Method and system for polling a server for new emails, downloading the new emails in a background process, and caching the downloaded emails for access by an email application of an electronic device, such as a portable computer

• US 7,290,034 B2
• Filed: 05/07/2004
• Issued: 10/30/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/18/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Vulcan Portals Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Vulcan Portals Incorporated
• Inventors: Jones, Christopher W., Budd, Robin
• Primary Examiner(s): Harrell; Robert B.
• Application Number:
  US10/841,229
• Publication Number:
  US 20050076086A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,271 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments

Abstract

An electronic device, such as a hand-held portable computer, is provided with client-side email capability that allows emails to be independently downloaded from a server, regardless of an operating mode of an email application and without using the standard email retrieval mechanism of the email application. The emails are periodically downloaded without attachments in response to a poll of the server and if a sufficient high-speed connection to the server is available, and then the downloaded email is locally stored in a local cache of the portable computer. Attachments associated with downloaded emails stored in the local cache can be selectively downloaded, via a background process, from the server independently of the operating mode of the email application and during any suitable power state of the electronic device. Synchronization of attachments to emails in the local cache is also independently performed, thereby bypassing synchronization that is normally performed by the email application while in the online mode.

Claims

1. A method usable for an electronic device having an email application, the method comprising:

at time intervals, determining if at least one connection to a server is present, and if at least one connection is determined to be present, polling the server to determine if new email is available for download;

downloading at least a portion of at least one new email to the electronic device via the at least one connection, if present, without using at least a portion of a default email retrieval mechanism of the email application for said downloading, said downloading being performed in a background process in which said email application does not connect to said server, including if said email application is in an inoperative mode in which said email application is not running; and

locally storing the downloaded portion of the email.

2. The method of claim 1, farther comprising allowing the email application to access the locally stored portion of the email instead of having the email application communicate with the server to access the email.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein said downloading performed in said background process further includes downloading while the email application is in an offline mode, or in an online mode, without using at least the portion of the default email retrieval mechanism of the email application.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein downloading at least the portion of the email to the electronic device without using at least the portion of the default email retrieval mechanism of the email application includes:

downloading at least the portion of the email to a memory while the email application is in an online mode, without using the portion of the default email retrieval mechanism of the email application for this download; and

causing the mail retrieval mechanism of the email application to access the downloaded portion of the email from the memory instead of using a default online behavior of the mail retrieval mechanism to access the email from the server.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein downloading at least the portion of the email includes downloading while the electronic device is in an operating power state, including a standby power state from which the electronic device can exit to enter another power state to download the portion of the email.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein downloading at least the portion of the email to the electronic device includes downloading to a portable electronic device.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one new email includes at least one of an attachment, embedded content, and a portion of an email body, each of which is excluded from at least the portion of the at least one new email that is downloaded.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

entering a low power state of the electronic device;

maintaining a real-time clock in the electronic device while in the low power state;

using the real-time clock to determine the time intervals;

at the time intervals, activating at least one component of the electronic device to search for a connection to the server and to poll the server for new email.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein said electronic device has a lid that has a display screen located on an inside surface of said lid and at least one display screen located on an outside surface of said lid, the method further comprising displaying an indication of the downloaded email in an inbox on said at least one display screen on the outside surface of said lid and while said lid is closed to cover said display screen on the inside surface of said lid.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising if multiple connections to the server are determined to be present, determining which of the present connections is optimum for downloading at least the portion of the new email.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein polling includes:

downloading email identifiers from the server;

comparing the downloaded email identifiers with previously downloaded identifiers to determine which emails associated to the downloaded identifiers are new emails; and

wherein downloading at least the portion of at least one new email includes;

downloading emails corresponding to the downloaded identifiers that are determined to be associated with new emails.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising using configuration settings to determine either or both the time intervals and a number of polling attempts.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising reducing latency associated with each polling attempt by maintaining persistent at least one communication link from a prior polling attempt.

14. A method usable for an electronic device having an email application, the method comprising:

at time intervals independent of an operating mode of the email application, determining if at least one connection to a server is present, and if at least one connection is determined to be present, polling the server to determine if new email is available for download;

downloading via the connection at least a portion of at least one new email to the electronic device in a background process independent of the operating mode of the email application in which said email application does not connect to said server, including downloading said at least the portion of the email if said email application is in an inoperative mode in which said email application is not running; and

storing the downloaded portion of the email.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising allowing the email application to access the stored downloaded email alternatively to accessing the server for the email.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein polling includes:

downloading email identifier information prior to downloading any corresponding email; and

comparing the downloaded email identifier information with locally stored email identifier information to determine if the corresponding email is new.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

displaying a first indication of at least the portion of the downloaded email in a first display screen on a first surface of a lid of the electronic device while the electronic device is in a low power state; and

displaying a second indication of at least the portion of the downloaded email in a second display screen on a second surface of the lid of the electronic device while in the electronic device is in a high power state, said first surface being on an opposite side of said lid relative to said second surface such that the first indication is displayed in the first display screen on the first surface while the lid is closed to cover the second display screen.

