Service-based compression of content within a network communication system

• US 7,024,460 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2002
• Issued: 04/04/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: OptiMorphix, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Bytemobile Inc. (Cloud Software Group)
• Inventors: Polychronopoulos, Constantine, Koopmas, Chris, Stavrakos, Nicholas
• Primary Examiner(s): Cardone, Jason
• Assistant Examiner(s): Swearingen, Jeffrey R.
• Application Number:
  US10/095,551
• Publication Number:
  US 20030028606A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,485 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/563 Data redirection of data network streams
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/564 Enhancement of application control based on intercepted application data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/04 Protocols for data compression, e.g. ROHC
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A service module incorporated within the network infrastructure intercepts packets communicated between a client and a server to determine whether the connection corresponds to an email service. If so, the service module breaks the connection by terminating the connection with the client at the service module and opening a separate connection between the service module and the server. Packets communicated between the client and the server may then be redirected to an email compression application that monitors messages communicated between the client and the server and processes the messages in accordance with the state of the email session. For messages corresponding to connection establishment, user authentication and other protocol-specific messages, for example, the email compression application may be configured to forward the messages to the originally intended destination. Messages corresponding to an email message data, however, are buffered within the email compression application. Once the entire message has been received, the email compression application may strip the message headers and any protocol-specific data, compress the data and attach new message headers corresponding to the compressed email message. The compressed and reformatted email message is then reinserted into the data stream for transmission to the intended destination. Because compression may occur between the server and client, compression may be performed without requiring special processing by the server before email messages are sent. Furthermore, because the email messages may be compressed in a format that can be readily decompressed using decompression libraries incorporated within the operating system of client devices, such as the CAB format or GZIP format, the client may decompress received email messages utilizing software already incorporated within the operating system of the client device, without requiring download or installation of special decompression software and/or coordination of compression/decompression of email messages with the server or sending party.

Claims

1. A method for compressing an email message communicated from a server to a client, the method comprising:

providing a compression module disposed between the server and the client for compressing at least a portion of the email message;

classifying a connection between the server and the client to determine whether the connection corresponds to an email service;

breaking the connection between the server and the client to form a first connection between the client and the compression module and a second connection between the compression module and the server in response to a determination that the connection corresponds to the email service;

receiving the email message from the server;

causing the compression module to compress at least a portion of the email message received from the server; and

transmitting the compressed email message to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of classifying comprises comparing a destination port field of packets associated with the connection with a predetermined set of destination port numbers.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of classifying comprises classifying packets associated with the connection in accordance with a set of classification rules.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the set of classification rules comprise one or more masks applied to a packet header of the packets.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of breaking comprises:

terminating the connection with the client at the compression module to form the first connection; and

opening a separate connection between the compression module and the server to form the second connection.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of breaking comprises redirecting packets communicated between the client and the server to the compression module by replacing a destination address and a destination port field of the packets with a destination address and destination port associated with the compression module.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising forwarding protocol specific messages between the first connection and the second connection in an uncompressed format.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising monitoring the protocol specific messages to detect initiation of an email transaction.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising buffering email message data in response to detection of the email transaction.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating outgoing packets communicated from the compression module using a source address and a source port associated with the end-to-end connection between the client and the server.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises compressing the portion of the email message using a compression type natively supported by an operating system of the client.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises compressing the portion of the email message using a compression type compatible with a decompression module incorporated in an operating system of the client in a default configuration.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the decompression module is used by the operating system of the client to decompress operating system files during installation.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises compressing the portion of the email message in a Cabinet format.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises changing a file extension of at least a part of the compressed email message to “

.cab”

.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the email message includes one or more encapsulated parts, and wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises the steps of:

extracting each of the one or more encapsulated parts;

compressing each of the encapsulated parts individually;

attaching message headers to each compressed part corresponding to the compressed data; and

reassembling each compressed part in a same order as the uncompressed email message.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of causing the compression module to compress comprises compressing the portion of the email message in accordance with a type of content associated with the email message.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising storing an association between the type of content and a compression type in a file.

19. A method for performing service-based compression of an email message within a communications network, the communications network including a client having an operating system with a decompressor, the method comprising:

intercepting packets communicated between a client and a server, the packets containing data associated with an email session;

monitoring a state of the email session between the client and the server;

identifying transmission of the email message;

compressing at least a portion of the email message using a compression type compatible with the decompressor included in the operating system of the client; and

transmitting the compressed email message to the client;

further comprising the step of breaking the connection between the server and the client to form a first connection between the client and a compression module and a second connection between the compression module and the server in response to a determination that the connection corresponds to the email session.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of breaking comprises:

terminating the connection with the client at the compression module to form the first connection; and

opening a separate connection between the compression module and the server to form the second connection.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the step of breaking comprises redirecting the packets communicated between the client and the server to the compression module.

22. A system for compressing an email message communicated from a server to a client, the system comprising:

a processor; and

a memory unit, operably coupled to the processor, for storing data and instructions which when executed by the processor cause the processor to operate so as to;

classify a connection between the server and the client to determine whether the connection corresponds to an email service;

break the connection between the server and the client to form a first connection between the client and a compression module and a second connection between the compression module and the server in response to a determination that the connection corresponds to the email service;

compress at least a portion of the email message received from the server; and

transmit the compressed email message to the client.