Looking for help to create a Custom 'Latest Discussions' component aka LiveCast instant messanger

Hi Lithium pros,

I'm looking for some help with a custom component that can be configured to display messages from and enable posting to a single thread (by registered members) in a way that looks like instant messaging.

It should be able to poll that thread via API to update rather frequently.

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I've created lots of custom components and pages, but not sure how to approach this one.

Basically,

the question is How to push to refresh API calls frequently  that it looks aka LiveCast messaging without reloading?

Any help much appreciated,

I hope I'm not alone here and someone already done something alike.