Patent ID: 8118216

Claim:
A method of discovering a subset in a collection of documents, the method being performed on a computer programmed to perform the method, the method comprising: obtaining a collection of documents, the documents being arranged in sequence and the subset arranged in sequence within the collection of documents; analyzing a first document in the collection of documents to determine characteristic features of the first document, a plurality of the characteristic features including human created indicia; generating a profile based on the characteristic features of the first document; assigning a variable weight to each of the characteristic features; comparing subsequent documents in the collection of documents to the profile to identify the subset, said comparing comprising considering the characteristic features based on the variable weight assigned to the characteristic features; during said comparing, redistributing the variable weight when it is determined that one or more of the characteristic features is more reliable than other characteristic fields; and preselecting a subset of users, said users having created at least one document in the collection of documents, said analyzing is conducted based on said preselecting a subset of users.