Patent ID: 7568167

Claim:
In a computer system that supports real time communication between a user of the computer system and one or more contacts, a method of making one or more user interfaces for real time communication less intrusive by automatically adjusting the one or more user interfaces based on the user's level of interaction over a period of time, the method comprising acts of: displaying an intermediate representation of a user interface for real time communication, the intermediate representation including a text input box, a conversation window and at least a portion of a received real time message; monitoring all types of user interaction with the intermediate representation of the user interface over a period of time; determining an overall level of user interaction with the intermediate representation of the user interface based on a combination of all monitored user interactions with the user interface within the period of time; determining the location and size of any other application windows that are being displayed in addition to the intermediate representation; automatically adapting the user interface to the user's activity level by performing at least one of: based on the determined overall level of user interaction, and without any explicit user input indicating that the intermediate representation is to be enlarged, automatically enlarging the size of the intermediate representation of the user interface to an enlarged representation appropriate for a high determined overall level of interaction, wherein the intermediate representation is enlarged without obstructing other windows in accordance with the determined location of the other windows, wherein the enlarged representation includes the text input box; and based on the determined overall level of user interaction, and without any explicit user input indicating that the intermediate representation is to be reduced, automatically reducing the size of the intermediate representation of the user interface to a reduced representation appropriate for a low determined overall level of interaction; determining that the overall level of user interaction is sufficient to expand and separate the conversation window of the intermediate representation from the intermediate representation itself, such that the conversation window appears as a separate interface; expanding the conversation window beyond the window borders of the intermediate representation, such that the conversation window's borders extend at least one of horizontally and vertically beyond the window borders of the intermediate representation; and separating the conversation window from the intermediate representation, such that the conversation window appears as a separate interface in addition to the intermediate representation of the user interface.