Direct access electronic mail (email) distribution and synchronization system with out-of-coverage notification

• US 8,407,298 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2008
• Issued: 03/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/13/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Kamat, Harshad N., Virk, Sarinder
• Primary Examiner(s): SERRAO, RANODHI N
• Application Number:
  US12/023,079
• Publication Number:
  US 20080256204A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,881 Days
• Field of Search: 709/206, 709/219, 455/412.1
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

A communications system includes a network engine that communicates with a plurality of user subscribed mobile wireless communications devices and operative for determining when a mobile wireless communications device is out-of-coverage or turned off and unable to communicate with the network engine. A direct access server is operative with the network engine and polls electronic mailboxes of the users and retrieves electronic messages from the electronic mailboxes and pushes any electronic messages through the network engine to selected user subscribed mobile wireless communications devices. The direct access server suspends polling of those electronic mailboxes of a user when a mobile wireless communications device associated with a user has been determined to be out-of-coverage or turned off and unable to communicate so as to preserve polling resources within the direct access server.

Claims

1. A communications system, comprising:

a network engine that communicates with a plurality of user subscribed mobile wireless communications devices; and

a direct access server comprising at least one hardware device having a processor and a data store storing data regarding electronic mailboxes of different users and configured to;

operate with the network engine to poll electronic mailboxes of different users, retrieve electronic messages from the electronic mailboxes and push any electronic messages through the network engine to selected user subscribed mobile wireless communications devices;

suspend polling of those electronic mailboxes of a particular user when a mobile wireless communications device associated with that particular user is determined to be out-of-coverage; and

periodically poll the network engine for out-of-coverage status of the mobile wireless communications device to determine when a previously out-of-coverage mobile wireless communications device is now in-coverage.

2. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said network engine further comprises a worker module that accepts email from the direct access server and any mail routers and formats email for communication across a communications network and a relay module that receives messages from the worker module and pushes the messages to mobile wireless communications devices through the communications network.

3. The communications system according to claim 2, wherein said relay module is operative for pushing back messages to the worker module when a mobile wireless communications device is out-of-coverage or turned-off and messages cannot be pushed to such device.

4. The communications system according to claim 3, wherein said relay module pushes back messages to a worker module on a per message basis such that every message the worker submits to the relay module can be pushed back to the worker module.

5. The communications system according to claim 3, wherein said worker module is operative for maintaining a record of the number of messages pushed back from the relay module and determining from the number of pushed back messages whether the mobile wireless communications device in which intended messages have been pushed back is out-of-coverage.

6. The communications system according to claim 2, wherein said direct access server comprises a proxy through which messages are delivered to or retrieved from the worker.

7. The communications system according to claim 6, wherein said proxy is configured to poll mailboxes.

8. The communications system according to claim 7, wherein said network engine is configured to validate access settings to a mailbox.

9. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said network engine is operative for sending an out-of-coverage or in-coverage flag to the direct access server indicating that the mobile wireless communications device to which emails are intended is out-of-coverage or turned-off.

10. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said direct access server is operative to resume polling of those electronic mailboxes to which polling has been suspended when the associated mobile wireless communications device of the user is in-coverage or turned on and able to resume communications.

11. The communications system according to claim 1, and further comprising a HTML proxy configured to provide an HTML user interface for users to manage their accounts.

12. The communications system according to claim 1, and further comprising a WAP proxy configured to provide a WML and XHTML user interface.

13. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said direct access server comprises a data store that stores system wide data related to sites/carriers and mailbox providers.

14. The communications system according to claim 1, wherein said direct access server comprises a data store that stores system wide data related to devices and user accounts.

15. The communications system according to claim 1, and further comprising a directory configured to assign, locate and distribute users and associated workloads across service instances.