The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Apr. 16, 2002
Filed:
Sep. 17, 1998
Mark Jeffrey Foladare, Kendall Park, NJ (US);
Shelley B. Goldman, East Brunswick, NJ (US);
David Phillip Silverman, Somerville, NJ (US);
Shaoqing Q. Wang, Middletown, NJ (US);
Robert S. Westrich, Middletown, NJ (US);
AT&T Corp., New York, NY (US);
Abstract
The present invention provides a centralized messaging service method and apparatus in which a message is sent to each of a subscriber's messaging services. When a sending party wishes to leave a message for a receiving party, the sending party activates his/her user device and enters the access number for the centralized message service. The centralized message service receives the communication signals from the sending party which include a receiving party identifier and the message to be sent. The centralized message service then retrieves profile information from a database corresponding to the messaging services of the receiving party based on the receiving party identifier entered by the sending party. The centralized message service then forwards the message to a portion of the receiving party's messaging services based on the profile information retrieved from the database. The centralized message service then monitors the messaging services to determine if the receiving party has retrieved the message from any of the messaging services. If the receiving party retrieves the message from any of the messaging services, a delete command is sent to at least a portion of the other messaging services based on the profile information retrieved.