Synchronization in unified messaging systems

• US 8,285,267 B2
• Filed: 10/20/2011
• Issued: 10/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/02/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Original Assignee: RingCentral Incorporated
• Inventors: Vendrow, Vlad, Shmunis, Vlad
• Primary Examiner(s): Mizrahi, Diane
• Application Number:
  US13/277,950
• Publication Number:
  US 20120039449A1
• Time in Patent Office: 355 Days
• Field of Search: 455/416, 455/414.1, 379/93.24, 379/88.13, 379/100.08, 709/206, 709/218, 714/20, 718/104, 726/26
• US Class Current: 455/416
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/65 Recording arrangements for recording a message from the calling party in the exchange H04M3/50
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/5315 where the non-audio components are still images or video still image mailbox systems H04N1/324, intermediate storage of video signals for videophones H04N7/147
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/533 Voice mail systems

Abstract

In one embodiment, a HTTP connection is established from a phone that serves as a client to a server that maintains a mailbox. The mailbox includes fax messages each having properties that indicate a sender and a state that indicates at least a status of read or unread. The phone that serves as the client permits a user to view one or more of the fax messages. The states of fax messages at the server are received at the phone that serves as the client using the HTTP connection. The states of corresponding fax messages are identified at the phone that serves as the client. One or more synchronization actions are performed to synchronize the states of fax messages at the server and the states of the corresponding fax messages at the phone that serves as the client.

Claims

1. A method, comprising,

causing a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connection to be established between a phone of a user that serves as a client and a server that maintains a mailbox associated with the user, the mailbox to include one or more fax messages each having properties that indicate a sender of the fax message and a state that indicates at least a status of read or unread for the fax message, the phone that serves as the client to permit the user to view the one or more fax messages included in the mailbox;

using the HTTP connection to receive, at the phone that serves as the client, data that identifies states of the one or more fax messages at the server;

identifying states of one or more corresponding fax messages at the phone that serves as the client; and

performing, by a synchronization application executed on one or more processors, one or more synchronization actions using the HTTP connection to synchronize the states of the one or more fax messages at the server and the states of the one or more corresponding fax messages at the phone that serves as the client, the one or more synchronization actions comprising;

when the state of a fax message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of read, cause the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a fax message at the phone that serves as the client has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of the fax message at the server indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the fax message at the server to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the mailbox further includes one or more voicemail messages, the phone that serves as the client permits the user to access the one or more voicemail messages included in the mailbox, the HTTP connection is further used to receive states of the one or more voicemail messages at the server, the identifying further identifies states of one or more corresponding voicemail messages at the phone that serves as the client, and the one or more synchronization actions further comprising:

when the state of a voicemail message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of the voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of the voicemail message at the server indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message at the server to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more synchronization actions further comprise:

when a new fax message has been added at the server, cause the new fax message to be added at the phone that serves as the client,

when a new fax message has been added at the phone that serves as the client, cause the new fax message to be added at the server,

when an existing fax message has been deleted at the server, cause the existing fax message to be deleted at the phone that serves as the client, and

when an existing fax message has been deleted at the phone that serves as the client, cause the existing fax message to be deleted at the server.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more synchronization actions further comprise:

when the state of a fax message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of unread, and the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of read, cause the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of unread.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of one or more fax messages has a corresponding index and the method further comprises:

performing a discrepancy assessment that includes comparing the status of any of the one or more fax messages at the server to the status of any of the one or more fax messages at the phone that serves as the client that have a same index; and

using the discrepancy assessment to determine the one or more synchronization actions.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

creating a list of synchronization actions,

wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions performs one or more synchronization actions of the list of synchronization actions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions further comprises:

generating a unique identifier (ID) for the one or more synchronization actions that is saved at both the server and at the phone that serves as the client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions further comprises:

transferring to the server a unique identifier (ID) that was generated in a prior synchronization and was stored at the phone that serves as the client; and

proceeding with the one or more synchronization actions provided the unique ID stored at the phone that serves as the client corresponds to a unique ID stored at the server.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions is in response to a state change from offline to online at the phone that serves as the client.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein local copies of the one or more corresponding fax messages are stored at the phone that serves as the client.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more synchronization actions cause the state of the fax message at the server to be changed to also indicate the status of read by sending a request to the server to change the state of the fax message at the server.

