Patent ID: 7936686

Claim:
A method of publishing a communication state of a terminal connected to an access network that detects a communication state of said terminal, including: notifying said communication state of said terminal as a current communication state from said access network to a communication state publishing gateway connected to said access network, enquiring a database from said publishing gateway via a packet network to select a voluntary communication state previously decided by said terminal in said database as a function of an identifier of said terminal transmitted by said publishing gateway to said database and, if a voluntary communication state is associated with the identifier of the terminal, enquiring the database from said publishing gateway via said packet network to select an apparent communication state corresponding to said voluntary communication state in said database, and responsive to said apparent communication state differing from said current communication state: modifying said current communication state to said apparent communication state in said publishing gateway, transforming said apparent communication state of said terminal into an instant messaging communication state in said publishing gateway, and transferring said instant messaging communication state from said publishing gateway to an instant messaging server connected to said packet network.