GB2403319A

GB2403319A - Email alert device and method

Info

Publication number: GB2403319A
Application number: GB0417283A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Les Crampton
Original assignee: EMAD COMM
Current assignee: EMAD COMM
Priority date: 2000-03-17
Filing date: 2001-03-16
Publication date: 2004-12-29
Anticipated expiration: 2021-03-16
Also published as: GB0417283D0; GB2403319B

Abstract

A system and method of providing a user with an audible alert that an event has occured. The system and method operates by intermittently querying a server over an on-line network. Upon receiving a positive indication that an event has occured, an alert message is sent to a pre-determined location via the telephone network. The alert may be sent to a visual display of a dedicated email alert device, or may be sent to an existing phone such that a short ring acts as the alert.

Description

ALERT DEVICE AND METHOD

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to electronic devices, systems and methods for use in telecommunications to provide an indication of an event that is occurring or has occurred. More particularly, the present invertion relates to a device, system or method for use with internet communication equipment and systems to provide an indication that there has been a transmission. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a device and method for providing an indication, preferably a visual display or audible alert, that a transmission or similar has been received at a particular e-mail address.

BACKGROUND

The use of electronic communications is expanding so that an increasingly large number of communications are being received and sent using the facilities provided by telecommunications systems, such as over on-line networks like the internet. At present users of internet services subscribe to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) in order to, inter alla, forward and receive communications, such as emails, via the Intemet. In order to determine whether an e-mail message has been received at the subscriber's e-mail address it is necessary for the subscriber to turn on the computer, log on to the ISP and determine whether any e-mail messages exist by the subscriber's computer interrogating the ISP.

Logging on to the ISP, either continually or periodically, is both timeconsuming and expensive, particularly if the only reason for switching the computer on and logging on to the ISP is on the off-chance of finding whether or not there are any e-mails.

Additionally, when expecting an e-mail message it is necessary to remain constantly logged on to the ISP for a period of Ume or to repeatedly check periodically wheth; r new e-mail messages have been received. The process of repeatedly checking with the ISP is both time-consuming and expensive since each new enquiry requires a separate phone call, which is charged bar the telecommunication service provider. Further, if the subscriber remains connected to the ISP for any length of time, the overall cost of remaining connected can be quite high. This is because the time of the connection charged by the telecommunications supplier as well as the actual time connected to the ISP is added to the total cost of the subscription paid by the subscriber.

Therefore, there is a need to provide users with an indication that email has been received without having to unnecessarily log onto the ISP or remain logged onto the ISP.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a means of knowing in advance that there is e-mail waiting without having to go to the effort and expense of actually logging onto the ISP.

It is an object of the invention to overcome or alleviate at least one

problem of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to one aspect the present invention provides indicating device adapted to communicate with a communications network and operable to receive a predetermined signal transmitted by a system, said predetermined signal being transmitted by the system upon the occurrence of an event and said indicating device indicating to a user the occurrence of said event upon receiving the predetermined signal, the predetermined signal being received by the indicating device input means and subsequently detected by the indicating device detector means that is in communication with the input means, and an audible indication being generated by the detector means and provided to the user without incurring communication charges by avoiding transition to an off- hook condition, the input means of the indicating device receiving repeated transmissions of the predetermined signal at periodic intervals and hence providing repeated indications to the user.

According to another aspect the present invention provides a mobile phone when used as an indicating device for receiving a predetermined signal indicating the occurrence of an event, the predetermined signal being received by the mobile phone signal input means and being subsequently detected by the mobile phone detector means, said mobile phone detector means being in communication with the mobile phone input means, said mobile phone detector means causing an audible indication to be provided to a user without incurring communication charges by avoiding transitioning the mobile phone to an off- hook condition during receipt of the predetermined signal, the mobile phone receiving repeated transmissions of the predetermined signal at periodic intervals and hence providing repeated indications to a user.