12. A method, comprising,

causing a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connection to be established between a client embodied as a phone and a server that maintains a mailbox associated with the user, the mailbox storing one or more voicemail messages and one or more fax messages for the user, each of the one or more voicemail messages and the one fax messages having properties that indicate a source of the voicemail message or the fax message and a state that indicates a status of read or unread for the voicemail message or the fax message, the client embodied as a phone to permit the user to access the one or more voicemail messages and the one or more fax messages included in the mailbox;

using the HTTP connection to receive, at the client embodied as the phone, data identifying states of the one or more voicemail messages and the one or more fax messages at the server;

identifying states of one or more corresponding voicemail messages and one or more corresponding fax messages at the client embodied as the phone; and

performing, at least in part by one or more processors executing one or more computer programs, one or more synchronization actions using the HTTP connection to synchronize the states of the one or more voicemail messages and the one or more fax messages at the client embodied as the phone and the states of the one or more corresponding voicemail messages and the one or more fax messages at the server, the one or more synchronization actions comprising;

when a new voicemail message or fax message has been added at the server since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the new voicemail message or fax message to be added at the client embodied as the phone,

when a new voicemail message or fax message has been added at the client embodied as the phone since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the new voicemail message or fax message to be added at the server,

when the state of a voicemail message or fax message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of read since one or more last synchronization actions, and the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client embodied as the phone indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client embodied as the phone to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a voicemail message or fax message at the client embodied as the phone has been changed to indicate a status of read since one or more last synchronization actions, and the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the server indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the server to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

13. The method of claim 12, the one or more synchronization actions further comprising:

when an existing voicemail message or fax message has been deleted at the server since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the existing voicemail message or fax message to be deleted at the client embodied as the phone, and

when an existing voicemail message or fax message has been deleted at the client embodied as the phone since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the existing voicemail message or fax message to be deleted at the server.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the one or more synchronization actions further comprise:

when the state of a voicemail message or fax message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of unread since one or more last synchronization actions, and the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client embodied as the phone indicates a status of read, cause the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client embodied as the phone to be changed to also indicate the status of unread.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the one or more fax messages and the one or more voicemail messages has a corresponding index and the method further comprises:

comparing the status of any of the one or more voicemail messages and any of the one or more fax messages at the server to the status of any of the one or more voicemail messages and any of the one or more fax messages at the client embodied as the phone that have a same index; and

using the comparing to determine the one or more synchronization actions.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions further comprises:

generating a unique identifier (ID) for the one or more synchronization actions that is saved at both the server and the client embodied as the phone.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions further comprises:

transferring to the server a unique identifier (ID) that was generated in a prior synchronization and was stored at the client embodied as the phone; and

proceeding with the one or more synchronization actions provided the unique ID stored at the client embodied as the phone corresponds to a unique ID stored at the server.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the performing one or more synchronization actions is in response to a state change from offline to online at the client embodied as the phone.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein local copies of the one or more corresponding voicemail messages and the one or more corresponding fax messages are stored at the client embodied as the phone.

20. A non-transitory machine-readable storage device containing one or more computer programs, the one or more computer programs, when executed by one or more processors, operable to:

cause one or more Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connections to be established between a client and a server that maintains a mailbox associated with a user, the mailbox to include voicemail messages and fax messages each having properties that indicate a sender of the voicemail message or fax message and a state that indicates at least a status of read or unread for the voicemail message or fax message;

permit the user to view through a single user interface at the client the voicemail messages and fax messages as well as respective states of the voicemail messages and fax messages;

identify states of the voicemail messages and fax messages at the server;

identify states of corresponding voicemail messages and fax messages at the client; and

use the one or more HTTP connections to the server, to perform one or more synchronization actions to synchronize the states of the voicemail messages and fax messages at the server and the states of the corresponding voicemail messages and fax messages at the client, the one or more synchronization actions comprising;

