Patent ID: 7523166

Claim:
Process for reproducing messages in an automated system for distributing messages, the process comprising the steps of: communicating between at least one system for storing messages ( 10 ) and a device for reproducing messages ( 13 ) via a communication channel ( 12 ); interrogating, by way of an interface of the device for reproducing messages ( 13 ) operated by an operator ( 15 ), said system for storing messages ( 10 ) to retrieve messages stored for the operator from said system for storing messages ( 10 ); in response to the operator's interrogation, transmitting from said system for storing messages ( 10 ) a stored message, over said communication channel, to said device for reproducing messages ( 13 ); reproducing, at said device for reproducing messages and in real time for the operator ( 15 ), the message transmitted by said system for storing messages ( 10 ); identifying whether the message, in the course of transmission, is one of i) a private message and ii) an urgent or advertising message; storing information representative of a duration of a minimum delay for the urgent or advertising message identified in said identifying step; executing, at said system for storing messages, operations on the message in the course of the transmission to said device for reproducing messages ( 13 ), said device for reproducing messages ( 13 ) comprising at least one control device ( 14 ) permitting said operator ( 15 ) to generate at least one control signal destined for said system for storing messages ( 10 ), said control device ( 14 ) allowing the operator, in the course of the transmission of the message from said system for storing messages, to generate and transmit to said system for storing messages ( 10 ) the at least one control signal, the at least one control signal controlling said system for storing messages ( 10 ) to carry out on said message, in the course of the transmission, a corresponding operation from among said operations, and said corresponding operation including any one of interrupting the message, saving the message, and deleting the message, wherein said executing step at said system for storing messages, for the urgent or advertising message identified in said identifying step, commences after expiration of a minimum delay, the minimum delay counted from the beginning of the transmission of the identified urgent or advertising message to said device for reproducing messages ( 13 ) such that the operator cannot interrupt the transmission of the identified urgent or advertising message prior to the expiration of the minimum time delay, thereby assuring that at least a part of the identified urgent or advertising message corresponding to the minimum delay is delivered to the operator of said device for reproducing messages ( 13 ).