Patent ID: 8116299

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a network device, a call request from a first end device associated with a caller to a second end device associated with a callee; re-directing the call request, using the network device and based on a determination that the second end device did not answer the call request, to a voicemail system; detecting, at the network device, the re-direction of the call request to the voicemail system; extracting, at the network device, identification for the caller and the callee by inspecting information received in the call request and constructing, based on the identification, a notification message for the callee, the notification message including the identification of the caller; monitoring, at the network device, activity information of the callee at one or more end devices associated with the callee, and determining, based on the monitored activity information of the callee, that the callee is actively engaged at a third end device at the time the caller is leaving a voicemail message for the callee; sending, using the network device, the notification message to the third end device, where the notification message includes an indication that a voicemail message is being left by the caller and provides a first option to listen to the voicemail message and a second option to answer the call using at least one end device selected from a group including the second end device and the third end device that are associated with the callee; determining, at the network device, and based on receiving a response from the third end device, an option selected by the callee; and sending, from the network device and based on the determination that the callee selected the first option, a copy of the voicemail message to the third end device, as it is received at the voicemail system, with the network device performing signaling translation for the voicemail message from the signaling protocol used by the voicemail system to the signaling protocol used by the third end device.