Patent ID: 7321887

Claim:
A system for delivering content; the system comprising: a message reader operable to monitor an information distribution service and input therefrom a message generated from a first source, the message being sent from a sender to a recipient, the message including electronic content and metadata describing the electronic content, the electronic content including one or more discussion objects generated with the message; a supplemental content selector operable to: access rules to determine whether to generate supplemental electronic content that relates to the one or more discussion objects, parse the electronic content and the metadata to recognize the one or more discussion objects, determine whether supplemental electronic content is to be generated based on the accessed rules and the recognized discussion objects, and based on a determination that supplemental electronic content is to be generated, (1) locate documents from a second source that include content related to the one or more discussion objects, (2) aggregate at least a portion of the content descriptive of the subject matter of the located documents to form a cohesive presentation of information, and (3) generate supplemental electronic content for addition to the electronic content based on the cohesive presentation of information; and a transmitter operable to transmit the generated supplemental electronic content to the recipient and to add the supplemental electronic content to the electronic content.