According to a further aspect the present invention provides a system for providing a user with an audible indication of the occurrence of an event, the system including: a database for storing the user's contact number; and an alerting means operable to transmit a predetermined signal to the at least one corresponding contact number to indicate the occurrence of an event, wherein the predetermined signal is transmitted to a contact number corresponding to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 so as to cause an audible indication to the user of the occurrence of the event, said indication occurring without the system incurring communication charges for causing transmission of the predetermined signal by avoiding transition of the indicating device into an off-hook condition and where the predetermined signal is transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the corresponding contact number.

According to a still further aspect the present invention provides, in a communications network, a method of providing an audible alert to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 in order to indicate the occurrence of an event, the method including the steps of: upon determining the occurrence of an event, transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device corresponding to a pre-defined contact number, the alert signal causing an audible indication recognizable by the user as an indication of the occurrence of the event, the transmission of the alert signal avoiding a communication charge by avoiding transition of the device into an off-hook condition wherein the alert signal is transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the indicating device.

According to an additional aspect, the present invention provides a computer program product including a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied on said medium for communicating an alert signal to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, based upon the occurrence of an event, said computer program product further including computer readable code within said computer usable medium for: ascertaining the occurrence of an event; obtaining a predefined contact number for a user pre-arranged to be advised of the occurrence of the event, and transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device which corresponds to the pre-defined contact number such that transition of the indicating device to an off-hook condition is avoided and thus the transmission of the alert signal occurs without incurring communication charges the alert signal being transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the at least one predefined contact number.

The essence of the invention lies in the ability to monitor Small accounts remotely and to provide an indication to a user that a message has been received without incurring the expense of logging onto an ISP's mail account and incurring ISP service costs as well as telecommunication connection costs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the following drawings in which: FIG. 1 is a schematic view of one form of a system into which an e-mail alert device according to an embodiment of the present invention may be connected; FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a further form of a system into which an e- mail alert device according to an embodiment of the present invention may be connected; FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a still further form of a system into which an e-mail alert device according to an embodiment of the present invention may be connected; FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a still further form of a system i To which an e-mail alert device according to an embodiment of the present invention may be connected; and FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method of providing an Small alert as a service according to an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In Figure 1 there is shown one form of a system generally denoted as (2) in which an e-mail alert device (10) according to one embodiment of the present invention may be connected. In this embodiment a telephone line (4) is permanently connected to modem (6) which is permanently in operation. A further permanent connection such as conductor (8) is provided between modem (6) and e-mail alert device (10), thereby piggy backing the alert device to the landline (4). It is to be noted that conductor (8) can be connected directly to phone line (4) or may be internally connected to phone line (4) within modem (6).

E-mail alert device (10) is provided with a display screen (12) or similar and a reset button (14). The e-mail alert device is provided with other controls as i needed or as necessary. For example, controls for varying the intensity of the light being emitted by the display screen may be provided.

In Figure 2 an alternative way of connecting the e-mail alert device (10) of the present invention to a personal computer is provided. In this embodiment the phone line (4) is permanently connected to PC (20) such as to the internal modem of the PC. Conductor (8) at one end is connected to the internal modem of the PC and at the other end is connected to the email alert device (10).

In both systems illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 the e-mail alert device (10) is provided with a visual display (12) such as for example, in the form of the LED screen. This screen can display an indication of the number of e-mails received or of the number of other events which have occurred and been detected by device (10). The device (10) also includes a memory (not shown) for storing address details of the one or more mailboxes that are to be monitored.

In operation, according to one embodiment of the invention, the small alert device (10), queries the status of one or more mailboxes at one or more relevant ISP addresses. In this regard, a user may have one or more Small accounts with multiple service providers. For POP3 (Post Office Protocol 3) small servers, the query is implemented over an on-line network using POP3. Other protocols may also be used as applicable, however most email servers are POP3 servers.

The ernail alert device will therefore periodically query the status of as many mailboxes as required and when an entry in a mailbox is detected an alert is activated. For the alert device of Figures 1 and 2, the device effects the alert by providing relevant information on the visual display (12). Preferably the information on the display includes an indication of the relevant account and the number of emails therein.

