Patent ID: 8528050

Claim:
A method comprising: determining, in a server connected to a plurality of client computers via a network, which one of at least two destination client computers that a message is to be sent to on the basis of status information of the at least two destination client computers; and while a message is being converted in a manner that depends on the determined one of the at least two destination client computers, determining whether the message includes a first set of one or more characters that indicate that a command is to be sent instead of the message and that specifies possible responses to be returned; in response to determining that the message includes the first set of one or more characters, appending a second set of one or more characters to the command; sending the command instead of the message to the determined one of the at least two destination client computers; and receiving a response that is one of the possible responses; and in response to determining that the message does not include the first set of one or more characters, sending the message.