BACKGROUND

Many users like to multitask across different computing devices. For example, a user may consume content on one device and manually execute searches associated with the content on a different device. Consider a scenario in which a user is watching a football game on television and has their laptop computer with them. The user may become interested in some aspect of the game, such as learning more about a particular team's or player's statistics. If the user has a network connection, they can conduct an Internet search to discover information about the team's or player's statistics. As another example, assume that a user is playing a game on their gaming console and wishes to find out if there are any “cheat sheets” for the game. If they have a network connection and access to their laptop computer, they can conduct an Internet search to ascertain whether there are any cheat sheets for the game.

Having to manually enter searches, as described above, can be distracting for the user and can detract from the user's experience.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments provide a so-called companion experience in which content consumed on a primary screen can serve as a source for an automatic search that returns related content that can be presented on an auxiliary screen. The companion experience can be considered to reside in a layer that can be moved across different screens. The different screens can include different physical screens, such as those associated with different computing devices, or the same physical screen in which the companion experience would be rendered in a frame or sub-window.

In at least some embodiments, devices can discover one another when they are in proximity to each other and either automatically, or through a user prompt, initiate the companion experience. Once the devices discover each other, communication between the devices can occur either through a peer-to-peer connection or through a network experience such as a web service. As content is consumed on one device, information associated with the content can form the basis by which a search can be automatically conducted by a search engine supported by the web service. Search results can then be returned and rendered on a different device to provide a companion experience.

