ARCHITECTURE FOR A HIERCHICAL FOLDER STRUCTURE IN HAND-HELD COMPUTERS

• US 20020099719A1
• Filed: 09/28/1999
• Published: 07/25/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 09/28/1999
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: SCHWITTERS, CHAD A., ROMAN, SHERMAN
• Granted Patent: US 6,526,413 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/10 File systems; File servers
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/956 Hierarchical
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A method of operating a hand-held computer including a database and a data port for communications with a server, the database including a plurality of records that correspond to a folder data structure. The method comprises searching the database for an available folder ID; creating a folder, the folder having a data structure being stored as a record in the database and including folder ID field, a parent folder ID field, and a folder name field, the available folder ID being stored in the folder ID field; and repeating searching and creating thereby creating a plurality of folders, wherein the value stored in the folder ID field for one folder equals the value stored in the parent folder ID field for another folder, thereby creating a parent/child relationship between the folders.

Claims

1. A computer-readable medium in a hand-held computer apparatus, the computer readable medium containing a message store configured to include a hierarchical structure of mail folders, the hierarchical structure of mail folders including a plurality of folders, the computer-readable medium having stored thereon a data structure comprising:

a first folder data structure containing data representing a first folder ID, the first folder

ID corresponding to a first folder; and

a second folder data structure containing data representing a second folder ID, the second

folder ID corresponding to a second folder, the first folder ID being a parent of the

second folder ID within the hierarchical structure of mail folders.

2. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein each folder data structure contains identical fields.

3. The computer readable medium of claim 1 wherein each folder is identified by a folder ID and each folder ID is a 16-bit binary value.

4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1 wherein the hierarchical structure of folders comprises:

a default folder hierarchy, the default folder hierarchy containing at least one folder; and

a non-default folder hierarchy, the non-default folder hierarchy containing at least one

folder.

5. The computer-readable medium of claim 4 wherein the folder ID for each folder in the default hierarchy has a binary value less than or equal to 255.

6. The computer-readable medium of claim 5 wherein the hand-held computer apparatus synchronizes messages between the hand-held computer and a mail server, the hand-held computer including a flat folder structure, each folder within the flat folder structure being identified with an 8-bit folder ID, the message data structure including:

a first data field corresponding to a folder ID;

a second data field corresponding to flags, the flags including 8 bits corresponding to an

8-bit folder ID of the flat folder structure.

7. The computer-readable medium of claim 6 wherein:

when the value of the mail store folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or less

than 255, the value of the flag folder ID equals the mail store folder ID; and

when the value of the mail store folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or

greater than 256, the value of the flag folder ID equals the predetermined value,

the predetermined value representing a predetermined simulated folder in the

default folder hierarchy of the hand-held computer message store.

8. A hand-held computer apparatus including a data port for data communication with a server, the server containing an object store, the hand-held computer apparatus comprising:

a folder module creating a hierarchical structure of folders, including at least first and

second folders, the first folder being a parent of the second folder, each folder

having a folder data structure, each folder data structure including a folder ID field

and a folder name field; and

a message module creating a database of messages, each message having a message data

structure, each message data structure having a folder ID field corresponding to

data that identifies a folder in the hierarchical structure.

9. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 8 wherein the messages are e-mail messages.

10. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 8 wherein the folder data structure created by the folder module comprises:

a first 16-bit field for containing a first unique folder ID, the first unique folder ID identifying a first folder; and

a second 16-bit field for containing a second unique folder ID, the second unique folder

ID identifying a second folder thereby establishing a parent/child relationship

between the second folder and the first folder.

11. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 10 wherein the folder module creates a server folder ID field in each data structure and stores a server folder ID in the server folder ID field, the server folder ID identifying a server folder corresponding to the device folder.

12. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 11 wherein the folder module creates two or more hierarchical structures of folders including:

a default folder hierarchy, the default folder hierarchy containing at least one folder; and

a non-default folder hierarchy, the non-default folder hierarchy containing at least one

folder.

13. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 11, the message store on the hand-held computer including a flat folder structure and each folder within the flat folder structure being identified with an 8-bit folder ID, wherein:

the message data structures further include a flag field corresponding to data identifying a

plurality of flags, the flags including an 8-bit folder ID, the 8-bit folder ID

corresponding to a folder in the flat folder structure; and

the hand-held computer apparatus further comprises a synch manager synchronizing the

hierarchical folder structure and the messages with the server object store.

14. The hand-held computer apparatus of claim 13 wherein:

when value of the folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or less than 255, the message module assigns a value to the flag folder ID equal to the folder ID; and

when the value of the folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or greater than

256, the message module assigns a value to the flag folder ID equal to a

predetermined value, the predetermined value representing a predetermined

simulated folder in the hand-held computer message store.

15. The hand-held computer of claim 8 wherein the message and folder modules save messages and folder data structures, respectively, in different databases.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein creating a database of folders and creating a database of messages includes creating two separate databases.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein the messages are e-mail messages.

19. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 16.

20. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave readable by a hand-held computer apparatus and encoding computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 16.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

synchronizing the message store in the hand-held computer with the message store on a

mail server;

receiving a message from the object store of the server; and

associating the message with a folder wherein the folder ID in the message data structure

for the message matches the folder ID in the folder data structure of the folder.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein creating a hierarchical structure of folders comprises creating two or more hierarchical folder structures, such that:

one of the hierarchical folder structures is a default folder hierarchy containing at least

one folder; and

one of the hierarchical folder structures is a non-default folder hierarchy containing at

least one folder.

