Method and system for display of information in a communication system gathered from external sources

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying, via a computer, a first reference and a second reference to a person who is a recipient of a message delivered to the computer by a communication system;

collecting first data and second data each comprising at least one of personal and public data from a source outside the communication system, wherein the personal and public data correspond to the person, wherein the personal or public data is otherwise inaccessible to the communication system, and wherein the first reference and the second reference respectively correspond to the first data and the second data;

filtering the first data and the second data to determine a ranking according to a degree of uniqueness of the first reference compared to the second reference; and

in response to a predetermined trigger, displaying, via the computer, the first data and the second data in an order based on the ranking.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger is an initiation of a communication with the person.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger is a retrieval of a communication from the communication system.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data or the second data is collected from a social network site that includes the person as a member.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting first data and second data includes performing a search.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the search is an Internet search.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the search is a local search of a device executing the communication system.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the collecting first data and second data includes searching social network sites associated with the person.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the displaying includes displaying the first data and the second data in a user interface along with the user interface of the communication system.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the displaying includes displaying the first data and the second data in a profile associated with the person.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the profile is displayed in a user interface along with the user interface of the communication system.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the profile is displayed in a same user interface as the communication system.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the first reference and the second reference are selected from the group consisting of a party name, email address, and screen name.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising displaying the first data and the second data in an email client, a web browser, or a stand-alone application.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the first data and the second data are selected from the group consisting of communications with other persons, e-mail body text, e-mail meta data, e-mail header information, e-mail attachments, web search engines, people search engines, social networks, e-mail clients, instant messages, personal web pages, telephone directories, scanned business card data, text messages, picture sharing websites, video sharing websites, profile pages, telephone communications, customer relationship management systems, and any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the trigger is implicit and selected from the group consisting of clicking on a message from the person, and selecting a message from the person.

17. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling a user to interact with the displayed first data and second data.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein the interacting includes linking, via a link, the displayed first data or second data to a source of such data to enable a user interacting with the link to access source material associated with the displayed first or second data.

19. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling a user to configure settings that control the content and timing of the displayed first and second data.

20. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying a first reference and a second reference to a party, the party having received a message from a communication system;

collecting first data and second data each comprising at least one of personal and public data that correspond to the party:

wherein the personal or public data is obtained from a source outside of the communication system;

wherein the personal or public data is otherwise inaccessible to the communication system;

wherein the first reference and the second reference respectively correspond to the first data and the second data;

filtering the first data and the second data resulting in a ranking according to a degree of uniqueness of the first reference compared to the second reference; and

displaying the first data and the second data in order of the ranking upon a predetermined trigger.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions, which when executed, cause a system to:

identify a first reference and a second reference to a party, the party being a recipient of a message from a communication system;

collect first data and second data each comprising at least one of personal and public data that correspond to the party:

wherein the personal or public data is obtained from a source outside of the communication system;

wherein the personal or public data is otherwise inaccessible to the communication system; and

wherein the first reference and the second reference respectively correspond to the first data and the second data;

filter the first data and the second data resulting in a ranking according to a degree of uniqueness of the first reference compared to the second reference; and

display the first data and the second data in order of the ranking upon a predetermined trigger.

22. A system, comprising:

a computing device; and

memory storing instructions configured to instruct the computing device to:

identify a first reference and a second reference to a party, the party being a recipient of a message from a communication system;

collect first data and second data each comprising at least one of personal and public data that correspond to the party:

wherein the personal or public data is obtained from a source outside of the communication system;

wherein the personal or public data is otherwise inaccessible to the communication system; and

wherein the first reference and the second reference respectively correspond to the first data and the second data;

filter the first data and the second data resulting in a ranking according to a degree of uniqueness of the first reference compared to the second reference; and

display the first data and the second data in order of the ranking upon a predetermined trigger.