Patent ID: 8867710

Claim:
A hosted private branch exchange (PBX) system comprising: non-transitory storage that includes subscriber identifying information that identifies subscribers to a message routing service; non-transitory storage that includes department member subscriber identifying information that identifies the identified subscribers who also are members of a department; non-transitory storage that includes, thread identifier association rules to associate messages of message threads with department member subscribers who are to be recipients of the messages of the message threads, department distribution rules associated with the department to determine distribution of a message, which identifies a department member as a recipient, one or more of a department outsider subscriber and/or one or more other department member subscribers, based at least in part upon the thread identifier association rules, and individual subscriber, device routing distribution rules, associated with individual subscribers to use to route messages to individual subscriber devices; a message management server configured to, receive a message sent over the Internet, wherein the received message includes message content and indicates one or more recipients, in response to a message that includes a department as a recipient and that does not include a thread identifier, create a thread identifier association rule that associates the message with one or more department member subscribers, and determine distribution of the received message to one or more of, a department outsider subscriber and/or one or more other department member subscribers, according to the department distribution rules associated with the department, based at least in part upon the created thread identifier association rule, in response to receipt of a message that includes a department as a recipient and that includes a thread identifier, add the message to a message thread that includes a prior message that included the thread identifier and determine distribution of the received message to one or more of, a department outsider subscriber and one or more other individual department member subscribers, according to the department distribution rules associated with the department, and determine device routing, for each determined recipient of the message who is a department outsider subscriber and for each recipient the messages who is a department member subscriber, according to the individual subscriber, device routing distribution rules, and send one or more messages over the Internet to one or more subscriber devices of recipients indicated in the received message based at least in part upon the determined distribution and based at least in part upon the determined device routing.