Patent ID: 7882194

Claim:
A method for managing a chat session, the method comprising the steps of: a server storing in a database an identity of a group, a list of a plurality of members of the group, and a list of people authorized to request that the group of members be added to the chat session; the server receiving a request from a workstation of a person participating in the chat session to add the group of members to the chat session, the request initiated by the person participating in the chat session at the workstation, the request specifying the identity of the group but not the members of the group; in response to the request initiated by the person participating in the chat session at the workstation, the server determining if the person which initiated the request is authorized to add the group of members to the chat session, and if so, the server determining from the database identities of members of the group and sending an invitation to the members of the group to join the chat session, and if not, the server not sending an invitation to the members of the group to join the chat session in response to the request initiated by the person participating in the chat session at the workstation; the workstation receiving from the person which initiated the request entry in a chat session message text field of a character string to add the group of members to the chat session; and a program stored in a computer readable storage device and executing at the workstation monitoring the chat session message text field and determining that the character string is the request to add the group of members to the chat session, and in response, the program forming and initiating sending of the request to the server to add the group of members to the chat session; and wherein the character string comprises an identity of the group of members surrounded by symbols which differentiate the character string from chat message text in the chat message text field.