SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SERVING A MESSAGE CLIENT

• US 20140143358A1
• Filed: 11/19/2013
• Published: 05/22/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Cannon, Scott, Beausoleil, Sean, Barshow, David, Cue, Adam, Flory, Steven, Kabbes, Steven, Long, Andrew Steven, Roeder, Michael, Underwood, George Milton IV
• Granted Patent: US 9,935,907 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/06 Message adaptation to terminal or network requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/226 Delivery according to priorities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

A system and method for synchronizing messages between client application instances and a message service provider includes a connection service communicatively coupled to a plurality of client messaging application instances; a first intermediary transfer layer with an inbound message data queue that queues message updates of a client application instance and an outbound message data queue that queues message updates and notifications from a mailbox service layer; a mailbox service layer communicatively coupled to the connection service through the first intermediary transfer layer; a second intermediary transfer layer with an mailbox message data queue that contains queued message data directed at the mailbox service layer and a message service data queue that contains queued message updates directed at a message service layer; and a message service layer configured for message interactions with an outside message service provider.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a connection service configured to communicate with a plurality of client messaging application instances;

a mailbox service layer configured to temporarily store and process message updates inbound from and outbound to one or more of the client messaging application instances;

a message service layer configured to communicate with one or more outside message service providers;

a first intermediary transfer layer communicatively coupled between the connection service and the mailbox service layer, the first intermediary transfer layer including a first inbound message data queue to transfer message updates from the plurality of client messaging application instances to the mailbox service layer and a first outbound message data queue to transfer message updates from the mailbox service layer to the connection service for communication to one or more of the client messaging application instances; and

a second intermediary transfer layer communicatively coupled between the mailbox service layer and the message service layer, the second intermediary transfer layer including a second inbound message data queue to transfer message updates from the messaging service to the mailbox service and a second outbound message data queue to transfer message updates from the mailbox service layer to the message service layer.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the message service layer is configured to communicate with one or more outside message service providers including at least one email message service provider.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the message service layer is configured to maintain an IMAP connection to an account maintained at the outside email message service provider and wherein the plurality of client messaging application instances include at least two client messaging application instances configured to interact with the account.

4. The system of claim 2, further comprising a conflict resolution module configured to resolve conflicts between two or more message updates within one or both of the mailbox service layer and the message service layer.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the message service layer comprises a message processor configured to convert email messages to a native client format.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising an attachment server configured to store resources corresponding to email attachments, wherein the message processor is configured to transform an email attachment in an email message to a reference to a resource stored by the attachment server.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the message service layer includes a plurality of service provider modules, wherein each of the service provider modules is configured to interact with a different one of a plurality of outside message service providers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the mailbox service layer includes a deferred data engine configured to conditionally apply a message update to a message.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the connection service is configured to communicate with a plurality of client messaging application instances using a real-time protocol connection.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the real-time protocol connection includes a compressed websocket connection.

11. A method comprising:

at a connection service, maintaining a plurality of real-time connections between the connection service and a plurality of client application instances;

at the connection service, receiving a message update from a first one of the client application instances;

transmitting the message update through an inbound queue of a first transfer layer to a mailbox service layer;

at the mailbox service layer, temporarily storing the message update;

transmitting the message update from the mailbox service layer through a message service queue of a second transfer layer to a messaging service layer;

at the messaging service layer, translating the message update to a message format compatible with a message service provider; and

at the message service layer, transmitting the translated message update to the message service provider.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising resolving, at the mailbox service layer, a message state consistency conflict between the message update originating from the first client application instance and another message update originating from the message service provider.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein resolving the message state consistency conflict comprises:

assigning a revision identifier to each of the message updates; and

resolving the message state consistency conflict based on the revision identifier.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein transmitting the translated message update to a message service provider comprises transmitting an email update of an email account associated with the first client application instance to an email service provider that maintains the email account.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the message update includes a new email message to send.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the message update includes a new label to be applied to a thread of email messages.

17. A method comprising:

at a message service layer, receiving a message update from a message service provider, the message update associated with an account;

at the message service layer, translating the message update to a message format compatible with native rendering by a client application instance;

transmitting the translated message update through a message service queue to a mailbox service layer;

at the mailbox service layer, caching the message update for communication to a client application instance associated with the account;

transmitting the message update through an outbound queue to a connection service; and

communicating the message update from the connection service to the client application instance associated with the account.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising resolving a message state consistency conflict between the message update received from the message service provider and another message update originating from the client application instance associated with the account.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein resolving the message state consistency conflict comprises:

assigning a revision identifier to each of the message updates; and

resolving the message state consistency conflict based on the revision identifier.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein translating the message update to a message format compatible with native rendering on a client application instance includes:

converting a message attachment to a file;

uploading the file to an attachment service; and

including in the translated message update a reference to a location of the file on the attachment service.

21. The method of claim 17, wherein communicating the message update to the client application instance includes communicating a the message update as part of a set of windowed message updates to the client application instance.

22. A method for synchronizing messages between a plurality of client application instances and a message service provider, the method comprising:

synchronizing, at a message service layer of a server platform, message updates of at least one account with an outside message service provider through at least one persistent IMAP connection;

converting, at a mailbox service layer of the server platform, email message updates between a message format of the outside message service provider and a client message format;

resolving, at the server platform, conflicts between message updates originating from the outside message service provider and the client application instances; and

cooperatively relaying message updates between the message service layer, the mailbox service layer, and the client application instance, wherein message updates are relayed to the client application instances in the client message format and to the outside message service provider in the message format of the outside message service provider.