Apparatus and method for conferencing

A network node, for conference handling, the network node comprising:

• a receiving port configured to receive an invitation, from a initiating user equipment, to create an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) conference, the invitation comprising a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated with the initiating user equipment;
• an obtaining unit configured to obtain a conference focus identifier associated with the IMS conference to establish the IMS conference with a conference focus;
• a compiling unit configured to compile a mapping of the URI associated with the initiating user equipment to correspond to the conference focus identifier;
• the receiving port further configured to receive, from a participating user equipment, a communication request comprising the URI associated with the initiating user equipment;
• and
• a forwarding unit configured to forward the communication request to the conference focus, based on the conference focus identifier obtained from the mapping, for the participating user equipment to participate in the IMS conference, in which the mapping is utilized to identify, for the participating user equipment, the conference focus identifier corresponding to the URI associated with the initiating user equipment by cross-referencing the URI associated with the initiating user equipment in the communication request to the conference focus identifier and forwarding the communication request without the participating user equipment receiving a refer message from the initiating user equipment to connect to the conference focus.

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing computer executable instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor in a network node, cause the network node to:

• receive an invitation, from an initiating user equipment, to create an Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) conference, the invitation comprising a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated with the initiating user equipment;
• obtain a conference focus identifier associated with the IMS conference to establish the IMS conference with a conference focus;
• compile, at the network node, a mapping of the URI associated with the initiating user equipment correspond to the conference focus identifier;
• receive, from a participating user equipment, a communication request comprising the URI associated with the initiating user equipment;
• utilize the mapping, at the network node, to identify, for the participating user equipment, the conference focus identifier corresponding to the URI associated with the initiating user equipment by cross-referencing the URI associated with the initiating user equipment in the communication request to the conference focus identifier;
• and
• forward, based on the conference focus identifier obtained from the mapping, the communication request from the network node to the conference focus for the participating user equipment to participate in the IMS conference without the participating user equipment receiving a refer message from the initiating user equipment to connect to the conference focus.