In the arrangement of figure 3, phone line (4) is connected to the PC (20) directly. The personal computer (20) or monitor (22) is provided with a display means (12) such that when an e-mail message has been detected in a relevant mailbox with an ISP and detected by the alert device, the e- mail alert device, which is provided within the PC, is activated so as to provide a visual display on either the PC monitor (22) itself or on the display means (12).

In the embodiment of figure 4 the small alert device (10) has a suitably arranged antenna (16) with which to detect signals via a wireless connection, such as Bluetooth. The antenna is permanently powered by its own power source, such as batteries, or powered externally by the mains. When the antenna receives a signal responsive to a query at a relevant ISP mailbox via, for example, a modem, the signal is sent via suitable receiving circuitry to the detector of the device (10). Upon the detector detecting a relevant message, a signal is sent to activate the display means. I In this embodiment the email alert device may be a stand-alone device or connected to the PC or may be inbuilt within the PC to provide an activated display means on the PC or monitor.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the email alert system is implemented via software and uses existing equipment at the user's premises, such as an existing telephone, in order to alert the user of received email. In this regard, the user of the services may implement the software themselves, or their may subscribe to a provider of the email alert services.

At any rate, the party implementing the software would install the software on a computing means such as a server, where the server has a connection to the Internet, and/or a connection to the public telephone network and a database containing one or more user's details, such as the address of the user's email mailbox and the phone number to which they require email alerts to be sent.

With reference to Figure 5, the fundamental operation of the server involves periodically cycling through the list of user account addresses contained in the database (51). For each user entry, the POPS protocol Is used to query the status of the mailbox at the particular ISP address (52) . This query is performed over the Internet and hence the server need not reside at the premises of the ISP where the email account is located. Also, since the query is undertaken over the Internet, this embodiment of the invention has portability and may be performed by anyone at any location with access to the Internet.

When an email is detected (53) in a particular user's mailbox, a contact number corresponding to the mailbox address at which email was detected, is retrieved from the database (54) and an alert is sent via the telephone network to the user's designated contact number (55). The contact number may be that of a landline phone or a mobile phone. Preferably the alert is an audible alert that produces a distinctive ring at the users phone, such as a short ring, with the aim of not incurring any call charges. It is also preferable that the audible alert be sent at periodic intervals (e.g. once every few hours) while there is unread mail at the user's ISP account.

A visual alert may also be provided in conjunction with the audible alert.

For example, an optional accessory to the user's landline phone which provides the alert is a visual alert device that detects the short rings and thereafter flashes a light to indicate the presence of email. Alternatively, software in a mobile phone may be utilised to provide a visual alert on the phone's screen.

Therefore, by using this embodiment of the invention, users would be alerted to the presence of email via a designated phone number of an existing phone. This embodiment of the invention is advantageous in that the software is able to be utilised by a service provider, such as the ISP or other telecommunications service provider, in order to offer the service of alerting people to the fact that they have email messages waiting at their ISP account.

When used in this way, the customers need not obtain any hardware, as their existing phone may be used to provide the alert.

This Small alert service would preferably be effected via a web site set up the provider of the services. For example, the site could provide a login account for each user of the alert services, and allow those users to stipulate their requirements as necessary. The site could also allow new users to register for the service.

Examples of consumer choice options that could be offered include allowing a user to designate the times at which alerts can be sent to their designated phone, so as to prevent alerts from occurring at inappropriate times, such as during the late hours of the night or weekend mornings.

Other configuration options include a setting for the number of small messages to be received before an alert is triggered. For example, a user could elect to only be alerted if there were three or more email messages waiting.

Alternatively, the user may stipulate that an alert only be sent where an email is received from certain addresses or not to send an alert when small is received from certain addresses. Further, the system may be configured so that different alerts are sent depending upon the originating addresses from whom the emails are received. For example, different ring tones could be used depending upon the origination address of the email, and also a visual message may be provided indicating the origination address.

From this description, it is apparent that the present invention, whether implemented via software or as a system, allows a user's computer not be fumed on at all times. Instead, the user's computer may be switched off for lengthy periods of time, and only the modem remains activated ready to receive an appropriate signal, and in turn generate an alert indication.

