JP2007265039A - Intellectual property business support device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To support cooperative work of a business consignor and a business consignee related to intellectual property-related business. <P>SOLUTION: The intellectual property business support device 100 is connected with a client terminal used by an intellectual property department member or the like of a company 300 and a client terminal used by an agent or the like of a patent office 400 through a communication network, respectively. This device generates, upon receipt of an ordering instruction of intellectual property business item, an item space for managing data for this item. When an access request to the item space is received, the device permits the access on condition that the user of the requester is a person related to this intellectual property business item. When a predetermined type of access request, for example, upload of a patent specification document is performed, the effect is notified to the related person. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for supporting work related to intellectual property.

  In recent years, with the spread of computers and the advancement of network technology, the exchange of electronic information via the network has become popular. The same applies to IP-related work including patents.

For example, for work up to patent application (hereinafter simply referred to as “application work”), proposals for inventions, preparation of invention materials, prior art searches, examination of applicability, interviews with patent attorneys, preparation and correction of specifications , Invoicing and so on. Various information is exchanged among intellectual property members, inventors, patent attorneys, etc. in the execution process of these operations. Traditionally, this type of information exchange has often been done by mail or fax. However, as Internet security has improved, IT-related work has also been proposed to reduce labor (for example, patents). Reference 1 and Patent Reference 2).
JP 2002-117215 A JP 2002-149809 A

  Patent Document 1 proposes a technique for managing IP-related data in a company that is a consignee of IP-related work. The patent management system described in Patent Document 1 guarantees the security of intellectual property related data by managing access rights. However, the patent management system disclosed in Patent Document 1 is a closed system that is limited to operations within a company (see, for example, paragraph [0023] of Patent Document 1), and is external to a patent office or the like. It seems that it is not assumed that resources will be taken into the system.

  On the other hand, the patent management system described in Patent Document 2 seems to be an open system that is open to patent offices and the like. However, this patent management system merely functions as a database for sharing intellectual property-related data between a business consignment company and a business consignment patent office.

  The present inventor assumes a system that is widely open to those involved in intellectual property related business, and not only does the system passively perform a service requested by the user, but also the system is active for the user. We thought that we could realize efficient operation of intellectual property related business by providing services.

  A main object of the present invention is to provide a technology for supporting joint work between a business consignor and a business trustee related to an IP related business.

An aspect of the present invention relates to an intellectual property business related to an intellectual property-related business, and is connected to both a client terminal used by a business consignment user and a client terminal used by a business consignment user via a communication network. It is a support device.
When receiving an ordering instruction for an intellectual property business item, this device generates an item space for managing data related to the item. When an access request is made to the project space, access is permitted on the condition that the requesting user is a person related to the intellectual property business project.
In addition, when a predetermined type of access request, for example, uploading of a patent specification document is made, the relevant person is notified.

  By creating a case space for each IP business case and identifying the parties with access authority for each case space, it is easy to prevent data leakage. In addition, when a patent specification manuscript is uploaded or downloaded to the project space, invention materials are uploaded or downloaded, or access is made by a person other than those involved, the intellectual property business support device will send an email to the relevant person to that effect. This makes it easier to immediately grasp the progress of work among related parties.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described components and a representation of the present invention by a method, apparatus, system, recording medium, and computer program are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the efficiency of joint work between a business consignor and a business trustee in relation to IP related work.

FIG. 1 is a hardware configuration diagram of the intellectual property business system 10.
The IP business support apparatus 100 includes a plurality of business consignment companies such as the company 300a and the company 300b (hereinafter simply referred to as “company 300”), a plurality of business consignment sides such as the patent office 400a and the patent office 400b. A patent office (hereinafter simply referred to as “patent office 400”) and the Internet 12 are connected to each other. In addition, the IP business support apparatus 100 is connected to a myriad of websites through the Internet 12 in addition to public office sites such as the Patent Office 200. The patent office 200 is not limited to the Japan Patent Office, but may be a patent office in Europe or the United States.
The intellectual property business support apparatus 100, the company 300, the patent office 400, and the like connected by the Internet 12 constitute the intellectual property business system 10 in this embodiment.

  In the following, in this embodiment, as an example of IP related business, a patent will be described as a subject among so-called intellectual property related laws such as patents, utility models, designs, trademarks, and copyrights. In addition, among the applications, response to reasons for refusal, lawsuits, contracts, appraisals, searches, etc., the application work centering on the invention proposal to domestic patent application will be explained as the subject.

  When an invention proposal is made in the company 300 and a patent application is filed, a part of the application work is entrusted to the patent office 400. The company 300 is a business consignment entity for application work, and the patent office 400 is a business consignment subject for application work. The intellectual property business support apparatus 100 is an apparatus for mediating and supporting the entrustment / consignment of application work by a plurality of companies 300 and a plurality of patent offices 400. In addition to domestic companies, universities, individuals, and foreign companies can be contractors, and in addition to domestic patent offices, foreign patent offices can be contractors. In this embodiment, the explanation will be focused on the case where the application business is consigned from a domestic company to a domestic patent office.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual diagram for explaining business support contents by the intellectual property business system 10.
In the figure, S1 to S4 indicate project spaces. Patent project data is stored in each project space. For example, when the company 300c orders the patent matter A1 from the intellectual property business support apparatus 100, the intellectual property business support device 100 generates the matter space S1 as a recording area corresponding to the patent matter A1. In the patent case A1, the company 300c is the business consignment side, and the patent office 400b is the business consignment side. The IP business support apparatus 100 holds information for identifying the company 300 and the patent office 400 that are permitted to access for each patent case. Companies 300a, b, d other than the company 300c cannot write data to the case space S1 of the patent case A1 nor obtain data from the case space S1. Similarly, the IP business support apparatus 100 does not permit data access to the project space S1 of the patent office 400a or the patent office 400c other than the patent office 400b. Only the company 300c and the patent office 400b can access the case space S1 of the patent case A1.

  The company 300a and the company 300b are on the business consignment side of the patent case A2. This indicates that the company 300a and the company 300b have a joint applicant relationship regarding the patent item A2. Patent matter A2 is represented by the patent office 400b.

  In the case of patent matter A3, it is assumed that the patent office 400b represents the application work. Thereafter, the agency office of the patent case A3 is changed from the patent office 400b to the patent office 400c. When the proxy change is made, the patent office 400b cannot access the project space S3. Instead, the patent office 400c that has not been able to access the project space S3 until now is granted access. According to such a process, there is no need to re-send the bag itself from the so-called company 300c to the patent office 400c, so that work between related parties is saved.

