Patent ID: 7831675

Claim:
A method for interacting with and controlling infrastructure devices within an instant messaging (IM) environment, the method comprising: registering at least one infrastructure device at an IM server; registering at least one computing device at the IM server, wherein the computing device is configured to execute an IM client application; delivering one or more of infrastructure device characteristics, status information, and service information from a registered infrastructure device to the IM server, wherein the IM server is configured to publish and update the infrastructure device characteristics, status information, and service information from the at least one registered infrastructure device to registered computing devices; maintaining a contact list at an IM client application executing at a registered computing device, wherein the contact listing is populated with a listing of registered infrastructure devices and the infrastructure device characteristics, status information, and service information that is associated with the infrastructure device; displaying the contact list to a registered computing device user at the registered computing device; organizing a priority of each of the registered infrastructure devices within the contact list, the priority based on at least one of a predetermined ranking, predetermined prioritization criteria, a class of device, and a predetermined proximity to the registered computing device; and changing the priority of each of the registered infrastructure devices within the contact list, based on the predetermined proximity to the registered computing device, in response to a change of the predetermined proximity of one or more of the registered infrastructure devices with respect to a location of the registered computing device.