System and method for unified messaging with message replication and synchronization

• US 6,792,085 B1
• Filed: 09/10/1999
• Issued: 09/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 09/10/1999
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Chemtron Research LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: Comdial Corporation (Vertical Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Rigaldies, Bertrand, Bedlek, Greg, Heaney, Eoin, Ringle, Jonathan, Smith, Ryan
• Primary Examiner(s): Tsang, Fan
• Assistant Examiner(s): Escalante, Ovidio
• Application Number:
  US09/394,563
• Time in Patent Office: 1,831 Days
• Field of Search: 379/88.15, 379/88.16, 379/67.1, 379/88.13, 379/88.18, 379/88.17, 379/88.22, 379/88.25, 379/68, 379/88.27, 379/100.08, 379/93.01, 379/93.24, 379/93.17, 709/206, 709/248
• US Class Current: 379/88.13
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression

Abstract

A unified messaging system is provided that includes two-way synchronization and replication of messages. The unified messaging system includes a workstation, a voice-mail server, and an e-mail server. The workstation may be a personal computer, for example. The workstation includes an agent to monitor messaging activities within the workstation mailbox. Also, the voice-mail server includes a proxy e-mail client (PEC) to operate and retrieve e-mail messages in the absence of the workstation. In accordance with the system and method of the invention, two-way synchronization and replication is provided. The two-way synchronization and replication operates between the workstation and the voice-mail server. Specifically, the replication operates between the e-mail store, e.g., the mailbox, of the workstation and the voice-mail store of the voice-mail server. The replication duplicates messages in each of the mailbox of the workstation and the voice-mail message store of the voice-mail server. Thus, the voice-mail message store contains both the voice-mail and the e-mail. Further, the e-mail message store contains both the e-mail and the voice-mail.

Claims

1. A messaging system for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the messaging system comprising:

a workstation that interfaces with a user, the workstation comprising;

an agent responsible for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages;

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider, and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said agent monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox, and said messaging sub-system delivering e-mail messages to the workstation mailbox;

a voice-mail server that sends and receives voice-mail messages, the voice-mail server comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the voice-mail server responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication, synchronization and storage in concert with the agent;

an e-mail server that sends and receives e-mail messages; and

a communication system variably connecting each of the workstation, the voice-mail server, and the e-mail server with each other;

wherein the voice-mail server receives a voice-mail message and stores the voice-mail message in the voice-mail message store, the voice-mail server communicates a copy of the voice-mail message to the voice-mail service provider, the voice mail service provider delivers the voice-mail message to the messaging sub-system that creates the voice-mail message in the workstation mailbox of the workstation.

2. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the messaging system further comprising a proxy e-mail client that retrieves e-mail messages from the e-mail server.

3. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the agent communicates a change in status of a message in the workstation mailbox to the voice-mail server.

4. The messaging system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the change in status of a message is at least one of message deleted, message read, and message new.

5. The messaging system in accordance with claim 4, wherein the status of the message in the workstation mailbox is message deleted, and the agent communicates the status of the message to the voice-mail server using a deletion record, the deletion record previously created when the deleted message was deleted.

6. The messaging system in accordance with claim 5, wherein the agent deletes the deletion record when acknowledgement of deletion is received from the voice-mail server.

7. The messaging system in accordance with claim 3, wherein the agent marks the message that changed in status as not synchronized, the agent notifies the voice-mail server of the changed status.

8. The messaging system in accordance with claim 7, wherein the voice-mail server sends acknowledgement of receipt of the change in status of the message to the agent, and agent marks the message as synchronized upon receipt of the acknowledgement.

9. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the voice-mail communicates a change in status of a message in the voice-mail message store to the agent.

10. The messaging system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the change in status of a message is at least one of message deleted, message read, and message new.

11. The messaging system in accordance with claim 10, wherein the status of the message in the voice-mail message store is message deleted, and the voice-mail server communicates the status of the message to the agent using a deletion record, the deletion record previously created when the deleted message was deleted.

12. The messaging system in accordance with claim 11, wherein the voice-mail server deletes the deletion record when acknowledgement is received from the agent.

13. The messaging system in accordance with claim 9, wherein the voice-mail server marks the message that changed in status as not synchronized, the voice-mail server notifies the agent of the changed status.

14. The messaging system in accordance with claim 13, wherein the agent sends acknowledgment of receipt of the change in status of the message to the voice-mail server, the voice-mail server marks the message and synchronized upon receipt of the acknowledgement.

15. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the agent monitors a change in status of a message in the workstation mailbox, the agent marking a message that has changed in status as not synchronized, when the workstation is operating and not in connection with the voice-mail server.

16. The messaging system in accordance with claim 15, wherein the agent communicates the stored change in status to the voice-mail server when the workstation gains connection with the voice-mail server.

17. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein the agent monitors a deletion of a message in the workstation mailbox, the agent creating a deletion record when the deletion occurs, when the workstation is operating and not in connection with the voice-mail server.

18. The messaging system in accordance with claim 1, wherein subsequent to the agent and the voice-mail server being not in communication, said agent and said voice-mail server establish communication, each of the agent and the voice-mail server performing incremental synchronization whereby only messages that have been changed prior to the establishment of communication are synchronized.

19. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18, wherein, the agent synchronizes messages with a status change in the workstation mailbox.

20. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18, wherein, the agent synchronizes messages that have been deleted in the workstation mailbox.

21. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18, wherein, the agent synchronizes new messages in the workstation mailbox.

22. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18 wherein, the voice-mail server synchronizes messages with a status change in the voice-mail message store.

23. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18, wherein, the voice-mail server synchronizes messages that have been deleted in the voice-mail message store.

