Patents Assigned to BLACK HILLS IP HOLDINGS, LLC
  • Patent number: 11847301
    Abstract: Disclosed here are methods of creating a manifest record for an outgoing electronic communication and associated systems. The method can include identifying at least one document to be sent with the outgoing electronic communication, receiving a message comprising unstructured text to be inserted into the outgoing electronic communication, generating a manifest record for attachment to the outgoing electronic communication, attaching the at least one document and the manifest record to the outgoing electronic communication, and sending the outgoing electronic communication with the document and the manifest record attached. The manifest record can be creating using an official record of the matter.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 13, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 19, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Thomas G. Marlow, Christopher James Kinniburgh
  • Patent number: 11803560
    Abstract: A system and computer implemented method of patent mapping are provided. The method comprises maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents, each patent stored in the database of patents associated. with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios; maintaining a database of ontologies, the ontologies including one or more patent concepts in defined groups; receiving a search query associated with a first patent portfolio; searching the first portfolio as a function of the search query; generating search results, the search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query; and mapping the one or more patent claims to a patent concept in a defined group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 28, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 31, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Lars Olof Hugo Svensson
  • Patent number: 11797546
    Abstract: A system and computer implemented method are provided. The method comprises maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents, with each patent stored in the database of patents being associated with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios. The method includes receiving a search query associated with a first patent portfolio; searching the first portfolio as a function of the search query; generating a seed set of search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query, the patent claims including terms from the search query; automatically generating an expanded set of search results including one or more patent claims further associated with the search query or associated with the patent claims in the seed set of search results; and mapping the one or more patent claims to a patent concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 2021
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11798111
    Abstract: This document discusses, among other things, a system and method to provide cross-referencing of important IP relationships. The system comprising software executing on a computing platform for displaying relationships between various domains of IP information selected from the group of claims, prosecution history, products, concepts or art.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 18, 2020
    Date of Patent: October 24, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Janal M. Kalis
  • Patent number: 11789954
    Abstract: A request may be received from a user through a user interface an issued independent claim of a patent may be automatically compared to a pre-allowance published independent claim of an application of the patent to identify a unique keyword present in the issued independent claim but not present in the pre-allowance published independent claim. The unique keyword may be flagged to the user by highlighting the unique keyword in the user interface. A first prior art document may be retrieved using the flagged unique keyword. A unique keyword overlap score may be calculated for the first prior art document based on occurrences of the unique keyword in the first prior art document. A graphical representation of an identity of the first prior art document, the unique keyword, and the unique keyword overlap score may be generated for display in the user interface. The graphical representation may be displayed along with a graphical timeline based on a priority date of the first prior art document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 25, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 17, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11775538
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for automatically proofing the patent specification of a granted patent issued on a patent application. The method comprises the steps of scanning amendments made to the patent application during prosecution; assembling the most recent claims, based on the scanned amendments, to create a test claim set of the claims; comparing the test claim set to the claims of the issued patent as published; and identifying any differences between the compared sets of claims and communicating the differences to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: October 3, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11714819
    Abstract: A system and method for patent mapping are provided. The system comprises a database of patent sets and a database of patents, each patent stored in the database of patents associated with one or more patent sets stored in the database of patent sets; and one or more modules to perform a portion of one or more of the following: receive input identifying a set of keyword source claims associated with a first patent set; automatically extract at least one keyword from the source claims; receive or formulate a search query associated with the first patent set, the search query including the at least one keyword; search the entire first patent set as a function of the search query; generate search results, the search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query; and map the one or more patent claims to a patent concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 2022
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Lars Olof Hugo Svensson
  • Patent number: 11714839
    Abstract: An apparatus and computer implemented method that include obtaining, into a computer, text of a patent, automatically finding and extracting, using the computer, a set of claim text from the patent text, identifying, using the computer, text of independent claims from the set of claim text, displaying in a first row on a computer monitor the text of the independent claims, automatically determining a plurality of preliminary scope-concept phrases from the text of the independent claims, displaying in a second row on the computer monitor the text of the plurality of preliminary scope-concept phrases, eliciting and receiving user input to specify a first one of the plurality of preliminary scope-concepts phrases, and highlighting each occurrence of the specified first one of the plurality of preliminary scope-concept phrases in a plurality of the independent claims displayed in the first row. A scope concept builder tool is also provided.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 17, 2020
    Date of Patent: August 1, 2023
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11526566
    Abstract: Methods and systems for receiving docketing data are disclosed. The methods and systems perform operations comprising: obtaining, by a first party, a patent file wrapper from a publicly accessible database of patent records, the patent file wrapper including a plurality of patent documents; receiving, from the first party, user input that tags a patent document of the plurality of patent documents in the patent file wrapper, wherein the patent document that is tagged is associated with a patent activity that occurred within a threshold period of time; and transmitting, to a second party by the first party, a communication that includes the tagged patent document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 2021
    Date of Patent: December 13, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Thomas G. Marlow
  • Patent number: 11475530
    Abstract: A method may include receiving a search query from a computing device, the search query identifying an examiner in a patent office; in response to the receiving, gathering information associated with the examiner from at least one database, the information including experience metrics for the examiner and allowance metrics for the examiner; generating a user interface for display on the computing device; the user interface including: an experience section including a technology experience score for the examiner based on the experience metrics; and an allowance rate section that includes: allowance visualization options; and an allowance visualization based on the allowance metrics and a selected visualization option of the allowance visualization options.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 2016
    Date of Patent: October 18, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Thomas G. Marlow, Mark D. Stignani, William E. Kalweit
  • Patent number: 11461862
