A BROKER SERVICE APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING A MOBILE DEVICE

摘要

A broker service apparatus for controlling a second mobile device in response to a first mobile device having no connection to a telephony service, wherein the first mobile device is operable to transmit an identifier to the second mobile device using a network connection that is operable to connect mobile devices and wherein the first mobile device and the second mobile device are operable to join a first group; wherein the broker service apparatus is configured to: assign a unique identifier to a group; notify the telephony service of the unique identifier; responsive to receipt of a first control signal comprising a first unique identifier and data from a telephony service, wherein the data is targeted to the first mobile device, use the first unique identifier to identify the first group; responsive to the first mobile device not being connected to the broker service, determine whether the second mobile device is connected to the broker service; responsive to the second mobile device being connected to the broker service, issue a second control signal to the second mobile device in order to forward the data to the second mobile device, the second control signal comprising the identifier of the first mobile device; wherein the second control signal is operable to cause the second mobile device to use the identifier of the first mobile device and the network connection in order to forward the data to the first mobile device.