Patent ID: 7487214

Claim:
A method for providing a service over a network, comprising: storing service access account information for each of a plurality of users; supplying an email service through a network to each user having a service access account; supplying an instant messaging service through the network to each user having a service access account; providing one or more content pages to be rendered by a network browser on a client by the email service for each of the plurality of users; and transmitting an application to the client for each user by an application server, the application configured to be embedded within the one or more content pages and communicate with the instant messaging service, the one or more rendered content pages and the embedded application configured to allow each of said plurality of users having a service access account to interact with the email and instant messaging services through a common interface provided at the client, wherein a construct is an inline frame, and wherein said step of transmitting an application includes: transmitting the construct to the network browser from the application server, the construct configured to be executed upon receipt by the network browser to, determine whether a client based IM application on the client has a connection with the instant messaging service, the client based IM application a stand-alone program that provides an instant-messaging user interface and correlates data received from the instant messaging service, establishing a connection with the instant messaging service by the construct through the client based IM application if the client based IM application has a connection, and establishing a direct connection with the instant messaging service by the construct if the client based IM application does not have a connection.