Forwarding to automatically prioritized IM accounts based upon priority and presence

• US 7,725,541 B2
• Filed: 02/10/2003
• Issued: 05/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/10/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Bellsouth Intellectual Property Corporation (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Daniell, W. Todd, Davis, Joel A., Daigle, Brian K., Friedman, Lee G., Kent, Larry G. Jr.
• Primary Examiner(s): Dalencourt; Yves
• Application Number:
  US10/364,274
• Publication Number:
  US 20040158609A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,661 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

Systems for forwarding incoming instant messages comprise a primary IM processing device configured to send and receive IM messages. The primary IM processing device is further configured to forward incoming IM messages to an available secondary IM processing devices based upon presence information and availability information on a plurality of secondary IM processing devices. A router is configured to route IM messages between the primary IM processing device and the secondary IM processing devices. An IM server is coupled to a communications network and is configured to send and receive presence information from the primary IM processing device and the secondary IM processing devices. The primary IM processing device is further configured to maintain presence information on the secondary IM processing devices including the secondary IM processing devices that were unavailable to receive a forwarded instant message. Other systems and methods are also provided.

Claims

1. A method for forwarding instant messages, comprising:

determining by a primary instant messaging (IM) processing client device a forwarding priority order of a plurality of secondary IM processing client devices, the forwarding priority order comprising a ranking order of priority in which to forward an instant message amongst the plurality of secondary IM processing client devices comprising a plurality of listed addresses of secondary IM processing client devices;

detecting by the primary instant messaging (IM) processing client device a selection of forwarding of instant messages to at least one of the secondary IM processing client devices;

receiving by the primary IM processing client device, an incoming instant message from a sender'"'"'s IM processing device; and

performing at least one query for status of the secondary IM processing client devices;

receiving notification of the status of the secondary IM processing client devices;

maintaining information on the status for each of the secondary IM processing client devices at the primary IM processing client device; and

automatically forwarding by the primary IM processing client device the incoming instant message received from the sender'"'"'s IM processing device to the selected secondary IM processing client device based upon the forwarding priority order and having a currently available presence to receive a forwarded instant message,

wherein the forwarding priority order is determined prior to receiving the incoming instant message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the detecting a presence of each of the secondary IM processing client devices.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining presence information for the secondary IM processing client devices.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein detecting the presence further comprises receiving by the primary IM processing client device a notification from at least one IM server of the status of each of the secondary IM processing client devices.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising forwarding the incoming instant message to an available secondary IM processing client device based upon the presence information for the secondary IM processing client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing prioritized address information in an address database of an IM server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein automatically forwarding an incoming instant message further comprises attempting to forward the instant message to a priority address of a secondary IM processing client device.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising continuing to attempt to forward the instant message based upon the priority addresses until finding an available secondary IM processing client device.

9. A primary instant messaging (IM) processing client device for forwarding instant messages, comprising:

a receiving component to receive IM instant messages;

a determining component to determine a forwarding priority order of a plurality of secondary IM processing client devices and to maintain information on the status of each of the plurality of secondary IM processing client devices, the forwarding priority order comprising a ranking order of priority in which to forward an instant message amongst the plurality of secondary IM processing client devices comprising a plurality of listed addresses of secondary IM processing client devices;

a selection component to facilitate selection of at least one of the secondary IM processing client devices to forward the received instant messages from the forwarding priority order, wherein a selected secondary IM processing client device has a currently available presence state; and

a forwarding component to forward the received instant messages to the selected secondary IM processing client device by the primary IM processing client device,

wherein the forwarding priority order is determined prior to receiving the instant messages.

10. The device of claim 9, further comprising at least one IM server coupled to a communications network, wherein the IM server sends and receives the presence information from the primary IM processing client device and the secondary IM processing client devices, wherein the IM server further includes prioritized addresses of the secondary IM processing client devices.

11. The device of claim 9, further comprising a detecting component to detect a selection to forward the received instant messages.

12. The device of claim 10, further comprising an accessing component to access the prioritized addresses and presence information to automatically forward the received instant messages to an available secondary IM processing client device.

13. The device of claim 12, further comprising a maintaining component to maintain presence information for each secondary IM processing client device unavailable to receive a forwarded instant message when at least one of the received instant messages is forwarded to the available secondary IM processing client device.

14. The device of claim 9, further comprising a maintaining component to maintain presence information for the secondary IM processing client devices unavailable to receive a forwarded instant message when the received instant message is forwarded to an available secondary IM processing client device.

15. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon for forwarding instant messages, comprising:

logic configured to determine a forwarding priority order of a plurality of secondary instant messaging (IM) processing client devices, the forwarding priority order comprising a ranking order of priority in which to forward an instant message amongst the plurality of secondary IM processing client devices comprising a plurality of listed addresses of secondary IM processing client devices;

logic configured to detect by a primary instant messaging (IM) processing client device a selection of forwarding of instant messages to at least one of the secondary IM processing client devices;

logic configured to receive an incoming instant message from a sender'"'"'s IM processing device; and

logic configured to perform at least one query for status of the secondary IM processing client devices;

logic configured to receive notification of the status of the secondary IM processing client devices;

logic configured to maintain information on the status for each of the secondary IM processing client devices at the primary IM processing client device; and

logic configured to automatically forward the incoming instant message received from the sender'"'"'s IM processing device by the primary IM processing client device to at least one of the secondary IM processing client devices based upon the forwarding priority order and having a currently available presence to receive a forwarded instant message,

wherein the forwarding priority order is determined prior to receiving the incoming instant message.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising logic configured to detect the presence of each of the secondary IM processing client devices.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising logic configured to maintain presence information for the secondary IM processing client devices.

18. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the logic configured to detect the presence of each of the secondary IM processing client devices further comprises logic configured to receive by the primary IM processing client device a notification from at least one IM server of the status of each of the secondary IM processing client devices.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, further comprising logic configured to access prioritized address information in an address database of an IM server.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the logic configured to automatically forward an incoming instant message further comprises logic configured to attempt to forward the message to a priority address of a secondary IM processing client device.