E-mail synchronization between heterogeneous mail servers

• US 8,028,033 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2009
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 02/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• 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:
  US12/371,463
• Publication Number:
  US 20090150505A1
• Time in Patent Office: 956 Days
• Field of Search: 709/202, 709/205, 709/206, 709/207, 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:

requesting by an e-mail control that e-mail messages addressed to the user be sent from an external e-mail server;

storing, by the e-mail control, each e-mail message, of a plurality of e-mail messages addressed to the user and sent from the external email 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;

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; 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 IMAP 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 missing message identifier from the second storage.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the email control connecting to the external e-mail server as the user, to request that the email messages be sent.

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

an e-mail control, to request that e-mail messages addressed to the user be sent, from an external e-mail server;

storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store each e-mail message of a plurality of e-mail messages addressed to the user and that are sent from the external email server;

first message identifier storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store a message identifier for each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages; and

second message identifier storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store previously synced message identifiers from consolidation e-mail storage,

the consolidation e-mail storage to have at least two states, including a first state having at least one e-mail message for the user which has been deleted from the external e-mail server, and a second state having no e-mail message for the user 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 storage to find a message identifier in the second message identifier storage that is missing from the first message identifier storage, and delete the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier from the consolidation e-mail storage.

7. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the e-mail control is to connect to the consolidation e-mail storage using an IMAP connection.

8. The system as claimed in claim 7, wherein the e-mail control is to connect to the external server using a POP3 connection to receive the plurality of e-mail messages.

9. The system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the e-mail control is to send a command to the consolidation e-mail storage to delete the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier.

10. The system as claimed in claim 6, 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.

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

an e-mail control, to request that e-mail messages addressed to the user be sent, from an external e-mail server;

storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store each e-mail message of a plurality of e-mail messages addressed to the user and that are sent from the external email server;

first message identifier storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store a message identifier for each e-mail message of the plurality of e-mail messages; and

second message identifier storage, accessible by the e-mail control, to store previously synced message identifiers from consolidation e-mail storage,

the email control to compare message identifiers in the first message identifier storage to message identifiers in the second storage to find a message identifier in the first message identifier storage that is missing from the second message identifier storage, and delete the e-mail message that corresponds to the missing message identifier from the external e-mail server.

12. The system as claimed in claim 11, wherein the e-mail control is to connect to the consolidation e-mail storage using an IMAP connection.

13. The system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the e-mail control is to connect to the external server using a POP3 connection to receive the plurality of e-mail messages.

14. The system as claimed in claim 11, 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.