Integrated message center

A method for consolidating messages of different types for viewing and manipulation by a user of telecommunications equipment having display and a processor, comprising the steps, executed by the telecommunications equipment, of:

• automatically receiving notification messages corresponding to pending messages of different types, the notification messages including information regarding the source of each of the pending messages and the type of each of the pending messages, wherein each of the notification messages is automatically sent to the user when one of the pending messages is initially received and wherein the notification messages are received from an interface with independent connections with different bandwidths for the different types of pending messages;
• determining a message type of the pending messages from the information corresponding to the received notification messages;
• associating a message type indicator with each of the received notification messages based on the determined message type;
• displaying on the display portions of the received notification messages and the associated message type indicators as entries in a single selectable list;
• receiving a selection of one of the pending messages from the entries in the single selectable list;
• and
• retrieving the selected pending message for viewing and manipulation by the user.

A network services provider for notifying a user of received messages, comprising:

• a plurality of mail servers for receiving messages of different types from a plurality of message senders over a communications network, the mail servers store the received messages and generate notification signals in response to receipt of new messages;
• a short message generator for receiving the notification signals from the mail servers, generating notification messages from the notification signals, and automatically transmitting the notification messages to the user, each of the notification messages including information regarding the message sender and a message type of the received message, wherein the notification messages provide the user with a single selectable list;
• and
• an interface for processing with independent connections with different bandwidths for the different types of received messages.

User equipment for notifying a user of pending messages, comprising:

• a display screen;
• an input device;
• a receiver for automatically receiving voice calls and notification messages corresponding to pending messages of different types, each of the notification messages indicating an identity of a sender and message type of the corresponding pending message, wherein the notification messages are received from an interface with independent connections with different bandwidths for different types of pending messages;
• memory;
• and
• a processor including
• means for associating a message type indicator with each of the received notification messages based on the message type of the corresponding pending message,
• means for displaying on the display screen an identification of the sender and the associated message type indicator for each of the received notification messages as entries in a single selectable list to allow the user to select one of the pending messages from the single selectable list for viewing, and
• means for directing the display screen to display detailed information about the sender of the selected pending message in response to selection by the user.

A communications network comprising:

• a network services provider, connected to a switching network, for notifying a user of pending messages, the network services provider comprising
• a mail server for receiving pending messages of different types from a plurality of message senders over the switching network, the mail server stores the pending messages and generates notification signals in response to receipt of new pending messages,
• a short message generator for receiving the notification signals from the mail server, generating notification messages from the notification signals, and automatically transmitting the notification messages to the switching network, the notification messages including information regarding the message sender and a message type of a corresponding pending message;
• an interface with independent connections with different bandwidths for the different types of received messages;
• and
• user equipment, connected to the switching network, for informing the user of the pending messages received by the mail server, the user equipment comprising
• means for receiving the notification messages from the short message generator and the interface,
• means for associating a message type indicator with each of the received notification messages based on the message type of the corresponding pending message,
• means for displaying portions of the received notification messages and the associated message type indicators as entries in a single selectable list,
• means for selecting one of the pending messages for viewing based on the entries in the single selectable list, and
• means for retrieving the selected pending message from the mail server for viewing and manipulation by the user.

A method for notifying a user of messages received at network equipment comprising:

• receiving messages of different types from a plurality of message senders over a communication network;
• generating notification messages based on the received messages, each of the notification messages including information regarding the message sender and a message type of the received message, wherein the notification messages are received from an interface with independent connections with different bandwidths for the different types of the plurality of message senders;
• and
• automatically transmitting notification messages to the user, wherein the notification messages provide the user with a single selectable list.