Patent ID: 7895184

Claim:
A computerized method of customizing a search of a data source in response to a search request from a user, said data source being linked to a computer executing one or more applications, said method comprising: in response to receiving the search request, parsing data displayed on a display of the computer by an active application executed by the computer; detecting; from the parsed data, structured data indicative of a context of the active application for searching; retrieving a context hint stored in a memory, said context hint defining an anticipated context of the active application based on patterns included in the detected structured data; comparing the context hint to the detected structured data to determine the context of the active application for searching without receiving an explicit user designation of the context from the user; determining a default data source to search based on the determined context of the active application without receiving an explicit user designation of the default data source from the user; providing a customized user interface (UI) for receiving a user-entered search term based on the determined default data source, said customized UI including a search field for receiving the user-entered search term; displaying the provided customized UI; in response to receiving the user-entered search term, initiating a search of the determined default data source for content corresponding to the user-entered search term; and displaying search results to the user via a search results window, wherein the search results window is displayed after one or more characters of the search term are entered into the search field of the customized UI and updated thereafter for each additional character of the search term entered.