Patent ID: 7882195

Claim:
A data processing system for filtering and prioritizing threaded conversations in an instant messaging client, comprising: a bus; a storage device connected to the bus, wherein the storage device contains computer usable code; at least one managed device connected to the bus; a communications unit connected to the bus; and a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to receive a request for an instant messaging session; analyze a message in the request for an instant messaging session to determine a thread content of the message; use filtering and prioritizing settings set by a user of the instant messaging client to determine a priority level of the message based on the thread content of the message, wherein the filtering and prioritizing settings in the instant messaging client are overridden if a user requesting the instant messaging session has appropriate access rights to override the filtering and priority settings in the instant messaging client; and display the message at the instant messaging client based on the priority level.