Patent ID: 7505973

Claim:
A method of providing search results to a user, comprising: receiving a request for a search query, the request comprising a maximum number of documents to be displayed on a results page; retrieving a number of documents relevant to the search query, the number of documents retrieved greater than the maximum number of results to be displayed on the results page by a predetermined amount; determining access rights corresponding to a plurality of retrieved documents; maintaining session state information, the session state information comprising a first value representing a number of documents for which a user is determined to have access rights and a second value representing a number of documents for which the access rights have been determined; retrieving a number of additional documents relevant to the search query, the number of additional documents determined from the session state information; determining access rights for a plurality of the additional documents beginning with a document following the number of documents for which the access rights have been determined; and instructing a client computer to display documents on the results page for which the user is determined to have access rights; wherein determining access rights corresponding to the plurality of retrieved documents comprises: setting a first document of the number of documents retrieved as a current result; determining whether the user is authorized to view the current result; if the user is not authorized to view the current result, removing the current result, setting a next document of the number of documents retrieved as the current result, and determining whether the user is authorized to view the current result; and if the user is authorized to view the current result, selecting the current result for display, setting a next document of the number of documents retrieved as the current result, and determining whether the user is authorized to view the current result.