Provisioning of e-mail settings for a mobile terminal

• US 20060277265A1
• Filed: 11/30/2005
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/03/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks International Oy (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Heinonen, Jussi, Salorinne, Seppo, Vuornos, Lauri, Backholm, Ari, Ketonen, Marko
• Granted Patent: US 8,116,214 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

Method and apparatus for provisioning an e-mail service to a mobile terminal in an e-mail system that uses e-mail addresses comprising a domain part. The apparatus maintains a list of good setting parameter sets versus e-mail domain parts. It receives an e-mail address and user authentication information from a user and compares the domain part of the received address with domain parts in the list of good parameter sets. If a match is found, e-mail service is provisioned with the matching parameter set. If no match is found, the apparatus requests and receives further parameters from the user, including an e-mail server address, and provisions the e-mail service with the further parameters. If the provisioning with the further parameters is successful, the domain part and the further parameters are used to generate a new setting parameter set in the list of good setting parameter sets.

Claims

1. A method for provisioning an e-mail service to a mobile terminal in an e-mail system that uses e-mail addresses, wherein each e-mail address comprises a domain part, the method comprising:

a) maintaining a list of good setting parameter sets, wherein each good setting parameter set relates to a domain part of an e-mail address;

b) requesting and receiving an e-mail address and a user authentication information from a user of the mobile terminal, wherein the e-mail address comprises a domain part;

c) comparing the domain part of the e-mail address received from the user with domain parts in the list of good setting parameter sets;

d) if a match is found in step c), provisioning the e-mail service to the mobile terminal with the setting parameter set that produced the match;

e) if no match is found in step c), requesting and receiving further parameters from the user, the further parameters including at least an address of an e-mail server, and provisioning the e-mail service to the mobile terminal with the further parameters;

f) if the provisioning in step e) is successful, using the domain part and the further parameters to generate a new setting parameter set in the list of good setting parameter sets.

2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising:

keeping track of a failure measure of the provisioning in step e); and

if the failure measure exceeds a predetermined threshold, marking the corresponding domain part as bad; and

wherein

the provisioning in step c) is only performed if the domain part received from the user is not is not marked as bad.

3. A method according to claim 1, further comprising maintaining a list of alternative setting parameter sets for one or more domain parts.

4. A method according to claim 1, further comprising automatically determining at least part of the authentication information from the e-mail address.

5. A method according to claim 1, further comprising maintaining a set of domain-specific instructions to be displayed to the user.

6. A method according to claim 1, further comprising testing the provisioning in step d) and/or e), wherein the testing comprises sending a test message using the provisioned e-mail service and attempting to read the test message.

8. Software for a data processor embodied in a carrier, the software comprising program instructions for carrying out the steps of claim 1 when the software is executed in the data processor.

7. An apparatus for provisioning an e-mail service to a mobile terminal in an e-mail system that uses e-mail addresses, wherein each e-mail address comprises a domain part;

the apparatus comprising;

a list of good setting parameter sets, wherein each good setting parameter set relates to a domain part of an e-mail address;

user interface means for requesting and receiving an e-mail address and a user authentication information from a user of the mobile terminal, wherein the e-mail address comprises a domain part;

comparison means for comparing the domain part of the e-mail address received from the user with domain parts in the list of good setting parameter sets and for finding matching setting parameter set;

user interface means for requesting and receiving further parameters from the user if no matching setting parameter set exists, the further parameters including at least an address of an e-mail server,

provisioning means coupled to the comparison means for provisioning the e-mail service to the mobile terminal with said matching setting parameter set and for provisioning the e-mail service to the mobile terminal with the further parameters if no matching setting parameter set exists;

setting generation means for generating a new setting parameter set in the list of good setting parameter sets based on the domain part and the further parameters, if said provisioning with the further parameters is successful.