Patent ID: 7590226

Claim:
A telephone message system accessible to a calling party attempting to reach a called party, comprising: a carrier switch configured to route telephone calls via a public switched telephone network; and a message server associated with the calling party and not associated with the called party, wherein the message server is configured to store a message from the calling party and to deliver the message to the called party, and wherein the carrier switch is configured to selectively route the calling party to the message server and the message server is configured to selectively provide the calling party with status information regarding delivery of the message, wherein the message server is configured to allow the calling party to apply at least one parameter to delivery of the message to the called party, wherein the at least one parameter includes one or more actual times for delivery, wherein the message server is configured to adjust the one or more actual times for delivery to local time of the called party wherein the message server is configured to allow the called party to leave a return voice message for the calling party, wherein the message server is configured to allow the calling party to retrieve the return voice message, and wherein delivery of the return voice message occurs by the called party opening a SIP and sending the return message to the calling party via VoIP.