Voice mail apparatus and method of processing voice mail

1. A voice mail apparatus comprising:

a memory to store received digitized voice in a voice mail sent from a sender, and wherein the memory further stores at least one voice response message of a recipient of the voice mail;

an identifier to identify a sender number attached to the voice mail that contains the digitized voice, the sender number corresponding to the sender that has sent the digitized voice;

an e-mail transmitter to send an e-mail from the recipient to the sender;

a table that provides a correspondence between a plurality of e-mail addresses and a plurality of sender numbers, respectively; and

a control unit configured to control operation of the voice mail apparatus,

wherein the digitized voice is stored at a particular memory address that is assigned to the sender within the memory, based on the identification of the sender number as performed by the identifier,

wherein the table is accessed to allow a recipient of the digitized voice to send an e-mail response to the corresponding e-mail address of the sender,

wherein the control unit obtains the at least one voice response message of the recipient from the memory, attaches the at least one voice response message to an e-mail to be sent to the corresponding e-mail address of the sender, and provides the e-mail to the e-mail transmitter to be output to the sender,

wherein the e-mail is capable of being opened by the sender so that the sender can review the at least one voice response message of the recipient, by the sender opening the e-mail attachment and reviewing the at least one voice response message, and

wherein the sender number corresponds to a telephone set of the sender.

2. A voice mail apparatus comprising:

a memory to store received digitized voice in a voice mail sent from a sender, and wherein the memory further stores at least one voice response message of a recipient of the voice mail;

an identifier to identify a proper sender number attached to the voice mail that contains the digitized voice, the sender number corresponding to the sender that has sent the digitized voice;

an e-mail transmitter to send an e-mail from the recipient to the sender;

a table that provides a correspondence between a plurality of e-mail addresses and a plurality of proper sender numbers, respectively; and

a control unit configured to control operation of the voice mail apparatus,

wherein the digitized voice is stored at a particular memory address that is assigned to the sender within the memory, based on the identification of the sender number as performed by the identifier,

wherein the table is accessed to allow a recipient of the digitized voice to send an e-mail response to the corresponding e-mail address of the sender,

wherein the control unit obtains the at least one voice response message of the recipient from the memory, attaches the at least one voice response message to an e-mail to be sent to the corresponding e-mail address of the sender, and provides the e-mail to the e-mail transmitter to be output to the sender,

wherein the e-mail is capable of being opened by the sender so that the sender can review the at least one voice response message of the recipient, by the sender opening the e-mail attachment and reviewing the at least one voice response message, and

wherein the sender number corresponds to a telephone set of the sender.

3. A method of processing voice mail comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory, at least one voice response message from a recipient;

storing, in the memory, a digitized voice sent from a sender to the recipient;

identifying the sender of the digitized voice upon obtaining the digitized voice from the memory, the identifying being performed based on a sender number corresponding to the sender that is attached to the digitized voice;

storing, based on the sender number, the digital voice at a particular memory address within the memory, the particular memory address being assigned to the sender;

performing retrieval of a table to find an e-mail address of the sender so as to allow a recipient of the digitized voice to respond to the sender, the retrieval being based on the sender number; and

obtaining the at least one voice reply message from the memory and attaching the at least one voice reply message to an e-mail to be sent to the e-mail address of the sender,

wherein the table provides a correspondence between a plurality of e-mail addresses and a plurality of sender numbers,

wherein the e-mail is capable of being opened by the sender so that the sender can review the at least one voice response message of the recipient, by the sender opening the e-mail attachment and reviewing the at least one voice response message, and

wherein the sender number corresponds to a telephone set of the sender.

4. A method of processing voice mail comprising the steps of:

storing in a memory, at least one voice response message from a recipient;

storing, in the memory, a digitized voice sent from a sender to the recipient;

identifying the sender of the digitized voice upon obtaining the digitized voice from the memory, the identifying being performed based on a proper number corresponding to the sender that is attached to the digitized voice;

storing, based on the proper number, the digital voice at a particular memory address within the memory, the particular memory address being assigned to the sender;

performing retrieval of a table to find an e-mail address corresponding to the proper number so as to allow a recipient of the digitized voice to respond to the sender, the retrieval being based on the sender number; and

obtaining the at least one voice reply message from the memory and attaching the at least one voice reply message to an e-mail to be sent to the e-mail address of the sender,

wherein the table provides a correspondence between a plurality of e-mail addresses and a plurality of proper numbers,

wherein the e-mail is capable of being opened by the sender so that the sender can review the at least one voice response message of the recipient, by the sender opening the e-mail attachment and reviewing the at least one voice response message, and

wherein the sender number corresponds to a telephone set of the sender.

5. The voice mail apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one voice response message is first converted to a text message prior to be being attached to the email to be output to the sender.

6. The voice mail apparatus as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the sender is capable of reviewing the at least one voice response message by either audibly playing the e-mail attachment via a computer speaker when the e-mail attachment is an audio file, or visually displaying the e-mail attachment via a computer monitor when the e-mail attachment is a text file.

7. The voice mail apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the at least one voice response message is first converted to a text message prior to be being attached to the email to be output to the sender.

8. The voice mail apparatus as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the sender is capable of reviewing the at least one voice response message by either audibly playing the e-mail attachment via a computer speaker when the e-mail attachment is an audio file, or visually displaying the e-mail attachment via a computer monitor when the e-mail attachment is a text file.

9. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the at least one voice response message is first converted to a text message prior to be being attached to the email to be output to the sender.

10. The method as claimed in claim 3 , wherein the sender is capable of reviewing the at least one voice response message by either audibly playing the e-mail attachment via a computer speaker when the e-mail attachment is an audio file, or visually displaying the e-mail attachment via a computer monitor when the e-mail attachment is a text file.

11. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the at least one voice response message is first converted to a text message prior to be being attached to the email to be output to the sender.

12. The method as claimed in claim 4 , wherein the sender is capable of reviewing the at least one voice response message by either audibly playing the e-mail attachment via a computer speaker when the e-mail attachment is an audio file, or visually displaying the e-mail attachment via a computer monitor when the e-mail attachment is a text file.