Abstract:
A system and method for generating a work set of documents is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, the documents being grouped together are patent documents. The system and method create work file records that name the work file and contain document identifiers for a list of documents that the user wants to group together. The document identifiers contained in the work file records link to document records stored on a document database. By grouping documents together, a system user can recall the group of documents for review or some form of analysis at a later time.

Description:
[0001]    CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
         [0002]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/326,185 entitled “System and Method for Generating a Work Set of Patents or Other Documents”, filed Oct. 1, 2001, which is incorporated herein by reference.  
       COPYRIGHT NOTICE  
       [0003]    A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office patent file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. 
     
    
     
       BACKGROUND  
         [0004]    Systems and methods exist for searching for patents in computer databases and then applying various functions in the system to the patent search results. These systems are capable of searching patent documents based on user specified criteria, displaying a list of patent documents based on the user criteria, and then allowing the user to apply other features of the system to the retrieved patent documents. These systems provide multiple methods for entering the criteria used for searching for patent documents, such as: keyword searches based on the content of the patent document; searching by patent number; or creating Boolean searches based on a combination of fields. Users of these systems create queries to be used when searching for patents. These systems apply the user&#39;s criteria to search the patent documents in the computer database and create a list of patent documents that match the query entered by the users. Some of these systems may also provide relevancy ratings for the patents retrieved, using a scoring method or some other method to indicate to the user the relevancy of the retrieved patents. Once a list of patents is retrieved, the user may review the list of results to determine the search&#39;s efficacy. If the user decides the search results are useful, the user may decide to then apply other available functions to the list. If the user determines the results are not useful, the user may modify the search criteria and re-execute the search.  
           [0005]    Often when working with the results of these searches, users need to be able to re-create the results set for processing at a later time. They may want to analyze the results based on a different set of criteria, or they may want to slightly modify the results, adding in other patents that they have identified as relevant to their inquiry. Users may also want to combine the results of multiple searches for the analysis they are performing. They may wish to perform this analysis based on the combination of the entire results of multiple searches or based on only those patents that are common between multiple searches. Users may also need to have these searches repeated based on a set time frame in order to determine any changes during that time.  
           [0006]    However, systems and methods that are presently available are limited in that they do not provide a mechanism to save the result set of a search. Instead, to use these systems, users must record the search query, re-enter it and re-search the collection. Users also are not able to delete specific patent data from their search results. Instead they must identify specific search criteria that would eliminate the unwanted patent data, add this to their search criteria, and then re-execute their search. To perform analysis of the results of multiple searches, they must combine their search criteria and re-execute their search. The creation of search queries that allow for the analysis of patent data that is common between multiple searches usually requires the creation of complex Boolean search algorithms. With all of these searches, the results of the search can be different based on addition of new patents to the patent data being searched.  
           [0007]    Accordingly, there is a need for a system capable of providing a method for the user to generate a work set of patents. This work set of patents would allow the users to generate and maintain lists of patents documents, and then apply other features of the system to this list of patents. This application could occur immediately after the list is created or at a later point in time. The user could apply this list of patents to other features of the system multiple times.  
         SUMMARY  
         [0008]    The present invention relates to a system and method for validating, generating, storing, retrieving, modifying, displaying, and applying a work set of patents or other documents. Suitable uses for work sets may include patent inventory systems, but may also be applied to any system that needs to provide system and user interfaces to large amounts of data.  
           [0009]    The work sets may reside within a secured computer complex and may be accessed by the user via the “Internet”. The “Internet” may consist of any network connection including the public Internet, dedicated connection, or Virtual Private Network. The computer complex may exist behind one or more firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to the work sets.  
           [0010]    Embodiments of the system of the invention allow users to create work sets using various methods. Users may save an entire set of patent documents resulting from a search of patent documents, or selected patent documents from a search result set as a work set. Users may also manually enter multiple patent numbers to create a work set. They may also import an existing computer file of patent numbers to create a work list. When entering a list of patent numbers or importing a file of patents, the system may provide a method for the user to correct any invalid patent numbers or create the work set with just the patent numbers that are desired. Users may create multiple work sets and provide a name and description for each set.  
