Patent ID: 7941495

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a set of computer-executable code modules for handling instant message (IM) communications within a communications network, the plurality of instant message communications associated with a plurality of network implementations, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising: code for receiving a plurality of policies for each network implementation in the plurality of network implementations that are applicable to characteristics of instant message communications associated with the corresponding network implementation in the plurality of network implementations, each policy defining: a set of characteristics pertaining to at least one network implementation in the plurality of network implementations or content of one or more instant message communications in the at least one network implementation in the plurality of network implementations, and an action to be performed when one or more characteristics of at least one of the instant message communications satisfy the set of characteristics defined for the policy, wherein the at least one of the instant message communications is maintained unmodified in the at least one network implementation in the plurality of network implementations between instant message clients for the at least one network implementation by performance of the action defined in the policy; code for receiving an instant message communication in a network implementation of one of the plurality of network implementations; code for determining a policy from the plurality of policies that are applicable to characteristics of instant message communications in the network implementation based on one or more characteristics pertaining to the network implementation of the instant message communication or to content of the instant message communication in the network implementation; code for filtering the instant message communication into a predetermined format from the network implementation of the instant message communication, where the predetermined format is different from the format of the network implementation; code for filtering one or more portions of the instant message communication from the predetermined format into the same instant message communication in the network implementation associated with the instant message communication; and code for performing an action defined by the policy that is determined to be applicable to the characteristics of the instant message communication using the predetermined format that is different from the format of the network implementation such that the network implementation of the instant message communication remains unchanged by performance of the action.