System and method for downloading information to a mobile device

• US 7,606,837 B2
• Filed: 11/17/2005
• Issued: 10/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Whitney, Chad M., Shields, Kevin T., Cover, Steven A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ehichioya; Fred I
• Application Number:
  US11/283,319
• Publication Number:
  US 20060106937A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,433 Days
• Field of Search: 707/1, 707/103.R, 707/201, 707/203, 707/204, 709/227, 709/232, 709/236, 709/248
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/04 specially adapted for terminals or networks with limited capabilities; specially adapted for terminal portability
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99931 Database or file accessing
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99953 Recoverability

Abstract

Described is a method and system for downloading information to a mobile device. The system and method provide a mechanism for selectively identifying the type of information that can be downloaded to the mobile device. In one embodiment, the mechanism includes a user interface resident on the mobile device that allows user selection of the type of information. Alternatively, the mechanism includes a profile maintained on a server. The profile identifies the type of information, such as a file extension, that a particular mobile device supports. In addition, the type of information may be based on a file size associated with the information. Once the type of information is identified, the server downloads the identified type of information to the mobile device without downloading undesired types of information. Thus, the synchronization session is efficiently managed so that undesired information is not downloaded to the mobile device.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for synchronizing supported files between two devices, the method comprising:

sending, from a mobile device, a synchronization request to a synchronization server in order to initiate a synchronization session for at least one email message, wherein the synchronization request includes a user identifier and a header request, wherein the user identifier identifies a user registered to the synchronization server;

receiving, on the mobile device, headers of attachments from the synchronization server, wherein the headers indicate an attachment file type for attachments located on the synchronization server that are associated with the user registered to the synchronization server;

comparing the attachment file type indicated in the headers to a profile of the mobile device sending the synchronization request, wherein the profile includes a list of device types registered to the user identifier and a list of attachment file types supported by each respective device type registered to the user identifier, wherein the comparison includes;

obtaining a device type identifier of the mobile device, wherein the device type identifier identifies the type of mobile device sending the synchronization request,

identifying a device type in the list of device types of the profile that matches the obtained device type identifier of the mobile device sending the synchronization request, and

determining attachment file types located in the list of attachment file types of the profile that are supported by the matched device type;

sending a supported attachment request from the mobile device to the synchronization server, wherein the supported attachment request includes a request for attachment files located on the synchronization server that were determined as being supported by the matched device type located in the list of attachment file types of the profile; and

receiving, from the synchronization server, the attachment files located on the synchronization server that were determined as being supported by the matched device type located in the list of attachment file types of the profile.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein receiving filenames of attachments includes filenames of attachments according to Internet Message Access Protocol.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein sending a supported attachment request includes sending a fetch request.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein any attachment files located on the synchronization server that are not determined as being supported by the matched device type located in the list of attachment file types of the profile are not received on the mobile device.

5. A computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions for synchronizing supported files between devices without synchronizing unsupported files, the instructions comprising:

sending, from a mobile device, a synchronization request to a synchronization server in order to initiate a synchronization session for at least one email message, wherein the synchronization request includes a user identifier and a header request, wherein the user identifier identifies a user registered to the synchronization server;

receiving, on the mobile device, headers of attachments from the synchronization server, wherein the headers indicate an attachment file type for attachments located on the synchronization server that are associated with the user registered to the synchronization server;

comparing the attachment file type indicated in the headers to a profile of the mobile device sending the synchronization request, wherein the profile includes a list of device types registered to the user identifier and a list of attachment file types supported by each respective device type registered to the user identifier, wherein the comparison includes;

obtaining a device type identifier of the mobile device, wherein the device type identifier identifies the type of mobile device sending the synchronization request,

identifying a device type in the list of device types of the profile that matches the obtained device type identifier of the mobile device sending the synchronization request, and

determining attachment file types located in the list of attachment file types of the profile that are supported by the matched device type;

sending a supported attachment request from the mobile device to the synchronization server, wherein the supported attachment request includes a request for attachment files located on the synchronization server that were determined as being supported by the matched device type located in the list of attachment file types of the profile; and

receiving, from the synchronization server, the attachment files located on the synchronization server that were determined as being supported by the matched device type located in the list of attachment file types of the profile.

6. A method for determining supported files for synchronization between devices, the method comprising:

detecting a synchronization request, from a mobile device, to synchronize at least one email message, wherein the synchronization request includes a device model identifier that identifies a model of the mobile device associated with the synchronization request, wherein the request includes a user identifier that identifies a user registered to a synchronization server;

identifying email messages indicated by the user identifier that identifies the user registered to the synchronization server;

identifying attachment files associated with the identified email messages;

accessing a profile stored on the synchronization server that is implicated by the user identifier of the synchronization request, wherein the profile includes a list of a plurality of device model identifiers, wherein each of the device model identifiers are associated with a list of supported attachment file types;

comparing the device model identifier of the synchronization request to the profile that is implicated by the user identifier of the synchronization request, wherein the comparison includes;

identifying a device model identifier in the profile that matches the device model identifier of the synchronization request, and

determining attachment file types in the list of supported attachment file types of the profile that are implicated by the matched device model identifier of the synchronization request; and

sending, from the synchronization server for receiving on the mobile device, attachment files having the attachment file type determined by the matching in the list of supported file types of the profile.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein accessing the profile includes obtaining the profile from a storage.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein accessing the profile includes obtaining the profile from the detected synchronization request.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile is a table that includes device name data, device type data, and supported files data.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the profile includes maximum supported file size data.