Patent ID: 8160054

Claim:
In a non-Internet protocol (IP) based communications network, a system for instant voice messaging comprising: an instant voice messaging (IVM) server operative to receive from an initiating user fragments of an instant voice message; to store said fragments; and to stream already stored fragments of said instant voice message to at least one target user, while receiving other fragments of said instant voice message from said initiating user and storing said other fragments; wherein said non-IP based communication network is a telephony network and wherein said IVM server is coupled to a telephony switch that is operative to switch communications between said initiating user and said IVM server and to switch communications between each of said at least one target user and said IVM server; and a paging system selected from a group consisting of a text paging system and a voice paging system, said paging system coupled to said IVM server, wherein said IVM server further includes: i. a voice recognition module operative to convert voice messages into voice paging messages, and ii. a text-to-speech recognition module operative to convert voice messages into text messages, and wherein said paging system is operative to communicate said voice paging messages and said text messages to a pager belonging to said at least one target user.