I fully agree that the last constraint pretty much forces Approach #1. But it is just an after thought.

Overlaps of different patterns could be more significant that within a pattern. When the patterns are supplied by different people, the "overlap" wouldn't be seen by either creator. While any single pattern should be structured by that creator to be work as they want when processes with a \g modifier.

Each pattern will have an assigned weight. Each match will add that pattern's weight to the document's score. The final document score is what I am really after. So the answer is 'yes'.

Thanks