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Major documentation restructure to improve discoverability and reduce duplication. ## Changes **Deleted (Archived/Consolidated)**: - Removed duplicate getting started guides - Archived outdated planning documents - Consolidated corpus and configuration docs - Removed obsolete vision/spec files (superseded by vision.md) - Cleaned up scrapyard and old PDFs **New Structure**: - docs/about/ - Project overview and introduction - docs/guides/ - User guides (moved from root) - docs/specs/ - Technical specifications - docs/sdk/ - SDK documentation (Go) - docs/references/ - API references - docs/archive/ - Archived historical docs - applications/aphoria/docs/advanced/ - Advanced topics - applications/aphoria/docs/reference/ - CLI reference - applications/aphoria/docs/archive/ - Archived aphoria docs **Updated**: - README.md - New root README with clear navigation - CONTRIBUTING.md - Contribution guidelines - CLAUDE.md - Updated paths to new structure - roadmap.md - Added recent completions ## Files Changed - 57 files changed - 1,977 insertions(+) - 961 deletions(-) **Net change**: +1,016 lines (added CONTRIBUTING.md, README.md, reorganized content) Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Legal Documentation
Patent and intellectual property documentation for Episteme (StemeDB).
Patent Documentation
Episteme's core innovations are documented for patent purposes. These documents describe the technical inventions and their implementation.
Documents
- Patent Disclosure - Formal invention disclosure document
- Patent Specification - Technical specification and claims
- Patent Figures - Visual diagrams and illustrations
Overview
Core Innovations
-
Content-Addressed Knowledge Graph
- Append-only Merkle DAG for conflicting assertions
- BLAKE3 content addressing for deduplication
- Cryptographic signature verification
-
Read-Time Conflict Resolution (Lenses)
- Multiple resolution strategies without data mutation
- Source-class aware authority hierarchies
- Time-travel queries via materialized views
-
Probabilistic Materialization
- O(1) reads via pre-computed consensus
- Background compaction and staleness detection
- Weighted voting with TrustRank integration
-
Epistemic Provenance
- Full audit trail of reasoning chains
- Invalidation cascades via DAG structure
- Source retraction with downstream impact analysis
Key Claims
1. Multi-Truth Storage
Problem Solved: Traditional databases force resolution at write time, losing disagreement.
Innovation: Assertions are immutable proposals; resolution happens at read time via Lenses.
Traditional DB: Episteme:
Write → Overwrite Write → Append
Read → Single Value Read → Lens → Resolved Value
2. Source-Class Hierarchy
Problem Solved: All sources treated equally, regardless of authority.
Innovation: Structural source tiers (Regulatory > Clinical > Expert > Anecdotal) with decay curves.
3. Invalidation Cascades
Problem Solved: Retracted sources leave orphaned decisions.
Innovation: Merkle DAG enables instant downstream identification via content addressing.
4. Weighted Consensus Without Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Problem Solved: Consensus algorithms require majority agreement, which fails when truth is contested.
Innovation: Vote-weighted resolution with TrustRank (PageRank for agents), enabling dissent visibility.
Prior Art Analysis
Episteme differs from existing systems:
| System | Limitation | Episteme Innovation |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional RDBMS | Single truth per cell | Multi-truth via append-only DAG |
| Version Control (Git) | Branches require merge | Lenses enable coexistence |
| Graph Databases (Neo4j) | No conflict resolution | Lenses + Source-Class hierarchy |
| Vector DBs (Pinecone) | Semantic similarity, not truth | Authority-weighted resolution |
| Knowledge Graphs (Wikidata) | Manual curation | Automated ingestion + voting |
| Blockchain | Consensus required | Dissent preserved, resolution optional |
Filing Status
Status: Disclosure phase (not yet filed)
Next Steps:
- Patent attorney review
- Claims refinement
- USPTO filing
Confidentiality
These documents are:
- ✅ Public: Available in open-source repository
- ⚠️ Pre-Filing: Not yet filed with USPTO
- 📋 Disclosure: Establishes prior art date
Important: Public disclosure creates prior art. File within 12 months of public release (grace period in US).
Related Documents
- Architecture - Technical implementation
- Vision - Product philosophy
- What is Episteme? - Concept overview
License
The Episteme codebase is open-source. Patent rights are retained by the project maintainers but licensed for use with the open-source implementation.