Patent ID: 7599996

Claim:
A method in a computer system for determining whether to reroute an incoming communication to a delegate identified by a user for which the communication is intended, the method comprising: receiving a specification of delegate information, wherein the specification of delegate information is received in association with an application primarily used for non-real time communications including email and scheduling; receiving an indication of an incoming real-time communication, wherein the incoming real-time communication is intended for the user; determining whether the user is available or unavailable to receive the incoming real-time communication; and if the user is unavailable to receive the incoming real-time communication, selecting by the computer system a delegate to whom to reroute the incoming real-time communication, wherein selecting the delegate is based on the delegate information; and directing by the computer system to reroute the incoming real-time communication to the selected delegate so that the selection of a delegate for the incoming real-time communication is based on the specified delegate information received in association with the application primarily used for non-real time communications rather than an application primarily used for real-time communications.