Accessing of unified messaging system user data via a standard e-mail client
First Claim
1. A method of operating a unified messaging system comprising:
- in response to an e-mail client reading a folder of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the unified messaging system, which folder an e-mail server of the unified messaging system associates with an application of the unified messaging system, the server providing data of the user from the application program to the client in a form of an e-mail message; and
in response to the e-mail client writing an e-mail message to the folder, the e-mail server providing contents of the e-mail message as the data of the user to the application program.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A standards-based e-mail client (170), such as an IMAP-compliant client, provides access to user data of non-e-mail applications of a unified messaging system (100), such as to a user'"'"'s personal greeting (161) of a voice mail application (160), a user'"'"'s data (141) that is used by a Web messaging application (140) to construct the user'"'"'s home page, and to a user'"'"'s choice of a fax machine (180) for printing faxes and any faxes enqueued (151) in a fax messaging application (150). An association is established in an e-mail server (130) of the system between an application and a folder (191) of the user'"'"'s mailbox (100) by means of the name given to the folder. For example, the name of a folder that is associated with a particular fax machine includes the telephone number of the fax machine. In response to the e-mail client opening (200,400,600) the folder, the e-mail server retrieves (202,402,602) the corresponding user data (e.g., personal greeting, home page data, enqueued faxes) from the associated application and presents (206,406,606) it in the form of an e-mail message to the client. In response to the e-mail client storing (300,500,700) an e-mail message to the folder, the e-mail server provides (306,506,706) the message contents as the corresponding user data to the associated application.
52 Citations
38 Claims
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1. A method of operating a unified messaging system comprising:
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in response to an e-mail client reading a folder of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the unified messaging system, which folder an e-mail server of the unified messaging system associates with an application of the unified messaging system, the server providing data of the user from the application program to the client in a form of an e-mail message; and
in response to the e-mail client writing an e-mail message to the folder, the e-mail server providing contents of the e-mail message as the data of the user to the application program. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17, 19, 20, 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 38)
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15. A method of accessing a user'"'"'s home page information in a messaging system comprising:
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in response to an e-mail client reading a folder of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the messaging system, which folder an e-mail server of the messaging system associates with a Web messaging application of the messaging system, the e-mail server obtaining home page information of the user from the Web messaging application and providing the obtained home page information to the client in a form of at least one e-mail message; and
in response to an e-mail client writing an e-mail message containing home page information to the folder, the e-mail server retrieving the contained home page information from the written e-mail message and providing the retrieved home page information as the user'"'"'s home page information to the Web messaging application.
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18. A method of accessing a user'"'"'s personal greeting in a messaging system comprising:
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in response to an e-mail client reading a folder of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the messaging system, which folder an e-mail server of the messaging system associates with a voice messaging application of the messaging system, the e-mail server obtaining a personal greeting of the user from the voice messaging application and providing the obtained personal greeting to the client in a form of an e-mail message; and
in response to an e-mail client writing an e-mail message containing a personal greeting to the folder, the e-mail server retrieving the contained personal greeting from the written e-mail message and providing the retrieved personal greeting as the user'"'"'s personal greeting to the voice-messaging application.
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21. A method of designating a fax machine to a messaging system comprising:
in response to an e-mail client writing an e-mail message containing a fax to one of a plurality of folders of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the messaging system, each of which folders an e-mail server of the messaging system associates with a different fax machine, the e-mail server causing a fax messaging application of the messaging system to send the fax to the fax machine associated with the one folder. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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25. A method of designating a fax machine to a messaging system comprising:
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in response to an e-mail client reading a folder of a user'"'"'s mailbox of the messaging system, which folder an e-mail server of the messaging system associates with a fax machine, the e-mail server obtaining any faxes that are enqueued for the user for printing at the fax machine from a fax messaging application of the messaging system and providing the obtained faxes to the client in an e-mail message; and
in response to an e-mail client writing an e-mail message containing a fax to the folder, the e-mail server retrieving the contained fax from the written e-mail message and causing the fax messaging application to send the retrieved fax for printing to the associated fax machine.
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34. A unified messaging system comprising:
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a message mailbox of a user of the system;
an application having data of the user;
an e-mail server, responsive to an e-mail client reading a folder of the user'"'"'s mailbox, which folder the e-mail server associates with the application, by providing the data of the user from the application to the client in a form of an e-mail message, the e-mail server further responsive to the e-mail client writing an e-mail message to the folder, by providing contents of the e-mail message as the data of the user to the application.
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37. A unified messaging system comprising:
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a message mailbox of a user of the system;
an application having data of the user; and
an e-mail server for communicating e-mail messages with an e-mail client, the e-mail server including an effecter, responsive to the e-mail client reading a folder of the user'"'"'s mailbox, which folder the e-mail server associates with the application, of providing the data of the user from the application to the client in an e-mail message, and an effecter, responsive to the e-mail client writing an e-mail message to the folder, of providing contents of the e-mail message as the data of the user to the application.
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Specification