Method and apparatus for processing electronic messages

• US 7,836,136 B1
• Filed: 07/31/2006
• Issued: 11/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Alfke, Jens Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Follansbee; John
• Assistant Examiner(s): Tran; Nghi V
• Application Number:
  US11/496,865
• Time in Patent Office: 1,569 Days
• Field of Search: 709/205, 709/206, 709/207
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/214 using selective forwarding

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for processing electronic messages are described herein. In one aspect of the invention, for an outgoing message addressed to a mail address of a recipient, the mail client determines whether is an alternative messaging system available to the mail address of the recipient. If there is an alternative messaging system available, the mail client determines whether the recipient'"'"'s alternative messaging system is online. If so, the mail client sends the mail message to the recipient via the alternative messaging system. Otherwise, the mail client sends the message via normal mail system. Other methods and apparatuses are also described.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method by a data processing system, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a message from a user, the message addressed to a receiving client through a particular delivery mechanism, determining, by the data processing system, at a local application associated with a sending client of the message, whether the receiving client associated with a delivery mechanism that is an alternative to the particular delivery mechanism is online at a remote site;

selecting, by the data processing system transparently to the user, at the local application, the delivery mechanism from a plurality of delivery mechanisms that can reach the receiving client if the receiving client is determined online at the remote site, the plurality of delivery mechanisms including the particular delivery mechanism;

sending, by the data processing system, the message including one or more electronic commands to a remote application via the selected delivery mechanism, wherein the electronic commands are to be executed by the remote application, wherein the message is forwarded from the receiving client to the remote application transparently relative to a user of the receiving client; and

receiving, by the data processing system, substantially instantly subsequent to sending the message, a confirmation via the selected delivery mechanism indicating whether the electronic commands have been executed successfully by the remote application.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the sending comprises:

forwarding the electronic commands to a delivery client application; and

sending, from the delivery client application, the electronic commands to a delivery server according to the selected delivery mechanism.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the forwarding comprises:

detecting if the delivery client application is running or not; and

launching the delivery client application if the delivery client application is not running.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the delivery client application and the local application are running from separate platforms, and wherein the forwarding is based on peer-to-peer communication.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of directly and substantially instantly delivering the electronic commands to the remote application, and wherein the selected delivery mechanism is capable of substantially instantly receiving a confirmation of arrival of the electronic commands at the remote site.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on an instant message (IM) protocol.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on a short message service (SMS) protocol.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the local application is a calendar application and wherein the application protocol is based on a mail protocol.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the remote application is associated with a mail address and wherein the selecting comprises looking up, in a database, an alternative address of the remote application used in the selected delivery mechanism based on the mail address associated with the remote application.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the selecting comprises determining whether the remote application is enabled with a capability to receive the electronic commands via the selected delivery mechanism.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 10, wherein the selecting further comprises determining whether the delivery client application is capable of receiving the electronic commands.

12. A computer-implemented method by a data processing system for processing an electronic command, the method comprising:

sending, by the data processing system, an online status from a client through a delivery mechanism;

receiving, by the data processing system if the online status indicates the client is online, an electronic message including an electronic command at the client from an originator over a network via the delivery mechanism, the electronic command received designated to an application communicably coupled to the client, and the electronic command being packaged inside the electronic message from the originator;

determining, at the client by the data processing system, which application the electronic message is designated to, the determination being transparently relative to a user of the client;

repackaging, by the data processing system, the electronic command from the electronic message for the designated application;

delivering, by the data processing system, the electronic command to the designated application for execution via an application programming interface (API); and

sending, by the data processing system, to the delivery mechanism, substantially instantly subsequent to receiving the electronic command, a confirmation indicating whether the execution of the electronic commands by the designated application is successful.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on a delivery protocol, and wherein the originator communicates with the designated application based on an application protocol are separate from the delivery protocol.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the determining is based on a signature tagged with the electronic message to designate the application.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, further comprising converting the electronic message to the electronic command to be executed by the designated application prior to the delivering.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the designated application is a scheduling application.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 12, wherein the delivering comprises:

detecting if the designated application is running or not;

launching the designated application if the designated application is not according to the detecting; and

establishing a connection between the client and the designated application for the delivering.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of directly substantially instantly delivering the electronic message to the client from the originator, and wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of substantially instantly sending a conformation of arrival of the electronic message at the client to the originator.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the delivery protocol is an instant messaging (IM) protocol.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 13, wherein the application protocol is based on mail protocol.

21. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method, the method comprising:

in response to receiving a message from a user, the message addressed to a receiving client through a particular delivery mechanism, determining, at a local application associated with a sending client of a message, whether a receiving client associated with a delivery mechanism that is an alternative to the particular delivery mechanism is online at a remote site;

selecting, by the data processing system transparently to the user, at the local application, the delivery mechanism from a plurality of delivery mechanisms that can reach the receiving client if the receiving client is determined online at the remote site, the plurality of delivery mechanisms including the particular delivery mechanism;

sending the message including one or more electronic commands to a remote application via the selected delivery mechanism, wherein the electronic commands are to be executed by the remote application, wherein the message is forwarded from the receiving client to the remote application transparently relative to a user of the receiving client; and

receiving, substantially instantly subsequent to sending the message, a confirmation via the selected delivery mechanism indicating whether the execution of the electronic commands by the remote application is successful.

22. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the sending comprises:

forwarding the electronic commands to a delivery client application; and

sending, from the delivery client application, the electronic commands to a delivery server according the selected delivery mechanism.

23. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the forwarding comprises:

detecting if the delivery client application is running or not; and

launching the delivery client application if the delivery client application is not running.

24. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the delivery client application and the local application are running from separate platforms and wherein the forwarding is based on peer-to-peer communication.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of directly and substantially instantly delivering the electronic commands to the remote application and wherein the selected delivery mechanism is capable of substantially instantly receiving a confirmation of arrival of the electronic commands at the remote site.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on an instant messaging (IM) protocol.

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on a short message service (SMS) protocol.

28. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 25, wherein the local application is a calendar application and wherein the application protocol is a mail protocol.

29. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein the remote application is associated with an mail address and wherein the selecting comprises looking up, in a database, an alternative address of the remote application used in the selected delivery mechanism based on the mail address associated with the remote application.

30. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein the selecting comprises determining whether the remote application is enabled with a capability to receive the electronic commands via the selected delivery mechanism.

31. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 30, wherein selecting further comprises determining whether the delivery client application is capable of receiving the electronic commands.

32. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium encoded with computer program instructions which when executed by a data processing system cause said system to perform a method for processing an electronic command, the method comprising:

sending an online status from a client through a delivery mechanism;

receiving, if the online status indicates the client is online, an electronic message including an electronic command at the client from an originator over a network through the delivery mechanism, the electronic command received designated to an application communicably coupled to the client, and the electronic command being packaged inside the electronic message from the originator;

determining, at the client, which application the electronic message is designated to, the determination being transparently relative to a user of the client;

repackaging the electronic command from the electronic message for the designated application;

delivering the electronic command to the designated application for execution via an application programming interface (API); and

sending to the delivery mechanism, substantially instantly subsequent to receiving the electronic command, a confirmation indicating whether the execution of the electronic commands by the designated application is successful.

33. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the delivery mechanism is based on a delivery protocol, and wherein the originator communicates with the designated application based on an application protocol separate from the delivery protocol.

34. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the determining is based on a signature tagged with the electronic message to designate the designated application.

35. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 32, further comprising converting the electronic message to the electronic command to be executed by the designated application prior to the delivering.

36. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the designated application is a scheduling application.

37. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 32, wherein the delivering comprises

detecting if the designated application is running or not;

launching the designated application if the designated application is not running based on the detecting; and

establishing a connection between the client and the designated application, wherein the API is based on the connection.

38. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of directly and substantially instantly delivering the electronic message to the client from the originator and wherein the delivery mechanism is capable of substantially instantly sending a confirmation of arrival of the electronic message at the client to the originator.

39. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein the delivery protocol is an instant messaging (IM) protocol.

40. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 33, wherein the application protocol is a mail protocol.

41. A data processing system comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions;

a network interface for a delivery mechanism; and

a processor coupled to the network interface and the memory to execute the executable instructions from the memory for operating the remote application, the processor being configured to

determine, in response to receiving a message from a user, the message addressed to a receiving client through a particular delivery mechanism, at a local application associated with a sending client of the message, whether the receiving client associated with a delivery mechanism that is an alternative to the particular delivery mechanism is online at a remote site,

select, transparently to the user, at the local application, the delivery mechanism from a plurality of delivery mechanisms that can reach the receiving client if the receiving client is determined online at the remote site, the plurality of delivery mechanism including the particular delivery mechanism,

send the message including one or more electronic commands to a remote application via the selected delivery mechanism, wherein the electronic commands are to be executed by the remote application, wherein the message is forwarded from the receiving client to the remote application transparently relative to a user of the receiving client, and

receive, substantially instantly subsequent to sending the message, a confirmation via the selected delivery mechanism indicating whether the execution of the electronic commands by the remote application is successful.

42. A data processing system for processing an electronic command, the data processing system comprising:

a memory storing executable instructions;

a network interface for a delivery mechanism; and

a processor coupled to the network interface and the memory to execute the executable instructions from the memory for operating the remote application, the processor being configured to

send an online status from a client through the delivery mechanism,

receive, if online status indicates the delivery is online, an electronic message including an electronic command at the client from an originator over a network through the delivery mechanism, the electronic command received designated to an application communicably coupled to the client, and the electronic command being packaged inside the electronic message from the originator,

determine, at the client, which application the electronic message is designated to, the determination being transparently relative to a user of the client,

repackage the electronic command from the electronic message for the designated application, deliver the electronic command to the designated application for execution via an application programming interface (API), and

send to the delivery mechanism, substantially instantly subsequent to receiving the electronic command, a confirmation indicating whether the execution of the electronic commands by the designated application is successful.