Method and system for providing accessibility to electronic mail

• US 20030061288A1
• Filed: 09/24/2001
• Published: 03/27/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Schwerdtfeger, Richard Scott, Fairweather, Peter Gustav, Detweiler, Samuel R., Brown, Frances C., Tibbitts, Beth Rush, Crayne, Susan, Hanson, Vicki Lynne
• Granted Patent: US 7,093,029 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/066 Format adaptation, e.g. format conversion or compression
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/565 Conversion or adaptation of application format or content adding application control or application functional data H04L67/561
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]

Abstract

A method and system that provide an accessibility gateway to Internet e-mail through the use of a web intermediary server. The web intermediary server preferably includes server-generated applications for modifying accessibility settings for supported client devices, registering the user for authority to use the intermediary server services, and generating mail web pages capable of allowing access and use of the Internet mail server. A request for e-mail from any mail server is sent from the client device to the intermediary server. The intermediary server retrieves the requested e-mail from a mail server, transcodes the server-based e-mail into a web-based e-mail, and applies user-defined transformations to the e-mail for accessibility, which is then sent back to the client device. If the e-mail is from a secure mail server, the intermediary server functions as a proxy for the user device to establish the requisite secure connection with the mail server.

Claims

1. A method for providing accessibility to any network based electronic mail, said method comprising:

connecting a transcoding proxy machine and a mail application web server between a client device and a network based electronic mail server;

receiving at the mail application web server an electronic mail from the network based electronic mail server;

generating in the mail application web server a mail web page containing the retrieved electronic mail;

transcoding for accessibility, in the transcoding proxy machine, the mail web page according to at least one user-defined directive; and

sending the transcoded mail web page to any client device authorized by the user.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transcoding proxy machine and the electronic mail server are in different domains.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising transcoding the mail web page into a different format understood by the client device.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are connected by a secure connection.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering in a database in the proxy machine the specific user for a service providing the transcoding step in the proxy machine; and

allowing only a registered specific user to access the service.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving at the proxy machine a client device input from the client device;

identifying any client device input errors received by the proxy machine;

transcoding, in the proxy machine, the client device input into a transcoded client device input, wherein the client device input errors are corrected; and

sending the corrected client device input to the network based electronic mail server.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is an Internet.

8. A system for providing accessibility to any network based electronic mail, said system comprising:

means for connecting a transcoding proxy machine and a mail application web server between a client device and a network based electronic mail server;

means for receiving at the mail application web server an electronic mail from the network based electronic mail server;

means for generating in the mail application web server a mail web page containing the retrieved electronic mail;

means for transcoding for accessibility, in the transcoding proxy machine, the mail web page according to at least one user-defined directive; and

means for sending the transcoded mail web page to any client device authorized by the user.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are in different domains.

10. The system of claim 8, further comprising means for transcoding the mail web page into a different format understood by the client device.

11. The system of claim 8, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are connected by a secure connection.

12. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

means for registering in a database in the proxy machine the specific user for a service providing the transcoding step in the proxy machine; and

means for allowing only a registered specific user to access the service.

13. The system of claim 8, further comprising:

means for receiving at the proxy machine a client device input from the client device;

means for identifying any client device input errors received by the proxy machine;

means for transcoding, in the proxy machine, the client device input into a transcoded client device input, wherein the client device input errors are corrected; and

means for sending the corrected client device input to the network based electronic mail server.

14. The system of claim 8, wherein the network is an Internet.

15. A computer program product for providing accessibility to any network based electronic mail, said computer program product comprising:

computer program code for connecting a transcoding proxy machine and a mail application web server between a client device and a network based electronic mail server;

computer program code for receiving at the mail application web server an electronic mail from the network based electronic mail server;

computer program code for generating in the mail application web server a mail web page containing the retrieved electronic mail;

computer program code for transcoding for accessibility, in the transcoding proxy machine, the mail web page according to at least one user-defined directive; and

computer program code for sending the transcoded mail web page to any client device authorized by the user.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are in different domains.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising computer program code means for transcoding the mail web page into a different format understood by the client device.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are connected by a secure connection.

19. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer program code means for registering in a database in the proxy machine the specific user for a service providing the transcoding step in the proxy machine; and

computer program code means for allowing only a registered specific user to access the service.

20. The computer program product of claim 15, further comprising:

computer program code means for receiving at the proxy machine a client device input from the client device;

computer program code means for identifying any client device input errors received by the proxy machine;

computer program code means for transcoding, in the proxy machine, the client device input into a transcoded client device input, wherein the client device input errors are corrected; and

computer program code means for sending the corrected client device input to the network based electronic mail server.

21. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the network is an Internet.

22. A method of doing business to provide accessibility to any network based electronic mail, said method comprising:

providing a service for connecting a service-provided transcoding proxy machine and a mail application web server between a client device and a network based electronic mail server;

providing a service for receiving at the mail application web server an electronic mail from the network based electronic mail server;

providing a service for generating in the mail application web server a mail web page containing the retrieved electronic mail;

providing a service for transcoding for accessibility, in the transcoding proxy machine, the mail web page according to at least one user-defined directive; and

providing a service for sending the transcoded mail web page to any client device authorized by the user.

23. The business method of claim 22, wherein the mail application web server and the electronic mail server are in different domains.

24. The business method of claim 22, further comprising providing a service for transcoding the mail web page into a different format understood by the client device.

25. The business method of claim 22, wherein the proxy machine and the electronic mail server are connected by a secure connection.

26. The business method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing a service for registering in a database in the proxy machine the specific user for a service providing the transcoding step in the proxy machine; and

providing a service for allowing only a registered specific user to access the service.

27. The business method of claim 22, further comprising:

providing a service for receiving at the proxy machine a client device input from the client device;

providing a service for identifying any client device input errors received by the proxy machine;

providing a service for transcoding, in the proxy machine, the client device input into a transcoded client device input, wherein the client device input errors are corrected; and

providing a service for sending the corrected client device input to the network based electronic mail server.

28. The business method of claim 22, wherein the network is an Internet.

29. The business method of claim 22, wherein the mail application web server is service-provided.