Patent ID: 7564955

Claim:
A distributed voicemail system comprising: a central data and message store (CDMS) for determining whether a triggering event occurs and operable to provide an outbound trigger, wherein the outbound trigger is provided in response to the CDMS determining that a triggering event has occurred; an application server in communication with the CDMS, the application server for receiving the outbound trigger, provide an outbound notification, generate a Voice eXtensible Markup Language (VXML) page having a telephone number therein, wherein the application server provides the outbound notification in response to receiving the outbound trigger, wherein the outbound notification includes a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) for the VXML page; a media server in communication with the application server and in communication with a telephone network, the media server for receiving the outbound notification, open a VXML browser session, and use the XVML browser session and the VXML page to dial the telephone number, via the telephone network, of a communications device; and wherein a user-communication is stored in the CDMS, wherein the application server generates a given VXML page having a pointer to the user-communication therein and provides the given VXML page to a VXML browser, wherein the VXML browser uses the pointer to retrieve at least a first portion of the user-communication, wherein the VXML browser provides at least a second portion of the user-communication, and wherein the VXML browser provides the second portion in response to receiving input from the communications device.