           [0011]    Embodiments of the system of the invention also allow the user to create a work set based on the combination of existing work sets. When combining work sets to create a new work set, the user may specify if all patent numbers from the files being combined should be incorporated into the new work set or if only patent numbers that are present in all the files being combined should be incorporated into the new work set.  
           [0012]    Embodiments of the system of the invention provide a method for the users to access and maintain work sets that they have created. Such systems allow the user to display a list of the work sets he or she has created along with each work set&#39;s description. By using the name of existing work sets, users may access existing work sets. Such systems allow for the addition and deletion of patent numbers from the sets. Such systems allow for the addition of patent numbers to the set using the same methods as the original creation of the set: from a complete search result set; from selected patents in a search result set; by entering a single or multiple patent number; or by importing an existing file of patent numbers from the user&#39;s computer. When modifying an existing work set, such systems allow the user to save the updated work set with the same name and description, or with a new name and description. Such systems also allow the user to delete a work set in its entirety.  
           [0013]    Embodiments of the system of the present invention may also allow users to apply other functionality available on the system to generated work sets. Such systems may also allow users to apply multiple functional components to a generated work set. Depending on the functional component being applied, a system user may also have the capability to apply the functional component to an entire work set or to just a portion of the work set. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]    These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with regard to the following description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:  
         [0015]    [0015]FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary architecture of an embodiment of a system of the present invention;  
         [0016]    [0016]FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary architecture of an embodiment of a system of the present invention;  
         [0017]    [0017]FIG. 3 depicts an exemplary patent document database having a patent record;  
         [0018]    [0018]FIG. 4 depicts an exemplary patent collection with index entries;  
         [0019]    [0019]FIG. 5 is a flowchart of exemplary steps performed in generating a work file;  
         [0020]    [0020]FIG. 6 depicts an exemplary work file meta table on a patent database;  
         [0021]    [0021]FIG. 7 depicts an exemplary work file item record on a patent database;  
         [0022]    [0022]FIG. 8 is an exemplary patent search user interface;  
         [0023]    [0023]FIG. 9 is an exemplary user interface displaying the results of a patent search;  
         [0024]    [0024]FIG. 10 is an exemplary work file creation user interface;  
         [0025]    [0025]FIG. 11 depicts an exemplary work file record on a work file database;  
         [0026]    [0026]FIG. 12 is an exemplary work file administration user interface;  
         [0027]    [0027]FIG. 13 is an exemplary work file viewer user interface;  
         [0028]    [0028]FIG. 14 is an exemplary merge work file user interface; and  
         [0029]    [0029]FIG. 15 is a portion of an exemplary work file administration user interface.  
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0030]    [0030]FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of the system and method of the present invention  10 . In this embodiment, the system  10  includes a computer complex  50  and at least one client computer  40  in communication with the computer complex  50  in a networked computer environment. It should be noted that only one client computer is depicted to simplify the explanation, but it should be understood that the system and method of the present invention may handle any number of client computers and may also handle any type of client computer. In this embodiment, the client computer  40  communicates with the computer complex  50  via the Internet, and  60  the computer complex  50  consists of a number of servers attached to two networks, namely the web layer network  72  and the data layer network  70 . Also in this embodiment, the networks  70 ,  72  are separated from the Internet  60  and each other by firewalls  80 ,  90 . Attached to the data layer network  70  are search servers  100  and patent database servers  110 . The search servers  100  perform two major functions; indexing data, and making it available in response to a user&#39;s query. The patent database server  110  houses the source patent data and also serves as a storage area used to generate, validate, and view work sets. Attached to the web layer network  72  are web servers  120  and Work File Servers  20 . The web servers  120  handle traffic between the computer complex  50  and the client computer  40 . The Work File Servers  20  maintain the master copy of the work sets.  
