U.S. patent application number 11/083814 was filed with the patent office on 2005-08-25 for method and apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems.
Invention is credited to Hickman, Paul Lawrence, Stephens, Lawrence Keith.
Application Number | 20050188046 11/083814 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 24302226 |
Filed Date | 2005-08-25 |
United States Patent
Application |
20050188046 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Hickman, Paul Lawrence ; et
al. |
August 25, 2005 |
Method and apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail
systems
Abstract
A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems
includes the steps of: a) configuring an e-mail system polling
process on a user's machine; b) polling a number of e-mail systems
from the user's machine; c) retrieving data from the e-mail systems
concerning mail intended for the user; and d) storing the data on
the user's machine in a format that permits the storage and
retrieval of data pertaining to the plurality of e-mail systems.
The polling can be accomplished in the background while the user is
performing other tasks on the computer system. An apparatus for
monitoring multiple electronic mail systems includes a digital
processor, read/write memory coupled to the digital processor, and
at least one external communication channel coupled to the digital
processor permitting the digital processor to communicate with a
plurality of external electronic mail systems. A poller of the
apparatus is operative to generate inquiries over the communication
channel to the plurality of electronic mail systems, a data
retriever is operative to receive data concerning mail intended for
a designated user, and a data handler is operative to store and
retrieve data concerning the mail for the designated user. An
article of manufacture of the present invention includes the
poller, data retriever, and data handler stored in a
machine-readable storage medium.
Inventors: |
Hickman, Paul Lawrence; (Los
Altos Hills, CA) ; Stephens, Lawrence Keith; (San
Jose, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
PERKINS COIE LLP
P.O. BOX 2168
MENLO PARK
CA
94026
US
|
Family ID: |
24302226 |
Appl. No.: |
11/083814 |
Filed: |
March 16, 2005 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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11083814 |
Mar 16, 2005 |
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09294760 |
Apr 19, 1999 |
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09294760 |
Apr 19, 1999 |
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08575918 |
Dec 20, 1995 |
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5956486 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
709/206 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 51/36 20130101;
G06Q 10/107 20130101; H04L 51/066 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/206 |
International
Class: |
G06F 015/16 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems over a
TCP/IP protocol network comprising the steps of: configuring an
e-mail system polling process on a user machine; polling a
plurality of e-mail systems over a TCP/IP protocol network from
said user machine; retrieving data from said Plurality of e-mail
systems concerning mail intended for said user; and storing said
data on said user machine in a format that permits the display of
data pertaining to said plurality of e-mail systems.
2. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 1 wherein said step of configuring an e-mail
system polling process includes the steps of: designating a
plurality of e-mail system accessors; and designating an activation
schedule for each of said plurality of e-mail system accessors.
3. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 2 wherein said step of configuring an e-mail
system polling process further includes the step of: for each of
said plurality of e-mail system accessors, designating at least one
of a plurality of parameters selected from a message retrieval
group consisting essentially of downloading an image, downloading
text, and downloading an attachment from an e-mail system accessed
by a respective e-mail system accessor.
4. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 3 wherein said step of configuring an e-mail
system polling process further includes the step of: designating at
least one message display parameter for each of said plurality of
e-mail system accessors.
5. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 1 wherein said step of polling a plurality of
e-mail systems from said user machine includes the steps of:
detecting a time to initiate a poll for a given e-mail system;
establishing a mail connection to said e-mail system; and providing
an inquiry to said e-mail system to determine the existence of
messages for said user.
6. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 5 wherein said step of establishing a mail
mechanism includes the step of activating of an e-mail system
accessor.
7. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 6 wherein said step of retrieving data includes
the step of retrieving data from said e-mail system accessor.
8. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 5 wherein said step of storing data includes the
step of storing an e-mail database structure in a machine-readable
memory, where said e-mail database structure includes a plurality
of mail headers and a message block for each retrieved messages,
where each message block is linked to a mail header corresponding
to the origin of the data stored in said message block.
9. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 1 wherein said plurality of e-mail systems are
Internet-based e-mail systems.
10. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of: visually
displaying an indication that there is at least one message from at
least one e-mail system for said user.
11. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems as
recited in claim 10 further comprising visually displaying
information concerning at least one message detected at an e-mail
system for said user.
12-24. (canceled)
25. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts
comprising: obtaining access information for a plurality of e-mail
accounts, where at least two of said plurality of e-mail accounts
are hosted by different e-mail systems; retrieving mail data from
said plurality of e-mail accounts; and consolidating said mail data
from said plurality of e-mail accounts.
26. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts as
recited in claim 25 wherein obtaining access information includes:
receiving a designation of a plurality of e-mail accounts; and
receiving a designation of access protocols concerning said
plurality of e-mail accounts.
27. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts as
recited in claim 25 further comprising: visually displaying an
indication on said user's system that there is at least one message
from at least one e-mail account.
28. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts as
recited in claim 25 further comprising visually displaying
information concerning at least one message for said user.
29. A method for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts as
recited in claim 25 wherein said different e-mail systems are
Internet-based e-mail systems.
30. An apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts
comprising: a digital processor; read/write memory coupled to said
digital processor; at least one external communications channel
coupled to said digital processor permitting said digital processor
to communicate with a plurality of external electronic mail
accounts, where at least two of said plurality of external
electronic mail accounts are hosted by different e-mail systems; a
poller at least partially stored in said read/write memory and
executable on said digital processor, said poller being operative
to generate inquiries over said at least one communications channel
to said plurality of electronic mail accounts; a data retriever at
least partially stored in said read/write memory and executable on
said digital processor, said data retriever being operative to
receive data concerning mail intended for a designated user from
said plurality of electronic mail accounts; and a consolidator
developing data concerning mail for said designated user from said
plurality of electronic mail accounts.
31. An apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts
as recited in claim 30 wherein said at least one external
communications channel includes a Local Area Network (LAN).
32. An apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts
as recited in claim 30 wherein said at least one external
communications channel includes a Wide Area Network (WAN).
33. An apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail accounts
as recited in claim 32 wherein said WAN includes the Internet.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0001] This invention relates generally to electronic mail systems,
and more particularly to electronic mail systems implemented with
personal computers.
[0002] Personal computers were originally designed as stand-alone,
desktop systems. As such, single users used their personal
computers to run application programs such as word processors,
spreadsheets, database managers, etc. Communications between a
personal computer and other computer systems was largely limited to
the physical transfer of data stored on a magnetic medium, such as
a floppy disk or magnetic tape.
[0003] As personal computers became more widespread, there was an
increasing demand for direct data communication between two or more
computers. The use of modems to allow inter-computer communications
became common. In addition, there was a rapid development of
personal computer network technology during the 1980's.
[0004] As the number of direct communication channels between
personal computers increased, electronic mail systems proliferated.
With an electronic mail ("e-mail") system, a computer user can
create a message in the form of electronic "mail" and can send it
using another user's electronic "address." Recipients of e-mail can
retrieve their electronic mail from their electronic "mailboxes"
and, if desired, respond to or forward the message to other
users.
[0005] E-mail systems tend to work quite smoothly if only a single
mail system is used on a particular personal computer. However,
things begin to get more complicated if the personal computer
system supports a number of e-mail systems. For example, a personal
computer can be coupled to a local area network (LAN), a wide area
network (WAN), a mainframe computer, and to other computerized
systems over telephone lines via modems. In such situations,
multiple e-mail systems are likely to be available which requires
users to periodically manually check each of their e-mail systems
to see if they have any messages.
[0006] As an example, users might subscribe to multiple e-mail
systems, such as America On Line (AOL), CompuServe, the Internet,
on-line banking services, etc. Any one or more of these e-mail
systems might be holding mail for a user at a particular time.
Therefore, users must remember to check each of these e-mail
systems on a periodic basis to determine of they have any mail.
This can be a time consuming task if the user is a subscriber to a
number of mail systems.
[0007] Furthermore, if users forget to periodically check for mail
with each of their services, it is possible that important mail may
remain unread for a long period of time. This can be especially
problematical if the sender of the e-mail erroneously assumes that
the user frequently checks their mail box and, therefore, has
received and acted on the e-mail.