  The patent office A4 is related to the patent office 400c and the patent office 400a. Here, the patent office 400c is a domestic patent office, and the patent office 400a is a US patent office. Therefore, when the company 300d designates the patent office 400a as a related person of the patent case A4 at the time of filing in the United States, the patent office 400a can access the case space S4 of the patent case A4. In the same way as agent change, when agents are added, work between related parties is similarly saved. The project space S4 may include a domestic project space and a US project space.

  Data transmitted and received between each company 300 and patent office 400 and the IP business support apparatus 100 is encrypted by an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol or a TLS (Transport Layer Security) protocol. In addition to managing access to the project space, security during data transmission is ensured by such encrypted communication.

  In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that access authority management is performed in units of people, not access authority management in units of companies 300 and patent offices 400. Therefore, in practice, access to the project space is limited to a very small number of persons such as inventors, intellectual property officers, and patent attorneys.

  For the IP business management method shown in the figure, an approach in which the company 300 constructs a system for IP management by itself is also conceivable. However, when each company 300 independently develops a system, the patent office 400 needs to support various user interfaces corresponding to the type of system. On the other hand, in the case of the intellectual property business system 10 shown in the present embodiment, a user interface unified by the intellectual property business support device 100 can be provided. The IP business support apparatus 100 may provide a user interface for the web browser of the company 300 or the patent office 400 by transmitting an eXtensible HyperText Markup Language (XHTML) file or a Java Applet. The company 300 and the patent office 400 can participate in the IP business system 10 simply by registering with the IP business support apparatus 100. Therefore, the company 300 and the patent office 400 have a cost advantage that no special additional investment is required when using the intellectual property business system 10.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of the intellectual property business support apparatus 100.
Each block shown here can be realized in hardware by an element such as a CPU of a computer or a mechanical device, and in software it is realized by a computer program or the like. Draw functional blocks. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software.
Here, functions to be exhibited by each functional block will be mainly described, and specific actions will be described with reference to FIG.

The IP business support apparatus 100 includes a user interface processing unit 110, a communication unit 120, a data processing unit 150, and a data holding unit 180.
The user interface processing unit 110 is in charge of processing related to the entire user interface such as input processing from the administrator of the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 and information display for the administrator. The communication unit 120 is in charge of communication processing with the patent office 200, the company 300, the patent office 400, and other websites.
In this embodiment, the user interface processing unit 110 will be described as being provided with a user interface service for an administrator of the intellectual property business support apparatus 100. As another example, the manager may operate the intellectual property business system 10 via the Internet 12 from a manager terminal. In this case, the communication unit 120 receives operation instruction information from the administrator terminal, and transmits processing result information executed based on the operation instruction to the administrator terminal.

The data processing unit 150 executes various types of data processing based on input operations via the user interface processing unit 110 and data acquired from the communication unit 120. The data processing unit 150 also serves as an interface among the user interface processing unit 110, the communication unit 120, and the data holding unit 180.
The data holding unit 180 stores various setting data prepared in advance and various data including article data received from the data processing unit 150.

The data holding unit 180 includes a user information holding unit 182, an image holding unit 184, and a case data holding area 186.
When a user is registered in the intellectual property business support apparatus 100, a user ID and password for login are issued. The user may be an inventor, an intellectual property member, a patent attorney, a patent engineer, a patent clerk, or the like. The user information holding unit 182 holds user information including a user name, an e-mail address, a user ID, a password, and an organization name such as a company or a patent office to which each user belongs. The image holding unit 184 holds image data such as a user's face photograph and a trademark of the company 300 or the patent office 400.

  The case data holding area 186 holds data on each patent case. The case data holding area 186 is merely a storage area such as a hard disk, and a case data holding unit 188 is generated in the case data holding area 186 every time a patent case is ordered. Each item data holding unit 188 corresponds to the item space shown in FIG. 2, and is a storage area for managing data relating to one patent item in the format shown in FIG. Each time a patent case order is instructed, a case space generation unit 154 described later generates a case data holding unit 188 in the case data holding area 186. Accordingly, the case data holding area 186 normally includes a plurality of item data holding units 188 at all times. The data held in each case data holding unit 188 is encrypted by an encryption processing unit (not shown) of the data processing unit 150. For this reason, even when the case data holding unit 188 is illegally intruded or the recording device itself including the case data holding unit 188 is stolen, it is easy to prevent data leakage. When a related person requests to read data, the encryption processing unit decrypts the data.

  The communication unit 120 includes a client terminal communication unit 122 and a related data communication unit 124. The client terminal communication unit 122 is in charge of communication with a client terminal installed in the company 300 or the patent office 400. The related data communication unit 124 acquires related data of patent cases from the JPO 200 or other websites. When filing a patent case A1, it is necessary to obtain the prior art document of the patent case A1, and after the patent case A1 is filed, it is necessary to obtain the cited document designated in the notice of reasons for refusal. In addition, it is necessary to obtain progress information indicating the examination progress of the patent case A1 provided by the Patent Office 200. In this way, the related data is data acquired from other than those related to the patent case. The related data and its acquisition will be further described when the related data processing unit 158 is described.

The client terminal communication unit 122 further includes a data communication unit 126 and a notification unit 130.
The data communication unit 126 exchanges various data with the client terminal. The data communication unit 126 includes a page transmission unit 134, a content communication unit 136, a setting communication unit 128, and a user communication processing unit 132.

  The page transmission unit 134 transmits the web page data to the client terminal of the company 300 or the patent office 400. The web page data may be a file in the XHTML format, or a set of an XML (eXtensible Markup Language) file and a CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) file. The web page data may include a Java applet. The web page data may include various image data held in the image holding unit 184. The client terminal receives the web page data and displays various screens shown in FIG.

  The content communication unit 136 transmits various content data held in the data holding unit 180 to the client terminal. Various content data are received from the client terminal. The content data here includes data created in the patent office 400, such as a patent specification manuscript, an opinion document, and a procedure amendment. In this embodiment, the “patent specification manuscript” will be described as meaning not only the patent specification itself but also the application, claims, drawings, abstract, and the like. Further, data prepared in the company 300, such as comments on invention materials and patent specification manuscripts, and application instructions for the patent office 400, also correspond to content data. As described above, the content data refers to substantial information related to the contents of the patent case.

