E-mail proxy
First Claim
1. An e-mail proxy method for enabling an email proxy to support selective downloading of a multi-part e-mail message to an e-mail client operated by a user from an e-mail server, the multi-part e-mail message including at least one attachment, the attachment being encoded, the email proxy communicating between the email server and the email client, the e-mail proxy method comprising at the email proxy:
- retrieving information of the at least one attachment for the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server;
downloading the at least one attachment of the multi-part email message from the email server;
preparing a formatted message for sending to the e-mail client, the formatted message containing a link to the at least one downloaded attachment, such that the attachment is not sent to the e-mail client;
sending the formatted message to the e-mail client;
decoding the at least one attachment to bring about a reduction in the size of the attachment; and
upon receiving an indication from the email client that the attachment is required sending the decoded requested attachment to the e-mail client.
8 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A system and method for providing e-mail messages to a user in a more efficient manner. Specifically, the system and method of the present invention enable attachments to be downloaded separately from the text-part of the e-mail message, which requires less bandwidth to download. Instead, these attachments are represented by links in the message which is downloaded to the e-mail client of the user, such that the user can “click on” or otherwise select a link in order to retrieve the attachment. Preferably, the attachment is downloaded to the computational device of the user in a streamed manner.
100 Citations
16 Claims
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1. An e-mail proxy method for enabling an email proxy to support selective downloading of a multi-part e-mail message to an e-mail client operated by a user from an e-mail server, the multi-part e-mail message including at least one attachment, the attachment being encoded, the email proxy communicating between the email server and the email client, the e-mail proxy method comprising at the email proxy:
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retrieving information of the at least one attachment for the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server; downloading the at least one attachment of the multi-part email message from the email server; preparing a formatted message for sending to the e-mail client, the formatted message containing a link to the at least one downloaded attachment, such that the attachment is not sent to the e-mail client; sending the formatted message to the e-mail client; decoding the at least one attachment to bring about a reduction in the size of the attachment; and upon receiving an indication from the email client that the attachment is required sending the decoded requested attachment to the e-mail client. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A system for selectively downloading a multi-part e-mail message for a user, the multi-part e-mail message including at least one attachment, the attachment being encoded, the system comprising:
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(a) an e-mail server for receiving the multi-part e-mail message from a sender; (b) an e-mail proxy in communication with said e-mail server as an e-mail client, for receiving at least attachment information about the multi-part e-mail message and the attachment, and for preparing a formatted message containing a link to the attachment; and (c) an e-mail client in communication with said e-mail proxy for said email server for receiving said formatted message from said email proxy and for displaying said formatted message to the user, such that the attachment is selectable to be displayed to the user after the user selects said link. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method for selectively downloading a plurality of portions but not an entirety of a multi-part e-mail message to an e-mail client operated by a user, the downloading being from an e-mail proxy of said multi-part e-mail message received at an e-mail server, the e-mail client being in communication with the e-mail proxy in place of the e-mail server, the method comprising the steps at the e-mail proxy of:
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retrieving the multi-part e-mail message from the e-mail server; separating the multi-part e-mail message into a plurality of portions; parsing at least one header from said plurality of portions according to at least one user preference; preparing a formatted message for sending to the e-mail client, said formatted message containing at least information of the plurality of portions but not the entirety of the multi-part e-mail message; and sending the formatted message to the e-mail client, therefrom to allow the e-mail client to selectively access the plurality of portions.
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Specification