1. A method for use with a given patent having a claim set of one or more claims, said given patent having an identifier and a reference date, the method comprising: building a dictionary of terms for each one of a plurality of categories of patents, the categories being based on a taxonomy, each of the patents in the categories of patents having an identifier, a reference date, and a claim set of one or more claims, each category's dictionary including terms from the claim sets of the patents in that category; identifying, for each term in each category, a date of first usage corresponding to the earliest reference date among patents in that category having a claim set in which that term is used; using a computer to associate said given patent with an appropriate one of the categories and identifying, within the claim set of said given patent, at least one particular term that is in the dictionary of said appropriate category; and evaluating said particular term in said given patent associated with said appropriate category by determining the time difference between: a) the reference date of said given patent, and b) the date of first usage for said particular term in said appropriate category.
1. A method for use with a given patent having a claim set of one or more claims, said given patent having an identifier and a reference date, the method comprising: building a dictionary of terms for each one of a plurality of categories of patents, the categories being based on a taxonomy, each of the patents in the categories of patents having an identifier, a reference date, and a claim set of one or more claims, each category's dictionary including terms from the claim sets of the patents in that category; identifying, for each term in each category, a date of first usage corresponding to the earliest reference date among patents in that category having a claim set in which that term is used; using a computer to associate said given patent with an appropriate one of the categories and identifying, within the claim set of said given patent, at least one particular term that is in the dictionary of said appropriate category; and evaluating said particular term in said given patent associated with said appropriate category by determining the time difference between: a) the reference date of said given patent, and b) the date of first usage for said particular term in said appropriate category. 6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: repeating said evaluating step for every term in said given patent's claim set that does not occur in a stop-list of commonly used terms.