| 摘要 |
<p>A Universal Messaging system provides e-mail, voice-mail and fax-mail services to subscribers that may utilize the Internet (16) to access their messages. The system integrates an e-mail messaging system with a voice/fax messaging system on a messaging platform computer (10). E-mail messages are stored in an e-mail message store (10-2), and voice and/or fax messages are stored in a separate store (10-9) controlled, e.g., by a Voice Mail Message Manager (VMMM) (10-8). Subscribers can access messages from a personal computer (20) via the Internet (16) using a standard Web browser (22) with an applet (22A, 22B, ..., 22N) that present each subscriber with a 'universal inbox' that displays all of that subscriber's voice, fax, and e-mail messages. A web platform (12) controls the Web browser interface (22) to the messaging platform (10), accepting requests from the Web browser (such as a request to read an e-mail or listen to a voice mail) and passing prescribed types of information back to the Web browser. The Web platform interfaces with the messaging platform via a generic TCP/IP interface/router (10-6). A Session Manager application (10-5) manages the Web browser's 'session' with the messaging system. A CMC layer (10-4) in the messaging platform provides the 'glue' to enable communication and control between and among the different message stores. The CMC layer provides an industry standard mechanism for providing a standard API through which access to proprietary message stores can be made.</p> |