    Abstract: Systems and methods for patent portfolio management and generation of analytics are described. A system comprises, for example, one or more modules. A first module is configured to combine data received from an official government source and from a docketing system. The data received may pertain to one or more assets of a patent portfolio. A second module is configured to generate a metric of the patent portfolio based on the combined data. The metric may measure a characteristic of the patent portfolio. A third module is configured to receive a request from a client device to display the metric. A fourth module is configured to, in response to the request to display the metric, display the metric in a user interface that includes one or more filtering elements that are selectable to request a filtering of the displayed metric.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 19, 2014
    Date of Patent: October 4, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11372864
    Abstract: A system and method for patent mapping are provided. The system comprises a database of patent sets and a database of patents, each patent stored in the database of patents associated with one or more patent sets stored in the database of patent sets; and one or more modules to perform a portion of one or more of the following: receive input identifying a set of keyword source claims associated with a first patent set; automatically extract at least one keyword from the source claims; receive or formulate a search query associated with the first patent set, the search query including the at least one keyword; search the entire first patent set as a function of the search query; generate search results, the search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query; and map the one or more patent claims to a patent concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 28, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Lars Olof Hugo Svensson
  • Patent number: 11360988
    Abstract: A system and method are provided for automatically proofing the patent specification of a granted patent issued on a patent application. The method comprises the steps of scanning amendments made to the patent application during prosecution; assembling the most recent claims, based on the scanned amendments, to create a test claim set of the claims; comparing the test claim set to the claims of the issued patent as published; and identifying any differences between the compared sets of claims and communicating the differences to a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 14, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11354344
    Abstract: Systems and methods for calculating a patent claim scope rating are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a method of calculating a patent claim scope rating includes identifying patent references cited in examination of a subject patent and storing the identified patent references as an applied art list, identifying first backward references for the patent references in the applied art list and storing the first backward references as a first backward list, identifying second backward references for the first backward references in the first backward list and storing the second backward references as a second backward list, identifying forward references for the patent references in the applied art list and storing the forward references as a forward list. A patent claim scope rating is based on a calculation including at least a partial combination listing of the applied art list, the first and second backward lists, and the forward list.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: June 7, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Lars Olof Hugo Svensson
  • Patent number: 11301810
    Abstract: System and method permit patent mapping. A method may comprise maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents with each patent stored in the database of patents associated with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios. A search query may be received associated with a first patent portfolio and the first portfolio may be searched as a function of the search query. Search results may be generate which include one or more patent claims associated with the search query. The one or more patent claims may be mapped to a patent concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Thomas G. Marlow
  • Patent number: 11294910
    Abstract: A system and computer implemented method of patent mapping are provided. The method comprises maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents, each patent stored in the database of patents associated with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios; maintaining a database of ontologies, the ontologies including one or more patent concepts in defined groups; receiving a search query associated with a first patent portfolio; searching the first portfolio as a function of the search query; generating search results, the search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query; and mapping the one or more patent claims to a patent concept in a defined group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 2, 2011
    Date of Patent: April 5, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Lars Olof Hugo Svensson
  • Patent number: 11256706
    Abstract: A request may be received from a user through a user interface an issued independent claim of a patent may be automatically compared to a pre-allowance published independent claim of an application of the patent to identify a unique keyword present in the issued independent claim but not present in the pre-allowance published independent claim. The unique keyword may be flagged to the user by highlighting the unique keyword in the user interface. A first prior art document may be retrieved using the flagged unique keyword. A unique keyword overlap score may be calculated for the first prior art document based on occurrences of the unique keyword in the first prior art document. A graphical representation of an identity of the first prior art document, the unique keyword, and the unique keyword overlap score may be generated for display in the user interface. The graphical representation may be displayed along with a graphical timeline based on a priority date of the first prior art document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 22, 2022
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11132412
    Abstract: Methods and systems for receiving docketing data are disclosed. The methods and systems perform operations comprising: obtaining, by a first party, a patent file wrapper from a publicly accessible database of patent records, the patent-file wrapper including a plurality of patent documents; receiving, from the first party, user input that tags a patent document of the plurality of patent documents in the patent file wrapper, wherein the patent document that is tagged is associated with a patent activity that occurred within a threshold period of time: and transmitting, to a second party by the first party, a communication that includes the tagged patent document.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 31, 2020
    Date of Patent: September 28, 2021
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventors: Steven W. Lundberg, Thomas G. Marlow
  • Patent number: 11086886
    Abstract: A user-interface system is provided for a patent management system having access to at least one patent matter database and at least one reference database. The user interface system comprises a first user interface element allowing selection of data stored in the at least one patent matter database, a second user interface element allowing selection of data stored in the at least one reference database, a third user interface element for linking at least one reference stored in the at least one reference database with at least one patent in the patent matter database, a fourth user interface element allowing the selection for storage of further references into the at least one reference database, and a fifth user interface element allowing analysis of at least one of the linked references.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 5, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 10, 2021
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg
  • Patent number: 11048709
    Abstract: A system and computer implemented method are provided. The method comprises maintaining a database of patent portfolios and a database of patents, with each patent stored in the database of patents being associated with one or more patent portfolios stored in the database of patent portfolios. The method includes receiving a search query associated with a first patent portfolio; searching the first portfolio as a function of the search query; generating a seed set of search results including one or more patent claims associated with the search query, the patent claims including terms from the search query; automatically generating an expanded set of search results including one or more patent claims further associated with the search query or associated with the patent claims in the seed set of search results; and mapping the one or more patent claims to a patent concept.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 2019
    Date of Patent: June 29, 2021
    Assignee: Black Hills IP Holdings, LLC
    Inventor: Steven W. Lundberg