Object oriented mail server framework mechanism
First Claim
1. A computer system comprising:
- a central processing unit;
a user interface; and
a main memory having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment containing a framework that provides an extensible network mail server processing system that receives an e-mail message from an originating network user and transfers the e-mail message to one or more destination addresses of network users who are intended recipients of the e-mail message, wherein the framework defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that comprise originator, recipient, and message content information contained in the e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information of the e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly;
wherein the message objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol, such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A framework for use with object-oriented programming systems provides a common message processing system structure that can be placed on any OOP platform and be configured to support any e-mail message protocol standard or specific mail server function. The framework defines an e-mail message as a number of distinct objects, each of which contains information that describes some portion of the message. All messages received by a system in which the framework is implemented are defined on this core object structure. Another set of objects and methods define the processing steps required for a mail server to process a message. A message is received as a class of message objects, which are assigned a message type that determines the subsequent processing steps to which the message object is subjected. As a message is processed, the objects of which it is comprised are changed, so that the message processing can be interrupted and then resumed without loss or duplication of processing steps.
253 Citations
92 Claims
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1. A computer system comprising:
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a central processing unit; a user interface; and a main memory having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment containing a framework that provides an extensible network mail server processing system that receives an e-mail message from an originating network user and transfers the e-mail message to one or more destination addresses of network users who are intended recipients of the e-mail message, wherein the framework defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that comprise originator, recipient, and message content information contained in the e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information of the e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly; wherein the message objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol, such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A computer system comprising:
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a central processing unit; a user interface; a network interface through which e-mail messages are received; and a main memory having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment containing a framework that defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that define originator, recipient, and message content information contained in a received e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information contained in the received e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly; wherein the message objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46)
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47. An object oriented framework for use in a computer system connected to a network, the computer system receiving e-mail messages from originating network users and having an operating system that supports an object oriented programming environment that maintains a message center object that controls e-mail message processing, a message class comprising a set of message objects that comprise originator, recipient, and message content information contained in a received e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information of the received e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the received e-mail message and process it accordingly;
wherein the message class objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol, such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions. - View Dependent Claims (48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69)
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70. A program product for use in a computer system having an operating system that supports an object-oriented programming environment, the program product comprising:
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a recordable media; and a framework recorded on the recordable media the framework providing an extensible network mail server processing system that receives an e-mail message from an originating network user and transfers the e-mail message to one or more destination addresses of network users who are intended recipients of the e-mail message; wherein the framework defines a message center object that controls message processing, a message class that contains a set of message objects that comprise originator, recipient, and message content information contained in the e-mail message, and a set of object methods that are used by the message center object to place the information of the e-mail message into the message objects according to a message processing protocol of the e-mail message and process it accordingly; and wherein the message class objects include objects belonging to classes comprising a message originator list that identifies the network address of the originating network user, a recipient list that identifies intended recipients of the e-mail message, and an envelope list that contains message attribute information for a message protocol, such that the mail server processing system can be configured to support a plurality of e-mail message protocol standards or mail server functions. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92)
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Specification