Rules-based synchronization of mailboxes in a data network
First Claim
1. A method of synchronizing contents of a first mailbox of a first messaging system with contents of a second mailbox of a second messaging system communicatively connected to the first messaging system, comprising the steps of:
- in response to receipt of each message for the second mailbox, the second messaging system storing the received message in the second mailbox and also making and sending a copy of the received message to the first messaging system for the first mailbox;
in response to receipt of each message for the first mailbox, the first messaging system determining a source of the received message;
in response to determining that the message was received from a source other than the second messaging system, storing the received message in the first mailbox and making and sending a copy of the received message to the second messaging system for the second mailbox;
in response to determining that the message was received from the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from a source other than the first messaging system, storing the received message in the first mailbox without making and sending a copy thereof to the second mailbox; and
in response to determining that the message was received from the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from the first messaging system, discarding the received message without storing it in the first mailbox and without making and sending a copy thereof to the second mailbox.
19 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A way of synchronizing the contents of commonly-owned mailboxes (108, 111) in disparate messaging systems, such as an e-mail system (100) and a multimedia system (101), networked via the Internet (102). The e-mail system uses the existing auto-forwarding feature (115) of the Internet e-mail community to send a copy of every message arriving at the e-mail mailbox to the other system'"'"'s synchronized mailbox. The other system applies a 3-part synchronization rule (113) to every message (200) arriving at its synchronized mailbox. If it detects a syncmark (204)--an identifier--of its own mailbox in the header (201) of the message, indicating that the message was previously copy-forwarded from this system, it just deletes the message. If it detects a syncmark or a pivot address of (any address resulting in message delivery to) the e-mail mailbox in any header field of the message other than the "From" field, indicating that the message is a new message copy-forwarded by the e-mail system, it stores the message in the synchronized mailbox but does not copy-forward it back to the e-mail mailbox. Any other message is a new message and is both stored in the synchronized mailbox and copy-forwarded, with the syncmark of the synchronized mailbox, to the e-mail mailbox. State changes of messages stored in each synchronized mailbox are detected and reported to the other synchronized mailbox, where like state changes are effected on corresponding messages.
329 Citations
19 Claims
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1. A method of synchronizing contents of a first mailbox of a first messaging system with contents of a second mailbox of a second messaging system communicatively connected to the first messaging system, comprising the steps of:
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in response to receipt of each message for the second mailbox, the second messaging system storing the received message in the second mailbox and also making and sending a copy of the received message to the first messaging system for the first mailbox; in response to receipt of each message for the first mailbox, the first messaging system determining a source of the received message; in response to determining that the message was received from a source other than the second messaging system, storing the received message in the first mailbox and making and sending a copy of the received message to the second messaging system for the second mailbox; in response to determining that the message was received from the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from a source other than the first messaging system, storing the received message in the first mailbox without making and sending a copy thereof to the second mailbox; and in response to determining that the message was received from the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from the first messaging system, discarding the received message without storing it in the first mailbox and without making and sending a copy thereof to the second mailbox. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A first messaging system for networking with a second messaging system that responds to receipt of each message for a second mailbox of the second messaging system by storing the received message in the second mailbox and also making and sending a copy of the received message to the first messaging system for a first mailbox, the first messaging system comprising:
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a memory defining the first mailbox, whose contents are synchronized with contents of the second mailbox; and a processor responsive to receipt of each message for the first mailbox by determining a source of the received message, storing the received message in the second mailbox and making and sending a copy of the received message to the second messaging system for the second mailbox if the source is determined to be other than the second messaging system, storing the received message in the first mailbox without making and sending a copy of the received message to the second messaging system for the second mailbox if the source is determined to be the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from a source other than the first messaging system, and discarding the received message without storing the received message in the first mailbox or making and sending a copy of the received message to the second messaging system for the second mailbox if the source is determined to be the second messaging system and the second messaging system received the message from the first messaging system. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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Specification