Patent ID: 7882170

Claim:
A method of enabling a user to access, during and in response to execution of a first software application of a first type, information configured for use by a second type of software application different than the first type, wherein a plurality of information elements are stored in one or more data sources, the information elements exposing the information for use by applications of at least the first type, the method comprising acts of: (A) executing the first application, including displaying content having at least one section and monitoring a structural abstraction associated with the content, the structural abstraction representing a structure of the content and defining at least one node corresponding to the at least one section of the content; (B) in response to a user action involving the at least one section of the content, generating a reference specifying at least one of the plurality of information elements stored in the one or more data sources, wherein the generating includes mapping the at least one node of the structural abstraction to the reference; (C) retrieving one or more pieces of the information configured for use by the second type of software application based on the at least one information element specified by the reference, the information configured for use by the second type of software application being retrieved without execution of the software application of the second type, wherein the one or more data sources include an originating data source storing the information configured for use by the second type of software application, from which the plurality of information elements are derived; (D) receiving, by the first application, a user modification of the at least one of the one or more pieces of the information configured for use by the second type of software application; (E) in response to the user modification, the first application modifying a corresponding at least one piece of the information in the originating data source; and wherein the one or more data sources store at least one mapping table for mapping nodes of the structural abstractions to references specifying information elements, and wherein the act (B) includes applying the at least one mapping table to map the at least one node of the structural abstraction to the at least one information element.