Hence, it is only when an alert indication is provided that it is necessary to operate the computer to retrieve the e-mail message. The present invention therefore provides a low-cost efficient indication of when an e-mail message has been received without the need for the subscriberrs computer to remain on.

The present invention is not limited in scope to the described embodiment or embodiments but rather the scope of the present invention is broader so as to encompass other methods and forms of the device, other ways of connecting the device into the telecommunication system, such as the Internet, and the use of the various forms of the device in other applications.

It is also to be appreciated that the email content may be of any type such as plain text or containing text, voice, video or image files.

Other features of the invention are described in the following numbered paragraphs: 1. Device for providing an indication of an event occurring, said device including: input means for receiving a signal corresponding to the event occurring; detector means in communication with said input means for detecting the signal received by the input means; and indication means for providing an indication that the event has occurred, said indication means in communication with the detector means such that when the detector means detects an appropriate signal from the input means the indication means is activated by the detector means to provide the indication that the event has occurred.

2. Device of paragraph 1 wherein the event is the receipt of Small at one or more remotely located email account.

3. Device of paragraph 2 further including memory means for storing addresses of one or more small accounts; and query means for sending query signal to the one or more account addresses in order to generate a signal in response that provides an indication of the status of the appropriate account, being the signal received at the input means.

4. Device elf paragraph 1 wherein said indication means remains activated after the signal has been received.

5. Device of paragraph 1 or 4 wherein the indication means is a visual display such as an LED screen.

6. Device of paragraph 5 wherein the display provides a visual indication of the number of emails received at a particular account.

7. In a telecommunications network having one or more users with email accounts at one or more service provider addresses, a method of providing an email alert to a user upon ascertaining the user's email account contains unread mail, the method including the steps of: ascertaining the user's email account address; querying the status of the email account to ascertain whether the account contains any unread emails; upon obtaining a positive status indicating one or more unread messages exist in the account, generating an alert signal to one or more predetermined locations.

8. Method of paragraph 7 wherein the email account is queried via an online network.

9. Method of paragraph 8 wherein the email account is queried using POP3.

10. Method of paragraph 7 wherein the one or more predetermined locations are phone numbers.

11. Method of paragraph 7 wherein the alert is only set at pre-designated times or during one or more pre-designated time periods.

12. Method of paragraph 7 wherein the alert is sent only when a predesignated number of smalls are received at a particular email account.

13. Method of paragraph 7 wherein the alert signal is an audible alert and/or visual alert.

14. Method of paragraph 13 where the alert signal includes an audible alert and the audible alert is a short ring.

15. Method of paragraph 7 further including the step of ascertaining an originating address of each received email.

16. Method of paragraph 15 wherein different alerts are sent to the designated location dependent upon the originating address.

17. Computer program product including a computer usable medium having computer readable code and computer readable system code embodied on said medium for communicating an alert signal based upon the status of an email account on a service provider's server, said computer program product further including computer readable code within said computer usable medium for: ascertaining the email account address from a database; querying the status of the email account to ascertain whether the account contains any unread emails; upon obtaining a positive status indicating one or more unread messages exist in the account, generating an alert signal to one or more predetermined locations.

18. Computer program product of paragraph 17 wherein the email account is queried via an online network.

19. Computer program product of paragraph 18 wherein the email account is queried using POP3.

20. Computer program product of paragraph 17 wherein the one or more predetermined locations are phone numbers.

21. Computer program product of paragraph 17 wherein the alert is only sent at pre-designated times or during one or more pre-designated time periods.

22. Computer program product of paragraph 17 wherein the alert is sent only when a pre-designated number of emails are received at a particular email account.

23. Computer program product of paragraph 17 wherein the alert signal generated is an audible alert and/or visual alert.

Claims

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS

1. An indicating device adapted to communicate with a communications network and operable to receive a predetermined signal transmitted by a system, said predetermined signal being transmitted by the system upon the occurrence of an event and said indicating device indicating to a user the occurrence of said event upon receiving the predetermined signal, the predetermined signal being received by the indicating device input means and subsequently detected by the indicating device detector means that is in communication with the input means, and an audible indication being generated by the detector means and provided to the user without incurring communication charges by avoiding transition to an off-hook condition, the input means of the indicating device receiving repeated transmissions of the predetermined signal at periodic intervals and hence providing repeated indications to the user.