24. The messaging system in accordance with claim 23, wherein, the voice-mail server synchronizing messages that have been deleted in the voice-mail message store includes the agent requesting confirmation from the user of deletion.

25. The messaging system in accordance with claim 18, wherein, the voice-mail server synchronizes new messages in the voice-mail message store.

26. A messaging system for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the messaging system comprising:

a workstation that interfaces with a user, the workstation comprising;

an agent responsible for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages;

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider, and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said agent monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox;

a voice-mail server that sends and receives voice-mail messages, the voice-mail server comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the voice-mail server responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication and, synchronization of both e-mail messages and voice-mail messages in concert with the agent;

an e-mail server that sends and receives e-mail messages; and

a communication system variably connecting each of the workstation, the voice-mail server, and the e-mail server with each other;

wherein a proxy e-mail client retrieves e-mail messages from the e-mail server when the agent is not logged on to the voice-mail server, the proxy e-mail client is inactive when the agent is logged on to the voice-mail server;

and wherein the voice-mail server communicates with the workstation to determine if the workstation is in connection with the voice-mail server, the voice-mail server activating the proxy e-mail receiver if the voice-mail server determines that the workstation is not in connection.

27. The messaging system in accordance with claim 26, wherein the proxy e-mail client retrieves a voice-mail server retrieved e-mail by polling the e-mail server.

28. The messaging system in accordance with claim 27, wherein the proxy e-mail client maintains a history of e-mail messages processed in order to only process new messages at each poll.

29. The messaging system in accordance with claim 26, wherein the proxy e-mail client retrieves a voice-mail server retrieved e-mail by receiving forwarded copies of the e-mail messages from the e-mail server.

30. The messaging system in accordance with claim 29, wherein the agent queries the voice-mail server to determine whether the new e-mail was previously retrieved by the proxy e-mail client when the agent was not in communication with the voice-mail server.

31. The messaging system in accordance with claim 30, wherein if the new e-mail was previously retrieved by the proxy e-mail client, then the voice-mail server communicates back to the agent the status of the e-mail, the agent then applying the status of the e-mail to the message in the workstation mailbox.

32. The messaging system in accordance with claim 30, wherein if the new e-mail was not previously retrieved by the proxy e-mail client, then the agent communicates a copy of the new e-mail message to the voice-mail server.

33. A messaging system for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the messaging system comprising:

a workstation that interfaces with a user, the workstation comprising;

an agent responsible for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages;

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider; and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said agent monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox, and said messaging sub-system delivering e-mail messages to the workstation mailbox;

a voice-mail server that sends and receives voice-mail messages, the voice-mail server comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the voice-mail server responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication, synchronization and storage in concert with the agent;

an e-mail server that sends and receives e-mail messages; and

a communication system variably connecting each of the workstation, the voice-mail server, and the e-mail server with each other;

wherein when the agent detects the arrival of a new e-mail message in the workstation mail box, the agent communicates a copy of the e-mail message to the voice-mail server for storage.

34. A messaging system for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the messaging system comprising:

a workstation that interfaces with a user, the workstation comprising;

an agent responsible for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages.

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider, and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said agent monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox;

a voice-mail server that sends and receives voice-mail messages, the voice-mail server comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the voice-mail server responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication and, synchronization of both e-mail messages and voice-mail messages in concert with the agent;

an e-mail server that sends and receives e-mail messages; and

a communication system variably connecting each of the workstation, the voice-mail server, and the e-mail server with each other;

wherein each of the agent and the voice-mail server perform message synchronization based on preference rules and wherein the preference rules dictate that between an old message and a new message, each of the old and new messages is synchronized to be an old message.

35. A messaging system for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the messaging system comprising:

means for interfacing with a user comprising;

means for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages;

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider, and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said means for e-mail message replication and synchronization monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox, and said messaging sub-system delivering e-mail messages to the workstation mailbox;

means for sending and receiving e-mail messages; and

means for sending and receiving voice-mail messages comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the means for sending and receiving voice-mail messages responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication, synchronization and storage in concert with the means for e-mail message replication and synchronization; and

means for variably connecting each of the means for interfacing, the means for sending and receiving voice-mail messages, and the means for sending and receiving e-mail messages with each other;

wherein when the means for sending and receiving voice-mail messages receives a voice-mail message and stores the voice-mail message in the voice mail message store, the means for sending and receiving voice-mail messages communicates a copy of the voice-mail to the voice-mail service provider, the voice-mail service provider delivers the voice-mail message to the message subsystem that creates the voice-mail message in the workstation mailbox.

36. A method for providing access to e-mail messages and voice-mail messages, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a workstation that interfaces with a user, the workstation comprising;

an agent responsible for e-mail message replication and synchronization of both e-mail and voice-mail messages;

a voice-mail service provider responsible for voice-mail message replication and sending voice-mail messages;

an e-mail service provider for retrieving and sending e-mail messages;

a messaging sub-system for supporting the voice-mail service provider and the e-mail service provider, and

a workstation mailbox for storing messages, said agent monitoring message activity in the workstation mailbox and said messaging sub-system delivering e-mail messages to the workstation mailbox;

providing a voice-mail server that sends and receives voice-mail messages, the voice-mail server comprising a voice-mail message store for storing messages, the voice-mail server responsible for voice-mail message and e-mail message replication, synchronization and storage in concert with the agent;

providing an e-mail server that sends and receives e-mail messages; and

providing a communication system variably connecting each of the workstation, the voice-mail server, and the e-mail server with each other;

wherein when the agent detects the arrival of a new e-mail message in the workstation mail box, the agent communicates a copy of the e-mail message to the voice-mail server for storage.