US006041331A [ii] Patent Number: 6,041,331 [45] Date of Patent: Mar. 21,2000
[54] AUTOMATIC EXTRACTION AND GRAPHIC VISUALIZATION SYSTEM AND METHOD
[75] Inventors: Michael L. Weiner, Webster, N.Y.;
John Jacob Kolb V, Rowley, Mass.;
Todd Chronis, Rochester, N.Y.
[73] Assignee: Manning and Napier Information
Services, LLC, Rochester, N.Y.
[21] Appl. No.: 08/989,832 [22] Filed: Dec. 12, 1997
Related U.S. Application Data
[60] Provisional application No. 60/042,295, Apr. 1, 1997.
[51] Int. C I. G06F 11/00
[52] U.S. C I 707/103
[58] Field of Search 707/1-224
[56] References Cited
U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS
5,515,488 5/1996 Hoppe et al 345/440
5,546,529 8/1996 Bowers et al 345/348
5,692,176 11/1997 Holt et al 707/5
5,706,502 1/1998 Foley et al 395/610
5,721,897 2/1998 Rubinstein 707/2
5,748,186 5/1998 Raman 345/302
5,761,497 6/1998 Holt et al 707/5
5,761,656 6/1998 Ben-Shachar 707/4
5,794,233 8/1998 Rubinstein 707/4
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
U.S. application No. 08/929,603, Snyder, filed Sep. 15, 1997.
Primary Examiner—-Thomas G. Black
Assistant Examiner—-John Gladstone Mills, III
Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Townsend and Townsend and
Crew LLP
[57] ABSTRACT
According to the present invention, a method for extracting information from a plurality ol documents for display. Information is extracted from a set ol documents according to a set ol pre-defined categories. A visual representation ol the extracted information is provided to a user, who can apply one or more filters to the information in order to produce for display a visual representation ol information content in the filtered information.
11 Claims, 10 Drawing Sheets
