Assembling a primitive having information elements with a structure recognizable by a terminal device and another entity, both of which communicate over a network

Abstract

A data structure defining two-level identification allows the integration of mobile instant messaging to Internet based instant messaging, for instance, by providing an identification of both a user of the IM system (IM user) and an IM client used to access an IM system (IM client). The client may be a hardware device, software, or a combination thereof. A method, a terminal device with the client installed, a server and a system are shown for communicating such identification information between the terminal device and the server with a primitive having such two-level identification contained in information elements.

1 . A method comprising:
 providing a primitive where the primitive comprises information elements with a structure recognized by a terminal device and at least one other entity able to communicate with the terminal device over a network;   providing the primitive with an information element identifying a client of the terminal device;   providing the primitive identifying the client with an information element identifying a user of the client;   wherein the client enables access to an instant messaging service, and the client is installed in said terminal device, and the client is configured to allow a plurality of users to access the instant messaging service; and   wherein the information element identifying a client is used by the instant messaging service for all purposes which affect the client only and for all purposes which affect both the client and the user, and the information element identifying a user is used by the instant messaging service for all purposes that affect the user.   
     
     
         2 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the user may access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         3 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the user may simultaneously access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         4 . A method of  claim 2 , wherein the user may use a single device to access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         5 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the user may use a plurality of devices to access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         6 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the client is configured to provide simultaneous access to the instant messaging service for the plurality of users. 
     
     
         7 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the information element identifying a user of the client comprises a user name and password. 
     
     
         8 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the information element identifying a client of said terminal device comprises a client name and client address. 
     
     
         9 . A method of  claim 8 , wherein the client address is used to provide low-level mapping between the terminal device and a specific client within the terminal device. 
     
     
         10 . A method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 using the information element identifying a client and the information element identifying a user in an authentication protocol.   
     
     
         11 . A method of  claim 10 , wherein the authentication protocol enables another entity to confirm that both the client and the user are subscribing entities. 
     
     
         12 . A method of  claim 11 , wherein the authentication protocol will block access for a subscribing user if the subscribing user is not using a subscribing client. 
     
     
         13 . A method of  claim 1 , wherein the information element identifying a client is used by the instant messaging service for routing of messages to the client and messages to the user via a specific client and the information element identifying a user is used by the instant messaging service for at least one of billing and charging. 
     
     
         14 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause a system to at least perform the following steps:
 providing a primitive where the primitive comprises information elements with a structure recognized by a terminal device and at least one other entity able to communicate with the terminal device over a network;   providing the primitive with an information element identifying a client of the terminal device;   providing the primitive identifying the client with an information element identifying a user of the client;   wherein the client enables access to an instant messaging service, and the client is installed in said terminal device, and the client is configured to allow a plurality of users to access the instant messaging service; and   wherein the information element identifying a client is used by the instant messaging service for all purposes which affect the client only and for all purposes which affect both the client and user, and the information element identifying a user is used by the instant messaging service for all purposes that affect the user.   
     
     
         15 . A method of  claim 14 , wherein a user may access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         16 . A method of  claim 14 , wherein a user may simultaneously access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         17 . A method of  claim 15 , wherein the user may use a single device to access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         18 . A method of  claim 14 , wherein the user may use a plurality of devices to access the instant messaging service from a plurality of clients. 
     
     
         19 . A method of  claim 14 , wherein the client is configured to provide simultaneous access to the instant messaging service for a plurality of users. 
     
     
         20 . A method of  claim 14 , wherein the information element identifying a user of the client comprises a user name and password.