Message Routing and Determining a Message Recipient in a Unified Messaging System

A method comprising:

• maintaining a database comprising source information of a plurality of senders each associated with recipient identification of a plurality of recipients;
• receiving a first communication from a first sender of the plurality of senders;
• accessing the database to identify a first recipient based on particular source information of the first sender;
• notifying the first recipient of receipt of the first communication by sending a notification message to the first recipient;
• routing the first communication to the first recipient;
• if the first recipient is unavailable, depositing the first communication in a shared mailbox of the plurality of recipients.

An apparatus for message handling in a unified messaging system comprising:

• a memory storing computer program instructions;
• and
• a processor communicatively coupled to the memory, the processor configured to execute the computer program instructions, which, when executed on the processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:
• maintaining a database comprising source information of a plurality of senders each associated with recipient identification of a plurality of recipients;
• receiving a first communication from a first sender of the plurality of senders;
• accessing the database to identify a first recipient based on particular source information of the first sender;
• notifying the first recipient of receipt of the first communication by sending a notification message to the first recipient;
• routing the first communication to the first recipient;
• if the first recipient is unavailable, depositing the first communication in a shared mailbox of the plurality of recipients.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer program instructions, which, when executed on a processor, cause the processor to perform a method comprising:

• maintaining a database comprising source information of a plurality of senders each associated with recipient identification of a plurality of recipients;
• receiving a first communication from a first sender of the plurality of senders;
• accessing the database to identify a first recipient based on particular source information of the first sender;
• notifying the first recipient of receipt of the first communication by sending a notification message to the first recipient;
• routing the first communication to the first recipient;
• if the first recipient is unavailable, depositing the first communication in a shared mailbox of the plurality of recipients.