[0008] There are some e-mail systems which permit the automatic
retrieval of messages or mail. For example, software provided by
America On Line can be configured to cause a personal computer
system to automatically connect (via modem) with AOL computers on a
periodic basis to check for mail. Also, StarNine Technology, Inc.
of Berkeley, Calif. provides software called MaiILink Remote.TM.
for QuickMail.TM. which works with QuickMail e-mail software made
by CE Software of West Des Moines, Iowa to periodically dial-in
(via modem) to the Internet to check for Internet e-mail. The
Internet e-mail can then be delivered to individual users via the
QuickMail e-mail system.
[0009] The prior art systems for automatically checking for e-mail
suffer from a variety of drawbacks. For one, the software (referred
to herein as "accessor" software) is typically custom-designed for
each e-mail system. This tends to be. expensive and inflexible.
Also, prior art systems do not provide a method or apparatus for
monitoring multiple e-mail systems, and for collecting, storing,
and displaying e-mail information concerning the multiple systems
in a consolidated and usable fashion. Because of these limitations,
users have heretofore been forced to either manually check each
E-Mail system on a periodic basis, or been subjected to multiple,
independent, inconsistent, and possibly conflicting automated
retrieval systems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0010] The present invention provides a method and apparatus for
effectively monitoring multiple e-mail systems and for alerting
users when they have received e-mail at any one or more of the
multiple systems. The invention does not require modification of
the accessor software for a particular e-mail system, and can
provide either background or manual polling of all or selected
subset of e-mail systems that are accessible by a given personal
computer system. In addition, images, text, and e-mail attachments
can be automatically downloaded to a user's personal computer for
later use.
[0011] A method for monitoring multiple e-mail systems in
accordance with the present invention begins with configuring an
e-mail system polling process on a user's machine, e.g. a personal
computer. Next, a number of e-mail systems are polled from the
user's machine over appropriate communication channels. These
communication channels often include a modem and a telephone line
connection ("telephone system"). With a telephone system
communication channel, the polling is accomplished by dialing the
access telephone number of the e-mail system using the modem, and
then sending inquiries to the e-mail system over the telephone
lines. Next, data is retrieved from the e-mail systems concerning
the mail intended for the user. This data can include a "null"
indicating that there are no messages for the user, or it can
include data indicating that there are one or more messages for the
user. Further, an image of the e-mail message, the text of the
message, or any attachment to the e-mail can be downloaded to the
personal computer system as data. Finally, the method includes a
step of storing the downloaded data on the user's machine in the
format that permits the convenient and efficient storage and
retrieval of data pertaining to a number of e-mail systems.
[0012] An apparatus for monitoring multiple electronic mail systems
includes a digital processor, read/write memory coupled to the
digital processor, and at least one external communication channel
coupled to the digital processor to permit the digital processor to
communicate with a plurality of e-mail systems. The apparatus
further includes a poller which generates inquiries over the
communication channel, a data retriever which retrieves data
concerning mail intended for a designated user, and a data handler
stores and retrieves data concerning mail for the designated user.
A number of external communication channels can be used with the
present invention, including a local area network (LAN), a
modem/telephone line system, and terminal emulators for coupling
the digital processor to a larger computer system.
[0013] An article of manufacture for monitoring multiple electronic
mail systems includes a machine-readable storage medium, a poller
stored in the storage medium and including program instructions to
generate inquiries over at least one communication channel to a
number of e-mail systems, a data retriever stored in the storage
medium including program instructions to receive data concerning
e-mail intended for a designated user from the plurality of e-mail
systems, and a data handler stored in the storage medium and
including program instructions to store and retrieve the data
concerning mail for the designated user from the plurality of
electronic mail systems. The article of manufacture further
includes a controller stored in the storage medium and including
program instructions to control the operation of the poller, the
data retriever, and the data handler. In addition, the article of
manufacture preferably includes an inputter stored in the storage
medium including program instructions which allows user inputs to
the controller, and a displayer stored in the storage medium
including program instructions which allows the selective display
data stored by the data handler.