2. An indicating device according to claim 1 wherein the indicating device avoids transition into an off-hook condition by providing an audible indication to the user for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from having sufficient time in which to transition the device into an off-hook condition.

3. An indicating device according to claim 1 wherein the indicating device avoids transition into an off-hook condition by providing an audible indication to the user that is distinctive of the predetermined signal thus indicating receipt of a predetermined signal and hence alerting the user not to transition the device into an off-hook condition.

4. An indicating device according to claim 1 wherein the indicating device is a mobile phone and the user selects the audible fridication by programming the mobile phone to generate a recognizable ring tone when a predetermined signal is received from the system.

5. A mobile phone when used as an indicating device for receiving a predetermined signal indicating the occurrence of an event, the predetermined signal being received by the mobile phone signal input means and being subsequently detected by the mobile phone detector means, said mobile phone detector means being in communication with the mobile phone input means, said mobile phone detector means causing an audible indication to be provided to a user without incurring communication charges by avoiding transitioning the mobile phone to an off-hook condition during receipt of the predetermined signal, the mobile phone receiving repeated transmissions of the predetermined signal at periodic intervals and hence providing repeated indications to a user.

6. A mobile phone when used for receiving a predetermined signal indicating the occurrence of an event according to claim 5 wherein transitioning the mobile phone into an off-hook condition is avoided by the mobile phone providing an audible sound of sufficiently short duration that substantially prevents a user from answering the mobile phone during receipt of the predetermined signal.

7. A mobile phone when used for receiving a predetermined signal indicating the occurrence of an event according to claim 5 wherein transitioning the mobile phone into an off-hook condition is avoided by the mobile phone providing a distinctive audible sound recognizable by a user as indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus indicating to the user that they should not answer the call during receipt of the predetermined signal.

8. A system for providing a user with an audible indication of the occurrence of an event, the system including: a database for storing the user's contact number; and an alerting means operable to transmit a predetermined signal to the at least one corresponding contact number to indicate the occurrence of an event, wherein the predetermined signal is transmitted to a contact number corresponding to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 so as to cause an audible indication to the user of the occurrence of the event, said indication occurring without the system incurring communication charges for causing transmission of the predetermined signal by avoiding transition of the indicating device into an off-hook condition and where the predetermined signal is transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the corresponding contact number.

9. A system according to claim 8 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication is provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation occurring for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from placing the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

10. A system according to claim 8 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation causing the alert system to emit a distinctive sound indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus alerting the user not to place the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

11. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 10 wherein the user receives the indication of the occurrence of an event the indication being recognizable by the user as indicating the occurrence of the event.

12. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 11 wherein the telephone number corresponds to a landline telephone.

13. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 10 wherein the telephone number corresponds to a mobile telephone.

14. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 13 wherein the repeated transmission of the predetermined signal is only sent at designated times or during one or more designated time periods.

15. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 14 wherein the system causes the transmission of different predetermined signals to the one or more predefined contact numbers dependent upon the event that has occurred.

16. In a communications network, a method of providing an audible alert to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7 in order to indicate the occurrence of an event, the method including the steps of: upon determining the occurrence of an event, transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device corresponding to a pre-defined contact number, the alert signal causing an audible indication recognizable by the user as an indication of the occurrence of the event, the transmission of the alert signal avoiding a communication charge by avoiding transition of the device into an off-hook condition wherein the alert signal is transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the indicating device.

17. A method according to claim 16 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication is provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation occurring for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from placing the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

18. A method according to claim 16 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation causing the alert system to emit a distinctive sound indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus alerting the user not to place the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

19. A method according to any one of claims 16 to 18 wherein the alert signal is only sent at designated times or during one or more designated time periods.

20. A method according to claim 16 wherein different alert signals are sent to the one or more predefined contact numbers dependent upon the event that has occurred.

