Patent ID: 7065343

Claim:
In a multimedia telecommunications network, a method of synchronizing network-based voicemail and multimedia mail messages with a wireless communications device and an external message recording device, the method comprising the steps of: connecting the wireless communications device to the external device; establishing a call between the wireless communications device and a voicemail/multimedia mail server in the network; exchanging information between the wireless communications device and the voicemail/multimedia mail messages about the subscriber's messages, which messages may be stored on the external device and the voicemail/multimedia mail server; determining the status of the subscriber's messages; where there is at least one new message for the subscriber on the server, downloading any new messages to the external device and updating the server; where there are no new messages for the subscriber on the server, playing a message for the subscriber indicating that there are no new messages; where at least one message has been deleted by the subscriber using the external device, deleting any corresponding messages from the server; where at least one message has been modified by the subscriber on the external device, uploading any modified messages to the server; and releasing the call.