         [0031]    Referring to FIG. 2, stored system processes and a system data structure of one embodiment of the present invention are illustrated. In this embodiment, the web server  120  contains search clients  208 . The work file server  20  contains work file application  212  and a work file database  214 . The patent database servers  110  contain database processes  224  and patent databases  226 . The patent database  226  includes a patent database table  300  (FIG. 3). Referring to FIG. 3, each patent database table  300  includes patent records  302  (typically 10&#39;s of millions of records) that each contain a document id  304  and patent data  306 . The patent data  306  is composed of bibliographic and/or full text records, which may be obtained from the primary patent issuing authority or some comparable resource. As those skilled in the art of database design will recognize, the patent database  226  may contain many database tables that share a common key (document id  304 ).  
         [0032]    The patent search servers  100  include a patent indexer  216  and a patent search engine  218 . The patent indexer  216  typically retrieves all patent records  302  from patent database  226  and stores them in the patent collections  220 . Referring to FIG. 4, each patent collection  220  has a number of indexed entries  402  that are later used by search engine  218 . Each index entry  402  is comprised of a word field  404  (a word from the original patent document) and an array (or similar structure) of document ids  304 .  
         [0033]    System Operation  
         [0034]    In the embodiment explained below, the user retrieves the results using a search engine format. However, anyone skilled in the art would understand that the invention of the present invention may be practiced using other information gathering resources. Referring again to FIG. 2, in this embodiment a user initiates a session through the client computer  40 . The client computer  40  uses a web browser client  202  to communicate with the computer complex  50  via web server  120 . Referring to FIG. 5, the steps for generating a work set using the computer complex  501  are illustrated. In step  500 , the user provides a set of patents to potentially be included in a work set, such as by generating a list of patents or importing a file of patents. In one method for generating a list of patents, the user generates a list of patents by performing a keyword search for a specific word or phrase, as indicated in block  502 ; and the system returns a result set as indicated in block  504 . An example of this is depicted in FIG. 8. In this example, the user enters a textual search query “engine” in entry field  800  and selects one or more patent collections to search by checking the checkboxes  802 . The user then presses the search button  804 . Referring to FIG. 2, the web browser client  202  transmits the search query (HTTP request) through the Internet  60  to web server  120 . The web server  120  invokes the search client  208  that transmits the query to the search engine  218  over the data layer network  70 . The search engine  218  searches the patent collections  220  by matching the given query against the words stored in the word field  404  (FIG. 4). Matching document entries are returned to the search client  208 . At this point, only the first page (the number of documents shown on the first page of the search results) have been retrieved from the search engine  218 . The remainder of the matching document identifiers is cached in the search engine  218  for later retrieval as explained below. The web server  120  generates a results page, an example of which is depicted in FIG. 9. A patent number list  901  is displayed along with checkboxes  902 , which provide a method to select individual patents.  
         [0035]    Referring again to FIG. 5, the user then selects which documents to include in the work set, as block  510  indicates. The user may select the entire set of documents or may select specific documents. Referring to FIG. 9 in this example, the user uses radio button  904  to select whether the work set will include the entire document set or just specific checked items. If only specific checked items are to be incorporated in the work set, the user does this by clicking the checkboxes  902  for the documents to be included in the work set. With the documents identified, the user then creates the work file, as block  520  indicates. In the example presented in FIG. 9 to initiate the work file creation process, the user selects “Create new Work File” from the drop down control  906  and presses the presses the Go button  908 .  
         [0036]    Because the document identifiers returned from the search engine  218  match the original source document ids  304  contained in patent record  302 , the data does not need to be normalized. However, when a patent search engine is not used, the source data must be normalized during step  530 . This typically is necessary when the data is entered directly by the user, or when an existing source of data (such as a file of document identifiers) is imported for use with the invention. The normalization process takes the source format supplied by the user or an external system and converts the data into a format consistent with the way in which the document ids  304  are stored.  
