Patent ID: 7457798

Claim:
A system for automatically alerting a user to available information comprising a computing device having a memory and a processor for: automatically interpreting and parsing information recovered from an electronic document being displayed on a display device coupled to the computing device to identify data representing an entity; automatically identifying at least one entity represented by the identified data, by comparing the identified data to information contained in at least one local or remote electronic database to identify each entity associated with the identified data; automatically retrieving information relating to each identified entity from at least one electronic database; automatically notifying the user that the retrieved information is available via a visual or audible alert; automatically modifying an appearance of the electronic document being rendered on the computer display device by editing the electronic document to insert at least one graphical presence indicator into the electronic document in a location adjacent to the data representing each identified entity; and using at least a portion of the retrieved information relating to one or more of the identified entity to automatically provide the user with at least one textual or graphical links to at least one communications account for initiating communication with each identified entity via a user interface.