Method and apparatus for synchronizing an Email client on a portable computer system with an Email client on a desktop computer

• US 6,401,112 B1
• Filed: 01/29/1997
• Issued: 06/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Access Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Boyer, Monty, Sipher, Joseph
• Primary Examiner(s): Coulter, Kenneth R.
• Application Number:
  US08/790,622
• Time in Patent Office: 1,952 Days
• Field of Search: 707/201, 707/203, 395/200.36, 395/182.18, 395/680, 709/206, 709/300, 714/20
• US Class Current: 709/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A fully integrated email system for a desktop computer with an associated palmtop computer is disclosed. The portable computer has an email client for viewing incoming email messages and composing outgoing email messages. The personal computer has an email synchronization conduit that synchronizes email on the portable computer email client with email for the desktop computer system. The email synchronization conduit ensures that the email state on the portable computer system matches the email state on the desktop personal computer system exactly. Thus, if an email message is deleted on the portable computer system then that email message will be deleted from the desktop personal computer system. Similarly, if an email message is deleted on the desktop personal computer system then that email message will be deleted from the portable computer system.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of synchronizing email between multiple computers, the method comprising:

reading a first set of messages from a portable computer into a first personal computer;

identifying an outgoing message in the first set of messages to be delivered from the first personal computer to a mail server;

identifying on the first personal computer a second set of messages previously retrieved from a server, the second set of messages having, at least once prior to a previous event, a first message that matched a corresponding message in the first set of messages;

comparing the first set of messages with the second set of messages to identify if at least the corresponding message in the first set of messages that matched the first message in the second set of messages was deleted or modified after the previous event; and

automatically signaling the outgoing message to the mail server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the second set of messages include flags to identify whether each message in the second set of messages was added to or deleted from the second set of messages since a previous event.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising identifying if any messages in the second set of messages were modified on the first personal computer after the previous event, then replacing select messages in the first set of messages with the modified messages.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the first message in the second set of messages to be deleted from the second set of messages if the corresponding message has been deleted from the first set of messages since the previous event.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising causing the first message in the second set of messages to be modified if the corresponding message has been modified on the portable computer since the previous event.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising comparing the first set of messages to the second set of messages to identify if the second set of messages includes at least a first new message added to the second set of messages after the previous event.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising adding the first new message to the first set of messages, then signaling the first set of messages to the portable computer.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising signaling the first set of messages to the portable computer after comparing the first set of messages and the second set of messages.