System and computer-readable storage medium for configuring access to an electronic mailbox by using heuristics of likelihood
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A system for configuring access to an electronic mailbox comprising:
- a user system having an email client;
a database that is arranged to store configuration conventions related to configuration parameters used for accessing an electronic mailbox, wherein the configuration conventions are sets of email expressions that symbolically represent a set of configuration parameters used by email providers for accessing the mailbox of a user; and
a mailbox interface module that is in communication with the database and user system and which is operative as an agent between the user system and the electronic mailbox of the user, wherein the mailbox interface module is configured to;
receive limited configuration information from the user, wherein the limited configuration information does not provide all of necessary configuration parameters required for accessing the electronic mailbox;
infer a mailbox domain from the limited configuration information and retrieve configuration conventions for the mailbox domain from the database that represent potentially valid configuration parameters for the mailbox domain that will allow access to the electronic mailbox;
generate sets of potentially valid configuration parameters based on the limited configuration information and the retrieved configuration conventions to attempt to access the electronic mailbox with the sets of potentially valid configuration parameters; and
wherein the mailbox interface module generates a subset of the sets of the potentially valid configuration parameters by using heuristics of likelihood that the set of configuration parameters is valid for accessing the electronic mailbox for a mail domain when initial attempts to access were unsuccessful.
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Abstract
A system and method for configuring access to an electronic mailbox based on limited configuration parameters received from a user. A database stores configuration conventions for a mail domain. A mailbox interface module receives configuration information from a user that is limited in the configuration parameters required for accessing the electronic mailbox. The module retrieves configuration conventions for the mail domain from the database and generates sets of potentially valid configuration parameters based on the retrieved configuration conventions and user supplied configuration information for accessing the mailbox.
41 Citations
12 Claims
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1. A system for configuring access to an electronic mailbox comprising:
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a user system having an email client; a database that is arranged to store configuration conventions related to configuration parameters used for accessing an electronic mailbox, wherein the configuration conventions are sets of email expressions that symbolically represent a set of configuration parameters used by email providers for accessing the mailbox of a user; and a mailbox interface module that is in communication with the database and user system and which is operative as an agent between the user system and the electronic mailbox of the user, wherein the mailbox interface module is configured to; receive limited configuration information from the user, wherein the limited configuration information does not provide all of necessary configuration parameters required for accessing the electronic mailbox; infer a mailbox domain from the limited configuration information and retrieve configuration conventions for the mailbox domain from the database that represent potentially valid configuration parameters for the mailbox domain that will allow access to the electronic mailbox; generate sets of potentially valid configuration parameters based on the limited configuration information and the retrieved configuration conventions to attempt to access the electronic mailbox with the sets of potentially valid configuration parameters; and wherein the mailbox interface module generates a subset of the sets of the potentially valid configuration parameters by using heuristics of likelihood that the set of configuration parameters is valid for accessing the electronic mailbox for a mail domain when initial attempts to access were unsuccessful. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A computer-readable storage medium for configuring access by an email client at a user system by one or more processors for performing a method of configuring access to an electronic mailbox, the method comprising:
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receiving configuration information at a user system from a user, wherein the configuration information does not provide all of necessary configuration parameters required for accessing the electronic mailbox of the user; inferring a mailbox domain from the configuration information; accessing configuration conventions for the mailbox domain from a database wherein the configuration conventions are sets of email expressions that symbolically represent a set of configuration parameters used by email providers for accessing the mailbox of the user; generating sets of potentially valid configuration parameters that will allow access to the electronic mailbox, based on the retrieved configuration conventions and the received configuration information and to attempt to access the electronic mailbox with the sets of potentially valid configuration parameters; and generating a subset of the sets of the potentially valid configuration parameters by using heuristics of likelihood that the set of configuration parameters is valid for accessing the electronic mailbox for a mail domain when initial attempts to access were unsuccessful. - View Dependent Claims (12)
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Specification