23. The method of claim 22 wherein:

the message store in the hand-held computer contains a flat folder structure and each

folder within the flat folder structure is identified with an 8-bit folder ID;

the message data structure has a flag data field, the flag data field including 8 bits corresponding to an 8-bit folder ID of the flat folder structure; and

the method further comprises transmitting a message from the database of messages to

the object store in the server, the message data structure for the message including

a folder ID.

24. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

when value of the folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or less than 255,

assigning a value to the flag folder ID equal to the mail store folder ID; and

when the value of the folder ID in the message data structure is equal to or greater than

256, assigning a value to the flag folder ID equal to a predetermined value, the

predetermined value representing a predetermined simulated folder in the hand-held

computer message store, the predetermined simulated folder used for

backward compatibility purposes.

25. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 24.

26. A computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave readable by a hand-held computer apparatus and encoding computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 24.

28. The method of claim 27 further comprising storing a predetermined value in the parent ID field for at least one of the folders, the predetermined value indicating that the folder is a root folder for a hierarchical structure of folders and does not have a parent folder.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein storing a predetermined value in the parent ID field for at least one of the folders, includes storing a predetermined value in the parent ID field for two or more of the folders, the predetermined values indicating that each of the two or more folders is a root folder for a separate hierarchical structure of folders and does not have a parent folder.

30. The method of claim 28 wherein the database is configured to store a plurality of records, each record storing a different value in the folder ID field, the values of the folder ID being sequentially assigned to folders and stored in the database, further wherein searching the database for an available folder ID comprises:

searching the database for a record having a predetermined value stored in the folder ID

field;

when the predetermined value is found, sequentially searching the database for a record

having a next higher folder ID value; and

when the search fails to find a record having the folder ID value requested by the search,

assigning the requested folder ID value to the folder.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the predetermined value is 0.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the predetermined value is 256.

33. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 27.

35. The method of claim 34 further comprising:

storing a predetermined value in the parent ID field for the default root folder;

storing the predetermined value in the parent ID folder for one of the plurality of folders;

and

wherein the predetermined value indicates that the folders are root folders, each root

folder forming a root for a hierarchical structure of folders, and each root folder

does not have a parent folder.

36. The method of claim 35 further comprising creating an Inbox folder, storing a hard coded value in the Inbox folder'"'"'s folder ID field, and storing a parent value in the Inbox folder'"'"'s parent ID field, the parent value being equal to the value stored in the default root folder'"'"'s folder ID field.

37. The method of claim 35 wherein the database further comprises a plurality of records that correspond to message data structures, each message stored in the database having a separate message data structure, each message data structure having a folder ID field, the value stored in the folder ID field providing a cross-reference to a database record corresponding to a folder database structure, the method further comprising:

creating an “

Embedded”

folder and storing a hard coded value in the “

Embedded”

folder'"'"'s folder ID field and storing a parent value in the “

Embedded”

folder'"'"'s parent ID field, the parent value being equal to the value stored in the default root folder'"'"'s folder ID field; and

when an e-mail message is embedded in another e-mail message, storing a value in the

folder ID field for the embedded message'"'"'s message data structure, the value

being equal to the value stored in the “

Embedded”

folder'"'"'s folder ID field.

38. The method of claim 35 wherein each record for a folder data structure in the database stores a different value in the folder ID field, the values of the folder ID being sequentially assigned to folders and stored in the database, further wherein searching the database for an available folder ID comprises:

searching the database for a record having a predetermined value stored in the folder ID

field;

when the predetermined value is found, sequentially searching the database for a record

having a next higher folder ID value; and

when the search fails to find a record having the folder ID value requested by the search,

assigning the requested folder ID value to the newly created folder.

39. The method of claim 35 wherein the predetermined value stored in the folder ID field is 0, the newly created folder has a value between 0 and 255 stored in the folder ID field, and the newly created folder is within the default folder hierarchy.

40. The method of claim 35 wherein the predetermined value stored in the folder ID field is 256, the newly created folder has a value greater than or equal to 256 stored in the folder ID field, and the newly created folder is within a folder hierarchy other than the default folder hierarchy.

16. A method of operating a hand-held computer, the hand-held computer including a data port for data communications with a server, the server containing an object store, the method comprising:

creating a hierarchical structure of folders, including at least first and second folders, the

first folder being a parent of the second folder, each folder having a folder data

structure, each folder data structure including a field corresponding to a folder ID

and a folder name;

creating a database of folders; and

creating a database of messages, each message having a message data structure, each

message data structure having a field corresponding to a folder ID that identifies a

folder in the hierarchical structure.

27. A method of operating a hand-held computer including a database and a data port for communications with a server, the database including a plurality of records that correspond to a folder data structure, the method comprising:

searching the database for an available folder ID;

creating a folder, the folder having a data structure being stored as a record in the

database and including folder ID field, a parent folder ID field, and a folder name

field, the available folder ID being stored in the folder ID field; and

repeating searching and creating thereby creating a plurality of folders, wherein the value

stored in the folder ID field for one folder equals the value stored in the parent

folder ID field for another folder, thereby creating a parent/child relationship

between the folders.

34. A method of operating a hand-held computer, the hand-held computer including a database and a data port for communications with a server, the database including a plurality of records that correspond to a folder data structure, each folder structure including a folder ID field, a parent folder ID field, and a name field, the method comprising:

creating a default root folder and storing a hard-coded value in the default root folder'"'"'s

folder ID field;

searching the database for an available folder ID;

creating a folder and storing the available folder ID in the folder ID field; and

repeating searching the database and creating a folder, thereby creating a plurality of

folders, wherein the value stored in the folder ID field for one folder equals the

value stored in the parent folder ID field for another folder, thereby creating a

parent/child relationship between the folders.

41. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method set forth in claim 34.