System and method for automatically forwarding a communication message

Abstract

The invention is a data network system (110) and method for forwarding a communication message intended for one device to another device. A target user of a target device (one of 102-108) configures configuration data of the target device for the system. The configuration information includes one or more forwarding lists in which each forwarding list identifies at least one next device (another one of 102-108). The system then receives (204) a communication message from an originating device (yet another one of 102-108) and retrieves (206) configuration data of the target device. Next, the system determines (208) whether the target device is available for interactive communication with the originating device based on the configuration data. If the target device is available for interactive communication with the originating device, then the system routes (210) the communication message to the target device. On the other hand, if the target device is unavailable for interactive communication with the originating device, then the system forwards (228) the communication message to a particular next device identified by the forwarding list.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.