METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DYNAMICALLY CREATING AND UPDATING USER PROFILES FOR INSTANT MESSAGE CONTACTS

摘要

A method, system and computer program product for enabling retrieval and display from an information resource of additional information corresponding to an instant message (IM) contact using search topics detected/retrieved from: a profile of the IM contact; a stored list of topics of interest to the IM contact; and content manually selected from the contact's IM message during an ongoing IM session. The IM contact's profile information is entered by a local user or is received from the IM contact's IM client following an exchange of self-entered profile information between a local user and the IM contact during the IM session. A searching facility, when turned on, dynamically performs the search for additional information from the content retrieved from the profile. Returned information is then visually presented to the local user to enhance the local user's knowledge of the particular topic.