[0014] The present invention also includes an e-mail database
structure stored in machine-readable memory including a plurality
of mail headers corresponding to a plurality of e-mail systems that
are being monitored for messages for a designated user, and a
message block corresponding to each detected message for the
designated user from the plurality of e-mail systems, where each
message block is linked with an e-mail header. Preferably, each of
the plurality of mail headers include information concerning the
number of messages with which it is linked. Also preferably, each
of the message blocks includes a message identification code
associated with the message block and its mail header. Each of the
message blocks can further include information concerning the
message and pointers to data reflecting a content of the message.
The content can include, for example, images of the message, the
text of the message, and attachments to the message.
[0015] These and other advantages of the present invention will
become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the
following descriptions of the invention and a study of the several
figures of the drawing.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0016] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a communication system
including multiple e-mail systems and an apparatus for monitoring
the multiple e-mail systems;
[0017] FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus for monitoring
multiple e-mail systems;
[0018] FIG. 3 is a flow-diagram of a method for monitoring multiple
e-mail systems in accordance with the present invention;
[0019] FIG. 4a is a view of a computer screen which helps
illustrate the "CONFIGURE E-MAIL SYSTEM POLLING PROCESS" step of
FIG. 3;
[0020] FIG. 4b illustrates an interactive dialogue window called
from the screen shown in FIG. 4a;
[0021] FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure of the present
invention;
[0022] FIG. 6 is a flow-diagram illustrating the "POLL AN E-MAIL
SYSTEM FROM USER MACHINE" step of FIG. 3;
[0023] FIGS. 7a and 7b are examples of connection session display
screens for establishing and controlling an Internet connection in
accordance with a preferred embodiment;
[0024] FIG. 8 is a flow-diagram of the "RETRIEVE DATA CONCERNING
MAIL FROM E-MAIL SYSTEM" step of FIG. 3;
[0025] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the "STORE DATA ON USER
MACHINE" step of FIG. 3;
[0026] FIGS. 10a, 10b, and 10c illustrate the "DISPLAY DATA
CONCERNING A NUMBER OF E-MAIL SYSTEMS" step of FIG. 3;
[0027] FIG. 11 is a dialog box further illustrating the "DISPLAY
DATA" step of FIG. 3; and
[0028] FIGS. 12a, 12b, and 12c further illustrate an embodiment of
the "DISPLAY DATA" step of FIG. 3.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0029] In FIG. 1, a communication system 10 in accordance with the
present invention includes a "local" or "user" computer system 12
and one or more communication channels such as a local area network
(LAN) 14, a telephone line 16, and a main-frame computer link 18.
The computer system 12 can communicate by electronic mail (e-mail)
with a number of remote systems, including a mail server 20, one or
more "other" computer systems 21, a remote system 22, a main-frame
24, and a file server 38. The present invention manages and
enhances the handling of multiple e-mail sources over one or more
communication channels.
[0030] A computer system 12 of the present invention is preferably
a personal computer or workstation available from a variety of
vendors. More particularly, computer system 12 is preferably a
Macintosh.TM. computer system available from Apple Computer, Inc.
of Cupertino, Calif. However, computer system 12 can also be an
IBM/PC-AT compatible personal computer running, for example, DOS or
Windows.TM. operating systems, such systems being available from
Microsoft, Inc., of Redmond, Wash. Still further, computer system
12 can be a custom computer system designed primarily for
communication with multiple e-mail servers over one or more
communication channels.
[0031] Computer system 12 includes a digital processor 26
(sometimes called a central processing unit or "CPU"), read-only
memory (ROM) 28, random access memory (RAM) 30, and input/output
(I/O) circuitry 32. The computer system 12 includes an internal bus
34 including appropriate control (C), data (D), and address (A)
busses. The digital processor 26, ROM 28, RAM 30, and I/O 32 are
coupled (directly or indirectly) to the internal bus 34 to provide
internal communications between the system components. The design
and manufacture of computer systems such as computer system 12 is
well known to those skilled in the art.