when a new voicemail message or fax message has been added at the server since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the new voicemail message or fax message to be added at the client,

when a new voicemail message or fax message has been added at the client since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the new voicemail message or fax message to be added at the server,

when the state of a voicemail message or fax message at the server has been changed to indicate a status of read since one or more last synchronization actions, and the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the client to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a voicemail message or fax message at the client has been changed to indicate a status of read since one or more last synchronization actions, and the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the server indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the voicemail message or fax message at the server to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device containing one or more computer programs of claim 20, the one or more synchronization actions comprising:

when an existing voicemail message or fax message has been deleted at the server since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the existing voicemail message or fax message to be deleted at the client, and

when an existing voicemail message or fax message has been deleted at the client since one or more last synchronization actions, cause the existing voicemail message or fax message to be deleted at the server.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage device containing one or more computer programs of claim 20, wherein the one or more computer programs that, when executed by the one or more processors, are operable to identify states of voicemail messages and fax messages at the server are further, when executed by the one or more processors, operable to send a request from the client to the server and receive a response from the server that indicates the states of voicemail messages and fax messages at the server.

23. A message synchronization system comprising:

one or more server computing devices comprising one or more processors, one or more first non-transitory computer-readable storage media, and one or more second non-transitory computer-readable storage media;

the one or more first non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing a plurality of fax messages associated with a user, each fax message of the plurality of stored fax messages having properties that indicate a sender of the each fax message and a status of read or unread for the each fax message; and

the one or more second non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, causes performance of a method comprising;

causing one or more Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) connections to be established between a phone that serves as a client and one or more of the server computing devices;

identifying states of the plurality of fax messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media;

identifying states of corresponding fax messages at the phone that serves as the client; and

using the one or more HTTP connections to perform one or more synchronization actions to synchronize the states of the plurality of fax messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media and the states of the corresponding fax messages at the phone that serves as the client, the one or more synchronization actions comprising;

when the state of a fax message of the plurality of fax messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of a corresponding fax message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the corresponding fax message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a fax message at the phone that serves as the client has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of a corresponding fax message of the plurality of fax messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the corresponding fax message of the plurality of fax messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more first non-transitory computer-readable storage media further store voicemail messages, the method further comprising:

identifying states of the voicemail messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media;

identifying states of corresponding voicemail messages at the phone that serves as the client; and

using the one or more HTTP connections to perform one or more synchronization actions to synchronize the states of the voicemail messages stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media and the states of the corresponding voicemail messages at the phone that serves as the client, the one or more voicemail messages synchronization actions comprising;

when the state of a voicemail message stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of a corresponding voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the corresponding voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of read, and

when the state of a voicemail message at the phone that serves as the client has been changed to indicate a status of read, and the state of a corresponding voicemail message stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media indicates a status of unread, cause the state of the corresponding voicemail message stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media to be changed to also indicate the status of read.

25. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more synchronization actions further comprise:

when a new fax message has been stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media, cause the new fax message to be stored at the phone that serves as the client;

when a new fax message has been stored at the phone that serves as the client, cause the new fax message to be stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media;

when an existing fax message has been deleted from the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media, cause the existing fax message at the phone that serves as the client to be deleted; and

when an existing fax message has been deleted at the phone that serves as the client, cause the existing fax message stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media to be deleted.

26. The system of claim 23, wherein the one or more synchronization actions further comprise:

when the state of a fax message stored on the first non-transitory computer-readable storage media has been changed to indicate a status of unread, and the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client indicates a status of read, cause the state of the fax message at the phone that serves as the client to be changed to also indicate the status of unread.

27. The system of claim 23, the method further comprising generating a unique identifier (ID) that is saved at both the server and the phone.

28. The system of claim 23, further comprising the client, the client comprising one or more processors and logic encoded in one or more third non-transitory computer-readable media which, when executed by the one or more processors of the client, causes the client to perform permitting the user to view, through a single user interface at the client, one or more fax messages and the synchronized state of the one or more fax messages.