US Patent 7779076 Instant messaging personalization

Perception of a personalization item is enabled in an instant messaging communications session by rendering, on an instant message recipient system, an instant messaging application user interface for an instant messaging communications session involving at least an instant message recipient and an instant message sender. An identifier that enables identification of a personalization item of an individual instant message user is obtained, and the identifier is associated with the personalization item. The personalization item is obtained independently of the message used to obtain the identifier, and the personalization item is rendered at the instant message recipient system.