Patent ID: 7131112

Claim:
A computer-based method for reducing clutter within a comparison of documents comprising: receiving through a graphical user interface an input corresponding to a maximum number of displayable differences per level of the documents; comparing a first level section of the documents; determining that there is at least one difference between the documents within the first level section; identifying a set of second level sections that are sub-sections of the first level section; comparing each of the second level sections to determine whether there is at least one difference between the documents within the second level section; calculating a quantity of non-matching second level sections in which there is at least one difference between the documents; determining whether the quantity of non-matching second level sections is more than the maximum number of displayable differences; if not, then displaying identifications of the non-matching second level sections; and if so, then returning to the first level section and displaying an identification of the first level section as a non-matching section without displaying identifications of the non-matching second level sections, wherein either: the first level section is a paragraph and the second level sections are lines; or the first level section is a line and the second level sections are characters.