Patent ID: 8352555
Filing Date: 2013-01-08
Classification: H04L

Abstract:
1. A method of scheduling and displaying an online presence status of a user of an instant messaging (IM) application, comprising: setting a routine online schedule of the user, the routine including a start time, an end time, a time zone, and a routine status that indicates a preference of the user to appear online or offline in the IM application between the start time and the end time; determining the online presence status of the user in the IM application as online or offline based on the routine online schedule of the user and a current time, wherein the online presence status is set to be equal to the routine status when the current time is between the start time and the end time for said time zone regardless of the user being online or offline in the IM application, wherein the online presence status is not equal to the routine status when the current time is not between the start time and the end time, wherein the user appears online in the IM application if the user desires to appear online according to the routine status even if the user is offline in the IM application, the routine online schedule of the user being stored to enable the determining of the online presence status of the user; and displaying the determined online presence status of the user in an IM control panel of other users, wherein each operation of the method is executed by a processor.