Patent US 7,516,185

This invention is directed to a system and method for providing a status notification for a message in a communications network. An embodiment of this invention is a voicemail system, which provides a caller in a telecommunications network with the option of requesting a status notification for a voicemail message when the recording of the message is complete. By requesting status notification, the caller is indicating that the voicemail system should track any actions related to the message that occur within the voicemail system. The caller also specifies a destination identifier, which includes formatting and addressing information that the voicemail system uses for subsequent notification. As actions are taken in relation to the message, the voicemail system creates disposition identifiers and associates these identifiers with the message. When a triggering event occurs, such as the recipient deleting the message, the voicemail system retrieves the disposition identifiers to generate the status notification and sends the status notification in the format and to the address specified by the destination identifier.