Method and apparatus for transforming contents on the web"
    • Publication Date: 2004-03-18
    • Priority Date: 2000-10-02
    • Brief Description: This patent application describes methods and apparatus for transforming web content. This could include processing and re-presenting information.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): The transformation of web content could encompass aspects of extracting and combining text fragments, potentially anticipating elements of the summarization process in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  11. US6775677B1:

    • Full Citation: US6775677B1, "System, method, and program product for identifying and describing topics in a collection of electronic documents"
    • Publication Date: 2004-08-10
    • Priority Date: 2000-03-02
    • Brief Description: This patent focuses on identifying and describing topics within a collection of electronic documents.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent appears highly relevant to the "digest, on a topic specified by said query" and "extracting sentences and text fragments" aspects of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7. The identification of topics is a core part of summarization focused on a query.

  12. US20050203970A1:

    • Full Citation: US20050203970A1, "System and method for document collection, grouping and summarization"
    • Publication Date: 2005-09-15
    • Priority Date: 2002-09-16
    • Brief Description: This patent application explicitly describes a system and method for document summarization, including collection and grouping.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent is very highly relevant due to its explicit focus on "document summarization." It likely anticipates many aspects of the summarization process described in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7, particularly the generation of a multi-document summary from related documents.

  13. US6944612B2:

    • Full Citation: US6944612B2, "Structured contextual clustering method and system in a federated search engine"
    • Publication Date: 2005-09-13
    • Priority Date: 2002-11-13
    • Brief Description: This patent describes a method and system for structured contextual clustering within a federated search engine. Clustering can be related to organizing information from multiple sources.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent may anticipate elements related to organizing and presenting extracted "semantic concepts" or grouping information from various sources as mentioned in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  14. US7013478B1:

    • Full Citation: US7013478B1, "Method and apparatus for interactive program suggestion"
    • Publication Date: 2006-03-14
    • Priority Date: 1992-12-09
    • Brief Description: This patent describes an interactive system for suggesting programs. While not directly related to document summarization, it involves user interaction and suggestions based on input.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent is less directly relevant to the core summarization aspects but could broadly anticipate the "enabling the user to use the presentation by the displaying steps to refine the query" or other interactive features of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  15. US20070106653A1:

    • Full Citation: US20070106653A1, "Search engine"
    • Publication Date: 2007-05-10
    • Priority Date: 2005-10-12
    • Brief Description: This patent application describes a search engine.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This broadly anticipates the "search component for searching the documents" or "means for searching the documents using a query from the user" in Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7.

  16. US20070288230A1:

    • Full Citation: US20070288230A1, "Simplifying query terms with transliteration"
    • Publication Date: 2007-12-13
    • Priority Date: 2006-04-19
    • Brief Description: This patent application focuses on simplifying query terms, which relates to the initial input for a search.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This could potentially anticipate the "sending a query to a system core" or "refine the query" aspects of Claim 1 and Claim 5.

  17. US7707220B2:

    • Full Citation: US7707220B2, "Methods and apparatus for interactive searching techniques"
    • Publication Date: 2010-04-27
    • Priority Date: 2004-07-06
    • Brief Description: This patent describes methods and apparatus for interactive searching.
    • Potential Anticipation (35 U.S.C. § 102): This patent is relevant to the interactive elements of Claim 1, Claim 5, and Claim 7, particularly the numerous user interaction steps described, such as refining queries, navigating summaries, and requesting modified summaries.

The most relevant prior art references, particularly concerning the core inventive concept of multi-document summarization, appear to be:

  • US5384703A ("Method and apparatus for summarizing documents according to theme")
  • US6199077B1 ("Server-side web summary generation and presentation")
  • US6775677B1 ("System, method, and program product for identifying and describing topics in a collection of electronic documents")
  • US20050203970A1 ("System and method for document collection, grouping and summarization")

These patents explicitly address summarization and the identification of topics within documents, which are central to US8239358's claims.

Generated 5/31/2026, 12:46:54 AM