         [0037]    In step  540  a list of patent numbers is injected into the patent database  226  by performing the following sequence of events. The search client  208  re-executes the search query by invoking the search engine  218  and retrieves the full list of doc ids  304  from index entries  402  in patent collection  220  (FIG. 4). As previously mentioned, the search engine  218  may have already cached the full list of document ids  304 . In step  542 , the search client  208  creates a work file meta record (WF META RECORD)  604  in a work file meta table (WF META TABLE)  602  in patent database  226 , as depicted in FIG. 6. The work file meta record  604  consists of a work file name (WFNAME)  606  and LAST MODIFIED time stamp field  612 . The work file name  606  is constructed by combining a prefix  608  (database alias) and a timestamp  610 . The work file name  606  is created in order to provide a system wide unique identifier. The LAST MODIFIED field  612  is set to the current system time so that (in a later step) it can be used to determine freshness of the list. Only one work file meta record  604  is created for each work file.  
         [0038]    In step  544 , the search client  208  creates one or more work file item records (WF ITEM RECORDS)  704  in a work file item table (WF ITEM TABLE)  702  in patent database  226 , as depicted in FIG. 7. The work file item record  704  consists of a work file name (WFNAME)  706  and a document id (DOC ID)  708 . The work file name  706  corresponds to the work file name  606  entry in the work file meta record  604  in work file meta table  602 . The document id  708  corresponds to each document identifier returned from the user&#39;s search (or other source of data). The work file item records  704  are stored so that they can be later retrieved by the work file application  212 . The document ids  708  are used for later viewing of the work file. When the work set is viewed, the document ids  708  are joined with the patent database tables  300  (FIG. 3) to display related fields of patent data. The document ids  708  or other columns of patent data may also be sorted in a variety of ways when the work set is rendered. As described later, the work file meta record  604  and work file item records  704  may be constructed and used by the system as a system work file (used for repeated operations against the same set of data). Step  550  is optionally performed to present the user with a list of patents that could not be added (injected) into the work file. At this point, a system (temporary) work file has been created that can be used repeatedly by the system to gain efficiency of operation on large work sets. As the user switches between functions (searching, requesting document copies, extracting patent data from the system, performing analysis on the documents, etc.), the system uses the work file meta table (WF META TABLE)  602 , work file item table (WF ITEM TABLE)  702 , and patent table  300  to quickly retrieve the appropriate document identifiers and associated patent data. The work file name (WF NAME)  606  is passed between the system components and is used to locate the document identifiers  708  that comprise the set. Those document identifiers are joined with the patent data records as needed to perform the requested functions.  
         [0039]    If the user has chosen to create a permanent work file so that the user can reference the work file and/or manipulate its contents, the process continues at step  560 . In Step  560 , the work file application  212  presents the user with a form used to supply descriptive information, as depicted in FIG. 10. The user may enter a work file name  1000  and a description  1002 . Optionally, the user may import a list of patent numbers at this time (in addition to documents identifiers already supplied) and/or specify sort order used at render time. The user saves this information by pressing the save button  1004 .  
