Towards content-oriented patent document processing: Intelligent patent analysis and summarization

In this article, we present an operational prototype of a workbench for intelligent patent document analysis and summarization that has been developed in the context of the R&D project TOPAS, partially funded by the European Commission. The workbench uses the GATE environment as infrastructure for document representation and algorithm integration. It contains, apart from several preprocessing tools, five modules for the individual aspects of patent analysis (entity recognition, lexical chain identification, invention composition derivation, segmentation, and claim – description alignment) and a module for patent summarization. The workbench, which has been tested in different application settings, can be used as a standalone engine or as component within a more global patent processing line. Most of its modules can be also used separately.