E-mail caching system and method

• US 20060020671A1
• Filed: 04/11/2005
• Published: 01/26/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cemaphore Systems, Inc. (Verismic Software, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cemaphore Systems, Inc. (Verismic Software, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gille, J. Bernard, Looman, Jeffrey M., Blair, Jeffrey D., Pike, Tyrone F.
• Granted Patent: US 7,483,949 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A system and method to improve data access over a network. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a device for caching data from a server, such as e-mail messages, is provided at a location close to an end user. According to another embodiment of the present invention, a centrally stored address list is provided that may be accessed by a client to determine the best or nearest server for data access.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a network address list, comprising:

placing the network address list in an e-mail user'"'"'s mailbox;

in response to a user attempting to access a site local server from a client, reading the network address list from an e-mail server storing the user'"'"'s mailbox; and

parsing the network address list to determine viability within a local subnet of the client to create a subset of plausible addresses.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the site local server comprises an EMCD.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network address list comprises an IP address list.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the client and the site local server are located within a first LAN and the e-mail server is located within a second LAN.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the first LAN and the second LAN are connected over a WAN.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network address list is placed in an e-mail users mailbox by one of a site local server and a management console.

7. A method for identifying a server, comprising:

acquiring an address table from an e-mail server;

parsing the address table to retrieve at least one address record for a given server type, wherein the address record includes at least one address/mask pair;

for each address/mask pair retrieved;

performing a bitwise AND between a client local address and the mask of the address/mask pair;

performing a bitwise AND between the address and the mask of the address/mask pair;

comparing the resulting value from the bitwise ANDs for a match; and

in response to a match, including the table address in a resulting list of potential addresses.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the server type comprises a site local server.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the site local server comprises an EMCD.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the at least one address record comprises an IP address.

11. A system for transmitting data over a computer network, comprising;

a server having a first store for e-mail data at a first location;

a client for accessing the e-mail data at a second location, the first location and the second location being connected over a network; and

a site local server at the second location comprising a second store for email data, wherein the site local server is configured to act as a proxy for transmitting e-mail data between the server and the client.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the network comprises a WAN.

13. The system according to claim 11, wherein the first location comprises a first LAN, and the second location comprises a second LAN.

14. The system according to claim 11, wherein the site local server comprises an EMCD.

15. A method for transmitting e-mail data over a network, comprising:

storing e-mail data on a e-mail server at a first network location;

accessing the network with a client at a second network location;

retrieving a site local server address list with the client using address list information stored in a user'"'"'s mailbox;

comparing a network location of the client to the site local server address list; and

selecting a site local server for caching the e-mail data from the e-mail server based on the network proximity of the site local server to the client.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the user'"'"'s mailbox storing the address list information is on the e-mail server at the first network location.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein the e-mail data is stored in the user'"'"'s mailbox.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein the selected site local server is located on the same LAN as the client.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein the address list information stored in the user'"'"'s mailbox comprises the list of site local server addresses.

20. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first network location comprises a first LAN and the second network location comprises a second LAN.