         [0040]    In the next step indicated at block  570 , the work file application  212  generates a work file record  1102 , as depicted in FIG. 11, which is a combination of the information provided by the user with the information in the work file meta record  604  and information generated by the work file application  212 . The work file records  1102  are maintained on the work file database  214 . In generating a work file record  1102 , the work file application  212  first generates a unique value for a work file ID (WFID) field  1104 . The WFID field  1104  is a unique identifier used for subsequent operations by the work file application  212 . The WFID field  1104  is unique across all work files, while a UFLID field  1106  stores a unique identifier that is also created at this time. The UFLID identifier is an identifier that the user references when manipulating work files within a session. The UFLID  1106  is typically a sequentially generated number. If the user subsequently deletes work files, older UFLID numbers will not be reused. A work file type (WFTYPE) field  1108  contains data as to whether the work file is a normal, system, or hidden work file. A system work file is a temporary work file used for repeated operations using the same set of data. A hidden work file may be either a normal or system work file that is not exposed to the user. The value for the WFTYPE field  1108  is passed to the work file application  212  by the calling program. The next field stored by the work file application  212  is a work file count (WFCOUNT) field  1110 , which indicates the number of patent records associated with this work file. The value for the WFCOUNT field  1110  is initially calculated by the work file application  212  by counting the number of work file item records  704  in work file item table  702 . The WFCOUNT field  1110  is updated whenever items are added, deleted, or merged in the current work file. The data for the work count type (WFCOUNTTYPE) field  1112  is also stored at this time. It indicates the type of data stored in the work file. The calling program may supply the value of the WFCOUNTTYPE field  1112 , or the work file application  212  may derive the value from the system environment.  
         [0041]    While the work file record  1102  entries are being stored, a last known location (LAST KNOWN LOCATION) field  1114  is also populated. The data in the LAST KNOWN LOCATION field  1114  is a combination of the database name for patent database  226  (the location of the work file meta table  602  and the work file item table  702 ), as well as the value of the work file name  706  copied from the newly created work file item records  704 . The data from the LAST KNOWN LOCATION field  1114  is later used to find, restore, or repair the associated work file meta record  604  and/or work file item records  704 . For example, after the work file has been created and the work file application  212  determines that the work file meta and work file item records  604 ,  704  no longer exist in the proper location, a new location is chosen, and the work file meta and work file item records  604 ,  704  are re-created using the additional information stored in the work file record  1102 .  
         [0042]    In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the work file is associated with some external user of the system. The work file record  1102  stores a reference to that user in the EXTERNAL USER REFERENCE field  1116 . Typically, it is a reference to an external user directory (for example, it may be a reference to an entry in a lightweight directory access protocol system, or it may be a reference to a shopper identification used by an e-commerce engine). Data for the TIME CREATED  1118  and TIME LAST MODIFIED  1120  fields are also stored at this time. As their names imply, these two fields are used to keep track of when the work file was created and when the work file was last modified (records added or deleted, for example). Both fields TIME CREATED  1118  and TIME LAST MODIFIED  1120  are initially set to the current system time.  
         [0043]    The NAME, REMARK  1122  fields are also updated during the creation of the work file by the work file application  212 . These fields are supplied by the user (or passed in by the calling program) and are critical for subsequent use of the work file by the user. The NAME, REMARK  1112  fields allow the user to associate the content of the work file with a symbolic name. For example, the work file named “Antibiotics” and remark “Antibiotic patents for my thesis” contains patents associated with the user&#39;s current research paper. In addition to associating the name and remark fields with a specific work file, the NAME, REMARK  1112  fields may be used by other components of the system to allow subsequent operations against the work file. For example a user interface may be provided that lists the work file names and/or descriptions and allows the user to conveniently add additional documents to an existing or new work file. The NAME, REMARK  1112  fields may also be passed to the work file application  212  by the calling program. For example, the value for these fields may be set by another component of the current system.  
         [0044]    The last field created by the work file application  212  during the creation of a work file is WF CONTENT  1124 . The WF CONTENT field  1124  is critical to the work file record  1102  because it contains a copy of each document id  708  field contained in every work file item table record  704  that applies to the current work file. To populate the WF CONTENT field  1124 , I the work file application  212  determines if a work file meta record  604  exists where the work file name  606  is equal to the WFNAME value stored in LAST KNOWN LOCATION field  1114 . If so, and if one or more work file item records  704  are found in the work file item table  702  that contain the same WFNAME value, the document id values  708  from those matching records are copied into the document id  1126  values in WF CONTENT field  1124 . The DOC ID  1126  fields are depicted as a simple array of values, but anyone skilled in the art will recognize that the DOC ID  1126  fields can be stored in any efficient storage structure. The document ids  1126  are the master (and permanent) copy of the documents contained in the work set. These document ids are updated whenever the user performs an operation that changes the contents of the work set. For example, if the user adds, deletes, edits, or performs set operations, the document ids  1126  are updated to reflect the current state of the work set. (Of course, the WFCOUNT  1110  is also kept in sync with any changes to WF CONTENT  1124 .) The document ids  1126  are also used as a source of data should the work file need to be cloned (as a result of a user or system request).  
