Rendering Destination Instant Messaging Personalization Items Before Communicating With Destination

Abstract

Perception of a personalization item in an instant messaging communications session may be enabled by perceiving an identifier corresponding to an intended instant message recipient designated by an instant message sender system, accessing personalization items corresponding to the perceived identifier, and making perceivable the personalization items corresponding to the received identifier to the instant messaging sender system for rendering in an instant messaging application running on the instant messaging sender system, where the personalization items are made perceivable prior to communication with the intended instant message recipient.

1 . A computer-implemented method for enabling perception of a personalization item associated with an instant messaging communications session, the method comprising:
 receiving, from an instant message sender system, information that indicates a user identifier of an intended instant message recipient, the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient being selected by an instant message sender from among one or more user identifiers of potential instant message recipients, the potential instant message recipients being users that are perceived by the instant message sender as being presently available to receive an instant message from the instant message sender;   accessing the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient based upon the received information;   accessing a personalization item based on the accessed user identifier of the intended instant message recipient and the personalization item being designated by the intended instant message recipient based on presence state change of the intended instant message recipient;   making perceivable the accessed personalization item to the instant messaging sender system for rendering in an instant messaging application user interface running on the instant messaging sender system; and   rendering of the personalization item in the user interface, wherein the rendering includes rendering of a window.   
   
   
       2 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the rendering of the window includes displaying the personalization item and an input text field for inputting a text message by the instant message sender for delivery to the intended instant message recipient in an instant message, the displayed personalization item includes an image item,
 wherein the rendering of the window makes the personalization item and the input text field displayed to the instant message sender prior to communication with the intended instant message recipient,   wherein the selection by the instant message sender of the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient is an indication of an intention of the instant message sender to communicate with the intended instant message recipient, and   wherein the rendering of the window at the instant messaging sender system occurs in response to the selection by the instant message sender of the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient from among the one or more user identifiers of potential instant message recipients.   
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing personalization items on a host system. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing personalization items on a host system. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4  further comprising communicating the personalization items from the host system to the instant message sender system. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  in which the personalization items are made perceivable prior to communication of an instant message with the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before a communications session is established with the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before the instant message sender system sends a message to the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 1  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before the instant message sender system receives a message from the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing the identifiers comprises:
 receiving an identity of the potential instant message recipients; and   accessing an identifier associated with each of the individual potential instant message recipients based upon the received identity.   
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing the one or more identifiers comprises receiving an identifier comprising a location of the personalization item. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 11  in which the location of the personalization item comprises a location on a host system. 
   
   
       13 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a graphic. 
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13  in which the graphic comprises an icon. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a sound. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing wallpaper capable of being rendered on an instant messaging application user interface. 
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing an animation sequence. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a video segment. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a customized binary object provided by the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a personalization item provided by a party other than the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       21 . The method of  claim 20  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a personalization item enabled to be rendered in consideration of a payment. 
   
   
       22 . The method of  claim 1  in which accessing personalization items comprises accessing a personalization item configured to expire upon the occurrence of a predetermined event. 
   
   
       23 . The method of  claim 22  in which the predetermined event comprises passage of a predetermined length of time or passage of a predetermined date. 
   
   
       24 . The method of  claim 22  in which the predetermined event comprises a predetermined number of uses of the personalization item. 
   
   
       25 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 determining whether the personalization item has expired, and   disallowing access to the personalization item if the personalization item has expired.   
   
   
       26 . The method of  claim 11  in which the one or more identifiers include an item type and a data size. 
   
   
       27 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the one or more identifiers include a flag. 
   
   
       28 . The method of  claim 27  wherein the flag includes one or more of a custom item flag, an official item flag, a banned item flag, and a redirect to different item flag. 
   
   
       29 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 determining whether the personalization items have been banned, and   disallowing access to a personalization item if the personalization item has been banned.   
   
   
       30 . A computer program, stored on a tangible computer readable storage medium, the computer program comprising instructions for:
 receiving, from an instant message sender system, information that indicates a user identifier of an intended instant message recipient, the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient being selected by an instant message sender from among one or more user identifiers of potential instant message recipients, the potential instant message recipients being users that are perceived by the instant message sender as being presently available to receive an instant message from the instant message sender;   accessing the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient based upon the received information;   accessing a personalization item based on the accessed user identifier of the intended instant message recipient and the personalization item being designated by the intended instant message recipient based on presence state change of the intended instant message recipient;   making perceivable the accessed personalization item to the instant messaging sender system for rendering in an instant messaging application user interface running on the instant messaging sender system; and   rendering of the personalization item in the user interface, wherein the rendering includes rendering of a window.   
   
   
       31 . The computer program of  claim 30 , wherein the rendering of the window includes displaying the personalization item and an input text field for inputting a text message by the instant message sender for delivery to the intended instant message recipient in an instant message, the displayed personalization item includes an image item,
 wherein the rendering of the window makes the personalization item and the input text field displayed to the instant message sender prior to communication with the intended instant message recipient,   wherein the selection by the instant message sender of the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient is an indication of an intention of the instant message sender to communicate with the intended instant message recipient, and   wherein the rendering of the window at the instant messaging sender system occurs in response to the selection by the instant message sender of the user identifier of the intended instant message recipient from among the one or more user identifiers of potential instant message recipients.   
   
   
       32 . The computer program of  claim 30  further comprising instructions for storing personalization items. 
   
   
       33 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which the personalization items are made perceivable prior to communication of an instant message with the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       34 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before a communications session is established with the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       35 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before the instant message sender system sends a message to the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       36 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which the personalization items are made perceivable before the instant message sender system receives a message from the intended instant message recipient. 
   
   
       37 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which instructions for accessing the identifier comprises instructions for:
 receiving an identity of the potential instant message recipients; and   accessing an identifier associated with the potential instant message recipient based upon the received identity.   
   
   
       38 . The computer program of  claim 30  in which instructions for accessing personalization items comprises instructions for accessing a personalization item configured to expire upon the occurrence of a predetermined event. 
   
   
       39 . The computer program of  claim 38  in which the predetermined event comprises passage of a predetermined length of time or passage of a predetermined date. 
   
   
       40 . The computer program of  claim 38  in which the predetermined event comprises a predetermined number of uses of the personalization item.