System and method for pushing calendar event messages from a host system to a mobile data communication device

• US 6,463,463 B1
• Filed: 08/28/2000
• Issued: 10/08/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Godfrey, James, Hind, Hugh R., Mousseau, Gary, Lazaridis, Mihal
• Primary Examiner(s): Burgess, Glenton B.
• Assistant Examiner(s): EDELMAN, BRADLEY E
• Application Number:
  US09/649,755
• Time in Patent Office: 771 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/247, 709/238, 340/7.29, 340/7.43, 340/7-1-, 340/7.21, 705/9
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/02 using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/18 Commands or executable codes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/55 Push-based network services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/353 where the information comprises non-audio but is provided over voice channels
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4211 where the identifier is used to access a profile
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/4872 Non-interactive information services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 : Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 : Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 : Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A system and method for pushing information, such as calendar event messages, from a host system to a mobile data communication device upon sensing a triggering event is disclosed. A redirector program operating at the host system enables a user to continuously redirect calendar event messages, such as meeting reminders and notices, from the host system to the user'"'"'s mobile data communication device upon detecting that one or more user-defined triggering events has occurred. The redirector program operates in connection with event generating applications and repackaging systems at the host system to configure and detect a particular user-defined event, and then to repackage the calendar event messages in an electronic wrapper prior to pushing the data items to the mobile device. An optimized data structure for storing the calendar event messages is also provided.

Claims

1. A method of redirecting electronic meeting request messages from a messaging server to a wireless mobile device via a wireless data network, comprising the steps of:

generating an electronic meeting request message at a desktop system, wherein the electronic meeting request message is directed to an e-mail account maintained by the messaging server;

receiving the electronic meeting request message at the e-mail account;

determining whether the e-mail account is associated with the wireless mobile device;

if the e-mail account is associated with the wireless mobile device, and the messaging server has been configured to redirect electronic meeting request messages from the e-mail account to the wireless mobile device, then;

(a) generating a file attachment at the messaging server, wherein the file attachment includes information contained within the electronic meeting request message;

(b) generating an e-mail message at the messaging server addressed using a wireless network address of the wireless mobile device, wherein the file attachment that includes the meeting request message information is attached to the e-mail message, and the e-mail message includes a content type indicator that indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting request message information; and

(c) transmitting the e-mail message from the messaging server to the wireless mobile device via the wireless network;

receiving the e-mail message at the wireless mobile device and detecting the content type indicator in the e-mail message; and

in response to detecting that the content type indicator indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting request message information, automatically executing a calendar application program on the wireless mobile device and displaying the information from the meeting request message contained in the file attachment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic meeting request message is structured according to a first format in which information regarding the meeting is formatted using a plurality of verbose text strings, further comprising the step of:

prior to generating the file attachment at the messaging server, transforming the electronic meeting request message from the first format into a second format in which the plurality of verbose text strings are replaced with a plurality of numerical values in order to compress the electronic meeting request message.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of:

prior to displaying the information from the meeting request message at the wireless mobile device, decompressing the file attachment by transforming it from the second format to the first format.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

prompting a user of the wireless mobile device to respond to the electronic meeting request message;

if the user responds affirmatively to the electronic meeting request message, then storing the electronic meeting request message information in a calendar database associated with the wireless mobile device; and

if the user responds negatively to the electronic meeting request message, then discarding the meeting request information.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

generating an electronic meeting reply message at the wireless mobile device and providing a file attachment that includes information contained within the electronic meeting reply message;

generating an e-mail message at the wireless mobile device addressed to the e-mail account maintained by the messaging server, wherein the file attachment that includes the meeting reply message information is attached to the e-mail message, and the e-mail message includes a content type indicator that indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting reply message information; and

transmitting the e-mail message from the wireless mobile device to the messaging server via the wireless network.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

receiving the e-mail message at the messaging server and detecting the content type indicator in the e-mail message; and

in response to detecting that the content type indicator indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting reply message information, updating a calendar application data store at the messaging server associated with the user of the wireless mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

storing the meeting reply message information at the e-mail account; and

transmitting the meeting reply message from the messaging server to the desktop system where the electronic meeting request message was generated.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising the steps of:

prior to providing the file attachment, transforming the electronic meeting reply message from a first format in which information regarding the meeting reply is formatted using a plurality of verbose text strings into a second format in which the plurality of verbose text strings are replaced with a plurality of numerical values in order to compress the electronic meeting reply message.

9. A method of redirecting a plurality of message types from a messaging server to a wireless mobile device, comprising the steps of:

receiving an electronic message at a first message store coupled to the messaging server;

determining whether the electronic message is an e-mail message or a meeting request message;

if the electronic message is an e-mail message, then redirecting the e-mail message from the first message store to the wireless mobile device via a wireless gateway coupling the messaging server to a wireless data network; and

if the electronic message is a meeting request message, then providing a file attachment including information contained within the meeting request message and generating an e-mail message at the messaging server, wherein the file attachment that includes the meeting request message information is attached to the e-mail message, and the e-mail message includes a content type indicator that indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting request message information, and transmitting the e-mail message with the file attachment from the messaging server to the wireless mobile device via the wireless gateway coupling the messaging server to the wireless data network.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising the steps of:

prior to providing the file attachment, transforming the electronic meeting request message from a first format in which information regarding the meeting request is formatted using a plurality of verbose text strings into a second format in which the plurality of verbose text strings are replaced with a plurality of numerical values in order to compress the electronic meeting request message.

11. A method of transmitting meeting request messages from a host system to a wireless mobile device, comprising the steps of:

receiving a meeting request message at the host system;

wherein the host system is a messaging server

generating a file attachment at the host system, the file attachment including the meeting request message;

generating an e-mail message at the host system, wherein the file attachment with the meeting request message is attached to the e-mail message, and wherein the e-mail message includes a content type indicator that indicates that the file attachment includes the meeting request message;

transmitting the e-mail message from the host system to the wireless mobile device via a wireless gateway coupling the host system to a wireless data network;

receiving the e-mail message at the wireless mobile device and detecting the content type indicator in the e-mail message; and

in response to detecting that the content type indicator indicates that the file attachment to the e-mail message includes the meeting request message, executing a calendar application on the wireless mobile device and displaying the meeting request message.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the wireless mobile device is a two-way pager, a wireless personal digital assistant, or a cellular telephone with data messaging capabilities.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of:

storing the meeting request message at an electronic mailbox coupled to the host system.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

prior to generating the file attachment, compressing the meeting request message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the compressing step further comprises the step of transforming the meeting request message from a first format in which information regarding the meeting request is formatted using a plurality of verbose text strings into a second format in which the plurality of verbose text strings are replaced with a plurality of numerical values.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of:

generating a meeting reply message at the wireless mobile device in response to a received meeting request message;

providing a file attachment including the meeting reply message;

generating an e-mail message at the wireless mobile device, wherein the file attachment is attached to the e-mail message; and

transmitting the e-mail message with the file attachment from the wireless mobile device to the host system.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising the steps of:

the host system determining that the file attachment is a meeting reply message; and

storing the meeting reply message in an electronic mailbox coupled to the host system and transmitting the meeting reply message to a generator of a meeting request message, and updating a calendar database at the host system using information contained in the meeting reply message.