System for transmitting data files between computers in a wireless environment utilizing a file transfer agent executing on host system

• US 5,802,312 A
• Filed: 09/27/1994
• Issued: 09/01/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/1994
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Lewis, Allan, Gilhuly, Barry, Lazaridis, Mihal, Mousseau, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Thomas C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perveen, Rehana
• Application Number:
  US08/312,835
• Time in Patent Office: 1,435 Days
• Field of Search: 395/2.1, 395/200.01, 395/200.68, 395/200.2, 395/825, 395/829, 395/200.32, 340/825.72
• US Class Current: 709/238
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/568 Storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/59 Providing operational support to end devices by off-loading in the network or by emulation, e.g. when they are unavailable
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and system in a data communication environment enables the exchange of information between a plurality of software applications through a selected communication device, such as a radio frequency modem. Messages received by modem are stored as files intended for one of a plurality of applications, even if the destination application is not currently active. The method and system may utilize the file system of the transmitting location to provide the address of the receiving location by embedding the address in the path of the file to be transmitted.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting one or more source transmission files between a computer and one or more transmission destinations via a communication network, wherein the computer is executing one or more application programs that generate the source transmission files, the method comprising the steps of:

the one or more application programs storing the one or more source transmission files in an outbound file area in the computer;

scanning the outbound file area to detect the one or more source transmission files and if detected, then selecting one or more selected transmission files from among the one or more source transmission files;

deriving for each selected transmission file and associating with such selected transmission file at least one destination address for each of one or more target destinations to which the selected transmission file is to be transmitted, wherein each target destination is selected from among the one or more transmission destinations; and

transmitting each selected transmission file to each target destination associated with such selected transmission file based on the destination address of the target destination.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the one or more transmission destinations is remote from the location of the outbound file area.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitting step occurs in a wireless communications environment.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the scanning and selecting step includes a step of validating each selected transmission file to determine whether such selected transmission file may be transmitted to at least one of the one or more transmission destinations.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the scanning and selecting step further includes, as a part of the selecting portion of such step, the step of transferring each source transmission file that is to be selected as one of the one or more selected transmission files to a pending file area, creating thereby each selected transmission file, wherein each selected transmission file that is transmitted in the transmitting step is transmitted from the pending file area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to the scanning step the method further comprises a step of searching an outbound file list containing one or more designations of one or more source transmission files that are to be transmitted, and upon detecting a file name and path in the outbound file list, focusing the scanning step to the portion of the outbound file area that is associated with such file name and path.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein a single selected transmission file is created from any one particular source transmission file.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the deriving and associating step associates for any one particular selected transmission file only one target destination.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the one or more selected transmission files is transmitted sequentially.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the transmitting step includes the steps of

detecting whether a particular target destination of the one or more target destinations associated with a particular selected transmission file of the one or more selected transmission files can accept a transmission;

and

upon determining that the particular target destination can accept a transmission, establishing a session with such target destination and sending the particular selected transmission file to such target destination.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein after a session is established and the transmitting of the particular selected transmission file is complete, the transmission step includes the steps of

determining whether another selected transmission file is associated with the particular target destination;

upon determining that such another selected transmission file is so associated, keeping the session open; and

sending the another selected transmission file to the particular target destination.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the transmitting step repeats each of the determining, keeping and sending steps until, for the particular target destination, each selected transmission file that is associated with the particular target destination and that remains to be sent to the particular target destination during the session is transmitted.

13. The method of claim 5, wherein the outbound file area comprises one or more subareas.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more subareas includes a command file subarea.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more subareas includes an outbound directory file subarea.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more subareas includes an outbound subdirectory file subarea.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein at least one source transmission file of the one or more source transmission files is detected in the outbound directory file subarea and further wherein at least one of the source transmission files detected in the outbound directory file subarea contains a header from which is derived one or more target destinations associated with a particular selected transmission file.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein at least one source transmission file of the one or more source transmission files is detected in the outbound subdirectory file subarea, and further wherein for at least one selected transmission file whose source transmission file was detected in the outbound subdirectory file subarea, the target destination is derived from such source transmission file'"'"'s subdirectory path name.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the outbound directory file subarea includes an outbound subdirectory file area.

20. The method of claim 2, further including a step of establishing a status file reflecting the status of the wireless communications environment.

21. The method of claim 1, further including a step of providing for each selected transmission file an indication of whether such selected transmission file was successfully received.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the indication further includes an additional indication of whether such selected transmission file was successfully logged at the target destination associated with such selected transmission file to a disk drive or to memory.

23. The method of claim 22, further including a step of deleting references to each selected transmission file for which is received, as a result of the indicating step, an indication that such selected transmission file was successfully received.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning step is initiated periodically.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning step is initiated by a message sent by an application.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein a user-specified period determines how frequently the scanning step is initiated.

27. The method of claim 1 including as a first step, an initiating step, wherein a user initiates a message to begin scanning, and further wherein the scanning step begins upon receipt of such message.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the deriving step includes for each selected transmission file a step of examining a command file associated with such selected transmission file to extract therefrom at least one target destination.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the deriving step includes for each selected transmission file a step of keyword scanning such selected transmission file to extract therefrom at least one keyword designating at least one target destination.

30. The method of claim 5, wherein the deriving step further includes the step of creating for at least one transmission file and associated target destination pair a job record associated with such pair.

31. A method for facilitating the transfer of one or more electronic data files generated by one or more application programs executing at a first location to one or more different locations, the method comprising the steps of

establishing a first storage area for storing one or more of the electronic data files as outbound files, wherein the first storage area includes a set of subareas for storing each outbound file that is to be transferred to one of the one or more different locations, each subarea having a subarea name that identifies the subarea;

the one or more application programs executing at the first location then storing each outbound file that is to be transferred in one or more of the subareas;

scanning the first storage area to determine whether any files to be transmitted are stored in the set of subareas;

deriving the addresses for the one or more different locations from the subarea names associated with the files stored in the set of subareas; and

transferring at least one outbound file to the one or more different locations using each address derived from the subarea names.

