System and method of storage management for an electronic mail system

• US 5,970,491 A
• Filed: 11/10/1997
• Issued: 10/19/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 11/10/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schreiber, Robert W., Miles, Robert S.
• Primary Examiner(s): Lintz, Paul R.
• Assistant Examiner(s): FLEURANTIN, JEAN B
• Application Number:
  US08/966,526
• Time in Patent Office: 708 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/206
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/23 Reliability checks, e.g. acknowledgments or fault reporting

Abstract

A system and method of storage management for an electronic mail system are disclosed. The system of storage management for an electronic mail system comprises a distribution management system (112) for receiving information into memory as a distribution and for delivering said distribution from memory to a remote connection; and a container management system (114) for storing and retrieving the distribution from a storage medium. The distribution comprises a plurality of body parts. A method of storage management for an electronic mail system comprises the following steps: (1) receiving information from a first remote connection; (2) writing the information into memory as a distribution, the distribution having at least one object and at least one attribute; (3) storing the distribution to a storage medium as a plurality of files; (4) retrieving at least one of the files from the storage medium; and (5) delivering the distribution to at least a second remote connection.

Claims

1. A system of storage management for an electronic mail system comprising:

a distribution management system for receiving information into memory as a distribution and for delivering said distribution from memory to a remote connection;

a container management system for storing and retrieving said distribution from a storage medium; and

wherein said distribution comprises at least one object and at least one attribute;

said objects and attributes are related as a double-linked, parent-linked list.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein said distribution management system writes said received information to memory as a distribution in a hierarchial format.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein said distribution management system coagulates said distribution in memory, the result of said coagulation being a double-linked, parent-linked list in a linear format.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein said container management system writes said distribution to a storage medium as a plurality of files.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein said plurality of files comprises:

a DSTAVL file;

a first SUBAVL file;

a PRDATA file for each of the body parts in the distribution.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein said plurality of files further comprises:

at least one IODATA file; and

at least one OLDATA file.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein said objects and attributes are further related using relative file offsets.

8. A method of storage management for an electronic mail system comprising:

receiving information from a first remote connection;

writing said information into memory as a distribution, said distribution having at least one object and at least one attribute, said objects and attributes are related as a double-linked, parent-linked list;

storing said distribution to a storage medium as a plurality of files;

retrieving at least one of said files from said storage medium; and

delivering said distribution to at least a second remote connection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of writing information into memory as a distribution comprises:

building an empty distribution in said memory; and

filling said empty distribution in memory with an actual distribution.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of storing said distribution to said storage medium comprises:

selecting a directory to store said distribution;

writing said distribution to said selected directory as a plurality of body parts; and

removing said distribution from memory.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said body parts are written as read-only files.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of retrieving said at least one of said files from said storage medium comprises:

opening at least one body part for said distribution; and

paging said body part into memory.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein said step of delivering said distribution to a second remote connection comprises:

establishing a contact with a remote connection;

marking at least one recipient for said remote connection as complete.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein said objects and attributes are further related using relative file offsets.

15. A method of storage management for an electronic mail system comprising:

receiving information from a first remote connection;

writing said information into memory as a distribution having a hierarchial structure wherein said distribution comprises at least one object and at least one attribute;

said objects and attributes are related as a double-linked, parent-linked list;

coagulating said distribution in memory into a linear form;

storing said distribution to a storage medium as a plurality of files;

processing a first delivery view file;

retrieving said distribution form said storage medium; and

delivering said distribution to a second remote connection.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of writing said information into memory as a distribution having a hierarchial structure comprises:

creating an empty distribution in memory; and

storing said information in said empty distribution in memory in a hierarchial structure.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of storing said distribution to said storage medium a plurality of files comprises:

storing said distribution at least one file as a double-linked, parent-linked list using relative file offsets;

creating a first delivery view file; and

storing a plurality of body parts for said distribution in a plurality of permanent data files.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of processing a first delivery view file comprises:

creating said first delivery view file;

creating an inline data file responsive to an analysis of said first delivery view file;

creating a separate delivery view file for each set of distinct intended recipients; and

deleting said first delivery view file.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said step of processing a first delivery view file further comprises:

creating offline conversion files responsive to a determination that conversion is required.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein said step of retrieving said distribution from said storage medium comprises:

opening a plurality of body parts for said distribution; and

paging said body parts into memory.

21. The method of claim 15, wherein said objects and attributes are further related using relative file offsets.

22. A computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for providing storage management for an electronic mail system on a computer system including a storage medium and memory;

the computer readable program code in the computer usable medium comprising;

computer readable program code providing a distribution management system for processing inbound information, said distribution management system receiving said inbound information from a first remote connection and storing said inbound information in memory as a distribution;

said distribution comprises a plurality of body parts wherein said body parts are related as a double-linked, parent-linked list; and

a computer readable program code providing a container management system for storing and retrieving said distribution from a storage medium.

23. A system of storage management for an electronic mail system comprising:

means for processing inbound information, said processing means receiving said inbound information from a first remote connection and storing said inbound information in memory as a distribution comprising a plurality of body parts wherein said body parts are related as a double-linked, parent-linked list; and

means for storing and retrieving said distribution from a storage medium.