Method, system and storage medium for providing interoperability of email and instant messaging services

A storage medium including machine-readable computer program code for providing interoperability of email and instant messaging services, the storage medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement a method, comprising:

• in response to receiving a request by an email recipient to respond to an email message using an instant message application, said email message received from an email sender:
• retrieving an instant message address for said email sender from storage;
• associating said instant message address of said email sender with an instant message composed by said email recipient;
• transmitting said instant message to said instant message address using said instant message application, wherein an email address associated with said email sender is mapped to a corresponding instant message address associated with said email sender;
• transmitting history data along with said instant message, said history data including communications exchanges previously conducted between said email recipient and said email sender;
• determining whether said email sender is available to receive said instant message;
• and
• in response to determining that said email sender is unavailable to receive said instant message and in response to receiving a request from said email sender to defer, storing said instant message and periodically retransmitting said instant message;
• wherein said communications exchanges include at least one of:
• email messages;
• instant messages;
• and attachments;
• and
• in response to receiving a request by an instant message recipient to respond to an instant message using an email application:
• retrieving an email address for an instant message sender from storage;
• associating said email address of said instant message sender with an email message composed by said instant message recipient;
• and
• transmitting said email message to said email address using said email application;
• wherein an instant message address associated with said instant message sender is mapped to a corresponding email address associated with said instant message sender;
• transmitting additional history data along with said email message, said additional history data including communications exchanges previously conducted between said instant message recipient and said instant message sender;
• wherein said communications exchanges previously conducted between said instant message recipient and said instant message sender include at least one of:
• email messages;
• instant messages;
• and attachments;
• and
• sending a notification of successful transmission to said instant message recipient.

An integrated messaging system for providing interoperability of email and instant messaging services, comprising:

• a host system comprising a processor and memory for executing an integrated messaging system;
• a link to a first client system associated with an email sender, said first client system executing a first email application and a first instant message application;
• a link to a second client system associated with an email recipient, said second client system executing a second email application and a second instant message application;
• a request to reply to an email message received from said email sender using an instant message application;
• wherein in response to said request, said integrated messaging system performs:
• in response to retrieving an instant message address for said email sender from storage:
• associating said instant message address of said email sender with an instant message composed by said email recipient;
• transmitting said instant message to said instant message address using said instant message application, wherein an email address associated with said email sender is mapped to a corresponding instant message address associated with said email sender;
• transmitting history data relating to said instant message, said history data being transmitted along with said instant message;
• determining whether said email sender is available to receive said instant message;
• and
• in response to determining that said email sender is unavailable to receive said instant message and in response to receiving a request from said email sender to defer, storing said instant message and periodically retransmitting said instant message;
• wherein said history data includes communications exchanges previously conducted between said email recipient and said email sender;
• and
• wherein further said communications exchanges include at least one of:
• email messages;
• instant messages;
• and attachments and
• in response to receiving a request by an instant message recipient to respond to an instant message using an email application:
• retrieving an email address for an instant message sender from storage;
• associating said email address of said instant message sender with an email message composed by said instant message recipient;
• and
• transmitting said email message to said email address using said email application;
• wherein an instant message address associated with said instant message sender is mapped to a corresponding email address associated with said instant message sender;
• transmitting additional history data along with said email message, said additional history data including communications exchanges previously conducted between said instant message recipient and said instant message sender;
• wherein said communications exchanges previously conducted between said instant message recipient and said instant message sender include at least one of:
• email messages;
• instant messages;
• and attachments;
• and
• sending a notification of successful transmission to said instant message recipient.