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AOL Patents IM

Posted by timothy on from the eyebrows-to-celing-please dept.

ProgressiveCynic writes "CNet is reporting that AOL has recieved a patent on IM technologies. Specifically, any technology that provides "a network that allows multiple users to see when other users are present and then to communicate with them" is covered. While AOL was a leader in this space the patent was only filed in September 2002."

2 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. What about "chat" and "talk"? by Rick+the+Red · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I seem to recall applications with names like chat and talk which allowed uses to communicate with anyone logged on at the same time. Do those not count as prior art because the users were all logged onto the same machine, and this patent covers multiple machines networked together? Do terminals hanging off a Vax or IBM mainframe constitute a "network"?

    --
    If all this should have a reason, we would be the last to know.
  2. IRC? by Fweeky · · Score: 5, Insightful
    The ISON command was implemented to provide a quick and efficient means to get a response about whether a given nickname was currently on IRC. ...

    PRIVMSG is used to send private messages between users. <receiver> is the nickname of the receiver of the message.

    In rfc1459, dated May 1993, after 4 years of development. Although it is described as a "teleconferencing system", it does sound like it'd match:
    "The claim is it's a system where you have a network; you have a way to monitor who's on the network; and if you want to talk to them you hook them up,"