A Watson for patent examination at the USPTO?

Gerry Elman at Elman Technology Law has an interesting post titled Watson, Come Here … You’re Needed at the PTO

Talking about Watson's appearance on the television show Jeopardy, Elman noted:

Yet, isn’t it time that the society with the most powerful information technology in human history provide to those persons, examiners at the PTO, a tool that presents an organized report of the prior art that’s most pertinent to each element of each claim under examination? In effect, it would be an automated version of the Examination Support Document (“ESD”) that in 2007, the Dudas-led PTO had announced it would require many patent applicants to generate.

Elman concluded:

Until the PTO provides a Watson-like analytical infrastructure, it seems to me that the whole patenting process will remain in jeopardy.

In the legendary words of Alexander Graham Bell: “Watson, come here. I want you.”

A footnote: Gerry Elman and LBE both hold a B.S. degrees from the University of Chicago, and both hold M.S. degrees from Stanford. Jon Dudas and LBE both hold J.D. degrees from the University of Chicago.

Another footnote: in the expedited prosecution for green technology program, one has an "Accelerated Examination Support Document" [AESD] provided by the applicant

[IPBiz post 6751]