SYSTEM AND METHOD OF POLLING ELECTRONIC MAILBOXES

• US 20070136464A1
• Filed: 02/23/2007
• Published: 06/14/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: TeamOn Systems Incorporated (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Roy, Shaibal, GORTY, Suryanarayana
• Granted Patent: US 7,788,331 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages

Abstract

A communications system includes a polling agent that can be part of a mobile office platform for polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages. A database stores the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling operation. The polling agent is operative for polling the electronic mailbox and retrieving only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available.

Claims

1-33. -33. (canceled)

34. A communications system comprising:

a database for storing unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) resulting from a polling operation; and

a polling agent operative for determining a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold such that if the threshold is exceeded, the polling agent polls the electronic mailbox and retrieves UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, said polling agent also operative for shortening a polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time.

35. A communications system according to claim 34, wherein said polling agent is operative for retrieving a webpage that contains a list of most recent messages retrieved within the electronic mailbox.

36. A communications system according to claim 34, wherein said polling agent is operative for issuing a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID'"'"'s of messages on a mail server.

37. A communications system comprising:

a wireless communications device having a mail user agent; and

a mobile office platform operative with the mail user agent for accessing one or more electronic mailboxes of the mail user agent using a plurality of protocol specific connectors, said mobile office platform including a polling agent for polling an electronic mailbox of the mail user agent to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages, and a database for storing the UID'"'"'s resulting from the polling, wherein said polling agent is operative for determining a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold such that if the threshold is exceeded, the polling agent polls the electronic mailbox and retrieves only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, said polling agent also operative for shortening a polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time.

38. A communications system according to claim 37, wherein said mail user agent is operative for accessing the mobile office platform using a POP, IMAP or webmail protocol.

39. A communications system according to claim 37, wherein said plurality of protocol specific connectors comprises a POP connector for accessing POP mailboxes, an IMAP connector for accessing IMAP mailboxes, or a connector for accessing mail from an Exchange server.

40. A communications system according to claim 37, wherein said polling agent is operative for retrieving a webpage that contains a list of most recent messages retrieved within the electronic mailbox.

41. A communications system according to claim 37, wherein said polling agent is operative for issuing a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID'"'"'s of messages on a mail server.

42. A method of polling electronic mailboxes comprising the step of:

polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID'"'"'s) of electronic messages; and

determining a total number of electronic messages on a mail server and comparing to a threshold such that if the threshold is exceeded, retrieving only those UID'"'"'s that are newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available, and shortening the polling interval of the electronic mailbox when there is recent activity within the electronic mailbox to provide electronic mail to a user in near real-time.

43. A method according to claim 42, wherein the step of polling further comprises the step of issuing a unique identifier listing (UIDL) command.

44. A method according to claim 42, wherein the step of polling further comprises the step of retrieving the UID of the most recent message received on a mail server.

45. A method according to claim 42, and further comprising the step of checking if the retrieved UID of the most recent message is contained within a database of UID'"'"'s obtained from previous polls as indicative that no new messages have been received.

46. A method according to claim 42, and further comprising the step of storing within a database a record of the UID'"'"'s.

47. A method according to claim 42, and further comprising the step of storing the UID for a plurality of source electronic mailboxes.

48. A method according to claim 42, and further comprising the step of retrieving a message only when the UID is determined to be newer than the UID'"'"'s from a previous polling.

49. A method according to claim 42, and further comprising the step of determining a current message count from a mail server and comparing the current message count to the number of UID'"'"'s stored from a previous poll and considering that there are new messages when the new message count is more.