Patent ID: 7212617

Claim:
A method for communicating comprising: storing, at a first access service, inbound message rules and outbound message rules, said inbound message rules being defined by a receiving subscriber of said first access service and said outbound message rules being defined by a sending subscriber of said first access service, at least some of the outbound message rules controlling whether messages are transferred from one access service to another access service; receiving a message at said first access service, said message being sent by said sending subscriber and being addressed to said receiving subscriber; applying at least one of said outbound message rules for said sending subscriber and said inbound messages rules for said receiving subscriber to said message received at said first access service; transferring said message from said first access service to a second access service in accordance with at least one of said outbound message rules and said inbound message rules; when said message is an email, generating, based on at least one of the outbound message rules and the inbound message rules, at least one alert from a notification system configured to generate alerts that include at least the following alerts: an email alert that directs said message to an email address, a pager alert that alerts a pager, and a telephone alert that places a telephone call to a wireless or landline phone; reformatting said message at said second access service based on at least one of the outbound message rules and the inbound message rules; and storing said reformatted message at said second access service for retrieval by said receiving subscriber.