18. An article of manufacture for an electronic device having an email application, the article of manufacture comprising:

a machine-readable medium having instructions stored thereon to cause a processor to manage email downloads by;

at time intervals while the email application is set in a mode that includes an inoperative mode, searching for a connection to a server, and if the wireless connection is found, polling the server to determine if new email is available for download;

downloading at least a portion of at least one new email to the electronic device, said downloading being performed in a background process in which said email application does not connect to said server, including if said email application is in said inoperative mode in which said email application is not running; and

storing the downloaded portion of new email.

19. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads, by:

setting the email application to said mode that includes said inoperative mode, wherein a portion of its email retrieval mechanism that retrieves email from the server is substantially prevented from being invoked; and

causing the email application to access the stored downloaded portion of the new email alternatively to retrieving the email from the server.

20. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the instructions to download at least the portion of the new email includes instructions to partially download the new email with at least one associated attachment excluded.

21. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads by invoking at least a portion of the email retrieval mechanism of the email application while the email application is in an online mode to access the downloaded portion of the new email instead of accessing the server.

22. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads by activating at least one component from a low power state at the time intervals to search for the wireless connection to the server and to poll the server for new email.

23. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads by determining which of a plurality of wireless connections is optimum for downloading at least the portion of the new email.

24. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the instructions to poll includes instructions to:

request email properties information from the server;

compare the email properties information with previously received email properties information to determine if the requested email properties information corresponds to new emails; and

request at least portions of emails from the server that are associated with the email properties information that is determined to correspond to new emails.

25. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads by downloading new email if the electronic device is in any operative power state, including a low power mode of said electronic device.

26. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the instructions to download at least the portion of the new email include instructions to download only data from a header of the new email and not download a message body.

27. The article of manufacture of claim 18 wherein the machine-readable medium further includes instructions stored thereon to cause the processor to manage email downloads by discontinuing polling the server for new email for a period of time if multiple consecutive attempts to reach the server fail.

28. A system for an electronic device having an email application, the system comprising:

a means for determining, at time intervals independent of an operating mode of the email application, if at least one connection to a server is present, and for polling the server to determine if new email is available for download if at least one connection to the server is determined to be present;

a means for downloading at least a portion of a new email to the electronic device via the connection independent of the operating mode of the email application, said means for downloading performing a download of said portion of the new email in a background process in which said email application is unconnected to said server; and

a means for storing the downloaded portion of the email.

29. The system of claim 28, further comprising a means for controlling the email application to access the stored downloaded portion of the email alternatively of accessing the email from the server.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein said electronic device has a lid that has a display screen located on an inside surface of said lid, the system further comprising:

at least one display means, located on an outside surface of said lid opposite from said inside surface, for displaying an inbox, while said lid is closed to cover said display screen on the inside surface of said lid, that can show indications of new emails that have been continually downloaded independently of the operating mode of the email application;

a means for communicating between the electronic device and the server; and

means for processing downloading of emails and attachments.

31. The system of claim 28, further comprising a means for maintaining the email application in an operating mode wherein its mail retrieval mechanism is substantially prevented from retrieving email from the server, said operating mode including a mode wherein said email application is not running in which said means of downloading can perform said download of said portion of the new email.

32. The system of claim 28, further comprising a means for managing the means for downloading the new email while the email application is in an offline operating mode.

33. An apparatus having an email application, the apparatus comprising:

a first component that can be activated at time intervals to poll a server for new email, the first component being further capable to continually download at least a portion of at least one new email from the server while the email application is in an operating mode wherein the email application is precluded from retrieving email from the server, if the poll determines that the new email is available for download; and

a second component to present an inbox to display an indication of at least the portion of the new email that is downloaded by the first component.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising:

a lid having an inside surface and having an outside surface that is located on an opposite side of said lid relative to said inside surface;

a first display screen located on said inside surface; and

a second display screen located on said outside surface, wherein said inbox can be presented by said second component on said second display screen while said lid is closed to cover said first display screen, and

wherein the second component can further refresh the inbox as at least portions of new emails are continually downloaded by the first component.

35. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising a memory to store the downloaded portion of the new email, and which can be accessed by the email application alternatively to accessing of the server.

36. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the first and second components comprise dynamic link library components that can be called during operation of the email application.

37. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising at least one of polling settings to indicate either one or both length of the time interval and number of unsuccessful polling attempts before discontinuance of the polling, and connectivity settings that specify communication connection conditions under which new email is to be downloaded.

38. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the first component can further determine if at least one connection to the server is available and to select an optimum available connection through which to download at least the portion of the new email.

39. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the first component can determine if an email to download is new based on a comparison of an identifier of that email with previously downloaded identifiers.

40. The apparatus of claim 33, further comprising a third component to manage the first component.

41. The apparatus of claim 33 wherein the first component can download at least the portion of the new email in a background thread relative to the email application, including if said email application is not running.