Patent ID: 7440887

Claim:
A method for causing a first electronic messaging service mailbox of a first electronic messaging service system connected to a first user station for a user of said first electronic messaging service mailbox to migrate towards a second electronic messaging service system, the first electronic messaging service mailbox having a first physical electronic address and a first access electronic address for providing access to outside users, the method comprising: connecting each of the first and second electronic messaging service systems to a message routing center including a directory database containing addresses associated with mailboxes of first and second electronic messaging service systems; and recording, during a first step, a migration request on a migration control server, which request contains, in association, at least the first access electronic address of the first electronic messaging service mailbox and a scheduled migration instant for migration of the first electronic messaging service mailbox; for each migration request recorded in the migration control server, and in succession, creating, during a second step, a second electronic messaging service mailbox having a second physical electronic address in the second electronic messaging service system; and executing a third step in the second electronic messaging service system when prescribed conditions including arrival of the scheduled migration instant have been verified as satisfactory, during which the first access electronic address of the first electronic messaging service mailbox is formed as the electronic access address for outside users of the second electronic messaging service mailbox; when conditions required on the first and second electronic messaging service mailboxes have been verified by the message routing center as satisfactory, activating a queue, during a fourth step, in the message routing center, and for the first electronic messaging service mailbox, for any incoming messages that are addressed to the first access electronic address so that the any incoming messages do not arrive in the first electronic messaging service mailbox; and changing in the directory database, during a fifth step, the first physical electronic address recorded for the first electronic messaging service mailbox into the second physical electronic address of the second electronic messaging service mailbox, deactivating the queue, and transferring messages held in the queue for the first electronic messaging service mailbox to the second electronic messaging service mailbox.