Method and system for email synchronization for an electronic device
First Claim
1. A method usable for an electronic device having an email application, the method comprising:
- while the email application is operating in conjunction with email content stored in a memory, tracking changes to the email content;
comparing the tracked changes with email content stored in a server;
based on at least some of the tracked changes, updating the email content stored in the memory to be consistent with the email content stored in the server; and
determining if a data connection to the server is present, wherein updating the email content stored in the memory includes downloading to the memory via the data connection, while the email application is in a mode wherein its default synchronization process is substantially precluded from being invoked, an attachment associated with at least a portion of an email that was previously downloaded to the memory.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An electronic device, such as a hand-held portable computer, is provided with client-side email capability that allows emails to be independently downloaded from a server, regardless of an operating mode of an email application and without using the standard email retrieval mechanism of the email application. The emails are periodically downloaded without attachments in response to a poll of the server and if a sufficient high-speed connection to the server is available, and then the downloaded email is locally stored in a local cache of the portable computer. Attachments associated with downloaded emails stored in the local cache can be selectively downloaded, via a background process, from the server independently of the operating mode of the email application and during any suitable power state of the electronic device. Synchronization of attachments to emails in the local cache is also independently performed, thereby bypassing synchronization that is normally performed by the email application while in the online mode.
189 Citations
37 Claims
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1. A method usable for an electronic device having an email application, the method comprising:
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while the email application is operating in conjunction with email content stored in a memory, tracking changes to the email content;
comparing the tracked changes with email content stored in a server;
based on at least some of the tracked changes, updating the email content stored in the memory to be consistent with the email content stored in the server; and
determining if a data connection to the server is present, wherein updating the email content stored in the memory includes downloading to the memory via the data connection, while the email application is in a mode wherein its default synchronization process is substantially precluded from being invoked, an attachment associated with at least a portion of an email that was previously downloaded to the memory. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method for an electronic device having an email application, the method comprising:
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tracking emails partially downloaded into a memory;
determining if a data connection to a server is available; and
synchronizing the emails present in the memory with copies of the emails at the server to make them consistent with one another, independently of an operating mode of the email application and of a synchronization process used by the email application and via use of a data connection to the server determined to be available. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. An article of manufacture usable for a portable electronic device having an email application, the article of manufacture comprising:
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a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a processor to manage synchronization by;
tracking emails partially downloaded into a memory, including emails that were downloaded absent their attachments;
determining if a data connection to a server is available;
synchronizing the emails partially downloaded into the memory with copies of the emails at the server, independent of a synchronization process of the email application, including downloading an attachment associated with a previously downloaded email into the memory and via use of an available data connection to the server. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A system for an electronic device having an email application, the system comprising:
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a storage means for storing email content;
a means for tracking changes to the email content stored in the storage means;
a means for comparing the tracked changes with email content stored in a server;
a means for updating the email content stored in the storage means to be consistent with the email content stored in the server, based on at least some of the tracked changes and substantially without using a synchronization feature of the email application; and
a means for determining if a data connection to the server is present, wherein the means for updating the email content stored in the storage means includes a means for downloading to the storage means via the data connection, while the email application is operating in a memory-access mode, an attachment associated with an email that was previously downloaded to the storage means. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus having an email application, the apparatus comprising:
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a storage unit to store downloaded emails;
a first component to download at least a portion of an email to the storage unit while the email application is in a memory-access mode wherein at least some content associated with the email is excluded from the download;
a second component to track which emails stored in the storage unit have been downloaded and have excluded associated content; and
a synchronization engine to synchronize, based on tracking information from the second unit and during the memory-access mode, the emails stored in the storage unit with emails stored at a server, the synchronization unit being capable to cooperate with the first component to download, during synchronization while in the email application is in the memory-access mode, excluded content associated with a previously downloaded portion of an email. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37)
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Specification