Policy-based management of instant message windows
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A method of enabling an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) user to specify policy information usable in responding to arrival of instant messages, comprising steps of;
defining, by the IM user, policy information specifying criteria for responding to arrival of instant messages; and
using the defined policy information, upon arrival of an instant message from an IM sender not already participating in an IM session with the IM user, to programmatically determine a response to the arriving instant message.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed for managing instant messages, including the display of windows for incoming messages, as well as for managing status information for instant messaging users. In one aspect, an instant messaging user defines policy information to programmatically determine a response to an arriving instant message. As an example, the policy may control whether a new window will pop up for a newly-arriving message, and may specify other attributes of the window if desired. In another aspect, an instant messaging user defines attributes pertaining to how his instant messaging status will be presented to others.
-
Citations
27 Claims
-
1. A method of enabling an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) user to specify policy information usable in responding to arrival of instant messages, comprising steps of;
defining, by the IM user, policy information specifying criteria for responding to arrival of instant messages; and
using the defined policy information, upon arrival of an instant message from an IM sender not already participating in an IM session with the IM user, to programmatically determine a response to the arriving instant message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
- IM”
-
20. A method of selectively opening instant messaging (“
- IM”
) windows, comprising steps of;
receiving an inbound instant message for a recipient IM user; and
using policy information to programmatically determine whether a new IM window should be opened for the received instant message, if an IM session is not already established between the recipient IM user and a sending IM user who sent the received instant message. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
- IM”
-
23. A method of controlling proliferation of instant messaging (“
- IM”
) windows, comprising steps of;
enabling a plurality of IM users to define criteria under which new IM windows should be opened responsive to receiving an instant message from message senders with whom an IM session is not already established;
using the defined criteria to determine, for at least one of the IM users, whether a new IM window should be opened; and
charging a fee for operation of either or both of the enabling and using steps.
- IM”
-
24. A system for enabling an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) user to specify policy information usable in responding to arrival of instant messages, comprising;
means for defining, by the IM user, policy information specifying criteria for responding to arrival of instant messages; and
means for using the defined policy information, upon arrival of an instant message from an IM sender not already participating in an IM session with the IM user, to programmatically determine a response to the arriving instant message.
- IM”
-
25. A system for selectively opening instant messaging (“
- IM”
) windows, comprising;
means for receiving an inbound instant message for a recipient IM user; and
means for using policy information to programmatically determine whether a new IM window should be opened for the received instant message, if an IM session is not already established between the recipient IM user and a sending IM user who sent the received instant message.
- IM”
-
26. A computer program product for enabling an instant messaging (“
- IM”
) user to specify policy information usable in responding to arrival of instant messages, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable media and comprising;
computer-readable program code means for defining, by the IM user, policy information specifying criteria for responding to arrival of instant messages; and
computer-readable program code means for using the defined policy information, upon arrival of an instant message from an IM sender not already participating in an IM session with the IM user, to programmatically determine a response to the arriving instant message.
- IM”
-
27. A computer program product for selectively opening instant messaging (“
- IM”
) windows, the computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable media and comprising;
computer-readable program code means for receiving an inbound instant message for a recipient IM user; and
computer-readable program code means for using policy information to programmatically determine whether a new IM window should be opened for the received instant message, if an IM session is not already established between the recipient IM user and a sending IM user who sent the received instant message.
- IM”
Specification