Patent ID: 8244807

Claim:
A communication method for merging instant messaging chat sessions, the method comprising: establishing an instant messaging chat session between a first sender and a recipient; receiving an instant messaging message from a second sender to the recipient; displaying the instant messaging message received from the second sender; receiving a first response to a query to join the instant messaging chat session between the first sender and the recipient from the second sender; querying the recipient for approval to include the second sender in the instant messaging chat session between the first sender and the recipient; receiving a second response from the recipient in response to the querying of the recipient for approval, wherein the second response indicates whether the recipient approved inclusion of the second sender in the instant messaging chat session; revealing a portion of instant messaging communications between the second sender and the recipient to the first sender before joining the second sender to the instant messaging chat session; and joining the second sender to the instant messaging chat session between the first sender and the recipient if the second response from the recipient indicates that the recipient approved inclusion of the second sender in the instant messaging chat session.