         [0045]    Referring again to FIG. 5, after the work file record  1102  has been created, the work file application  212  displays a confirmation message to the user, as block  580  indicates. Referring to FIG. 12, the work file application  212  does this by displaying a Work File Administration user interface page  1200 . The confirmation message  1202  indicates that the work file has been saved successfully. In addition, the administration page  1200  contains a newly created row  1204  that displays the user&#39;s work file ID number, the work file name, last modified date, description, the count of items currently contained in the work file, and a set of links to other administrative functions such as view, edit, or copy. At this point, the work file generation and confirmation process is complete.  
         [0046]    In a variation of the work file administration interface, it&#39;s also possible to construct custom patent collections. For example, all patents invented by Thomas Edison. A user interface is provided to allow a user to collect a set of patents, arrange aspects of the list (e.g., decide whether to show thumbnail images, titles, etc.), provide a custom header to be shown when the work file is viewed (e.g. an image of one of the inventions or a company logo), and subsequently publish the work set on the Internet (provide a URL link to the resulting page).  
         [0047]    From the work file administration user interface  1200 , the user may view the patent documents that comprise each of the listed work files. FIG. 13 depicts an embodiment of a work file viewer user interface  1300 . The work file viewer allows the user to view the contents of a work file along with additional fields of patent information pulled from the patent database. The work file viewer  1300  is generated by the work file application  212  when the view control  1204  is selected. The view control  1204  invokes the work file application  212  and passes it the value of the work file ID  1104 . The work file application  212  then uses the work file record (WORK FILE RECORD)  1102  along with the associated work file meta record (WF META RECORD)  604  and work file item records (WF ITEM RECORD)  704  to display the contents of the work file. The work file viewer  1300  shows the name, description and number of items  1302  by retrieving values from the work file record  1102 . To display the document identifiers  1304  and associated patent data  1306 , the work file application  212  uses the value of the last known location (LAST KNOWN LOCATION)  1114  field in the work file record (WORK FILE RECORD)  1102  to find the associated work file meta record (WF META RECORD)  604  for this work file. The work file name (WF NAME)  606  is then retrieved and used to find all work file item records (WF ITEM RECORD)  704  that contain a matching work file name (WFNAME)  706 . This set of work file item records (WF ITEM RECORD)  704  is then used to retrieve the list of document identifiers (DOC ID)  708 . This set of document identifiers (DOC ID)  708  is then used to find associated patent records  302 . This set of patent records  302  is sorted according to the user&#39;s preference and displayed on the work file viewer user interface  1300  as depicted in  1304 ,  1306 . In one embodiment, if the number of items to display on the work file viewer user interface  1300  is greater than a predetermined limit, then only the first X items are shown. In this case, additional scrolling controls would be shown that allow the user to request the next X items or jump to the beginning or end of the work file.  