21. A computer program product including a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied on said medium for communicating an alert signal to an indicating device as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 7, based upon the occurrence of an event, said computer program product further including computer readable code within said computer usable medium for: ascertaining the occurrence of an event; obtaining a predefined contact number for a user pre-arranged to be advised of the occurrence of the event, and transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device which corresponds to the pre-defined contact number such that transition of the indicating device to an off-hook condition is avoided and thus the transmission of the alert signal occurs without incurring communication charges the alert signal being transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the at least one predefined contact number.

22. A computer program product according to claim 21 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication is provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation occurring for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from placing the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

23. A computer program product according to claim 21 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation causing the alert system to emit a distinctive sound indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus alerting the user not to place the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

24. A computer program product according to any one of claims 21 to 23 wherein the alert is only sent at designated times or during one or more designated time periods.

25. A system according to claim 8 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

26. A method according to claim 10 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

27. A computer program product according to claim 16 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

28. An indicating device according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

29. A mobile phone when used for receiving a predetermined signal according to claim 5 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the Amendments to the claims have been fled as follows

THE CLAIMS DEFINING THE INVENTION ARE AS FOLLOWS

4. An indicating device according to claim 1 wherein the indicating device is a mobile phone and the user selects the audible indication by programming the mobile phone to generate a recognizable ring tone when a predetermined signal is received from the system. /9

5. A mobile phone when used as an indicating device for receiving a predetermined signal indicating the occurrence of an event, the predetermined I signal being received by the mobile phone signal input means and being subsequently detected by the mobile phone detector means, said mobile phone detector means being in communication with the mobile phone input means, said mobile phone detector means causing an audible indication to be provided to a user without incurring communication charges by avoiding transitioning the mobile phone to an off-hook condition during receipt of the predetermined signal, the mobile phone receiving repeated transmissions of the predetermined signal at periodic intervals and hence providing repeated indications to a user.

8. A system for providing a user with an indication of the occurrence of an event, the system including: a database for storing an address of a users at least one corresponding contact number; and an alerting means operable to transmit a predetermined signal to the at least one corresponding contact number to indicate the occurrence of an event, wherein the predetermined signal is transmitted to a contact number corresponding to a device that causes an audible indication to the user of the To occurrence of the event, said indication occurring without the system incurring communication charges for causing transmission of the predetermined signal by I avoiding transition of the device into an offhook condition and where the predetermined signal is transmitted repeatedly to the corresponding contact number.

16. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 15 wherein the event is the receipt of an electronic message.

17. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 15 wherein the event is the existence of an unread electronic message.

18. A system according to either of claims 16 or 18 including: a searching means to search the database to locate the address of the users at least one electronic account and determine the location of the users at least one electronic account; and a query means to query the status of the at least one account to determine the presence of unread electronic messages. i 19. A system according to claim 18 wherein the searching means determines the location of the users at least one electronic account by conducting a search of the data communications network.

20. A system according to any one of claims 16 to 19 wherein the user receives the indication of unread electronic messages, said indication being recognizable by the user of the presence of unread messages in at least one of the users electronic accounts.

21. A system according to any one of claims 16 to 20 wherein the user selects the audible indication that will be provided in the event that a predetermined signal is received.

22. A system according to any one of claims 9 to 21 wherein the; predetermined signal is transmitted for a relatively short duration of less than 5 seconds.

23. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 22 wherein the predetermined signal provides an indication of the presence of unread messages without transmitting any data.

24. A system according to any one of claims 8 to 23 wherein the repeated transmission of the predetermined signal ceases upon the user accessing the unread electronic messages.

25. A system according to any one of claims 16 to 24 wherein the electronic messages are electronic mail messages.

26. In a communications network, a method of providing an audible alert to an indicating device in order to indicate the occurrence of an event, the method including the steps of: upon determining the occurrence of an event, transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device corresponding to a pre-defined contact number, the alert signal causing an audible indication recognizable by the user as an indication of the occurrence of the event, the transmission of the alert signal avoiding a communication charge by avoiding transition of the device into an off- hook condition wherein the alert signal is transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the indicating device.

