System and method for managing data items

• US 20040266441A1
• Filed: 03/19/2004
• Published: 12/30/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/21/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Lewis, Allan D, Legg, Andrew J, Schnurr, Jeffrey R, Sinha, Anand, Cherry, Carl L
• Granted Patent: US 8,671,130 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/184 Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Abstract

A system for managing the exchange of data items between a mail database on a mail server and a mobile communication device operable to send and receive data items over a wireless network, wherein the mail database and the mobile communication device are associated with a user address and wherein the data items are stored in the mail database and referenced by corresponding mail database identifiers, includes a state database associated with the user address. The state database is operable to receive and store the mail database identifiers corresponding to the data items stored in the mail database.

Claims

1. A method of exchanging data items between a mail server and a mobile communication device, comprising the steps of:

(A) receiving data items at the mail server and storing the received data items in a user mail file associated with a user of the mobile communication device;

(B) indexing the received data items using a plurality of unique identifiers that reference the data items;

(C) detecting the received data items stored in the user mail file;

(D) in response to the detection step, retrieving the received data items and the unique identifiers that reference those data items and storing the unique identifiers in a state database associated with the user of the mobile communication device, the state database storing status information regarding the received data items; and

(E) determining whether each received data item was previously transmitted to the mobile communication device, and if not previously transmitted, then transmitting the received data items to the mobile communication device and updating the status information in the state database to indicate that the received data items referenced by the associated unique identifiers have been transmitted to the mobile communication device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of:

providing a redirector program that performs steps (C), (D), and (E); and

the redirector program packaging the data items into an electronic envelope addressed using an electronic address of the mobile communication device prior to transmitting the data items to the mobile communication device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the redirector program compresses the data items prior to packaging the data items into the electronic envelopes.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the redirector program encrypts the data items prior to packaging the data items into the electronic envelopes.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the redirector program transmits the data items to the mobile communication device through a wireless gateway that couples the redirector program to a wireless data network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting step (C) is performed using a Messaging Application Program Interface (MAPI) associated with the mail server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the detecting step (C) is performed by periodically polling the user mail file.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

providing a user profile database that stores a plurality of user profiles, each user profile being associated with a mobile communication device and a user mail file accessible to the mail server; and

prior to transmitting the received data items to the mobile communication device, checking the user profile to determine whether the received data item should be transmitted to the mobile communication device.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the user profile includes information regarding data item types selected for transmission to the mobile communication device.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the user profile includes a preferred message sender list that limits transmission of received data items to those received from a sender on the preferred list.

11. The method of claim 2, wherein step (E) further comprises the step of transmitting the unique identifiers, along with their associated received data items, to the mobile communication device.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the data items and their associated unique identifiers at the mobile communication device;

generating a reply data item to one of the received data items at the mobile communication device, wherein the reply data item includes reply text and the unique identifier associated with the one of the received data items; and

transmitting the reply data item from the mobile communication device to the redirector program.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the reply data item at the redirector program;

retrieving the one of the received data items from the user mail file to which the unique identifier refers and inserting the one of the received data items into the reply data item; and

transmitting the reply data item to the sender of the one of the received data items.

14. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the received data items at the mobile communication device;

processing at least one of the received data items at the mobile communication device; and

transmitting a signal to the redirector program to update the status information in the state database to reflect the processing step.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the processing step comprises deleting the received data item.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the processing step comprises reading the received data item.

17. The method of claim 2, wherein the state database includes a corresponding record for each received data item for the user of the mobile communication device, the record including the unique identifier that references the received data item and a status field, the status field indicating the current status of the data item referenced by the unique identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the record further includes a process field indicating processing steps executed by the redirector program on the received data item.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein one of the process fields includes a transmission identifier and a message status, the transmission identifier corresponding to the unique identifier for the received data item and the message status indicating that the received data item has been transmitted to the mobile communication device.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the transmitting sub-step of step (E) further comprises the steps of:

selecting a subset of the received data item;

correlating the unique identifier associated with the received data item to a transmission identifier;

storing the transmission identifier in the state database; and

transmitting only the subset of the received data item and the transmission identifier to the mobile communication device.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising the steps of:

transmitting from the mobile communication device a first reply data item in reply to the subset of the data item received at the mobile communication device;

including the transmission identifier in the first reply data item;

receiving the first reply data item; and

instructing the mail server to generate a second reply data item based on the first reply data item and the transmission identifier.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the step of instructing the mail server to generate a second reply data item based on the first reply data item and the transmission identifier comprises the steps of:

determining the unique identifier based on the transmission identifier;

accessing the data item associated with the mail database identifier in the mail database;

including the data item in the second reply data item.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising the steps of:

storing in the mobile communication device status information related to data item operations occurring at the mobile communication device;

storing in the state database status information related to data item operations occurring at the mail server; and

reconciling the status information stored in the state database with the status information stored in the mobile communication device.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the step of reconciling the status information stored in the state database with the status information stored in the mobile communication device comprises the steps of:

determining the most recent of the status information stored in the state database and the status information stored in the mobile communication device; and

updating the status information in the state database and the status information stored in the mobile communication device to the most recent of the status information.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising the steps of:

storing a copy of the mail database on a local computer; and

storing a copy of the state database on the local computer.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising the steps of:

storing in the copy of the state database status information related to data item operations occurring at the local computer; and

reconciling the status information stored in the copy of the state database with the status information stored in the mobile communication device.