| US 7,464,139 B2 | ||
| Methods for establishing an instant message conference | ||
| Dale W. Malik, Atlanta, Ga. (US) | ||
| Assigned to AT&T Intellectual Property, I, L.P., Wilmington, Del. (US) | ||
| Filed on Jun. 07, 2002, as Appl. No. 10/165,814. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2003/0229673 A1, Dec. 11, 2003 | ||
| This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer. | ||
| Int. Cl. G06F 15/16 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 709—206 | 7 Claims |
| 1. A method for establishing an instant message (IM) conference between a sender and at least one attendee, comprising:
receiving a time-sensitive e-mail message, the time-sensitive e-mail message comprising:
an IM conference request;
an e-mail address associated with each attendee; and
a rule set specifying a predefined time limit governing the delivery of the e-mail message;
receiving and extracting the rule set and the e-mail address for each attendee;
determining the predefined time limit;
forwarding the time-sensitive e-mail message to a mailbox for each attendee in accordance with the rule set;
determining whether the at least one attendee opened the time sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit;
if the attendee opened the time-sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit, providing the IM conference request
to the attendee; and
if the attendee did not open the time-sensitive e-mail message within the predefined time limit, not providing the IM conference
request to the attendee.
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