Patent ID: 7818406

Claim:
Within a system comprising a processor and a memory, a method of negotiating locale settings among a plurality of users communicating over a communication network comprising: via the processor, determining a locale for each of a plurality of remotely located users; via the processor, identifying at least one locale setting for each of the plurality of users according to the locale of each respective user, wherein the locale setting for each of the plurality of users comprises at least one locale setting group; via the processor, determining whether each locale setting group is exclusive or non-exclusive; for each locale setting group that is exclusive, via the processor, selecting a locale setting from the locale setting group; for each locale setting group that is non-exclusive, via the processor, generating a locale setting union by taking a union of all locale settings of the locale setting group; and via the processor, applying at least one of the selected locale setting or the local setting union to a message exchanged among the plurality of users.