Patent ID: 7649983

Claim:
An apparatus for permitting a user to send a broadcast message via a sending device to a first recipient and a second recipient, the sending device either addressable over a data network or addressable over a telephone network connected to the data network, the first recipient having a first receiving device addressable over the data network and the second recipient having a second receiving device addressable over the telephone network, the apparatus comprising: a message router having an address book stored within, said address book comprising aliasing information for each of the first recipient and the second recipient, said aliasing information comprising a telephone number, an email address and a uniform resource locator (URL), said address book configured to alias recipient addresses received in the broadcast message to the first receiving device of the first recipient and to the second receiving device of the second recipient, said broadcast message received from the sending device over the data network if the sending device is addressable over the data network and over the telephone network via the data network connected to the telephone network if the sending device is addressable over the telephone network, the message router configured to translate the received broadcast message into a translated first broadcast message for the first recipient and a translated second broadcast message for the second recipient, the translated first broadcast message being in a format compatible with the first receiving device for delivery to the first receiving device over the data network, the translated second broadcast message being in a format compatible with the second receiving device for delivery to the second receiving device over the telephone network via the data network, the message router configured to embed the telephone number that corresponds to the second receiving device within the translated second broadcast message, the message router configured for routing the translated first broadcast message to the first receiving device over the data network and configured for routing the translated second broadcast message and the embedded telephone number to the second receiving device over the telephone network via the data network wherein the embedded telephone number provides routing information to the telephone network for delivery of the translated second broadcast message.