Message accessing

Abstract

A request to retrieve a message directed to the user receiving from a user at an electronic device. The message has one of at least two different presentation modes by which it may be revealed to the user at the electronic device. The message is retrieved using one of at least two different communication networks depending on a presentation mode by which the message may be revealed.

1 . A method comprising 
 enabling a user of a wireless phone to make successive selections of messages from a list of messages displayed on the phone, the list including both voice messages and text messages, the selections including voice messages and text messages in any arbitrary order, and    without requiring any different action by the user, switching back and forth between responding to selections of voice messages by audibly playing back the messages to the user and responding to selections of text messages by displaying at least portions of the messages.    
     
     
         2 . A method comprising 
 in response to a user selecting a voice message identified on a display of a wireless phone, automatically initiating a call to a voice message system on which the voice message is stored, having the voice message system authenticate the call, and receiving an audibly played back version of the voice message from the voice message system.    
     
     
         3 . A method comprising 
 at a wireless phone, enabling a user to invoke links associated with voice messages and non-voice messages to be retrieved, the links being displayed to the user, and    at the wireless phone, switching automatically between responding to invocation of a voice message link by dialing a telephone number associated with the link, and responding to invocation of a non-voice message link in a manner other than dialing a telephone number.    
     
     
         4 . A method comprising 
 at a wireless phone, in response to selection by a user of a voice message to be retrieved, dialing a string that includes a phone number of a voice message system and digits that are sufficient to enable the voice message system server to identify the user and the selected message.    
     
     
         5 . A method comprising 
 at a wireless phone, receiving data that (a) identifies a remotely stored message belonging to a user of the phone and (b) includes information that (i) associates the message with the user and (ii) is encoded to restrict unauthorized access by others, and    in response to a request by the user for retrieval of the message, returning the encoded information to a server for use in authentication.    
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5  in which the information is generated by a hashing algorithm.  
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 5  in which the data includes an index identifying the message from among other messages belonging to the user.  
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5  in which the encoded information is also stored for use by the server and is automatically deleted from the server based on its aging.  
     
     
         9 . A method comprising 
 receiving from a user at an electronic device a request to retrieve a message directed to the user, the message having one of at least two different presentation modes by which it may be revealed to the user at the electronic device, and    retrieving the message using one of at least two different communication networks depending on a presentation mode by which the message may be revealed.    
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 9  in which the electronic device comprises a wireless device.  
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10  in which the wireless device comprises a telephone.  
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 9  in which one of the modes comprises performance of a multimedia message.  
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  in which the multimedia message comprises a voice message.  
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 9  in which one of the modes comprises displaying characters.  
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 9  in which the retrieving comprises requesting the message from a message server.  
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 9  in which one of the modes comprises performance of a multimedia message, and the retrieving of the multimedia message comprises initiating a dial-up phone call to a message server.  
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  in which the multimedia message comprises a voice message and the retrieving includes receiving a spoken version of the voice message.  
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 9  in which one of the modes comprises displaying characters, and the retrieving of the message comprises sending a request through a network to a message server.  
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 9  also including 
 receiving at the electronic device information identifying messages directed to the user, and  
 providing the information to the user at the electronic device for selection of a message by the user.  
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  in which the information includes uniform resource locator information that enables accessing the messages through at least one of the communication networks.  
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 19  in which the information includes a phone number at which a message can be retrieved.  
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 19  in which the identifying information is received through a communication network.  
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 19  in which the identifying information includes information identifying a user and a message number associated with each of the messages.  
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  in which the information identifying the user and the message number is encoded securely.  
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24  in which the encoded information is included in the request to retrieve.  
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 19  in which information is stored remotely from the electronic device, the information permitting a server to respond to selection of the message even though communication between the server and the electronic device conforms to a stateless protocol.  
     
     
         27 . A method comprising 
 informing a user of an electronic device of messages that are available for retrieval, each of the messages having one of at least two different presentation modes by which it may be revealed to the user at the electronic device, and    receiving from the user a selection of one of the messages to be retrieved, the selection being made in a manner that is unrelated the presentation mode by which it may be revealed,    revealing the message to the user in its presentation mode,    receiving from the user a selection of another one of the messages to be retrieved, the selection being made in a manner that is unrelated the presentation mode by which the other message may be revealed, and    revealing the other message to the user in its presentation mode.    
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 27  in which the informing includes displaying a list of the messages to the user.  
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 27  in which the receiving includes enabling the user to indicate a selection through a graphical user interface.  
     
     
         30 . The method of  claim 27  in which the revealing includes displaying a text message or playing a voice message.  
     
     
         31 . A method comprising 
 providing to an electronic device, information that is configured to enable the electronic device: 
 to retrieve messages using at least two different communication networks depending on a presentation mode by which each of the messages may be revealed, the electronic device being enabled to a request for a message, and  
 to enable a user to select messages in a manner that is unrelated to the presentation mode by which the messages may be revealed.  
   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31  in which the information that is provided to the electronic device is expressed in a mark-up language.  
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31  in which the information that is provided to the electronic device is encoded to prevent loss.  
     
     
         34 . A method comprising 
 enabling a user of an electronic device to make a selection of a message to be retrieved from a message server,    in response to the selection, issuing a string of characters that includes 
 a phone number that is associated with the message and is capable of causing the electronic device to execute a phone call to the server, and  
 a character string that identifies the user and enables the server to authenticate the user.  
   
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 34  in which the phone number is stored as part of a hyperlink.