  The setting communication unit 128 accepts various settings related to bibliographic items for managing patent cases. The setting communication unit 128 includes an order receiving unit 140, an attribute receiving unit 142, and a party designation receiving unit 144. The order receiving unit 140 receives an ordering instruction for a patent case. When an intellectual property member of the company 300 instructs to order a patent case on the case ordering screen 230 shown later, ordering instruction data is transmitted from the client terminal. The order receiving unit 140 receives the order instruction data. The attribute receiving unit 142 receives bibliographic information of a patent case, for example, attribute information for identifying the contents of the patent case, such as an invention management number, an invention name, and an applicant's name. Part of the attribute information is transmitted as part of the order instruction data. In this case, the attribute receiving unit 142 extracts attribute information from a part of the order instruction data. When a related party is set on the item ordering screen 230 in FIG. 5 or the related party setting screen 250 in FIG. 6, related party designation data is transmitted from the client terminal. The related party designation receiving unit 144 receives the related party designation data.

The user communication processing unit 132 is in charge of communication processing for exchanging opinions between users. Communication may be performed by text data in an electronic bulletin board system, or may be performed by voice data by VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology. In the case of the voice method, the user communication processing unit 132 receives the voice data uttered by the transmission side user, and establishes both communication by transmitting the voice data to the reception side user. In the case of the electronic bulletin board system, the user communication processing unit 132 receives text data posted by the transmission side user, and establishes communication by transmitting the text data to the reception side user.
In this embodiment, communication between users is realized by sending and receiving text data using an electronic bulletin board system. A specific user interface mode will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  The notification unit 130 makes various notifications to the client terminal. In the present embodiment, the notification is made by e-mail. The notification unit 130 includes an access notification unit 146 and a schedule notification unit 148. When a predetermined access occurs by a certain user, the access notification unit 146 notifies another user that the access has occurred. For example, when the content communication unit 136 receives the patent specification manuscript data from the patent office 400, the access notification unit 146 notifies the inventor or intellectual property member of the company 300 that the patent specification manuscript has been received. To do. According to the notification processing of the access notification unit 146, it is not necessary to separately notify the patent office 400 that the patent specification manuscript has been transmitted from the patent office 400 to the company 300. The The parties concerned can set for each patent case what kind of access should be notified to whom and what kind of content.

  The schedule notification unit 148 urges the related parties to work according to the progress of the patent case. Scheduled dates and deadlines are often set for various tasks included in the application work. In addition, the deadline for other work is often set inversely depending on the deadline for filing. Data such as schedule and progress is also held by the case data holding unit 188. When the time limit for a predetermined work is approaching, the schedule notification unit 148 notifies the user who is responsible for the work that the time limit is approaching. For example, if the deadline for delivery of the patent specification manuscript of patent matter A1 to the company 300 is set to February 10, the number of days before that, for example, three days before February 7, “3 more until the deadline for delivery”. The schedule notification unit 148 automatically sends an e-mail containing a standard message “If you are late, please notify the IP person in charge,” to the patent attorney of the patent office 400. With such a schedule notification, a user who is in charge of work can take measures so as not to forget the deadline.

The data processing unit 150 includes a schedule management unit 152, a case space generation unit 154, an authentication processing unit 156, a related data processing unit 158, and a document search unit 160.
The schedule management unit 152 is in charge of schedule management for each patent case. The schedule management unit 152 includes a schedule generation unit 162, a progress data update unit 164, and an execution right management unit 166. The schedule generation unit 162 generates schedule data indicating the contents of the business schedule of patent cases. The schedule data may be created by a business ordering user. Further, when the user sets a part of the schedule data, the scheduled work date and time for other work may be determined semi-automatically. For example, when a patent application scheduled date is set, the scheduled delivery date of the patent specification manuscript is automatically set to 10 days before that, thereby setting the scheduled work date and time for a plurality of operations included in the application work. Also good. The schedule data and the generation process will be described with reference to FIG.

  The progress data update unit 164 manages progress data. Progress data is data indicating the progress of actual work compared to schedule data. The progress data and its update process will be described with reference to FIG. The execution right management unit 166 manages execution rights. The application work includes various operations such as preparation of invention materials, interviews with patent attorneys, and creation and correction of patent specification manuscripts. These operations can be performed by a single user (patent attorney) who is responsible for the work as in the specification creation work, or by a plurality of users (IP members, inventors, patent attorneys in the specification correction work). There is also a collaborative work. In this joint work, access by a plurality of users such as correction by patent attorneys for patent specification manuscripts and comments of inventors and intellectual property staff on the contents of patent specification manuscripts occurs. The execution right management unit 166 manages the user who is the main subject in the joint work by setting the execution right. The collaborative work and the execution right will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  The case space generation unit 154 generates the case data holding unit 188 as a dedicated case space in the case data holding area 186 of the data holding unit 180 when the order receiving unit 140 receives the order instruction data. The case data holding unit 188 may be generated in the form of a folder (directory) in a readable / writable auxiliary storage device such as a hard disk. The backup processing unit 168 of the case space generation unit 154 periodically backs up the data in the case data holding unit 188, for example, every day on an area different from the case data holding area 186, for example, an external recording medium. Alternatively, the backup processing unit 168 may execute the above-described backup processing on condition that data writing to the case data holding unit 188 has occurred.

  The related data processing unit 158 acquires related data of patent cases from an external website such as an electronic library of the JPO 200. Here, as an example, patent application A1 that has been filed will be described. When one and a half years have passed since the application, the contents of the patent specification of Patent matter A1 are electronically published by the Patent Office 200. The related data processing unit 158 counts the number of days since the patent application A1 was filed, automatically accesses the electronic library of the Patent Office 200 after one and a half years, and sends the related data communication unit 124 Obtain a publication of patent matter A1. The acquired publication data is stored in the case data holding unit 188 corresponding to the case space S1 of the patent case A1 as related data of the patent case A1. In addition, when a notice of reason for refusal is sent from the JPO 200, the related data communication unit 124 receives it. The related data processing unit 158 detects the number of the public gazette described as the cited document in the notice of reasons for refusal, and instructs the related data communication unit 124 to acquire these cited document data from the electronic library of the JPO 200. Let Such cited references are also stored in the corresponding case data holding unit 188 as related data. Further, the related data processing unit 158 may acquire progress information after the application of the patent case A1 from the electronic library of the JPO 200. By the processing of the related data processing unit 158, not only the content data but also the related data associated therewith are automatically collected in the case data holding unit 188, so that the workload of the patent clerk is particularly reduced.

