Method and apparatus for determining relative relevance between portions of large electronic documents

Computer program instructions stored in a computer recordable-type media for identifying documents relevant to a portion of a first document, said computer program instructions comprising:

• first instructions for receiving an identification of a portion of a first document from a client device;
• second instructions for identifying metadata associated with the portion of the first document;
• third instructions for retrieving metadata for a portion of a second document;
• fourth instructions for comparing the metadata associated with the portion of the first document to the metadata for the portion of the second document;
• fifth instructions for determining a relative relevance of the portion of the second document to the portion of the first document based on the comparison, wherein the fifth instructions for determining a relative relevance of the portion of the second document to the portion of the first document includes instructions for generating a correspondence value based on the comparison of the metadata associated with the portion of the first document to the metadata associated with the portion of the second document and instructions for generating a score value for the portion of the second document based on the correspondence value for the portion of the second document;
• sixth instructions for comparing content of the portion of the first document to content of the portion of the second document;
• and
• seventh instructions for generating a content value for the portion of the second document based on the comparison of the content, wherein the correspondence value and the content value for the portion of the second document are combined to obtain the generated score value;
• wherein one or more first weights are associated with the portion of the first document, one or more second weights are associated with the portion of the second document, and wherein the instructions for generating a score value for the portion of the second document based on the correspondence value for the portion of the second document include instructions for applying the one or more first weights and the one or more second weights to the correspondence value and the content value, and wherein the score value is calculated using the following equation:
• Comp(Da,Db)=Wdoc-meta(a)*Wdoc-meta(b)*Comp(ma-doc, mb-doc)+Wdoc-content(a)*Wdoc-content(b)*Comp(ca-doc,cb-doc)
• where Comp(Da, Db) is a comparison value for a comparison of a portion of a first document Da and a second document Db, Wdoc-meta(a) represents one or more first weights associated with metadata of the portion of the first document, Wdoc-meta(b) represents one or more second weights associated with metadata of the portion of the second document, Comp(ma-doc, mb-doc) is a comparison value associated with a comparison of the metadata for a portion of a first document ma-doc and the metadata for a portion of a second document mb-doc, Wdoc-content(a)represents one or more first weights associated with content of the portion of the first document, Wdoc-content(b) represents one or more second weights associated with content of the portion of the second document, and Comp(ca-doc, cb-doc) is a comparison value obtained from comparing the content of the portion of the first document ca-doc, to the content of the portion of the second document cb-doc.

An apparatus for identifying documents relevant to a portion of a first document, comprising:

• means for receiving an identification of a portion of a first document from a client device;
• means for identifying metadata associated with the portion of the first document;
• means for retrieving metadata for a portion of a second document;
• means for comparing the metadata associated with the portion of the first document to the metadata for the portion of the second document;
• means for determining a relative relevance of the portion of the second document to the portion of the first document based on the comparison, wherein the means for determining a relative relevance of the portion of the second document to the portion of the first document includes means for generating a correspondence value based on the comparison of the metadata associated with the portion of the first document to the metadata associated with the portion of the second document and means for generating a score value for the portion of the second document based on the correspondence value for the portion of the second document;
• means for comparing content of the portion of the first document to content of the portion of the second document;
• and
• means for generating a content value for the portion of the second document based on the comparison of the content, wherein the correspondence value and the content value for the portion of the second document are combined to obtain the generated score value;
• wherein one or more first weights are associated with the portion of the first document, one or more second weights are associated with the portion of the second document, and wherein the means for generating a score value for the portion of the second document based on the correspondence value for the portion of the second document include means for applying the one or more first weights and the one or more second weights to the correspondence value and the content value, and wherein the score value is calculated using the following equation:
• Comp(Da,Db)=Wdoc-meta(a)*Wdoc-meta(b)*Comp(ma-doc,mb-doc)+Wdoc-content(a)*Wdoc-content(b)*Comp(ca-doc,cb-doc)
• where Comp(Da, Db) is a comparison value for a comparison of a portion of a first document Da and a second document Db, Wdoc-meta(a) represents one or more first weights associated with metadata of the portion of the first document, Wdoc-meta(b) represents one or more second weights associated with metadata of the portion of the second document, Comp(ma-doc, mb-doc) is a comparison value associated with a comparison of the metadata for a portion of a first document ma-doc and the metadata for a portion of a second document mb-doc, Wdoc-content(a) represents one or more first weights associated with content of the portion of the first document, Wdoc-content(b) represents one or more second weights associated with content of the portion of the second document, and Comp(ca-doc, cb-doc) is a comparison value obtained from comparing the content of the portion of the first document ca-doc to the content of the portion of the second document cb-doc.