Patent Document ID: 5384703
Application ID: 08085385

Base Claim:
1. An automated, computer implemented method of electronically processing a document stored in a memory of a computer, said document containing text represented by characters, said method comprising the steps of: a) using the computer, automatically determining a frequency of occurrence of expressions in the document not contained in a stop list and having at least a first predetermined level of complexity, said stop list stored in the memory of said computer; b) using the computer, automatically forming a seed list comprised of a second predetermined number of the most frequently occurring expressions determined in step (a), said seed list stored in said memory of said computer; c) using said computer, automatically forming a summary of the document comprised of regions in the document containing at least two members of said seed list, said summary stored in said memory of said computer; and d) using said computer, automatically repeating steps (a)-(c) on said summary until a length of said summary is no greater than a predetermined length, each time steps (a)-(c) are repeated, adding the members of said seed list to said stop list and reducing said first predetermined level of complexity.

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Claim 16:
16. The method of claim 1, wherein said stop list is empty before step (a) is performed a first time.