Patent ID: 7117248

Claim:
An apparatus for sending a message to a wireless device over a wireless network, the apparatus comprising: a gateway for receiving the message transmitted over an external network in communication with the gateway, the message including a deletion instruction to delete the message if the message is not delivered to the wireless device, for attempting to deliver the message to the wireless device over the wireless network, and for carrying out the deletion instruction by deleting the message, wherein the deletion instruction comprises at least one text command placed within or appended to a body of the message to designate that the message is to be immediately deleted and not maintained in storage for the wireless device by the gateway if the message is determined to not be able to be immediately delivered to the wireless device due to the wireless device not being within service range of the gateway, the gateway recognizing the at least one text command as instructions to implement a particular delivery protocol from a plurality of delivery protocols, where a different delivery protocol is implemented if a different set of text commands are included with the message.