E-mail proxy
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for providing e-mail messages to a user in a more efficient manner. Specifically, the system and method of the present invention enable attachments to be downloaded separately from the text-part of the e-mail message, which requires less bandwidth to download. Instead, these attachments are represented by links in the message which is downloaded to the e-mail client of the user, such that the user can “click on” or otherwise select a link in order to retrieve the attachment. Preferably, the attachment is downloaded to the computational device of the user in a streamed manner.
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Citations
51 Claims
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1-34. -34. (canceled)
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35. A method for selectively delivering to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail client via an e-mail proxy a multi-part e-mail message sent to an e-mail server by a sender and stored at the e-mail server, the multi-part e-mail message having at least one attachment containing attachment content attached to the multi-part e-mail message, the method comprising:
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acquiring preferences provided by the recipient and stored at the e-mail proxy; forming an association between the e-mail proxy and the e-mail server; once said association is formed, retrieving at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server and storing said at least one part at the e-mail proxy; downloading the at least one attachment from the e-mail server to the e-mail proxy and saving attachment content under an associated link identifier at the e-mail proxy; retrieving at the e-mail proxy said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message to be delivered to the e-mail client by the e-mail proxy in accordance with said acquired preferences; preparing a formatted message at the e-mail proxy for delivery to the e-mail client, said formatted message containing said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message and said associated link identifier, such that the at least one attachment content is not delivered to the e-mail client with the formatted message; and sending said formatted message to the e-mail client. - View Dependent Claims (36, 37, 38)
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39. An e-mail proxy apparatus for selectively delivering to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail client a multi-part e-mail message sent to an e-mail server by a sender and stored at the e-mail server, the multi-part e-mail message having at least one attachment containing attachment content attached to the multi-part e-mail message, comprising:
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means for acquiring preferences provided by the recipient and stored at the e-mail proxy; means for forming an association between the e-mail proxy and the e-mail server; means for retrieving at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server after said association is formed between the e-mail proxy and the e-mail server and storing said at least one part at the e-mail proxy; means for downloading the at least one attachment from the e-mail server to the e-mail proxy and saving attachment content under an associated link identifier at the e-mail proxy; means for retrieving at the e-mail proxy said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message to be delivered to the e-mail client by the e-mail proxy in accordance with said acquired preferences; means for preparing a formatted message at the e-mail proxy for delivery to the e-mail client, said formatted message containing said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message and said associated link identifier, such that the at least one attachment content is not delivered to the e-mail client with the formatted message; and means for sending said formatted message to the e-mail client. - View Dependent Claims (40, 41, 42)
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43. A method for selectively delivering to a recipient'"'"'s e-mail client via an e-mail proxy a multi-part e-mail message sent to an e-mail server by a sender and stored at the e-mail server, the multi-part e-mail message having at least one attachment containing attachment content attached to the multi-part e-mail message, the method comprising:
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acquiring preferences provided by the recipient and stored at the e-mail proxy; forming an association between the e-mail proxy and the e-mail server; once said association is formed, retrieving at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server and storing said at least one part at the e-mail proxy; downloading information relating to the at least one attachment from the e-mail server to the e-mail proxy, whereby a link identifier is established for the at least one attachment content; retrieving at the e-mail proxy said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message to be delivered to the e-mail client by the e-mail proxy in accordance with said acquired preferences; preparing a formatted message at the e-mail proxy for delivery to the e-mail client, said formatted message containing said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message and said associated link identifier, such that the at least one attachment content is not delivered to the e-mail client with the formatted message; and sending said formatted message to the e-mail client. - View Dependent Claims (44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A system for selectively downloading a multi-part e-mail message for a recipient, the multi-part e-mail message including an attachment, the system comprising:
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(a) an e-mail server that accepts and stores the multi-part e-mail message addressed to a recipient in a storage at the e-mail server; (b) an e-mail proxy apparatus that acquires and stores preferences provided by the recipient, that forms an association with the e-mail server to retrieve at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server, to store said at least one part at the e-mail proxy at the e-mail proxy, and to download and store content of the at least one attachment from the e-mail server content under an associated link identifier at the e-mail proxy, that retrieves said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message for delivery to the e-mail client by the e-mail proxy in accordance with said acquired preferences, and that prepares a formatted message for delivery to the e-mail client, said formatted message containing said at least one part of the multi-part e-mail message and said associated link identifier, such that the at least one attachment content is not delivered to the e-mail client with the formatted message; and (c) an e-mail client in communication with said e-mail proxy apparatus that receives said formatted message and displays said formatted message to the recipient, such that the attachment content is displayed to the recipient after the recipient selects said associated link identifier. - View Dependent Claims (49, 50, 51)
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Specification