Patent ID: 7225226

Claim:
A method of chat messaging comprising: establishing a chat session through communication links with at least a first and a second participant for exchanging chat messages through a chat engine; detecting a state change for the first participant when the first participant withdraws from the chat session; notifying the second participant when the first participant withdraws from the chat session, and notifying each other participant remaining in the chat session when communication links have been established with additional participants other than the first and second participants; determining an alternate communication channel and an alternate communication channel address from a user profile of the first participant after the first participant withdraws from the chat session, the alternate communication channel being different from a communication channel linking the first participant to the chat session prior to the first participant withdrawing, wherein the user profile specifies a plurality of rules associated with a plurality of types of state changes, each rule uniquely corresponding to a particular type of state change and specifying which of a plurality of alternate communications channels is to be used depending on the particular type of the state change detected, wherein the user profile is configured to provide a user the option of assigning each rule to a private portion or a public portion of the user profile, such that each rule in the public portion can be overridden by a rule in a user profile of the second participant, and wherein the user further has the option to specify which of the plurality of alternate channels is to be used depending on an identity of the second participant; while maintaining the communication link with the second participant, establishing a different communication link with the first participant using the alternate communication channel and the alternate communication channel address, such that the first participant and the second participant are communicatively linked through the chat engine; and when communication links have previously been established with the additional participants other than the first and second participants, continuing the chat session with the additional participants and the second participant by maintaining communications links between the additional participants and the second participant when the first participant withdraws from the chat session.