Systems and methods for automatically identifying and linking names in digital resources

Shipping of Biological Materials

[0116]The Regulations Relevant to the shipping of biological materials are based on the name of the material being transported. The regulations are formulated based on the nature of the material—those that are deemed hazardous require additional protections, certifications, etc., when transported from one location to another. Since this system is based on names, at least two types of system failures are possible. In a first failure case, the name of a hazardous material could be changed such that the new name is no longer contained within the list of hazardous materials. In this case, insufficient precautions would be taken when shipping the material, thus potentially putting peoples' lives at risk. In a second failure case, the name of a benign material could be changed such that the new name is within the list of hazardous materials. In this case, extraordinary precautions would be taken when shipping the material, thus placing unnecessary financial bu

Patent Searching

[0117]The number of patents which reference biological names is quite large. For example, 375,000 US patents issued between 1976 and 2007 were found to contain names of bacteria. For inventors, patent attorneys, and patent examiners, being able to quickly determine if a potential infringement exists is vitally important. However, given the rate at which names change, this becomes an onerous task. With the use of the presently described invention, that which was onerous becomes trivial. All other patents which include mention of an organism can be instantly identified regardless of the name changes that may have occurred subsequent to the publication of the patent.

[0118]FIG. 3 shows how a N4L application provides a means for generating revenue. The N4L Database Maintainer has three primary functions: to maintain the core taxonomic database (N4L), to maintain the contextual index database (N4L-CI), and to provide tools for enhancing digital resources.

[0119]Content Provide