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IBM's application on "identifying white space"

By Lawrence B. Ebert, Esq.

IBM, which has left a bread crumb trail of questionable patents/applications for anyone who cares to look, came up with yet another:

METHODOLOGIES AND ANALYTICS TOOLS FOR IDENTIFYING WHITE SPACE OPPORTUNITIES IN A GIVEN INDUSTRY published application 20080235220 (September 25, 2008) based on application 12/132561 filed on June 3, 2008.

The abstract:

A method for analyzing predefined subject matter in a patent database being for use with a set of target patents, each target patent related to the predefined subject matter, the method comprising: creating a feature space based on frequently occurring terms found in the set of target patents; creating a partition taxonomy based on a clustered configuration of the feature space; editing the partition taxonomy using domain expertise to produce an edited partition taxonomy; creating a classification taxonomy based on structured features present in the edited partition taxonomy; creating a contingency table by comparing the edited partition taxonomy and the classification taxonomy to provide entries in the contingency table; and identifying all significant relationships in the contingency table to help determine the presence of any white space.

The first claim:

A method for use with at least one keyword retrieved from a first set of documents related to a predefined subject matter, the method comprising:

constructing snippets from textual material in said first set of documents, each of said snippets including at least one word appearing within a specified text distance of said at least one keyword;

defining a plurality of categories wherein each of said snippets is assigned to one of said categories, each of said categories designated for receiving similar snippets;

creating a respective mathematical model for each of said categories;

analyzing a second set of documents to determine an assignment for each document in said second set of documents to one of said categories, said assignment based on matching each of said documents in said second set of documents to said mathematical model for said assigned category;

and

identifying at least one white space in said second set of documents, said at least one white space including fewer than a specified number of documents.

This most interesting claim requires one of ordinary skill to create a mathematical model to practice the claim. In other words, one would have to invent something to practice the so-called invention.

***See also

IPBiz post of THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2008 --> Patent reform and IBM's questionable patents

IPBiz post of THURSDAY, AUGUST 07, 2008--> IBM's 7,407,089 "paper or plastic" patent

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/04/patent-reform-2008-as-house-of-mirrors.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2008/02/ibms-patent-app-for-method-and.html

Full post as published by IPBiz on September 29, 2008 (boomark / email).