Patent ID: 7814158

Claim:
A method for delivering a time-sensitive message to a recipient, comprising: receiving the time-sensitive message by a server, the time-sensitive message having a rule set for delivering the time-sensitive message; extracting the rule set by the server, from the time-sensitive message, the rule set specifying a starting time and an expiration time for the time-sensitive message; determining whether to provide the time-sensitive message to the recipient based on the starting time; determining if a current time is within a threshold of the expiration time and sending an extension message to a source of the time-sensitive message if the current time is within a threshold of the expiration time, the extension message notifying the source of the time-sensitive message that the time-sensitive message will expire, the extension message providing information of fees for extending the expiration time of the time-sensitive message; wherein the time-sensitive message includes an identification of the time-sensitive message and the expiration time; extending the expiration time of the time-sensitive message upon payment of a fee; wherein the extending the expiration time of the time-sensitive message is authorized by the source to allow the server to alter embedded header to change the expiration time of the time-sensitive message; deleting the time-sensitive message upon reaching the expiration time without the recipient accessing the time-sensitive message or archiving the time-sensitive message upon reaching the expiration time without the recipient accessing the time-sensitive message; wherein the time-sensitive message includes a link to time-sensitive content on the server and the method further comprises providing time-sensitive content to the recipient by pulling the time-sensitive content from the server.