Patent ID: 7606908

Claim:
A method for notifying a customer of a message available for delivery via a client vehicle communication unit (VCU) installed in a vehicle of the customer, the method comprising the steps of: establishing a connection between a server and the client VCU; sending a query to the client VCU from the server for an indication of whether the customer is available in the vehicle for receiving the message; sending a message to the client VCU for delivery to the customer if the server receives the indication that the customer is available; and if the server does not receive the indication that the customer is available for receiving the message, then performing any one or more of the following: i) sending a failed delivery message to the client VCU, ii) sending the message to the client for storage on the client VCU, or iii) retrying delivery of the message to the client VCU at a later time after a time interval.