Patent ID: 7761512

Claim:
A message exchange method in which a message is exchanged between a sending client and a receiving client, which is intended to receive the message, through a message server, the message exchange method comprising: displaying, at the sending client, a message preparation screen; receiving, at the sending client, a message input by a sender, the message displayed on the message preparation screen and comprising a receiving name that identifies the receiving client and a sending name that identifies the sending client; determining, by the sending client and based on the receiving name of the message, whether the receiving client is connected to the message server by extracting status information of the receiving client from a memory that stores the status information, the status information indicating whether the receiving client is connected to the message server; asking, by the sending client and in response to determining that the receiving client is connected to the message server, the sender at the sending client whether to carry out one of a chat with the receiving client and a normal message sending with the receiving client by displaying a pop-up window on the sending client, the pop-up window including a menu of options comprising normal sending and minimum chat; displaying a sending client chat window at the sending client and displaying the message on the sending client chat window in accordance with a chat instruction received by the sending client from the sender; storing the message in a sending message log contained in a memory unit at the sending client; and sending the message to the receiving client, wherein the sending client determines whether the receiving client is connected to the message server and asks the sender whether to carry out one of the chat and the normal message sending after receiving the message input by the sender and before sending the message to the receiving client and while the message is displayed on the message preparation screen.