[0032] As indicated previously, the computer system 12 is
preferably a Macintosh.TM. computer system. The digital processor
26 is therefore either preferably a Motorola 68XXX Microprocessor
or a Power-PC Microprocessor, also available from Motorola, Inc.
ROM 28 includes the basic start-up instructions for the computer
system 12 and also includes a substantial portion of the computer
operating system. RAM 30 is used as "scratch-pad" memory to
temporarily hold data and application programs executing on digital
processor 26. 1/0 32 includes latches, buffers, registers, etc.
which facilitate the communication of computer system 12 with
external devices and systems.
[0033] Computer system 12 is preferably associated with peripheral
memory 36. As used herein, "peripheral memory" will refer to
"secondary" or "non-primary" memory. Primary memory such as RAM 30
is used more for the immediate storage needs of the processor 26,
while the peripheral memory is typically used for longer term (and
less frequently used) storage. Primary memory tends to be volatile
(i.e. the memory is lost when power is removed), while peripheral
memory tends to be non-volatile. The peripheral memory can be
coupled to the computer system 12 through I/O 32 or, in some
instances, is directly coupled to the internal bus 34. Examples of
peripheral memory include hard disk drive units, floppy disk drive
units, and PCMCIA memory units. The peripheral memory 36 is
therefore generically represented as one or more of these
peripheral memory types.
[0034] Each of the peripheral memory types described above include
computer-readable media. For example, the hard disk of a hard disk
drive peripheral memory 36 can store data and software instructions
in a magnetic media. Likewise, CD-ROM or floppy disk peripheral
memory 36 can store data and software instructions in
machine-readable form. The same is true for PCMCIA memory which
stores machine-readable data and software instructions in a form of
"flash" memory.
[0035] The communication system 10 can also include an external
communication channel such as a local area network (LAN) 14. The
LAN 14 is often (but not necessarily) managed by a file server 38.
A mail server 20 is often provided to manage e-mail communications
among a number of computer systems (such as computer systems 12 and
21) coupled to the local area network 14. The mail server 20 is
typically a personal computer system is provided with specialized
e-mail software. This e-mail software can also be run on file
server 38, or may be distributed throughout the system on user
personal computers (such as computer systems 12 and 21) in a
peer-to-peer system. However, as it is presently implemented, a
mail server 20 is preferably a stand-alone system or is a part of
the file server 38.
[0036] The computer system 12 also has the capability of sending
and receiving e-mail to a number of remote systems 22. For example,
the computer system 12 can communicate with a commercial service
such as America On-Line (AOL), communicate through the Internet, or
communicate with an On-Line Banking system. These communication
links are typically accomplished through a modem 40 over a standard
analog telephone line 16. However, it is also possible to
communicate directly digitally with a number of systems, such as
over a digital ISDN line. In such an instance, a modem 40 will not
be required but, rather, and ISDN bridge or the like would likely
be required.
[0037] To communicate with a remote system 22, the computer system
12 instructs the modem 40 to dial an access number to the remote
system 22. A telephone connection is then made over telephone line
16. Of course, as used herein, "telephone line" includes any
transmission media used by a telephone service provider including
microwave, fiber optic, wire and satellite links. The computer
system 12 and remote system 22 can then communicate e-mail messages
over this telephone line connection.
[0038] Computer system 12 can also communicate with other sources
of e-mail. For example, mainframe computer systems 24 are often
used as central servers for personal computers and computer
terminals. For example, the IBM 3090 mainframe is often used for
such a purpose. In order to connect the computer system 12 to a
mainframe 24, a terminal emulator 42 (such as the 3270 emulator)
and interfacer 44 (such as a 3274 interfacer) can be used, as it is
well known to those skilled in the art.
[0039] As will be appreciated from a study of FIG. 1, the computer
system 12 can receive e-mail from a variety of sources. For
example, the computer system 12 can receive e-mail from mail server
20, a number of remote systems 22, from a mainframe system 24, from
the file server 38, and from a number of other computer systems
(e.g. computer system 21) coupled to LAN 14. As will be described
subsequently, the present invention includes specialized software
for managing and controlling e-mail from multiple remote sources.
