received by the International Bureau on 02 February 2015 (02.02.2015)

1. A method of generating search results from an electronic document (108), wherein the method is characterized by:

displaying, on a display (104) operably connected to a processing device (804), an electronic document (108);

receiving, by the processing device (804), a user selection of a portion (1 10) of the electronic document (108);

by the processing device (804), scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion of the electronic document (108);

upon determining that at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion, automatically transmitting, by the processing device (804), the at least one keyword or keyword phrase to a search engine without additional input by the user; receiving, by the processing device (804), a first results list from the search engine; and

outputting, by the processing device (804), a result set (306) along with the electronic document (108), wherein the result set comprises at least the first results list presented as a set of user-selectable links to additional information.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprises: loading, from a library of electronic documents, an index of the electronic document;

analyzing the index to determine a subject of the electronic document;

identifying keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject; and

selecting the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprises:

loading and analyzing an index of the electronic document to determine a subject of the document;

identifying keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject; and

selecting the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprises:

loading and analyzing full text of the electronic document to determine the most commonly occurring words in the electronic document;

using the most commonly occurring words to determine a subject of the document; identifying keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject that are available in a library of electronic documents; and

selecting the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprises:

identifying one or more words in the selected portion that appear in the electronic document's full text at least a specified number of times, but which are not considered to be common words of the language of the electronic document; and

selecting each of the identified words as a keyword or keyword phrase for use in the search.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein scanning the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprises:

identifying keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are unique to the electronic document in that they appear in the electronic document but do not appear in more than a certain number of other electronic documents in an available library of electronic documents; and

selecting the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

outputting the result set comprises presenting the links as a sorted list (306); and the method further comprises updating, by the processing device (804), the sorted list while the search engine performs a search by:

automatically moving more relevant results of the search to the top of the list, and

automatically moving less relevant results down in the list.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising indexing, by the processing device (804), the electronic document (108) into the library of electronic documents by:

extracting (404) a full text index of the electronic document (108);

analyzing (406) the index to determine a subject of the electronic document (108); and

saving the subject to an index file for the electronic document.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising scoring each of the keywords and keyword phrases by:

determining a subject of the electronic document;

assigning a first score to any keywords and keyword phrases that appear frequently in all documents that are stored in an available library of electronic documents;

assigning a second score to any keywords and keyword phrases that appear frequently in other documents of the same subject that are stored in the library, wherein the second score is higher than the first score.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising sorting the result set (306) by:

determining a score for each result item by adding the scores associated with the keywords used in a query that produced the result item; and

sorting the result items based upon the determined scores for the result items.

1 1. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processing device (804), a second keyword from the user selected portion (1 10) of the electronic document (108);

transmitting, by the processing device (804), the second keyword to the search engine;

receiving, by the processing device (108), a second results list from the search engine;

displaying, by the processing device (108), a merged result set (510) along with the electronic document (108); wherein the merged result set (510) comprises at least the first results list and the second results list.

12. A device for generating search results from an electronic document (108), wherein the device is characterized by:

a processor (804);

a display (104) operably connected to the processor (804); and a non-transitory computer readable medium (806) operably connected to the processor (804), the non-transitory computer readable medium containing a set of instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to perform the following:

display an electronic document ( 108) on the display ( 104), receive a user selection of a portion ( 1 10) of the electronic document ( 108), scan the user selected portion and using the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion of the electronic document ( 108),

upon determining that at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion, automatically transmit the at least one keyword or keyword phrase to a search engine without additional input by the user,

receive a first results list from the search engine, and

output a result set (306) along with the electronic document ( 108), wherein the result set (306) comprises at least the first results list presented as a set of user- selectable links to additional information.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions to scan the user selected portion and use the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprise instructions to:

load, from a library of electronic documents, an index of the electronic document; analyze the index to determine a subject of the electronic document;

identify keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject; and select the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions to scan the user selected portion and use the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprise instructions to:

load and analyze an index of the electronic document to determine a subject of the document;

identify keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject; and

select the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions to scan the user selected portion and use the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprise instructions to:

load and analyze full text of the electronic document to determine the most commonly occurring words in the electronic document;

use the most commonly occurring words to determine a subject of the document; identify keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are common to electronic documents of the identified subject that are available in a library of electronic documents; and

select the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

16. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions to scan the user selected portion and use the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprise instructions to:

identify one or more words in the selected portion that appear in the electronic document's full text at least a specified number of times, but which are not considered to be common words of the language of the electronic document; and

select each of the identified words as a keyword or keyword phrase for use in the search.

17. The device of claim 12, wherein the instructions to scan the user selected portion and use the user selected portion to determine whether at least one keyword or keyword phrase is present in the selected portion comprise instructions to:

identify keywords or keyword phrases in the selected portion that are unique to the electronic document in that they appear in the electronic document but do not appear in more than a certain number of other electronic documents in an available library of electronic documents; and

select the identified keywords or keyword phrases for use in the search.

18. The device of claim 12, wherein:

the instructions to output the result set comprise instructions to present the links as a sorted list (306); and the non-transitory computer readable medium (806) contains additional instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to update the sorted list while the search engine performs a search by:

automatically moving more relevant results of the search the top of the list, and

automatically moving less relevant results down in the list.

19. The device of claim 13, wherein the set of instructions further comprises instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to index the electronic document ( 108) into the library of electronic documents by:

extracting (404) a full text index of the electronic document ( 108);

analyzing (406) the index to determine a subject of the electronic document ( 108); and

saving the subject to an index file for the electronic document.

20. The device of claim 19, comprising additional instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to score each of the keywords and keyword phrases by:

determining a subject of the electronic document;

assigning a first score to any keywords and keyword phrases that appear frequently in all documents that are stored in an available library of electronic documents; and

assigning a second score to any keywords and keyword phrases that appear frequently in other documents of the same subject that are stored in the library;

wherein the second score is higher than the first score.

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the set of instructions further comprises instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to sort the result set by:

determining a score for each result item by adding the scores associated with the keywords used in a query that produced the result item; and

sorting the result items based upon the determined scores for the at result items

22. The device of claim 12, wherein the set of instructions further comprises instructions configured to instruct the processor (804) to perform the following:

determine a second keyword from the user selection of the electronic document

(108);

transmit the second keyword to the search engine;

receive a second results list from the search engine; and

display a merged result set (510) along with the electronic document ( 108); wherein the merged result set (510) comprises at least the first results list and the second results list.