Method and Apparatus for Determining Availability of a User of an Instant Messaging Application
First Claim
1. An instant messaging computer program product operating in a first computer system attached to a network of computer systems, said computer program product including a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on signal-bearing media, wherein said instructions comprise:
- an incoming message function, said incoming message function receiving incoming instant messages from users of other computer systems attached to said network, said other computer systems attached to said network executing respective instant messaging applications, said incoming message function further informing a user of said first computer system of receipt of said incoming instant messages;
an outgoing message function, said outgoing message function sending outgoing instant messages to said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network; and
an availability reporting function, said availability reporting function reporting availability status of said user to one or more said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network, wherein said availability reporting function automatically infers whether said user is available by calling a calendar application to access calendar data concerning said user stored in at least one calendar data file maintained by said calendar application, said calendar application being an application independent of said instant messaging application.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An instant messaging application intelligently infers a user'"'"'s unavailability from one or more indicia which include the user'"'"'s electronic calendar. Preferably, the instant messaging application may report not only that a user is unavailable, but also give a reason for inferring unavailability, in order to provide other users with additional potentially useful information. Preferably, the user may specify which indicia and which parameters may be used to infer his unavailability in an editable profile. When another user requests status, this value is returned by the server. An intelligent instant messaging application as described herein provides other users with more accurate and complete availability information.
83 Citations
8 Claims
-
1. An instant messaging computer program product operating in a first computer system attached to a network of computer systems, said computer program product including a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on signal-bearing media, wherein said instructions comprise:
-
an incoming message function, said incoming message function receiving incoming instant messages from users of other computer systems attached to said network, said other computer systems attached to said network executing respective instant messaging applications, said incoming message function further informing a user of said first computer system of receipt of said incoming instant messages;
an outgoing message function, said outgoing message function sending outgoing instant messages to said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network; and
an availability reporting function, said availability reporting function reporting availability status of said user to one or more said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network, wherein said availability reporting function automatically infers whether said user is available by calling a calendar application to access calendar data concerning said user stored in at least one calendar data file maintained by said calendar application, said calendar application being an application independent of said instant messaging application. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A computer system providing an instant messaging function, comprising:
-
a programmable processor;
a network interface connecting said computer system to a network of computer systems;
a display for displaying information to a user of said computer system;
an incoming message function executable on said programmable processor, said incoming message function receiving incoming instant messages from users of other computer systems attached to said network, said other computer systems attached to said network executing respective instant messaging applications, said incoming message function further displaying said incoming messages on said display;
an outgoing message function executable on said programmable processor, said outgoing message function sending outgoing instant messages to said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network; and
an availability reporting function executable on said programmable processor, said availability reporting function reporting availability status of a first user to a second user, said first user being a user of said computer system, said second user being a user of an instant messaging application executing in a second computer system attached to said network, wherein said availability reporting function automatically infers whether said first user is available by calling a calendar application to access calendar data concerning said first user stored in at least one calendar data file maintained by said calendar application, said calendar application being an application independent of said instant messaging application. - View Dependent Claims (8)
-
Specification