Patent ID: 8515027

Claim:
A method for recalling a voicemail message from a target mailbox having an owner, the method comprising: receiving the voicemail message from a user who has called the owner and have left the voicemail message in the target mailbox that was intended for the owner; generating a voice signature of the user by processing the voicemail message left by the user who has called the owner, the voice signature representing unique voice characteristics of the user; storing the voice signature with the voicemail message in the target mailbox; allowing a caller to access the voicemail system using a device, wherein the owner of the target mailbox is a member of the voicemail system and the caller is a non-member of the voicemail system; authenticating the caller using speaker verification by comparing a voice signature of the caller to the voice signature of the user stored in the target mailbox, wherein the speaker verification comprises prompting the caller to repeat a plurality of words that are selected from (i) words extracted from the voicemail message with the voice signature of the user being masked; and (ii) random words not from the voicemail message, and wherein the plurality of words are played to the caller using text-to-speech synthesis; receiving a selection of the authenticated caller to delete the voicemail message, wherein the voicemail message is found in the target mailbox based on input from the caller that identifies (i) at least one word in the voicemail message; and (ii) a range of dates or times of when the voicemail message was left in the target mailbox; and deleting the voicemail message from the target mailbox in response to the authenticated caller selection.