Low power email functionality for an electronic device

• US 20050066006A1
• Filed: 06/17/2004
• Published: 03/24/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vulcan Portals Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vulcan Portals Incorporated
• Inventors: Perrin, Stephen L., Fleck, Rod G., Kee, Martin J., Flynn, Rex Antony
• Granted Patent: US 7,702,733 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 1/3203 Power management, i.e. event-based initiation of a power-saving mode
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Low power email capabilities are provided for an electronic device, such as a hand-held portable computer having capability to operate an application during a low power mode. During the low power mode, portions of hardware, software, services, and/or other components of the portable computer that are not necessary for email-related operations, such as polling a server for new email, are suspended or otherwise deactivated. At least a portion of a new email is stored in a memory of a low power display module (LPDM) of the portable computer. The LPDM is provided with its own low-power processing unit, user interface, and other components to allow access to and manipulation of the stored email while other components of the portable computer remain deactivated.

Claims

1. A method usable for an electronic device that can operate in a low power mode, the method comprising:

monitoring for an event representative of a transition to the low power mode;

if the event is detected, activating an email component to operate during the low power mode;

using the email component to obtain at least a portion of an email during the low power mode;

loading in a memory the portion of the email; and

presenting the loaded portion of the email from the memory.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the loaded portion of the email comprises presenting the portion of the email in a user interface controllable by a low-power processing unit different from a high-power processing unit that transitions into the low power mode.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deactivating at least a first component of the electronic device that is to be unused for obtaining the portion of the email during the low power mode;

activating at least a second component of the electronic device that is to be used in conjunction with the email component for obtaining the portion of the email during the low power mode; and

deactivating the second component after the email portion is obtained.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein monitoring for the event representative of the transition to the low power mode includes monitoring for a time interval when the transition to the low power mode is scheduled to occur.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein presenting the loaded portion of the email from the memory includes presenting the loaded portion of the email while other components of the electronic device are at a substantially inoperative power state.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:

obtaining at least the portion of the email during the low power mode includes downloading the portion of the email to a storage location using a delivery mechanism of an email application installed in the electronic device; and

wherein if the downloaded portion of email includes content, loading in the memory the portion of the email includes synchronizing at least some of the email content in the storage location to the memory.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising synchronizing email contents in the memory to the storage location, after user manipulation of the email contents in the memory.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein using the email component to obtain the portion of the email during the low power mode includes using the email component along with a selectively activated network access device of the electronic device to obtain the portion of the email.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the network access device is associated with a low-power processing unit of the electronic device and is different from a network access device associated with a high-power processing unit of the electronic device.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

synchronizing email content from a storage location to the memory; and

synchronizing email content from the memory to the storage location, wherein the synchronization between the memory and storage location can be performed during an operative power mode of the electronic device.

11. A method usable for an electronic device that can operate in a reduced power mode, the method comprising:

transitioning to the reduced power mode;

during the reduced power mode, determining if new email is available from an email source;

downloading at least a portion of a new email determined to be available from the email source to a memory of the electronic device;

exiting the reduced power mode after completion of the download; and

accessing the downloaded portion of the email using a low power interface of the electronic device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein transitioning to the reduced power mode includes:

transitioning from an inoperative power mode to the reduced power mode; and

selectively activating at least one component of the electronic device to operate during the reduced power mode to download the portion of the new email.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein exiting the reduced power mode after completion of the download includes transitioning the electronic device to a substantially inoperative power mode.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

synchronizing email content stored in a storage location to the memory; and

synchronizing email content in the memory to the storage location.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein accessing the downloaded portion of the email using the low power interface of the electronic device includes:

obtaining the portion of the email from the memory using a low-power processing unit; and

presenting the portion of the email in an inbox of the low power interface using the low-power processing unit.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein exiting the reduced power mode includes sequentially deactivating components of the electronic device after such components have completed their tasks related to downloading the portion of the email.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein transitioning to the reduced power mode includes selectively activating components of the electronic device that are to be used in connection with downloading the portion of the email, while maintaining other components of the electronic device substantially deactivated.

18. The method of claim 17 wherein accessing the downloaded portion of the email using the low power interface of the electronic device includes accessing the downloaded portion of the email from a decoupleable module of the electronic device that includes the low power interface and the memory.

19. An article of manufacture usable for a portable electronic device, the article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a processor to process email during a low power mode, by;

monitoring for an event representative of a transition to the low power mode;

if the event is detected, activating an email component to operate during the low power mode;

using the email component to obtain at least a portion of an email during the low power mode;

loading in a memory the portion of the email; and

presenting the loaded portion of the email from the memory on a low power interface.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to:

deactivate at least a first component of the electronic device that is to be unused for obtaining the portion of the email during the low power mode;

activate at least a second component of the electronic device that is to be used in conjunction with the email component for obtaining the portion of the email during the low power mode; and

deactivate the second component after the email portion is obtained.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the instructions for monitoring for the event representative of the transition to the low power mode includes instructions for monitoring for a time interval when the transition to the low power mode is scheduled to occur.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to:

download portion of the email to a storage location using a delivery mechanism of an email application installed in the electronic device; and

synchronize at least some email content in the storage location to the memory, including synchronization of the downloaded portion of the email into the memory.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 19 wherein the instructions to present the loaded portion of the email from the memory on the low power interface includes instructions to present the portion of the email using a low-power processing unit that operates independently of a high-power processing unit that transitions into the low power mode.

24. A system, comprising:

a means for transitioning an electronic device to a reduced power mode;

a means for determining, during the reduced power mode, if a new email is available from an email source;

a means for downloading at least a portion of the new email determined to be available from the email source to a memory of the electronic device; and

a means for accessing the downloaded portion of the new email using a low power interface of the electronic device.

25. The system of claim 24, further comprising a means for exiting from the reduced power mode after completion of the download.

26. The system of claim 24 wherein the means for accessing the downloaded portion of the email includes a low-power processing unit means for operating at a lower processing power relative to a high-power processing unit.

27. The system of claim 24, further comprising a means for synchronizing email content between the memory and an email source.

28. The system of claim 27 wherein the email source comprises a storage unit of the electronic device.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the email source comprises a server external to the electronic device.

30. An apparatus that can operate in a low power mode, the apparatus comprising:

an email component operable to be active in the low power mode;

a network access device that can be used during the low power mode and that can cooperate with the email component to obtain at least a portion of an email during the low power mode;

a memory communicatively coupled to the email component to store the obtained portion of the email; and

a low-power processing unit coupled to the memory to control presentation of the portion of the email stored therein.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a user interface controllable by the low-power processing unit to present the portion of the email.

32. The apparatus of claim 31 wherein the memory, low-power processing unit, and the user interface comprise part of a low power display module that can operate independently of other components of the apparatus.

33. The apparatus of claim 32 wherein the network access device comprises part of the low power display module.

34. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a high-power processing unit that can be transitioned into the low power mode to control the email component and the network access device to obtain the portion of the email.

35. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising a storage location to store the obtained portion of the email, wherein the email component can perform synchronization between the storage location and the memory to match at least some of their email content.

36. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising an application and an operating system associated with the low-power processing unit to cooperate with the low-power processing unit to present the portion of the email.

37. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising an email application having a mail retrieval mechanism usable by the email component to obtain the portion of the email during the low power mode.