However, it should be noted that some or all of the processes
described herein can be implemented in software, firmware,
hardware, and any combination of software, firmware, and
hardware.
[0040] FIG. 2 illustrates a communication system 46 in accordance
with the present invention. As noted above, the communication
system 46 can be implemented in software in a computer-readable
media such as RAM 30, and can be provided to end users on
computer-readable media such as a floppy disk 48 or a CD-ROM (not
shown). When a communication system 46 is stored on floppy disk 48,
an article of manufacture is created which can be used to configure
computer system 12 to perform the communication management
processes of the present invention.
[0041] The communication system 46 includes a controller 50, a
poller 52, a data retriever 54, a data manager 56, an inputter 58,
and a displayer 60. The controller 50 provides overall control of
the process implemented by the communication system 46. A poller 52
interacts with one or more mail system accessors 62 to communicate
over a communication channel 64 with one or more remote e-mail
systems. The mail system accessors 62 are typically provided by the
e-mail remote service provider. For example, America On-Line (AOL)
will provide an AOL mail system accessor, Wells Fargo Bank will
provide a Well Fargo On-Line service accessor for on-line banking,
etc. Data retrieved from a remote e-mail system is passed by the
mail system accessor 62 to data retriever 54. This data is passed
to data manager 56 for storage in an appropriate data structure to
be discussed subsequently. The data manager 56 can interact with a
displayer 60 to display information concerning about the received
data on a screen 12. The inputter 58 (typically a keyboard or
mouse) of computer system 12 allows user inputs to controller
50.
[0042] As noted above, in the present invention it is preferred to
use the mail system accessors 62 provided by the e-mail system.
However, the functionality of the mail system accessors can be
directly integrated into the communication system 46 of the present
invention. While this requires the development of accessor drivers
for each desired e-mail system, it has the advantage of being more
closely integrated with the functionality of the communication
system 46. Therefore, in an embodiment of the present invention,
some or all of the functionality of the mail system accessor 62 may
be provided with communication system 46 and delivered on a
computer-readable medium such as floppy disk 48. Implementation of
such "accessors" or "drivers" is well known to those skilled in the
art.
[0043] In FIG. 3, a process 66 for monitoring multiple electronic
mail systems is illustrated. The process 66 begins at 68 and, in a
step 70, the e-mail system polling process is configured. Next, in
a step 72, an e-mail system is "polled" from a user machine. As
used herein, a "poll" refers to the connection to an e-mail system
at the initiation of the user's machine and the subsequent inquiry
to the remote e-mail system concerning e-mail for the user. The
verb "polling" refers to the act of making a "poll." Next, in a
step 74, data concerning e-mail is received from the remote e-mail
system. This, data can be the e-mail itself or it can be the
existence or non-existence of the e-mail on the remote e-mail
system. Next, in a step 76, data is stored on the user machine in a
format which permits the storage of information concerning a number
of remote e-mail systems. In a step 78, it is determined whether
information concerning e-mail is said to be displayed on the screen
of the computer system 12. If not, process control is returned to
step 72. If information, is to be displayed, it is displayed in
step 80 in a format which permits information concerning a number
of remote e-mail systems to be displayed simultaneously.
[0044] In FIGS. 1 and 4a, a screen 82 of a display 83 coupled to
the internal bus 34 of computer system 12 by a video I/O interface
85 is illustrated. The screen 82 includes a "desktop" 84, a command
bar 86, and a window 88. Screen similar to the illustrated screen
82 can be provided by Macintosh.TM. computer systems.
