E-mail synchronization between heterogeneous mail servers

• US 7,493,367 B1
• Filed: 02/06/2006
• Issued: 02/17/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: j2 Cloud Services, LLC (Consensus Cloud Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: J2 Global, Inc.
• Inventors: Newman, Robert D., Schleicher, Sanford
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen; Thu Ha T
• Application Number:
  US11/348,071
• Time in Patent Office: 1,107 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/206, 709/207, 709/205, 345/1.1, 715/733, 715/739, 715/751, 715/752
• US Class Current: 709/206
• 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: H04L 51/56 Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99952 Coherency, e.g. same view to multiple users

Abstract

A method or system for synchronizing e-mail messages for a user, particularly for POP3 protocols. E-mail messages addressed to the user are received at an e-mail control at a local server, from an external e-mail server. The e-mail control stores each e-mail message in a consolidated e-mail storage at the local server. The e-mail control stores a message identifier for each e-mail message, in a message identifier storage at the local server. It is determined whether an e-mail message in the consolidated e-mail storage has been deleted from the external e-mail server, and if so, then the e-mail message is deleted from the consolidated e-mail storage.

The invention provides for forward and/or reverse synchronization of e-mail messages. Optionally, the step of determining includes comparing message identifiers in the message identifier storage to message identifiers in e-mail received from the external e-mail server. Alternatively, the step of determining includes comparing the message identifiers of e-mail on the external e-mail server to the message identifiers in the message identifier storage, or, comparing the message identifiers in the message identifier storage to the message identifiers of e-mail in the consolidated e-mail storage.

Claims

1. A method for synchronizing e-mail messages for a user, comprising:

receiving, at an e-mail control at a local server, a plurality of e-mail messages addressed to the user, from an external e-mail server;

storing, by the e-mail control, each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages, at the local server;

storing, by the e-mail control, a message identifier for each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages, in a first message identifier storage at the local server;

connecting, by the e-mail control, to a consolidation mail server, the consolidation mail server reflects combined e-mail for the user;

receiving previously synced message identifiers from the consolidation server and storing the previously synced message identifiers in a second storage at the local server; and

comparing message identifiers in the first message identifier storage to message identifiers in the second storage to find a message identifier in the second storage that is missing from the first storage, and if so, then deleting the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier from the consolidation mail server.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the connecting to the consolidation mail server comprises opening an IMAP4 connection.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, further comprising, opening a POP3 connection by the e-mail control, to the external server to receive the plurality of e-mail messages from the external server.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising deleting the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier from the local server.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising deleting the missing message identifier from the second storage.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the local server connecting to the external e-mail server, as the user.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising requesting, from the external e-mail server, e-mail messages for the user.

8. A system for synchronizing e-mail messages for a user, comprising:

an e-mail control, for receiving a plurality of e-mail messages addressed to the user, from an external e-mail server;

storage, accessed by the e-mail control, having each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages;

first message identifier storage, accessed by the e-mail control, having a message identifier for each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages;

second message identifier storage, accessed by the e-mail control, having previously synced message identifiers from a consolidation mail server; and

the consolidation mail server having at least two states, including a first state having at least one e-mail message which has been deleted from the external e-mail server, and a second state having no e-mail message which has been deleted from the external e-mail server, the email control to compare message identifiers in the first message identifier storage to message identifiers in the second message identifier storage to find a message identifier in the second message identifier storage that is missing from the first message identifier storage, and if so, then deleting the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier from the consolidation mail server.

9. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the e-mail control connects to the consolidation mail server using an IMAP4 connection.

10. The system as claimed in claim 9, wherein the e-mail control connects to the external server using a POP3 connection to receive the plurality of e-mail messages.

11. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the e-mail control sends a command to the consolidation mail server to delete the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier.

12. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the e-mail control sends a command to delete the missing message identifier from the second message identifier storage.

13. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the e-mail control is in a local server that is connected to the external e-mail server via a POP3 connection, as the user.

14. The system as claimed in claim 8, wherein the e-mail messages that are received from the external e-mail server, are e-mail messages for the user.