Patent ID: 8407357

Claim:
A group management method for group communication in an interworking system of an Instant Messaging and Presence Services (IMPS) system and a Session Initiation Protocol for Instant Messaging and Presence Leveraging Extensions Instant Messaging (SIMPLE IM) system, the group management method of Interworking Function (IWF) connecting to the IMPS system and SIMPLE IM system comprising the steps of: receiving a group property request message including one of a request for the retrieval of a group properties of a group (GetGroupPropsRequest or HTTP XCAP GET request) and a request for a setting of group properties of the group (SetGroupPropsRequest or HTTP XCAP PUT request) from a client terminal, the client terminal currently connected to one of the IMPS system and the SIMPLE IM system; identifying the group included in the group property request message; converting the group property request message into a protocol format supported by the other system, if the group is included in the other system to which the client terminal is not connected, and forwarding the converted group property request message to the other system; receiving a group property response message including the group properties of the group; and converting the group property response message into a protocol format supported by the currently connected system and forwarding the converted group property response message to the client terminal, wherein the group properties of the group are group properties of the group changed according to the setting of the group properties of the group if the group property request message includes the request for the setting of the group properties of the group, wherein the group property request message includes an ID associated with the system including the group, and wherein if the currently connected system is the IMPS system, the client terminal forwards a GetGroupPropsRequest for requesting the retrieval of the group properties and the GetGroupPropsRequest includes the group ID of the group, and the GetGroupPropsRequest is converted into the group property retrieval request of the SIMPLE IM system, the group property retrieval request of the SIMPLE IM system being a HTTP XCAP GET, during the protocol conversion, and is forwarded to the SIMPLE IM system.