Patent ID: 7984098

Claim:
A communications method, comprising: establishing a presence-based communications session between a sender and a recipient, wherein establishing the presence-based communications session between the sender and the recipient includes: initiating a text instant messaging session between the sender and the recipient, in response to initiating the text instant messaging session between the sender and the recipient, enabling display, to the sender, of an instant messaging graphical user interface associated with the initiated text instant messaging session, the instant messaging graphical user interface being configured to enable the sender to compose and send text instant messages to the recipient, in response to initiating the text instant messaging session between the sender and the recipient, determining if the recipient is capable of participating in video instant messaging, and based on a determination that the recipient is capable of participating in video instant messaging, enabling the graphical user interface associated with the instant messaging session to reflect that the recipient is capable of participating in video instant messaging; and during the presence-based communications session between the sender and the recipient: establishing a video communications session between the sender and the recipient; generating a video instant message on behalf of the sender; storing the video instant message on behalf of the sender; after generation of the video instant message is complete, receiving an indication to trigger sending of the video instant message to the recipient; and in response to receiving the indication to trigger sending of the video instant message to the recipient, initiating a transfer of the video instant message to the recipient using the video communications session.