Patent ID: 6993555

Claim:
A method for interactively responding to a message from a user who is logged on to an instant messaging network, comprising the steps of: designating a screen-name to a message processor, the screen-name being unique on the instant messaging network and the user having the screen-name as an authenticated partner; using the instant messaging network to advise the user of the presence of the message processor on the instant messaging network; receiving through the instant messaging network the message from the user which is addressed to the screen-name assigned to the message processor using an instant messaging protocol; parsing the message to extract a request; evaluating the request in the message processor; generating an output message on the basis of the evaluated request; sending the output message from the message processor with the screen-name to the user via the instant messaging network; wherein evaluating the request comprises passing the query to a query response server and receiving the answer from the query response server; accessing a profile associated with the user from a profile database and making at least a portion of the accessed profile available to the query response server; if no profile is available, creating a profile associated with the user; and storing the profile in the profile database, wherein creating the profile includes soliciting profile information from the user and storing profile information provided by the user in the profile, and wherein soliciting comprises sending the user a cross-reference message in the instant messaging protocol directing the user to a web page configured to receive user input.