Enhanced search engine

1. A method, comprising:

receiving a search query comprising at least one query term;

identifying a plurality of source documents based on the at least one query term;

identifying a relevant portion of a first source document in the plurality of source documents;

identifying a view window appropriate to depict the relevant portion of the first source document, wherein an image size of the view window is smaller than an image size of the first source document;

rendering a search results image for the relevant portion of the first source document, the search results image having boundaries corresponding to the view window; and

rendering the source document in such a way that the portion of the document contained within the view window is visually distinguishable from the remainder of the document; and

providing a set of search results, the set of search results including the search results image.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the view window begins at a first identified logical break in the first source document and ends at a second identified logical break in the first source document, wherein the relevant portion of the first source document is between the first and second logical breaks.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first identified logical break comprises at least one of a word, sentence, paragraph, section, graphic, or page.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the relevant portion of the first source document is identified as a point location in the first source document and wherein the view window is sized to enclose a predetermined area around the point location.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the relevant portion of the first source document is further identified with a vector originating at the point location directed toward a body of the relevant portion and wherein the view window extends from the point location in the direction of the vector.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the view window encloses at least a portion of text and at least a portion of non-text.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the non-text comprises at least one of a graph, signature, chart, embedded image, equation or other non-textual visual element.

8. A computer readable medium comprising processor executable instructions operable to, when executed, perform the method of claim 1 .

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of search results are ordered according to relevance.

10. A search engine adapted to receive a search parameter from a user in connection with a search query, the search engine being further adapted to search a plurality of source documents for at least one occurrence of the search parameter therein and identify a subset of the plurality of source documents, the subset of source documents having at least one occurrence of the search parameter therein, wherein the search engine is further adapted to assign each source document in the subset of source documents a relative importance and determine an order of presentation of the subset to the user, and wherein the search engine is further adapted to identify a relevant portion of each source document in the subset of source documents and generate an image of the relevant portion of each source document in the subset of source documents and provide the image of the relevant portion along with a link to the source document in a set of search results, wherein the image of the relevant portion is smaller than the entire source document.

11. The search engine of claim 10 , wherein the image is presented in a view window which begins at a first identified logical break in the source document and ends at a second identified logical break in the source document, wherein the relevant portion of the source document is between the first and second logical breaks.

12. The search engine of claim 11 , wherein the first identified logical break comprises at least one of a word, sentence, paragraph, section, graphic, or page.

13. The search engine of claim 10 , wherein the relevant portion of the source document is identified as a point location in the source document and wherein the image is presented in a view window which is sized to enclose a predetermined area around the point location.

14. The search engine of claim 13 , wherein the relevant portion of the source document is further identified with a vector originating at the point location directed toward a body of the relevant portion and wherein the view window extends from the point location in the direction of the vector.

15. The search engine of claim 10 , wherein the image is presented in a view window which encloses at least a portion of text and at least a portion of non-text.

16. The search engine of claim 15 , wherein the non-text comprises at least one of a graph, signature, chart, embedded image, equation or other non-textual visual element.

17. A computer program product comprising computer executable instructions stored onto a computer readable medium which, when executed by a processor of a computer, cause the processor to execute a method, the method comprising:

receiving a search query comprising at least one query term;

identifying a plurality of source documents based on the at least one query term;

identifying a relevant portion of a first source document in the plurality of source documents;

identifying a view window appropriate to depict the relevant portion of the first source document, wherein an image size of the view window is smaller than an image size of the first source document;

rendering a search results image for the relevant portion of the first source document, the search results image having boundaries corresponding to the view window; and

providing a set of search results, the set of search results including the search results image.