System and method for integrating electronic mail accounts
First Claim
1. A system for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) accounts, comprising:
- a plurality of email services operable to send and receive electronic messages over a wide area network, one of the email services being a preferred email service and another of the email services being a secondary email service;
means for forwarding electronic messages from the secondary email service to the preferred email service; and
an email integration service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the email integration service being operable to receive account information regarding the preferred email service and the secondary email service and use the account information to configure the forwarding means.
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0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
In accordance with the teachings described herein, systems and methods are provided for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) accounts. A plurality of email services may be used to send and receive electronic messages over a wide area network, one of the email services being a preferred email service and another of the email services being a secondary email service. An email integration service may be used that is coupled to the wide area network and that is independent of the plurality of email services. The email integration service may be operable to receive account information regarding the preferred email service and the secondary email service and use the account information to configure a means for forwarding electronic messages from the preferred email service to the secondary email service.
73 Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) accounts, comprising:
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a plurality of email services operable to send and receive electronic messages over a wide area network, one of the email services being a preferred email service and another of the email services being a secondary email service;
means for forwarding electronic messages from the secondary email service to the preferred email service; and
an email integration service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the email integration service being operable to receive account information regarding the preferred email service and the secondary email service and use the account information to configure the forwarding means. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method of integrating a secondary electronic mail (email) service with a preferred email service, comprising:
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receiving account information regarding the secondary email service and the preferred email service;
determining if the secondary email service will accept a forwarding rule;
if the secondary email service will accept a forwarding rule, then using the account information to establish a forwarding rule maintained by the secondary email service, the forwarding rule being configured to automatically forward electronic messages from the secondary email service to the preferred email service;
if the secondary email service will not accept a forwarding rule, then determining if the secondary email service may be accessed using an Internet email retrieval method; and
if the secondary email service will not accept a forwarding rule and may be accessed using an Internet email retrieval method, then using the account information to establish a polling agent, the polling agent being configured to automatically retrieve electronic messages from the secondary email service and forward the retrieved electronic messages to the preferred email service. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An electronic mail (email) integration service for use with a plurality of email services that are operable to send and receive electronic messages over a wide area network, one of the email services being a preferred email service and another of the email services being a secondary email service, the email integration service comprising:
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a network connector operable to interface the email integration service with the wide area network;
a user interface operable to receive account information regarding the preferred email service and the secondary email service;
a persistent storage module operable to store the account information; and
an email integration logic unit operable to use the account information to contact the secondary email service via the wide area network and configure a forwarding rule for automatically forwarding electronic messages from the secondary email service to the preferred email service. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A mobile communication device for use in a system for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) accounts, the system including a plurality of email services operable to send and receive electronic messages over a wide area network with one of the email services being a preferred email service and another of the email services being a secondary email service, the system also including an email integration service that is independent of the plurality of email services and that is operable to receive account information regarding the preferred email service and the secondary email service and use the account information to configure a forwarding rule or a polling agent for automatically forwarding electronic messages from the secondary email service to the preferred email service, the mobile communication device comprising:
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a receiver circuit operable to receive electronic messages over a wireless network from the preferred email service;
a transmitter circuit operable to send electronic messages over the wireless network to the preferred email service; and
one or more processing devices operable to control the receiver circuit and the transmitter circuit and further operable to execute an electronic messaging software application for creating and reading electronic messages. - View Dependent Claims (26)
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Specification