Integration toolbar

Abstract

A web-page based integration toolbar provides the context within which other information or applications are accessed. A toolbar on a user's display is coupled to the currently displayed web-page, and provides contextual links to databases and applications based on the information currently displayed, or currently selected by the user. For example, the toolbar may contain a link to an inventory-control program, and may be configured to display of current inventory status of an item when the user selects the item on the user's displayed web-page. At the same time, the toolbar may contain a link to an analysis application that provides a demographic profile of prior purchasers of the selected item, and/or provides a forecast of likely demand, based on seasonal factors and the like. By providing a toolbar that is configured to provide contextual information to one or more independent databases or applications, based on the context of the page that a user is currently viewing, these independent databases and applications can be easily and efficiently integrated using a common user interface that is relatively easy to comprehend

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.