Patent ID: 6944272

Claim:
A method of deleting email messages sharing a common trait over a public switched telephone network independently of email system capabilities, comprising: operating a unified messaging system that is operatively coupled to an email server, wherein the unified messaging system is operatively coupled to a telephone by the public switched telephone network, wherein the unified messaging system is configured to process voicemail and email messages; playing a first message from the unified messaging system over the public switched telephone network on the telephone; receiving a command from the telephone instructing the unified messaging system to delete all messages that have the common trait with the first message; deleting the first message with the unified messaging system; retrieving a second message from the email server that is different from the first message, wherein the second message includes an email that has the common trait with the first message; determining with the unified messaging system that the second message has the common trait with the first message; and deleting the second message from the email server in response to said determining; retrieving a third message from the email server that is different from the first message, wherein the third message includes an email that has the common trait with the first message; recognizing with the unified messaging system that the third message has the common trait with the first message; and deleting the third message from the email server in response to said recognizing.