Patent ID: 6691104
Filing Date: 2004-02-10
Classification: G06F,Y10S

Abstract:
An application tool association method comprising:obtaining a user input request, wherein the user input request is one of a registration and a search query, wherein the registration specifies an association between a data type and a tool and/or service that is used to render that data type; determining if a new association between a data type and a new tool and/or service is to be registered in response to the registration, and if so, adding new tool/service information to a User Registration Profile Database; looking up registered tools in the User Registration Profile Database, using the Session/User ID as an indexing key; determining if there are registered tools in said User Registration Profile Database, and if so, analyzing a Search Results page and extracting URLs of the found external resources, wherein the Search Results page comprises search results containing URLs of external resources that are responsive to the search query; marking said Extracted URLs; inserting at least one tool link into the search results page, wherein the tool link specifies a tool and/or service that is associated with a data type associated with each of the extracted URLs, wherein the data type associated is specified by a specification in a registration that was provided by a previous user input request and that was added to the User Registration Profile Database; and formatting and sending the Results Page to said user via a browser or other means.