Patent ID: 8312077

Claim:
A client apparatus programmed for processing an electronic document for display to a user, said electronic document comprising a number of nodes logically arranged in a tree structure with a number of levels in which each node in a lower level has a relationship to a node in a higher level, the apparatus comprising: a receiver for receiving first data via a network, said first data comprising a first version of said electronic document, and for subsequently receiving a refresh of the first data, said refresh of the first data comprising second data comprising a second version of said electronic document; a comparator for determining whether there is a difference between the first data and the second data by comparing corresponding nodes from said first and second versions of said electronic document; and an updater, responsive to the comparator determining that there is a difference, for updating the first data with the second data, in which, upon finding a node that differs between said first and second versions of said electronic document, the comparator does not compare nodes at any lower level that are related to the node that differs between said first and second versions of said electronic document.