[Telepathy] beginner informations

[JS Ubei]

Dear all,

I need to develop a small dedicated application to communicate, here the key points :

- No contact or account to manage : one account per application, with only one contact.
- I need to have the capabilities of
    * know if the contact is online or offline
    * video chat if the contact is online
    * send files if the contact is online (pictures to show).
    * And maybe to send short messages when the contact is offline.
- all the (powerful) existing applications are (very) too complex, the goal is to keep contact with a old person.

I'm a good professional developer but I don't know how work communication frameworks, protocols, etc ... I will buy my first webcam today ! I never use one before, old school, I know ...

I'm looking for use empathy / telepathy framework, if possible with the python language. I want to develop the user interface with GTK on a minimal debian system. When the OS boot the dedicated application will start automatically ...

What you think about my need ?
Which protocol for my need ?
Are the EMPATHY python binding sufficient ? There is very few documentation ...

Thank you for your recommendations and ideas, and sorry for my poor english.

nono