  Further, the related data processing unit 158 may control an external application terminal. When the content of the patent specification manuscript is confirmed, the related data processing unit 158 converts the patent application manuscript in the case data holding unit 188 into a format for application, and the related data communication unit 124 transfers the converted application data to the application terminal. To do. Thereafter, an application processing command is transmitted from the application terminal to the patent office 200 by transmitting an application instruction command to the application terminal. Alternatively, the related data processing unit 158 and the related data communication unit 124 may have a function as an application terminal.

The authentication processing unit 156 determines whether or not the case data holding unit 188 can be accessed from the outside. The authentication processing unit 156 includes a user authentication unit 170 and a data authentication unit 172.
When the user requests some access to the IP business support apparatus 100, access request data is transmitted from the client terminal to the IP business support apparatus 100. This access request data includes a user ID for specifying an access request source and a work space number for specifying a patent case as an access request destination. The workspace number is an ID for uniquely identifying a patent case. The user designates the workspace number and sends various access requests.

  At this time, the user authentication unit 170 determines whether it is an access request from a user having access authority. For example, it is assumed that a work space number “0014” and a user ID “116” are included in access request data for requesting download of the invention material. The user authentication unit 170 determines whether or not the user ID “116” is registered as the user ID of the person concerned with the patent item having the work space number “0014”. If it is not registered, the download request is rejected. In this way, data theft from unauthorized users is prevented.

  The data authentication unit 172 prevents the user from uploading content data by mistake. For example, quoting the setting in FIG. 2 again, it is assumed that patent attorney M of patent office 400c is in charge of patent case A3 and patent case A4. Therefore, the patent attorney M can access both the case data holding unit 188 of the patent case A3 and the case data holding unit 188 of the patent case A4. Here, the subcontractor of the patent item A3 is the company 300c, and the subcontractor of the patent item A4 is the company 300d. When patent attorney M creates a patent specification manuscript for patent matter A3 and sends it to the intellectual property business support apparatus 100, the human error that a mistake is made when the workspace number of patent matter A4 is specified and sent. May occur. The data authentication unit 172 functions to prevent an accident caused by such a human error.

When the content communication unit 136 receives a patent specification manuscript transmitted with an incorrect workspace number specified, the attribute receiving unit 142 extracts attribute information such as a case management number and an applicant name from the patent specification manuscript. For example, such information is acquired from the description of the application part of the patent specification manuscript. The data authentication unit 172 refers to the attribute information of the patent case A4 designated as the transmission destination, and does not permit uploading if it does not match the extracted attribute information.
In this way, the user authentication unit 170 and the data authentication unit 172 ensure the security of the case data holding unit 188 from both the user and data sides.

  The document search unit 160 executes document search processing for an external website. The document search unit 160 includes a word extraction unit 174 and a search unit 176. The word extraction unit 174 extracts words from content data, for example, invention material. The word extraction unit 174 selects a word registered in advance as a technical term from these word groups. The word extraction unit 174 may further select words that frequently appear in the invention material. The search unit 176 creates a search formula by combining the words selected by the word extraction unit 174, and instructs the related data communication unit 124 to search for patent documents from a patent database such as an electronic library. According to such a search process, it is possible to automatically collect prior art documents based on invention documents.

  As a further modification, the word extraction unit 174 extracts words commonly included in two or more patent specification manuscripts, and the search unit 176 uses these common words to search related documents from a website. May be. According to such a search process, for example, it becomes easy to find a modification of a patent case or a technical field or an idea related to a plurality of patent cases. In addition, word extraction may be performed to generate ideas for a plurality of patent cases managed in a database in a company. For example, the word extraction unit 174 may select a predetermined number, for example, 20 words from a word group obtained by merging a word group extracted from Patent matter A and a word group extracted from Patent matter B. . The words to be selected may be selected at random or may be selected in the order of appearance frequency. A new idea may be obtained by brainstorming using the extracted words as keywords. As a more specific example, it is assumed that Patent matter A discloses an invention composed of elemental technologies a, b, c, and d. On the other hand, it is assumed that Patent matter B discloses an invention composed of elemental technologies a, e, f, and g. Patent matter A and patent matter B may be completely different inventions in the technical field, but are common in that they use the elemental technology a. In such a case, if a combination of b, c, d, e, f, and g is presented via the common element technology a, it will contribute to the creation of a new invention. According to such a processing method, it is possible to support effective idea creation using knowledge distributed in a plurality of technical fields as a source of new ideas.

FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram of the case data holding unit 188.
The case data holding unit 188 shown in the figure will be described as being a case space related to the patent case A1.
The attribute information holding unit 210 holds attribute information of the patent matter A1. The attribute information is data received from the client terminal by the attribute receiving unit 142. The invention document holding unit 212 holds the invention document prepared by the inventor or the intellectual property department. The data of the invention material is received from the client terminal of the company 300 by the content communication unit 136. The invention document holding unit 212 includes a prior document holding unit 214, which holds data on prior art documents automatically searched by an intellectual property member, an inventor, or by the document search unit 160. The application manuscript holding unit 216 holds a patent specification manuscript created by a patent attorney. In addition, data for various procedures such as written opinions and amendments are retained. The application manuscript holding unit 216 is a kind of work area, and may hold a memorandum memo concerning the patent specification. Data held in the invention material holding unit 212 and the application manuscript holding unit 216 is content data.

The related party information holding unit 218 holds the related party designation data received by the related party designation receiving unit 144. Here, among the users registered in the user information holding unit 182, the user ID of the related person of the patent case A1 is held as the related person information. The related person is designated by an input operation on the related person setting screen 250 of FIG.
The official data holding unit 220 holds data such as a rejection reason notification and a patent permission notification received by the related data communication unit 124 from the Patent Office 200. In addition, the patent specification original data, proofs, and the like actually applied to the Patent Office 200 are also held in the official data holding unit 220. The schedule holding unit 222 holds schedule data shown in FIG. 9 later. The progress data holding unit 224 holds the progress data shown in FIG.

  The communication area 226 is an area for communication between users. When a user registered as a related person of patent matter A1 transmits text data for posting, the posted data is recorded in the communication area 226. The person concerned in the patent case A1 can browse the posted data recorded in the communication area 226 as appropriate. The communication area 226 further includes a limited communication area 228a and a limited communication area 228b. Even in communication between related parties, for example, there may be a case where only the intellectual property member and the inventor or a discussion between the inventor when there are a plurality of inventors. In such a case, the user can generate the limited communication area 228 after specifying the parties to be communicated. Here, it is assumed that the limited communication area 228a is a communication area limited to the intellectual property member and the inventor. In that case, even if the patent attorney R is a person related to the patent case A1, the contents of the posted data in the limited communication area 228a cannot be browsed.

