Patent ID: 8041711

Claim:
A method for associating at least one preference with a user, the method comprising: determining, by a processing device, a first viewpoint comprising at least one first preference, the first preference providing an association between a first pattern of user-viewable text and a first URL; determining, by the processing device, a second viewpoint comprising at least one second preference, the second preference providing an association between a second pattern of user-viewable text and a second URL, in which the second URL is different than the first URL; determining, by the processing device, information about a user; associating, by the processing device and based on the information, the first viewpoint but not the second viewpoint with the user; receiving, by the processing device, a request from the user to retrieve markup language-based electronic content, in which the electronic content comprises a user-viewable text portion; determining, by the processing device, that a portion of the user-viewable text portion of the markup language-based electronic content matches the first pattern of user-viewable text of the first preference; modifying, by the processing device, the electronic content to include an HTML hyperlink to the first URL that is associated with the matched pattern, wherein the hyperlink is included near the location of the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion, wherein the hyperlink being included near the location of the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion comprises the hyperlink being at least one of: (i) included in place of the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion; (ii) included as a mouse-over object assigned to the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion; and (iii) included just after the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion; and providing, by the processing device, the modified electronic content to the user, such that the hyperlink appears to the user near the matched portion of the user-viewable text portion.