Patent ID: 8315361

Claim:
A method for storing, transmitting and retrieving an audio message, the method comprising: receiving at a server an audio message for a recipient telephone number sent by a sender over a wireless network; mapping an audio file number to the audio message; storing the audio message in a database at the server; transmitting a SMS to the recipient telephone number, the SMS comprising a character response to access the audio message in the database at the server based on the audio file number, the SMS also comprising a name of the sender, a telephone number of the sender and a length of the audio message; receiving the character response to access the audio message in the database at the server; telephoning the recipient telephone number with a call from the server; confirming an answer at the recipient telephone number in response to the call from the server; transmitting the audio message to the recipient telephone number upon confirmation from the recipient telephone number; and transmitting a delivery receipt SMS to the sender, the delivery receipt comprising the time of the delivery of the audio message to the recipient and the percent of the audio message played for the recipient prior to a disconnection of the call from the server.