FIG. 5 is a screen diagram of the item order screen 230.
When an IP member in the company 300 applies for a new patent application in Japan, he logs in to the IP business support apparatus 100 and calls up the item ordering screen 230. Here, when the intellectual property member “Masaki Sezaki” (hereinafter simply referred to as “IP member S”) of the company 300 displays the case ordering screen 230 from the intellectual property operation support apparatus 100, It is a screen displayed on a client terminal. Since the case order screen 230 is displayed as a web page, it can be viewed from any client terminal provided with a web browser. A workspace number area 232 indicates a workspace number. When the person in charge of intellectual property calls the matter ordering screen 230, the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 assigns a work space number for uniquely identifying the patent matter. In the figure, a work space number “0012” is assigned.

  The case name setting area 234 is an area for inputting a temporary name or formal name of a patent case. In the management number setting area 236, a management number for the company 300 to which the intellectual property member S belongs to manage patent cases is input. The intellectual property charge setting area 238 is an area for designating an intellectual property member in charge of a patent case. In the figure, only “Masaki Sezaki” is designated as an intellectual property member. When the OK button 240 is clicked, each data set on the item order screen 230 is transmitted to the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 as a part of the order instruction data. When the order receiving unit 140 of the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 receives the order instruction data, the case space generation unit 154 generates a case data holding unit 188 corresponding to the patent case of the work space number “0012” in the case data holding area 186. To do. The attribute receiving unit 142 acquires attribute information such as a case name and a management number, and the attribute information is recorded in the attribute information holding unit 210 of the case data holding unit 188 just generated. Further, the party designation data shown in the intellectual property charge setting area 238 is extracted by the party designation receiving unit 144 and recorded in the party information holding unit 218. When the cancel button 242 is clicked, the input contents on the item order screen 230 are canceled. In this case, the work space number “0012” remains an empty number.

FIG. 6 is a screen diagram of the related person setting screen 250.
After an order for a patent case is placed on the case order screen 230, the intellectual property member designates a person concerned with the patent case. For this reason, the intellectual property member S calls the related person setting screen 250.
In the applicant display area 251, the name of the company 300 to which the intellectual property member S belongs is automatically displayed. When the intellectual property member S requests the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 to display the related person setting screen 250, the user ID of the intellectual property member S is also transmitted. The IP member S and the company 300 to which the user belongs are associated with the user information holding unit 182. When the page transmission unit 134 transmits the data of the related person setting screen 250, information “N Corporation”, which is the company 300 to which the intellectual property member S belongs, is transmitted as a part of the web page. When a case of a joint application is assumed as in patent case A2 in FIG. 2, a plurality of applicants may be designated in the applicant display area 251. Here, the description will be made assuming that the application is a single application by “N Corporation”.

  The intellectual property charge setting area 252 is an area for setting a responsible intellectual property member, and is the same as the intellectual property charge setting area 238 of the project ordering screen 230. It is possible to change or add intellectual property managers even after placing an order. For example, when the intellectual property member S is changed to another intellectual property member, the intellectual property member S is no longer related to the patent matter A1, and therefore accesses the matter data holding unit 188 of the patent matter A1. become unable. For this reason, even when the intellectual property member S moves to another company 300, leakage of intellectual property information of the company 300 can be prevented.

  The inventor setting area 254 is an area for setting an inventor. Here, two persons, “Junya Komori” (hereinafter referred to as “inventor K”) and “Masaki Shiki” (hereinafter referred to as “inventor S”), are set, and the degree of contribution to each invention is a percentage. Set by. In the figure, the contribution is set to 50% each. In the related person setting screen 250, up to three inventors can be set, but when the increase button 256 is clicked, a dialog box (not shown) for setting more inventors is displayed.

  The patent office setting area 258 is an area for designating a patent office 400 as a business ordering party. In the figure, “P Patent Office” is designated. In the assigned patent attorney setting area 260, “Shoichi Motonaga” (hereinafter referred to as “patent attorney M”) is designated as the desired patent attorney. However, at this stage, it is only a request for charge, and the patent attorney M is not particularly notified. When the assign button 262 is clicked, the inventor K and the inventor S in addition to the intellectual property member S are registered in the related party information of the related party information holding unit 218. When the cancel button 264 is clicked, the related party setting input is canceled.

  When the request is executed, the IP member S orders the patent attorney M to create a patent specification on a request screen (not shown). The notification unit 130 transmits an e-mail for requesting the creation of a patent specification to the e-mail address of the P patent office or the e-mail address of the patent attorney M. In this e-mail, all or part of the attribute information of the patent item may be automatically described. When the patent attorney M replies that he / she is accepted, the patent attorney M is newly registered in the related person information in the related person information holding unit 218. In this way, the intellectual property member S and the inventors K and S on the business consignment side and the patent attorney M on the business consignment side are set as the parties concerned.

FIG. 7 is a screen diagram of the item list screen 270.
When the parties are determined, only the intellectual property member S, the inventors K and S, and the patent attorney M can access the case data holding unit 188 of this patent case. The case list screen 270 is a screen that is displayed when the patent attorney M logs in to the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 and calls a list of cases he is in charge of. According to the figure, patent attorney M is currently in charge of four patent cases. Among these, the fourth item “information extraction from blog” is the item ordered and requested in FIGS. 5 and 6.

  The case name display area 272 shows the temporary name of each case. Clicking on a project name displays various screens related to that project. For example, a screen for uploading and downloading content data, a screen for browsing patent property attribute information and related party information, a screen for checking the schedule and progress of patent cases, and exchanging opinions among related parties regarding patent cases It is a screen to do.

  The type display area 274 indicates the type of each case. The type indicates the jurisdiction of patents, utility models, designs, trademarks, etc., domestic cases or overseas cases, application, reasons for refusal, trial, litigation, etc. For example, according to the type display area 274, the item “information extraction from the blog” just mentioned is a patent item, and it is understood that the item is related to a new domestic application. The status display area 276 shows the current processing status. The patent application is filed through various work from the invention proposal. The status display area 276 indicates the processing status of each patent case. The update date display area 278 indicates the latest update date and time of the case data holding unit 188.

  In the client trademark display area 280, a trademark image of the company 300 on the consignment side of the patent case is displayed. The image holding unit 184 holds the trademark of the company 300 registered in the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 as image data. On the case list screen 270, a trademark image of the company 300 serving as the applicant is displayed for each case. According to the figure, patent attorney M has received four patent cases from three companies. The first case and the second case from the top shown in the figure are cases requested from different companies. In both cases, the patent specification is being prepared. The trademark image is used to suppress a human error that the patent attorney M erroneously transmits the patent document of the second “display covering” to the case data holding unit 188 of the first “manual provision system”. Is displayed. In addition to the trademark image, a photo of the person concerned may be displayed. The patent attorney M makes it easy to be careful not to make a destination mistake by checking the trademark image or the like.

