Patent ID: 6865568

Claim:
A method for searching a database comprising a plurality of electronic documents, said method comprising: assigning a unique numeric category identifier to each of a plurality of document categories; assigning each of said electronic documents to one of said document categories, said assigned category based upon the content of each of said electronic documents; associating metadata with each of said electronic documents, said metadata comprising said unique numeric category identifier corresponding to said document category assigned to each of said electronic documents; receiving a request to search said database, said search limited to documents assigned to a specified document category associated with said request; searching said metadata associated with each of said electronic documents; returning an identity of each of said electronic documents associated with metadata having a numeric category identifier associated with said specified document category, said identities returned as a list of document identifiers and an index into said list corresponding to a one of said electronic documents; receiving a request to display a second document, the second document identified in said list; and utilizing said index and said list to identify said second document and to retrieve said second document from said database without performing a second search of the metadata associated with each of said electronic documents.