Patent ID: 8539363

Claim:
A method of communicating a user's Instant Messaging (IM) availability status, the method comprising: associating a user-defined shortcut command with at least two different user-drafted status responses; in response to a user receiving a first instant message from a first sender at an inopportune time and the user then inputting the user-defined shortcut command, automatically transmitting a first user-draft status response of the at least two different user-drafted status responses to the first sender of the first instant message that was received at the inopportune time; and in response to the user receiving a second message from a second sender at the inopportune time and the user then inputting the user-defined shortcut command, automatically transmitting a second user-draft status response of the at least two different user-drafted status responses to the second sender of the instant message that was received at the inopportune time, wherein a relationship between the first sender and the user are different than a relationship between the second sender and the user, wherein the first user-draft status response defines the user's IM availability status defined based on the relationship between the user and the first sender, wherein the second user-draft status response defines the user's IM availability status defined based on the relationship between the user and the second sender.