Patent ID: 7870199

Claim:
A system for providing real-time instant messaging over a global network in a session between two or more users, each of said two or more users using a device communicatively coupled to the global network, said system comprising: a client messaging application which runs on each of a plurality of user devices, at least two of said user devices including a user device screen, said client messaging application providing a user interface displayed on each of said user device screens, said user interface comprising: a message entry window for a user to enter data; a communication window for displaying messages entered in said session; and a selection window for accessing one or more application agents associated with on-line messaging service applications, wherein each application agent is represented by an icon in said selection window; and an applet operatively coupled to said client messaging application which establishes a connection to said on-line messaging service application, wherein said messaging service applications include each of: a translation service application, said translation service application configured to translate content as it is typed into said message entry window without having to locally run an executable application, thus providing an enriched communication session beyond simple, replicated text message content; a speech synthesis application configured to: recognize the speech of a visually-impaired user; synthesize the recognized speech into synthesized text; send the synthesized text to a destination user; read the screen of a visually-impaired user upon receipt of return text from said destination user; translate said return text into a human-understandable audio signal; and broadcast said audio signal to said visually-impaired user via a speaker; an automatic blog publishing application configured to publish a blog entry to the blog of any of said two or more users; a picture sharing application configured to share digital pictures between any of said two or more users; and a map sharing application configured to share digital maps between any of said two or more users; wherein when one of said one or more application agents is activated, at least one of said on-line messaging service applications represented by said one or more activated application agents is activated to run in conjunction with said client messaging application such that said two or more users in said session can utilize said on-line messaging service applications without leaving said session; and wherein when one of said one or more application agents is activated, a visual cue appears next to the icon of the activated agent in said selection window, wherein said visual cue is suggestive of the function of the agent.