Patent ID: 7349854

Claim:
A method for obtaining shipping information, comprising: providing a software add-in module configured for installation in connection with a software application, wherein the add-in module is stored on a computer readable medium operable comprising code that upon the user invoking one of one or more predefined actions causes the user computer to execute steps comprising: recognizing one or more predefined text strings or user-selected text strings in a document or file being operated on by the software application and for which the one or more predefined actions can be invoked, wherein the one or more predefined or user-selected text strings are located in an electronic file or document containing a plurality of text strings, wherein at least some of the text strings in the file or document are unrelated to shipping information for a parcel; and in response to the user invoking one of the one or more predefined actions, analyzing text in the file or document; identifying from the text in the file or document the one or more predefined or user-selected text strings that relate to shipping information; generating a request for shipping information associated with the one or more identified text strings to be sent to a remote server including a database having shipping information associated with parcels in accordance with the invoked action; transmitting the request to the remote server; receiving from the remote server the shipping information associated with the parcels and based on the one or more identified text strings; parsing the shipping information associated with the parcels and based on the one or more identified text strings received based on the invoked action; and sending the parsed shipping information associated with the parcels and based on the one or more identified text strings to the software application in response to the request.