         [0048]    The user may also delete items by using the work file viewer user interface  1300 . First, the user selects the desired items to delete by clicking on the checkboxes  1308 . The user will then press the Go button  1310 . The work file application responds by deleting the matching work file item records (WF ITEM RECORD)  704 , deleting the corresponding work file meta record (WF META RECORD)  604 , updating the TIME LAST MODIFIED  1120  field with the current system time, deleting matching document identifiers (DOC ID)  1126  from WF CONTENT  1124 , and finally setting WFCOUNT  1110  to the number of document identifiers (DOC ID)  1126  remaining in WF CONTENT  1124 . The work file application  212  then removes the deleted items from the work file viewer user interface  1300  and redisplays the page (the items are no longer visible to the user). In addition to deleting items, the user may also copy some or all of the existing set of documents (current work file) into a new or existing work file. To copy documents into a new, work file, the user optionally selects document identifiers  1304 , sets the Add radio button to either “checked items” or “entire result set,”  1312 , leaves the drop-down control set to “Create New Work File”  1312 , and presses the “Go” button  1312 . Depending on the user&#39;s selection, the work file application  212  is passed either a list of document identifiers  1304  or the work file ID (WFID)  1104  of the currently viewed work file. The work file application  212  then creates a new work file as previously described in step  520  above, using the current work file document identifiers as the source for the operation. To copy documents into an existing work file, the user optionally selects document identifiers  1304 , sets the Add radio button to either “checked items” or “entire result set,”  1312 , presses the drop-down control  1312 , selects an existing work file name from the drop-down, and presses the “Go” button  1312 . At this point, the work file application  212  inserts the document identifiers from the current work file into the work file structures associated with the existing work file chosen from the drop-down. Any duplicate document identifiers are removed, and the appropriate structures in the work file meta table (WF META TABLE)  602 , work file item table (WF ITEM TABLE)  702 , and work file record  1102  are updated to reflect the combined content. When using the work file viewer  1300 , the user may also perform all of the same system features  1314  as were also possible from the search result set user interface  900  (FIG. 9).  
         [0049]    In addition to performing operations on individual work files using the work file administration user interface  1200  such as view, edit, copy, or import, the user may also perform operations between multiple work files. For example, a merge operation may be utilized to create subsets or supersets of existing work files by merging multiple work files to create a new work file. To perform a merge, the user may select several work files (for example, using checkboxes  1206  (FIG. 12)), choose a logical AND or OR operation via radio buttons  1208 , and press the merge button  1210 . A merge user interface screen  1400  is depicted as shown in FIG. 14. When the save button  1402  is pressed, a newly merged work file is created. The merge implementation may support at least two different operations: logical AND and logical OR. When several work files are selected and a logical OR operation is performed a new destination work file is produced. The WF CONTENT  1126  of the destination file is the union of the document ids  1126  contained in all selected work files. The result of the union is then sorted alphabetically, duplicate document ids are removed, and the resulting list is then stored in WF CONTENT  1126  of the new work file. When several work files are selected and a logical AND operation is performed, a new destination work file is produced. The WF CONTENT  1126  of the destination work file after the AND merge operation is the intersection of the documents ids  1126  contained in all selected work files. In this case, the resulting document ids are joined and sorted. If the number of source work sets is N, then all documents ids are removed from the generated set except document ids with N times occurrence. The final step in the AND merge operation is to remove duplicate document ids from the resulting list and to store the remainder in WF CONTENT  1126  of a new work file. The Quick Sort algorithm (or similar) is used in sort operations for the purpose of higher efficiency.  
         [0050]    The user interface for the newly merged work file  1502  is depicted in FIG. 15 as displayed in the work file administration user interface  1200 . A variation of work file administration user interface  1200  allows other set operations, such as the capability to perform complex Boolean operations. For example, ((set 1 OR set 2) AND set 3) AND NOT set 4).  
         [0051]    As discussed above, embodiments of the system of the invention allow the user to consciously create the work file. However, the system may also automatically create work sets during the user interaction without the user&#39;s direct knowledge. These system work sets may be hidden from the user, or they may be exposed to the user on the work file administration user interface  1200  or other user interface pages. Typically the NAME, REMARK  1122  fields are initially left blank in this case, but may be subsequently supplied by the user.  
         [0052]    While the invention has been discussed in terms of preferred and specific embodiments, it should be appreciated by those of skill in the art that the invention is not so limited. The embodiments are explained herein by way of example, and there are numerous modifications, variations and other embodiments that may be employed that would still be within the scope of the present invention.