Patent ID: 6990180

Claim:
A voice message system including a plurality of terminals and a voice message service center, said service center comprising: means for receiving a voice message from a first user terminal; means for storing the received voice message from the first terminal; a presence service for checking availability of an intended second user at a second terminal; and means for sending the stored received message from the first terminal to the second terminal if the second terminal is available, wherein one or more of said plurality of terminals comprises: means for receiving said voice message at said first user terminal spoken by a first user for providing said voice message from said first user terminal to said means for receiving said voice message at said service center; means for storing voice messages including said voice message spoken by said first user; means for receiving a designation signal from said first user designating a second user as an intended recipient; means for retrieving the stored voice message in response to the designation signal for providing the voice message retrieved from storage and the designation signal; and means for sending the voice message retrieved from storage and the designation signal to the second user of the voice message system as an outgoing voice message.