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Abstract

Research apparatus for performing research on books stored either locally on magnetic or optical media or remotely in an on-line data base. A user of the research apparatus performs research in a project whose state is automatically saved on non-volatile storage, permitting a user to suspend and resume work on the project. The project state includes a list of the books being used by the project and for each book, the last location read and the last query executed on the book. The user selects one book as the current book, and when the selection is made, the research apparatus automatically displays text from the current book which contains the last location read. If there was a query active, the research apparatus automatically re-executes the query. If the current book is stored on an on-line data base, the research apparatus automatically establishes a connection with the on-line data base. Each book has an ordered document list of the documents in the book, and movement through a displayed book is governed by the order of the documents. Execution of a query on a book produces a subset list of documents satisfying the query which is ordered like the document list. The publisher of the book may further provide alternate orders for the document list. Further features of the project state include a list of all the queries made in a project and a list of display states which may be restored by the user.

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First Claim