Subject: [Simple] Microsoft patents: "Sally is typing a message now..."

From: "Bob Wyman" <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 11 Feb 2003 16:02:43 -0500

Today, Microsoft received a patent on "Activity Monitoring" for
Instant Messaging systems. They claim messages such as: "Sally is typing
a message now..." 
    This patent will, inevitably, cause some difficulty for implementors
of SIMPLE systems...

See: (only the abstract is below. Read the claims, etc. at:)
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?patentnumber=6519639
United States Patent  6,519,639  Microsoft,  February 11, 2003  
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System and method for activity monitoring and reporting in a computer
network 

Abstract
A system for monitoring user activity in an instant messaging session on
a computer network periodically sends an activity message to other
participants in the instant messaging session if the user has actively
entered data during a first predetermined time interval. The system
periodically sends a new activity message at intervals corresponding to
the first predetermined time interval so long as the user is actively
entering data during each time interval. If the user has not entered
data during the first predetermined time interval, the system will not
send an activity message. Other participants in the instant messaging
session receive the activity message and generate an activity indicator
on their respective displays. The computer receiving the activity
message displays an activity indicator on the computer display in
response to receipt of an activity message and starts a timer to measure
a second predetermined time interval. If another activity message is not
received within the second predetermined time interval, the activity
indicator is deleted from the display. 

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