Patent ID: 8028023

Claim:
A communication method comprising: receiving a workflow request at a workflow transport protocol object, the workflow request identifying a particular workflow participant; querying an instant messaging server to determine whether a first instant messaging address of the particular workflow participant is present to receive the workflow request on an instant messaging network; responsive to the particular workflow participant being present to receive the workflow request at the first instant messaging address on the instant messaging network, reformatting the workflow request to an instant messaging data stream and transmitting the instant messaging data stream over the instant messaging network; receiving the instant messaging data stream at an instant-messaging client of the particular workflow participant; parsing the data stream for an application identifier, the application identifier indicative of a process associated with a workflow plug-in and being correlated to the workflow plug-in; determining if the workflow plug-in is registered with the instant messaging client; ad in response to determining that the workflow plug-in is not registered with the instant messaging client, downloading and registering the workflow plug-in with the instant messaging client, wherein when the instant messaging client is registered with the workflow plug-in, an instance of the workflow plug-in is created and the instant messaging client conveys data delineated by the application identifier to the workflow plug-in, and the workflow plug-in processes the data; executing the workflow plug-in with the data by the instant messaging client to generate a result by prompting the particular workflow participant for a response to the data received by the workflow plug-in; receiving the response from the particular workflow participant and conveying the response to the instant messaging client; relaying the response to an instant messaging transport protocol object which translates the response into an instant messaging compatible workflow response; conveying the instant messaging compatible workflow response to the instant messaging server which relays the instant messaging compatible workflow response to the workflow transport protocol object; reformatting the instant messaging compatible workflow response and conveying the instant messaging compatible workflow response reformatted to a workflow server; and responsive to the particular workflow participant not being present to receive the workflow request at the first instant messaging address on the instant messaging network, selecting a second instant messaging address of the particular workflow participant and querying the instant messaging server to determine whether the particular workflow participant is present to receive the workflow request at the second instant messaging address.