Patent ID: 7609820

Claim:
A method of notifying an electronic mail recipient of electronic mail receipt via voicemail messaging, comprising: receiving a first electronic mail (e-mail) message at a subscriber e-mail box; constructing a first e-mail received notification message, wherein constructing the first e-mail received notification message comprises converting information from the first e-mail message into a voicemail message; annotating the first e-mail received notification message with a unique identification tone for identifying the first e-mail received notification message; transmitting the first e-mail received notification message to a subscriber voicemail box; receiving a second e-mail message at the subscriber e-mail box prior to determining the first e-mail message has been disposed of in the subscriber e-mail box, wherein if the second e-mail message is received at the subscriber e-mail box prior to disposition of the first e-mail message in the subscriber e-mail box, deleting the first e-mail received notification message from the subscriber voicemail box; and if the first e-mail message is disposed of, locating the first e-mail received notification message in the subscriber voicemail box via the unique identification tone; deleting the first e-mail received notification message from the subscriber voicemail box, wherein deleting the first e-mail received notification message from the subscriber voicemail box includes searching the subscriber voicemail box for a voicemail message having the unique identification tone, and wherein after deleting the first e-mail received notification message from the subscriber voicemail box; constructing a second e-mail received notification message containing notification information from both the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message; annotating the second e-mail received notification message with a second unique identification tone for identifying the second e-mail received notification message; and transmitting the second e-mail received notification message to a subscriber voicemail box.