The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 20, 2009
Filed:
Mar. 31, 2004
Craig Ardner Swearingen, Austin, TX (US);
Alan Richard Tannenbaum, Austin, TX (US);
Craig Ardner Swearingen, Austin, TX (US);
Alan Richard Tannenbaum, Austin, TX (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method, an apparatus, a system, and a computer program product are presented for managing availability status values in an instant messaging application. A user of the instant messaging application is able to select a 'do not disturb' status that is to be associated with the user, thereby preventing most users from being able to initiate an instant messaging session with the user. In addition, the user of the instant messaging application can selectively authorize a subset of users to have the privilege of being able to start instant messaging sessions with the user while maintaining an indication to all other users that the user is in a 'do not disturb' status.