FIG. 8 is a screen diagram of the communication screen 290.
The communication screen 290 is a screen for exchanging opinions between related parties regarding the patent item “extracting information from the blog” with the work space number “0012”. Here, intellectual property member S “Masashi Sezaki” and inventor K “Junya Furumori” exchange opinions on this patent case. The case information display area 292 shows attribute information of patent cases. The communication column area 294 is an electronic bulletin board for the parties concerned to exchange opinions. Here, a list of post data of each user is displayed. When comment input button 296 is clicked, a screen (not shown) for posting data is displayed. The communication column area 294 in the figure is an electronic bulletin board that can be browsed and input only by the intellectual property member S and the inventor K in the limited communication area 228.

  When post data is input, the user communication processing unit 132 receives the post data and records it in the corresponding limited communication area 228. A user related to the limited communication area 228a can view the posted data in the limited communication area 228a on the client terminal via the user communication processing unit 132. Like the intellectual property member S and the inventor K, communication data made by a part of the parties can be recorded in the limited communication area 228 as a record.

FIG. 9 is a data structure diagram of schedule data held in the schedule holding unit 222.
Here, it is assumed that the patent case with the work space number “0012” is the patent case A1. When patent matter A1 is registered on the matter ordering screen 230, it goes through various operations such as selection of the inventor and in-house interview between the intellectual property department and the inventor, and finally the patent application is reached. The work content column 302 shows the work content. The scheduled work date / time column 304 indicates the scheduled work date / time. The scheduled work date and time is set according to an input operation by a related person, for example, the intellectual property member S. The schedule generation unit 162 receives the setting of the scheduled work date and time and generates schedule data. When a part of the scheduled work date and time is set, the schedule generation unit 162 may automatically set the remaining scheduled work date and time. For example, when the intellectual property member designates the scheduled application date and time, the scheduled work date and time of other work may be automatically calculated from the order date and scheduled application date and time.

  The schedule generation unit 162 sets the patent specification manuscript delivery date and time 10 days before the filing scheduled date and time when the order date and time to the filing date is 40 days or more and less than 50 days when the filing date and time is less than 40 days. The scheduled document delivery date and time may be automatically set according to a predetermined rule such that the scheduled delivery date is 5 days before the scheduled application date and time. Of course, the intellectual property staff can adjust the scheduled work date and time after the schedule data is generated. The schedule generation unit 162 may determine the scheduled work date and time in consideration of the workload of related parties. For example, even when the scheduled application date and time is 40 days or more and less than 50 days from the order date and time, “high” among “high”, “medium”, and “low” is set as the patent attorney's M workload. In some cases, the scheduled delivery date and time of the manuscript may be set 3 days before the scheduled date and time of application.

The execution person in charge column 306 shows the user ID of the execution person in charge of each process. Here, it is assumed that the user ID of the intellectual property member S is “101”, the user ID of the inventor K is “202”, the user ID of the inventor S is “204”, and the user ID of the patent attorney M is “306”. . According to the figure, for example, (3) in-house interviews are conducted by a total of three people, the intellectual property member S and the inventors K and S. The person in charge of document delivery in (6) is M1 patent attorneys.
When the scheduled work date and time February 13 of the document delivery (6) approaches, the schedule notification unit 148 notifies the patent attorney M that the time limit is approaching. In addition, when the scheduled date and time of the external interview (5) is January 10, the day before January 11, the schedule notification unit 148 will contact the intellectual property member S, the inventors K and S, and the patent attorney M the next day. That it is the day of

FIG. 10 is a data structure diagram of progress data in the progress data holding unit 224.
The progress data indicates the progress of the work compared with the schedule data. The work content column 312 shows the work content. The progress status column 314 indicates the progress status of each work. According to the figure, the inventor selection (2) is completed on December 17th. Also, the work of preparation of invention material (4) has been cancelled. According to the schedule data shown in FIG. 9, for the document delivery (6), the scheduled work date / time is February 13, but the document delivery has not been completed even if the scheduled work date / time has passed three days. I know that there is. The progress data update unit 164 updates the progress data every day. The progress data update unit 164 also updates the progress data when a data write access to the case data holding unit 188 occurs.

FIG. 11 shows an example of the progress display screen 310.
A user such as an intellectual property member, patent attorney, or inventor can access the IP business support apparatus 100 and check the progress status of his / her related patent case on the progress display screen 310. Here, the explanation will be made on the assumption that it is the progress display screen 310 of Patent Attorney M as of February 26. According to the figure, patent attorney M, as of February 26, has two patents: “information extraction from blog” with workspace number “0012” and “post management device” with workspace number “0013”. I am in charge of the project. The positions indicated by black circles in the figure indicate the current processing state. On the other hand, the positions indicated by white circles in the figure indicate the processing state scheduled as of February 26 based on the schedule data.

  For example, the case with the work space number “0012” indicates that the document has not been delivered since the request for the creation of the patent specification was received. However, according to the schedule data, this patent case is scheduled to be completed on February 26, after the delivery of the manuscript is completed. Therefore, it can be seen that the work of this patent case is delayed compared to the schedule. The case with the work space number “0013” is in a state of correction work after delivery of the patent specification manuscript. According to the schedule, since the statement was being prepared on February 26, it can be seen that the work is progressing compared to the schedule for this case.

FIG. 12 shows another example of the progress display screen 310.
Although FIG. 11 shows a display mode in which black circles indicating the current state as of February 26 are arranged in a line, as shown in FIG. 12, white circles indicating schedules as of February 26 are displayed in a line. May be. Further, by connecting black circles indicating the current situation with a line for a plurality of patent cases, it becomes easier to visually recognize patent cases that are behind schedule and patent cases that are ahead of schedule.

FIG. 13 is a time chart for explaining execution right management in joint work.
In the present embodiment, among each work directed to the patent application, the manuscript correction work after the patent specification manuscript is delivered is a joint work of the intellectual property member S, the inventor K, and the patent attorney M. The execution right management unit 166 manages execution rights in order to coordinate the work of the three parties with respect to the document correction work.