27. A method according to claim 26 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication is provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation occurring for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from placing the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

28. A method according to claim 26 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation causing the alert system to emit a distinctive sound indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus alerting the user not to place the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

29. A method according to any one of claims 26 to 28 wherein the alert signal is only sent at designated times or during one or more designated time periods.

30. A method according to claim 28 wherein different alert signals are sent to the one or more predefined contact numbers dependent upon the event that has occurred.

31. A method according to any one of claims 26 to 30 wherein the event is the receipt of an electronic message.

32. A system according to any one of claims 26 to 30 wherein the event is the existence of an unread electronic message.

33. A method according to either claim 31 or 32 including the steps of: implementing a search to locate the users one or more accounts; and querying the status of the one or more accounts to ascertain whether the accounts contain any unread messages.

34. A method according to claim 33 wherein the search to locate a users one or more accounts includes a search of the data communications network.

35. A method according to either claim 33 or 34 wherein the account is queried via an on-line network.

36. A method according to any one of claims 33 to 35 wherein the account is queried using POP3.

37. A method according to any one of claims 31 to 36 wherein the alert signal is sent only when a designated number of messages are received at a particular account.

38. A method according to any one of claims 31 to 37 further including the step of ascertaining an originating address of each received message.

39. A method according to claim 38 wherein different alert signals are sent to the one or more predefined contact numbers dependent upon the originating address of the received message.

40. A method according to any one of claims 31 to 39 wherein the repeated transmission of alert signals cease upon a user accessing their unread electronic messages.

41. A method according to any one of claims 31 to 40 wherein the electronic messages are electronic mail messages.

42. A computer program product including a computer usable medium having computer readable code embodied on said medium for communicating an alert signal to an indicating device, based upon the occurrence of an event, j said alert signal causing an audible indication from the indicating device, said I computer program product further including computer readable code within said computer usable medium for: ascertaining the occurrence of an event; obtaining a pre-defined contact number for a user pre-arranged to be advised of the occurrence of the event, and transmitting an alert signal to the indicating device which corresponds to the pre-defined contact number such that transition of the indicating device to an off-hook condition is avoided and; thus the transmission of the alert signal occurs without incurring communication charges the alert signal being transmitted repeatedly at periodic intervals to the at least one predefined contact number. I

43. A computer program product according to claim 42 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication is provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation occurring for a sufficiently short duration to prevent the user from placing the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

44. A computer program product according to claim 42 wherein the device is a telephone and the audible indication provided to the user by activation of the phone's audible alert system, said activation causing the alert system to emit a distinctive sound indicating receipt of a predetermined signal thus alerting the user not to place the phone into an off-hook condition during reception of the predetermined signal.

45. A computer program product according to any one of claims 42 to 44 wherein the alert is only sent at designated times or during one or more designated time periods.

46. A computer program product according to any one of claims 42 to 45 wherein the event is the receipt of an electronic message.

47. A system according to any one of claims 42 to 45 wherein the event is I the existence of an unread electronic message.

48. A computer program product according to either claim 46 or 47 wherein said computer program product includes computer readable code within said computer usable medium for: implementing a search to locate the account; querying the status of the account to ascertain whether the account contains any unread messages.

49. A computer program product according to claim 48 wherein the computer I readable code causing the step of the implementation of the search to locate the account includes conducting a search of the data communications network.

50. A computer program product according to either claim 48 or 49 wherein the account is queried via an on-line network. ;

51. A computer program product according to claim 50 wherein the account is queried using POP3.

52. A computer program product according to any one of claims 46 to 51 wherein the alert is sent only when a designated number of messages are received at a particular account.

53. A computer program product according to any one of claims 46 to 52 wherein the repeated transmission of the alert signal ceases upon the user accessing the unread electronic messages.

54. A computer program product according to any one of claims 31 to 53 i wherein the electronic messages are electronic mail messages.

55. A system according to claim 8 substantially as hereinbefore described: with reference to the accompanying Figures.

56. A method according to claim 26 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

57. A computer program product according to claim 42 substantially as:' hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

58. An indicating device according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.

59. A mobile phone when used for receiving a predetermined signal according to claim 5 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying Figures.