Patent ID: 8621018

Claim:
An Instant Messaging (IM) method, comprising: receiving instance login information sent by an IM client, wherein the instance login information at least comprises login information of a user of the IM client and instance information of a terminal located by the IM client; authenticating identity of the user of the IM client, according to the login information in the instance login information; when the authenticating is passed, allocating an instance number for the IM client, according to the instance information in the instance login information, wherein the instance number is configured to uniquely identify the IM client; wherein the method further comprises: receiving reported user activity information sent by multiple IM clients of one login account, wherein the reported user activity information carries operation type and operation time of user operation received by each IM client; obtaining total activity score of each IM client, according to the operation type and operation time sent by each IM client; when the total activity score of each IM client is not equal, identifying an IM client with the highest total activity score as the current active point; when the total activity score of each IM client is equal or 0, identifying an IM client with the latest operation time as the last active point.