System and method of polling electronic mailboxes
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A communications system comprising:
- a polling agent for polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages; and
a database for storing the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling,wherein said polling agent is operative for issuing a STAT command to determine a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold based on the STAT command such that if the threshold is exceeded, the polling agent polls the electronic mailbox and retrieves only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, said polling agent also operative for shortening a polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system includes a polling agent that can be part of a mobile office platform for polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages. A database stores the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling operation. The polling agent is operative for polling the electronic mailbox and retrieving only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available.
40 Citations
22 Claims
-
1. A communications system comprising:
-
a polling agent for polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages; and a database for storing the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling, wherein said polling agent is operative for issuing a STAT command to determine a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold based on the STAT command such that if the threshold is exceeded, the polling agent polls the electronic mailbox and retrieves only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, said polling agent also operative for shortening a polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3)
-
-
4. A communications system comprising:
-
a wireless communications device having a mail user agent; a mobile office platform operative with the mail user agent for accessing one or more electronic mailboxes of the mail user agent using a plurality of protocol specific connectors, said mobile office platform including a polling agent for polling an electronic mailbox of the mail user agent to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages, and a database for storing the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling, wherein said polling agent is operative for issuing a STAT command to determine a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold based on the STAT command such that if the threshold is exceeded, the polling agent polls the electronic mailbox and retrieves only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UTD'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, said polling agent also operative for shortening a polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method of polling electronic mailboxes comprising the step of:
-
polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages; and issuing a STAT command from a polling agent to determine a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold based on the STAT command such that if the threshold is exceeded, retrieving only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, and shortening the polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
-
-
17. A method of polling electronic mailboxes comprising the steps of:
-
issuing a STAT command from a polling agent to determine a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold based on the STAT command such that if the threshold is exceeded, retrieving a webpage that contains a list of most recent messages received within an electronic mailbox; storing the unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) starting with the most recent messages stored within the list; storing the UID'"'"'s until a UID is seen that was retrieved within a previous poll indicative that all UID'"'"'s stored in a current poll are from new messages; and shortening the polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
-
-
20. A method of polling electronic mailboxes comprising the steps of:
-
polling an electronic mailbox by issuing a STAT command to retrieve the current number of messages located on a mail server and if a threshold is exceeded based on the STAT command, retrieving the unique identifier (UID) of the most recent message; checking if the UID of the most recent message is in a list of stored UID'"'"'s obtained from previous polls; and shortening the polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
-
Specification