METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR INTER-APPLICATION COMMUNICATION

A data processing method includes (a) executing a messaging application program and other application programs on a computer system; (b) analyzing text in each message handled by the messaging application program to identify textual data items in the message that can potentially be processed by the application programs; (c) displaying the analyzed messages to the user, such that each textual data item in the messages is visually marked and selectable by the user; (d) receiving an input from the user selecting a textual data item; (e) broadcasting information on the selected textual data item to the application programs; (f) determining independently through each of the application programs whether the broadcasted information is semantically relevant to that application program; and (g) if so, processing the information through the application program and displaying results to the user.