Patent ID: 7417959

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: assigning users to a set of users that exchange status messages with one another; registering subscriptions for a conference data stream with a content based messaging (CBM) network to define a sub-set of users of the set of users, the sub-set of users including fewer users than the set of users; presenting the status messages to every user of the set of users; generating input data using an input device; publishing the input data as a conference message that is only received by users of the sub-set of users via the conference data stream; determining if any users of the sub-set of users are subscribed to the conference data stream; halting publishing of the conference message via the conference data stream, if it is determined that no users of the sub-set of users are subscribed to the conference data stream; receiving information that users of the sub-set of users have subscribed to the conference data stream; and restarting publishing of the conference message that is only received by users of the sub-set of users via the conference data stream based on receiving the information.