Abstract: A computerized reference analysis tool utilizes a prior art reference collection process to create a relatively smaller set of relevant references, together with a computerized reference ranking engine that ranks the set of harvested references for relevance with respect to the entirety of a claim set for a patent or patent application. The results of the computerized reference analysis tool harvesting and ranking this smaller set of prior art references can be presented to a user as an aggregated relevance listing, together with a visually or graphically displayed representation of the relevance ranking of the prior art references relative to individual claims and/or to individual claim elements.

Abstract: A computerized reference analysis tool utilizes a prior art reference collection process to create a relatively smaller set of relevant references, together with a computerized reference ranking engine that ranks the set of harvested references for relevance with respect to the entirety of a claim set for a patent or patent application. The results of the computerized reference analysis tool harvesting and ranking this smaller set of prior art references can be presented to a user as an aggregated relevance listing, together with a visually or graphically displayed representation of the relevance ranking of the prior art references relative to individual claims and/or to individual claim elements.