Patent ID: 8712451

Claim:
A method of phone messaging, the method comprising: receiving a data packet, the data packet including a non-voice message for a recipient; analyzing the data packet to identify the mobile device associated with the recipient, a message type of the non-voice message, a current location of the mobile device, and a wireless network currently serving the mobile device; determining whether the mobile device is accessible for messaging; determining whether the wireless network supports the message type; if it is determined that the mobile device is accessible for messaging and the wireless network supports the message type, delivering the non-voice message over a data channel of the wireless network; and if it is determined that the mobile device is not accessible for messaging or the wireless network does not support the message type, performing the following steps: encoding the data packet into an audio stream, the encoding comprising converting said data packet into a stream of characters corresponding to characters in a character set; and generating said audio stream using a plurality of different sounds associated with each of said characters in said character set; responsive to the encoding, placing a call to said mobile device using a voice channel of said wireless network; and responsive to the placing of the call, storing said audio stream for later access by the recipient as a voice message in a voice mail system associated with the mobile device if the mobile device is unavailable for a voice call, else transmitting said audio stream over said voice channel to said mobile device, wherein the audio stream is encoded such that the mobile device can reconstruct said data packet from said audio stream to retrieve the non-voice message, and wherein the placing comprises configuring the call to signal to the mobile device that the audio stream comprises the non-voice message.