A new IMS based community messaging service

Grouping messaging is one of popular communication tools nowadays in both Internet and telecom network. It can also be viewed as one of optional service features for different applications/services, e.g. instant messaging, chat, file transfer, MMS, SMS and etc. The range or scope of message propagation is normally limited to the boundary of a well defined group. With the rapid evolution of social network services, the boundary of traditional group communication has been extended. It allows service users to reach more friends or others in a virtual world. In order to response the demand for an extended group communication in the telecom network, especially in IMS network, a new IMS based community messaging is proposed. The basic concept is to make use of some key words that are shared by different groups to glue different group members together. The mechanism to control the range of message propagation is provided. The detailed description of main use cases as well as traffic flows is provided. The benefits of the proposed solution are discussed.