Patent ID: 8090779

Claim:
A system for viewing media content in instant messaging (IM) between at least two IM clients coupled to an IM server, the system comprising: an instant messaging (IM) server that manages instant messaging with a first IM client having an installed media player; a media recognizer that is coupled to the IM server; and at least one processing device that executes the IM server and the media recognizer, wherein the IM server receives a message having a media address from a second IM client, the media recognizer recognizes the media address in the message, and in response to the recognition, the IM server obtains a media content item associated with the recognized media address, the media content item having a first media format incompatible with the installed media player at the first IM client wherein the IM server further includes a transcoder that is configured (i) to determine a second media format compatible with the installed media player at the first IM client, the second media format being different from the first media format, and (ii) to transcode the media content item having the first media format to obtain a transcoded media content item having the second media format, and wherein the IM server provides the message and the transcoded media content item to the first IM client.