IM (Instant Messaging) technology enables instantaneous conversation between users through a computer. It has become widespread throughout both office and home environments because it is very similar to a face-to-face meeting. Some IM sessions actually turn into extended conversations. For example, one person sends a colleague an IM that begins with “hi.” The sender does not get an immediate response, even though the sender remains online. It may be quite a while before the colleague responds. Indeed, many IM conversations are conducted in this non-continuous—and potentially frustrating—way, giving rise to the ubiquitous “r u there?” IM message. It would be useful if one could send a secure, meaningful business-like message to a peer while that peer is away from his/her desk. When he/she returns, he/she will be able to read the message and respond to it.
Current systems propose different tools to deal with this situation. For example, some applications (such as IBM Lotus Sametime) provide the history of the last conversation with the specified user. Moreover, a list of all history conversations can be obtained if this feature is turned on. However, in order for this solution to facilitate an extended conversation, one needs to write an intended question or message and leave it until the user presumably comes to the screen. This is unsecured, since the screen might be open and might potentially be observed by other users. In addition, different responses from the remote user can potentially require different messages to be sent. For example, if the remote user says “yes” to a previous question “did you finish the task I gave you?” the answer should be “Great, thanks,” while “no” would prompt “when do you think you can do it?”
Hence a better technique to facilitate extended IM conversation is required.