In an information retrieval system, a query issued by the user is analyzed by a query engine into query elements. After the query has been evaluated against the document collections, a resulting hit list is presented to the user, e.g., as a table. The presented hit list displays not only an overall...http://www.google.co.uk/patents/US5826260?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US5826260 - Information retrieval system and method for displaying and ordering information based on query element contribution 
