Patent ID: 8204938

Claim:
A method of supporting real-time communication activities, comprising: intercepting, by a client program being executed on a computer, at least one communication sent from an instant messaging (IM) client program to an IM server, wherein said client program is independent of said IM client program and independent of said IM server; obtaining, by said client program, on-line presence information from said at least one intercepted communication, said on-line presence information being indicative of an availability status of a user of said IM client program; and transmitting, by said client program, said availability status to a communication server through a network, wherein said communication server is configured to contact a group of users responsive to a group availability status and to establish a real-time communication activity responsive to said availability status of said user, wherein said intercepting, by said client program, input and output data on at least one network socket; and parsing, by said client program, said input and output data on said at least one network socket for messages including the online presence information.