Software Provides Fast, In-Depth, Broad and Consistently Accurate Searches of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industry Data
Access Innovations, Inc., a leader in data integrity and content creation, has announced it has been awarded a U.S. Patent No. 8,046,212 for MAIChem™, a software-based method for searching chemical names in one or more text-containing documents that have been loaded into computer memory.
MAIChem is a tool for researchers and information managers in the chemical and pharmacy data industries to locate and extract chemical names from large electronic data collections such as patient records databases, technical report collections, or professional journal archives. MAIChem is part of the DataHarmony®, content management and enhancement suite.
“Finding these names in documents is challenging due to the unlimited number of potential compounds and the variety of ways a compound can be named. MAIChem solves the problem by comparing the text to regular expressions that match typical chemical morphemes, such as “hydro” or “amine,” to see if they occur in words.” explained Marjorie M.K. Hlava, president of Access Innovations.
After its initial analysis, MAIChem’s software differentiates between nonchemical words that use the morphemes and actual chemical names. For example, the morpheme “hydro” appears in both nonchemical terms such as “hydrophobia” as well as in chemical compound names like “hydrogen sulfate.” MAIChem’s patented algorithms extract the chemical terms from the document and discard the nonchemical. The software also generates a list of synonyms or alternate names.
MAIChem extracts data from technical documents for a variety of purposes, including analysis, content discovery, machine aided indexing, and enhanced metadata management. It can be used by itself or as part of a robust collection of tools for organizing and augmenting data collections and can be run either on a single computer or over a network with clients using a web-based interface.
Hlava said, “The award of this patent demonstrates the uniqueness the MAIChem method brings to content management. No other tool provides the same intelligent, automated support to information professionals in the field of chemistry or access to the proprietary MAIChem database.”
This patent adds to the 18 existing technologies under patent to Access Innovations.
For more information about Access Innovations’ MAIChem, visit their website or call 1-800-926-8328.
