Patent ID: 7562116

Claim:
An instant messaging computer program product operating in a first computer system attached to a network of computer systems, said computer program product including a plurality of processor executable instructions recorded on hardware computer-readable storage media, wherein said instructions comprise: an incoming message function, said incoming message function receiving incoming instant messages from users of other computer systems attached to said network, said other computer systems attached to said network executing respective instant messaging applications, said incoming message function further informing a user of said first computer system of receipt of said incoming instant messages; an outgoing message function, said outgoing message function sending outgoing instant messages to said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network; and an availability reporting function, said availability reporting function reporting availability status of said user to one or more said respective instant messaging applications executing in said other computer systems attached to said network, wherein said availability reporting function automatically infers whether said user is available by calling a calendar application to access calendar data concerning said user stored in at least one calendar data file maintained by said calendar application, said calendar application being an application independent of said instant messaging application.