Patent ID: 8484378

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: sending, from a user computer system to a search system, a search query for product information, wherein: the search query identifies a software product installed on the user computer system, the search system includes a repository that stores a variety of product information comprising product-specific information for the software product, and the product-specific information for the software product includes general content applicable to multiple versions of the software product and version-specific content applicable to particular versions of the software product; transmitting, from the user computer system to the search system, a persistent descriptor that includes version information for the software product based on a detected version of the software product installed on the user computer system; and receiving, at the user computer system from the search system, a search result provided in response to the search system interrogating the repository based on the search query and the version information for the software product included in the persistent descriptor, wherein: the search result includes a version-specific subset of the product-specific information for the software product which is limited to general content that is applicable to the detected version of the software product installed on the user computer system and specific content that is applicable to the detected version of the software product installed on the user computer system.