32. The method of claim 31 further comprising, as part of the establishing step, the step of associating with the first storage area an outbound file area name.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the first storage area is accessed via an outbound file area directory, and further wherein the first storage area and the outbound file area directory share the outbound file area name.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the first storage area is accessed via an outbound area subdirectory, and further wherein the first storage area and the outbound area subdirectory share the outbound file area name.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the subarea is accessed via a lower level subdirectory located one or more levels under the outbound file area subdirectory.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the lower level subdirectory is labeled with the subarea name.

37. A system for enabling the receipt and transmission of at least one data file between a host and a destination system connected to a network, comprising:

a host system, wherein such host system has associated therewith a host system transmitter and a first storage area, and wherein the host system is executing one or more application programs that generate said at least one data file;

a destination system, wherein such destination system has associated therewith a destination system receiver and a second storage area; and

a file transfer agent executing on the host system, said file transfer agent forming an interface between the one or more application programs and the network, and further comprising a message manager, a send file manager and a receive file manager, wherein the file transfer agent facilitates transmission of the data file between the first storage area and the second storage area by;

scanning the first storage area to detect whether the at least one data file is stored in the first storage area, the presence of such data file indicating that it is to be transmitted to said destination system;

deriving a destination address of said destination system from information associated with the data file and

transmitting the data file to the second storage area within the destination system using the derived destination address.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the host system transmitter is provided by a host-based modem.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the destination system receiver is provided by a destination-based modem.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein the destination system further includes a destination system transmitter and wherein the host system further includes a host system receiver.

41. The system of claim 40, wherein the destination system transmitter is provided by a destination-based modem and the host system receiver is provided by a host-based modem.

42. The system of claim 41, wherein at least one modem of the destination-based modem and the host-based modem operates in at least one mode of a wireless transmission mode or a wireless receive mode.

43. The system of claim 37, wherein the host system and the destination system are connected via a local area network.

44. The system of claim 37, wherein the host system and the destination system are physically located remotely from each other.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the send file manager includes:

means for scanning the first storage area to detect one or more source transmission files;

means for selecting one or more selected transmission files from among the one or more source transmission files;

means for deriving for each selected transmission file and associating with such selected transmission file at least one destination address for each target destination to which the selected transmission file is to be transmitted; and

means for transmitting each selected transmission file to each target destination that the means for deriving has associated with such selected transmission file.

46. The system of claim 44, wherein the receive file manager includes:

means for detecting an open new connection request;

means for accepting the open new connection request and establishing as a result of such request a communication connection between the host system and the destination system;

means for receiving data transmitted from the destination system over the communication connection and transferring at least a portion of the data to one or more receiving files;

means for validating the data and for determining whether all the data that was transmitted was received; and

means for transferring at least one receiving file to a location that is addressed by a location designator derived from some portion of the data transmitted from the destination system.

47. The system of claim 37, wherein the first storage area is physically located other than proximate to the host system.

48. The system of claim 37, wherein the second storage area is physically located other than proximate to the destination system.

58. The system of claim 37, wherein the information associated with the data file is a set of command data.

59. The system of claim 37, wherein the information associated with the data file is a header contained within the data file.

60. The system of claim 37, wherein the information associated with the data file is a file structure associated with the first storage area where the data file is stored.

49. A method of providing a standard, seamless interface between one or more application programs executing on a first computer and a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of:

storing an application-generated data file in a storage area on the first computer;

scanning the storage area to detect whether a particular data file is stored in the storage area, the presence of the particular data file indicating that it is to be transmitted from the first computer to at least a second computer;

deriving at least one destination address for each second computer to which the particular data file is to be transmitted; and

transmitting the particular data file over the telecommunications network to one or more destination addresses.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the deriving step further includes the step of determining a protocol type associated with the telecommunication network and wherein the transmitting step transmits the particular set of data in accordance with that protocol type.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the at least one address for each second computer to which the particular data file is to be transmitted in derived from a set of command data associated with the particular data file.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the at least one address for each second computer to which the particular data file is to be transmitted in derived from a header contained within the particular data file.

53. The method or claim 49, wherein the at least one address for each second computer to which the particular data file is to be transmitted is derived from a designator associated with a storage location where the particular data file is stored.

54. A method of transferring data files between one or more application programs executing on a first computer system and one or more application programs executing on a second computer system via a communication network, the first and second computer systems having network addresses that describe their respective locations on the network, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) one of the one or more application programs executing on the first computer system writing a data file to an outbound file storage area within the first computer system, the outbound file storage area having a directory structure;

(b) scanning the outbound file storage area to detect the presence of the data file;

(c) deriving the network address of the second computer system from the directory structure of the outbound file storage area where the data file is stored, and moving the data file from the outbound file storage area to a pending file storage area; and

(d) transmitting the data file from the pending file storage area to the second computer system via the communication network using the derived network address of the second computer system.

55. The method of claim 54, wherein the transmitting step further includes the step of including the network address of the first computer system within the transmitted date file.

56. The method of claim 55, further including the steps of:

(e) receiving the data file at the second computer system;

(f) providing a second storage area within the second computer system, the second storage area having a directory structure including sub-directories; and

(g) storing the received data file in a sub-directory corresponding to the network address of the first computer system.

57. The method of claim 56, further including the steps of:

(h) detecting the presence of the received data file in the second storage area; and

(I) reading the data file from the second storage area using one of the one or more application programs executing on the second computer system.