Here, first, it is assumed that patent attorney M transmits a patent specification manuscript at date t1. The access notification unit 146 notifies the intellectual property member S and the inventors K and S that the patent specification manuscript has been uploaded. When the patent specification manuscript is uploaded, the execution right management unit 166 sets the execution right for the intellectual property member S. The order of setting the execution rights is determined in advance in the order of patent attorney M → IP member S → inventor K → patent attorney M. In collaborative work, only users who have execution rights set can upload content data to the case data holding unit 188. The execution right functions just like a semaphore for a project space. During collaborative work, each user is shown who has the right to execute. Specifically, the execution right management unit 166 notifies each user of the name of the user who has acquired the execution right. As a result, the collaborating user can appropriately grasp which user has the current execution right. In addition, as a notification mode of the execution right acquisition user name, notification by e-mail can be given in addition to resident display on the screen and pop-up display. In addition, the notification destination may include not only the execution right acquisition user but also a user who is not. Here, the term “user name” is used as a concept including all displays that can identify the user from others, such as the handle name and face photograph of the user.
In addition, whether or not the work is being performed may be notified to the user (may include other users) who should be working now. In this regard, the notified user can obtain a list display of work that he / she must deal with now.
For example, the schedule management unit 152 may include a task management unit (not shown). The task management unit manages TODO information for each user. When the user A logs into the intellectual property business support apparatus 100, the task management unit searches for patent cases related to the user A, in other words, the user A is registered in the related person information. Here, it is assumed that four cases of patent cases a to d are detected. Next, the task management unit identifies each responsible person with reference to the progress data of each patent case. Suppose that patent matter a is waiting for user B to work and patent matters b to d are waiting for user A to work. In such a case, the task management unit indicates that the patent cases related to the user A are a to d, of which the user B is responsible for executing the patent case a, and the user A is responsible for executing the patent cases cd. An HTML file (hereinafter referred to as “task management file”) for displaying a list of information indicating that the user is a user is generated. The task management unit instructs the client terminal communication unit 122 to transmit the task management file to the user A's client terminal. When the person responsible for execution of any of the patent cases a to d changes, the task management unit updates the contents of the task management file and retransmits it. The user A's client terminal displays the task management file on the screen. According to such a process, the user A can appropriately grasp the case in which he is currently involved and the person responsible for executing them on the display screen of the client terminal.

  Here, at the date and time t2, the intellectual property member S transmits a correction instruction comment for the patent specification manuscript. The content communication unit 136 receives the correction instruction comment, and the correction instruction comment is stored in the application document holding unit 216. At this time, the execution right of the intellectual property member S is released, and then the execution right is set for the inventor K. The access notification unit 146 notifies the inventor K that the execution right has been transferred. At date and time t3, the inventor K transmits a correction instruction comment regarding the patent specification manuscript. The execution right of the inventor K is canceled and the execution right is set for the patent attorney M. When the patent attorney M corrects and uploads the patent specification manuscript in accordance with the correction instruction comments of the intellectual property member S and the inventor K at the date and time t4, the execution right is transferred from the patent attorney to the intellectual property member S. When the intellectual property member S and the inventor K confirm the correction contents at the date and time t5 and the intellectual property member S permits the application contents, the execution right is transferred to the patent attorney M. Thus, the document correction process (7) is completed, and the process proceeds to the next application process (8).

  In the case of collaborative work by a plurality of users as in the specification correction process, the execution responsibility of each user is clarified by the execution right. Further, the execution right management unit 166 calculates an execution right holding period for each user. By such time management, it is possible to calculate the work time required for each person concerned in the joint work such as the specification correction process.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart showing a process when data is uploaded from the user to the case space.
The flowchart shows a processing process when content data such as a patent specification original is transmitted from the patent attorney M. First, the content communication unit 136 receives this content data. The user authentication unit 170 extracts the user ID and workspace number of the user who transmitted the content data, and determines whether the transmission source user ID is registered in the related party information of the patent case specified by the workspace number. (S10). If not registered (N in S10), the patent specification manuscript is discarded because the transmission is from an unrelated user. The notification unit 130 notifies the patent attorney M that the upload is not permitted (S22).

  When registered as a related person (Y in S10), the schedule management unit 152 determines whether or not the processing state is currently under correction (S12). If correction work is in progress, that is, if joint work is in progress (Y in S12), the execution right management unit 166 determines whether or not the execution right is set for the patent attorney M (S14). If the execution right is not set (N in S14), the process proceeds to S22.

  On the other hand, when not performing collaborative work (N in S12) or if the execution right is set even during collaborative work (Y in S14), the attribute receiving unit 142 extracts attribute information from the data to be uploaded. To do. For example, in the case of a patent specification manuscript, information such as a management number, an applicant's name, an inventor's name, etc. described on the application page is extracted as attribute information (S16). The data authentication unit 172 determines whether or not the content of the extracted attribute information matches the corresponding data held in the attribute information holding unit 210 of the case data holding unit 188 (S18). A dedicated attribute file for setting attribute information may be prepared. The sender of the content data may enter a management number, a temporary name, etc. in the attribute file and transmit it together with the content data. In that case, the data authentication unit 172 determines whether the attribute information described in the attribute file matches the corresponding data in the attribute information holding unit 210.

  If the attribute information matches each other (Y in S18), the data authentication unit 172 permits data upload. The content data received by the content communication unit 136 is recorded in the corresponding part of the case data holding unit 188 (S20). If they do not match (N in S18), the process proceeds to S22, and a notification that upload is not permitted is notified.

  As described above, according to the intellectual property business system 10 in this embodiment, it is possible to improve the business efficiency of the intellectual property member and the inventor who is the business consignment and the patent attorney who is the business consignment in the intellectual property related business.

  Upon receiving the ordering instruction data, the IP business support apparatus 100 automatically generates a case data holding unit 188 in a form that guarantees security. Since the access authority is set by the related person information for each case data holding unit 188, the confidentiality of valuable information as intellectual property can be maintained. Further, since it is possible to easily add or change related parties simply by changing the registered contents of the related party information, it becomes easy to set the related parties flexibly according to the processing status of the patent case.

Further, according to the working state, the relevant parties are notified by e-mail or the like as appropriate. Therefore, the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 is not a simple data storage, but actively interferes with the work of related parties. By such a function, it is possible to take over much of the deadline management burden of the parties concerned. The intellectual property business support apparatus 100 according to the present embodiment can generate a schedule for each patent case and can also manage the progress compared with the schedule. As described above, the IP business support apparatus 100 can perform workflow management related to all IP related business.
The intellectual property business support apparatus 100 can manage the content of the discussion between the parties as part of the content data by generating a communication area for each patent case. In addition, since only a part of the related parties can communicate, a mechanism is provided in which information related to the patent case is easily accumulated in the case data holding unit 188. For example, even during the intermediate processing, it is possible to use such as reconfirming post data indicating the contents of the meeting at the time of filing. Not only text and voice, but also video communication can be considered.

  The present invention has been described above based on the embodiment. The present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various modifications thereof are also effective as aspects of the present invention.

The function of the access request receiving unit described in the claims is realized by a part of the client terminal communication unit 122, mainly the content communication unit 136, the setting communication unit 128, and the user communication processing unit 132 in this embodiment. The function of the image data transmission unit described in the claims is realized by the page transmission unit 134 in this embodiment. The function of the attribute extracting unit described in the claims is realized by the attribute receiving unit 142 in this embodiment.
It should also be understood by those skilled in the art that the functions to be fulfilled by the constituent elements described in the claims are realized by the individual functional blocks shown in the present embodiment or their linkage.

In addition, the IP business support apparatus 100 may have the following functions.
1. For example, when a patent specification is amended, the difference between the data before amendment and the data after amendment is managed, and the amendment content is immediately updated. It may be possible to confirm. Further, the correction history may be managed and processing may be performed so that the version can be restored at any time.
2. Performance management function of business staff The intellectual property business support apparatus 100 may accumulate information on technical fields and the like with a track record for each patent attorney. By accumulating such information, the intellectual property business support apparatus 100 can also function as a database for patent attorney search. Similarly, information such as technical fields having a track record of application for each inventor and past application cases may be accumulated. According to such information processing, the inventor's research and development results can be searched by accessing the intellectual property business support apparatus 100.
3. Setting outsourcer rules In IP-related operations, the outsourcing side often has various management rules. For example, it is a time limit from acceptance to application, a policy for creating a patent specification, or the like. Based on such rules, a schedule may be automatically generated, or a function for checking whether a patent specification complies with a creation policy may be provided.

It is a hardware block diagram of an intellectual property business system. It is a conceptual diagram for demonstrating the work support content by an intellectual property business system. It is a functional block diagram of an intellectual property business support apparatus. It is a data structure figure of a case data holding part. It is a screen figure of a matter order screen. It is a screen figure of a related person setting screen. It is a screen figure of a case list screen. It is a screen figure of a communication screen. It is a data structure figure of the schedule data hold | maintained at a schedule holding | maintenance part. It is a data structure figure of the progress data of a progress data holding part. It is a figure which shows an example of a progress display screen. It is a figure which shows another example of a progress display screen. It is a time chart for demonstrating the execution right management in joint work. It is a flowchart which shows the process in case data is uploaded to a case space from a user.

Explanation of symbols

10 IP business system, 100 IP business support device, 110 user interface processing unit, 120 communication unit, 122 client terminal communication unit, 124 related data communication unit, 126 data communication unit, 128 setting communication unit, 130 notification unit, 132 User communication processing unit, 134 page transmission unit, 136 content communication unit, 140 order receiving unit, 142 attribute receiving unit, 144 party designation receiving unit, 146 access notification unit, 148 schedule notification unit, 150 data processing unit, 152 schedule management 154, project space generation unit, 156 authentication processing unit, 158 related data processing unit, 160 document search unit, 162 schedule generation unit, 164 progress data update unit, 166 execution right management unit, 168 backup processing unit, 170 user authentication unit , 172 data authentication unit, 174 word extraction unit, 176 search unit, 180 data holding unit, 182 user information holding unit, 184 image holding unit, 186 case data holding area, 188 case data holding unit, 200 JPO, 210 attribute information holding Part, 212 invention document holding part, 214 prior document holding part, 216 application document holding part, 218 related person information holding part, 220 official data holding part, 222 schedule holding part, 224 progress data holding part, 226 communication area, 228 limitation Communication area, 230 matter order screen, 250 related party setting screen 270 matter list screen, 290 communication screen 310 progress display screen.

Claims (9)

With regard to intellectual property related business, it is connected via a communication network to both client terminals used by business consignment users and client terminals used by business consignment users,
An ordering instruction receiving unit that receives ordering instruction data indicating an ordering instruction for an intellectual property business case from a client terminal used by a user on the outsourcing side;
Triggered by receiving the order instruction data, a project space generation unit that generates a project space on the recording medium for managing data related to the intellectual property business project;
An access request receiving unit that receives an access request for the matter space from a client terminal;
A related party instruction receiving unit for receiving related party designation data for specifying a user who is a related party of the intellectual property business case including a user on a business consignment side;
A party information holding unit that holds party information in which the user specified in the party specified data and the intellectual property business case are associated;
It is necessary to determine whether the user of the client terminal that has transmitted the access request is a user designated as a related person of the intellectual property business case with reference to the related person information, and being a user specified as a related person An authentication unit that permits access to the matter space,
When receiving a predetermined type access request for the matter space, an access notification unit for notifying a user designated as a related person of the intellectual property business matter,
An intellectual property business support apparatus characterized by comprising: When requesting the creation of a patent specification from a business consignment user to a business consignment user,
The access notification unit, when receiving document data of a patent specification from a client terminal of the user on the business consignment side, notifies the user on the business consignment side to that effect. IP business support equipment.   The intellectual property business support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the case space generation unit generates a communication area for users registered in the related party information to exchange opinions.   4. The knowledge according to claim 3, wherein the case space generation unit is capable of generating a communication area for exchanging opinions only with some of the users registered in the related party information. Goods business support device.   5. The intellectual property business support apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the communication area is an area where opinions can be exchanged by voice data. An image holding unit for holding image data indicating a user or image data indicating a user's affiliation;
When receiving an access request for the matter space, an image transmission unit that transmits image data corresponding to a user registered in the related party information to the client terminal of the access request transmission source;
The intellectual property business support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: An attribute extraction unit that, when receiving data to be recorded in the case space from a client terminal, extracts attribute information indicating the contents of the intellectual property business case targeted by the data from the data;
The authentication unit compares the attribute information of the data and the attribute information of the intellectual property business case to determine whether the data is data corresponding to the intellectual property business case, and corresponds to the intellectual property business case 7. The intellectual property business support apparatus according to claim 1, wherein recording of the data in the item space is permitted on condition that the data is data.   The intellectual property business support according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the case space generation unit copies data included in the case space to a storage area different from the case space at a predetermined timing. apparatus.   9. The intellectual property business management apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising an encryption processing unit that records the data after encrypting the data when the data is recorded in the case space.

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