[0045] The "CONFIGURE E-MAIL SYSTEM POLLING PROCESS" step 70 of
FIG. 3 will be described with reference to both FIGS. 4a and 4b. In
FIG. 4a, a pointer 90 is pointing to ("selecting") an e-mail system
"QMREMOTE" as indicated by the selection box 92. After the service
QMREMOTE has been selected (such as by "double clicking" the button
of a mouse 93 coupled to internal bus 34 via a keyboard 95 and a
keyboard I/O interface 97 in FIG. 1) a window 94 as illustrated in
FIG. 4b will appear on desktop 84. The window 94 includes a number
of fill-in and check-off boxes. For example, the window 94 includes
fill-in boxes 96, 98, 100, 102, and 104. Window 94 also includes
check-off boxes 106 and 108. The fill-in box 96 permits a user to
enter or "input" the frequency of the polling to be provided by the
system of the present invention. In this instance, the frequency is
set for 30 minutes. That is, every 30 minutes, the poller 52 will
access the e-mail system QM Remote, form a communications link, and
poll the e-mail system. Fill-in box 98 indicates whether a priority
display is to be provided. For non-priority displays, the check-off
boxes 106 and 108 indicate whether the source icon is to be cycled
or a dialogue box is to be displayed, or both. Fill-in box 100
indicates whether an image of an e-mail should be downloaded to the
user's computer system 12. Fill-in box 102 indicates whether text
should be downloaded to the user's computer system 12. Finally,
fill-in box 104 indicates whether an attachment should be
downloaded to the user's e-mail system 12.
[0046] FIG. 5 illustrates a data structure 110 in accordance with
the present invention. This data structure can be stored in any
machine-readable medium such as in RAM 30 or in peripheral memory
36. The data structure 110 includes a header 112 and a number of
message blocks, such as message blocks 114 and 116. Each of the
message blocks (such as message blocks 114 and 116) that are
associated with the e-mail system of the header 112 are linked to
the header 112. This linking is illustrated graphically by the box
118. As it should be noted that the illustration of FIG. 5 is a
logical, and not necessarily physical, construct and the various
data can be stored in various locations in memory that are not
necessarily contiguous with each other. However, as it is well
known to those skilled in the art of data management, pointers and
links can be used to provide the functionality described herein
even though the data may be distributed in various locations and
memory.
[0047] The header 112 includes the identification of the remote
e-mail system, which in this instance, is QMREMOTE. In addition,
the header 112 may include the total number of messages on that
remote e-mail system, and a number of unread messages on that
remote e-mail system. Other information may be included in the
header 112 to provide data concerning the particular remote service
which helps in the management of the message blocks for that remote
service.
[0048] The message blocks 114 and 116 are similar in structure,
although they contain different data. In message block 114, a
message ID 120 number "0" is provided so that it can be
differentiated from other message blocks. Next, it is indicated
whether the message "0" has been read. Since it has, in this
instance, an image pointer and a text pointer are provided. The
image pointer points to an address A0 where the image of the e-mail
is stored in memory. The text pointer points to an address A1 where
the text of the message is stored.
[0049] The message block 114 also indicates that an e-mail
"attachment" has been downloaded. As it is well known in the art of
providing e-mail systems, and "attachment" is a file, document,
image or other datum that accompanies a given e-mail message. Since
in this instance it is indicated that an attachment has been
downloaded, an attachment pointer A2 points to the location in
memory where the attachment has been stored. Next, the priority is
indicated to be urgent and the sender is indicated to be James
Winston. The message regards a deadline and was sent at Jun. 7,
1995 at 13:33 in the afternoon.
[0050] Message block 116 includes a message ID 120 of "19", and
indicates that the e-mail for message # 19 has not yet been read.
Further, it indicates that the attachment has not been downloaded.
The priority of the e-mail is "normal" and the sender is "Sunee."
The message regards "Lunch on Friday" and was sent on Jun. 7, 1995
at 15:53 in the afternoon.
[0051] It should be noted that the data structure 110 is associated
with the e-mail system QM Remote. A similar data structure will be
provided for each of the other e-mail remote services supported by
the system. For example, America On-Line (AOL) will have its own
data structure similar to data structure 110. Such multiple data
structures can be managed by a number of data management
procedures, as will be appreciated in those skilled in the art.
Alternatively, the data structures for the various e-mail remote
services can be merged into a single, integrated data structure, as
will be appreciated by those skilled in the art of database
management.
[0052] It will also be appreciated that other data structures can
be utilized in the present invention. For example, each message
block can incorporate some or all of the data of the header,
thereby eliminating the need for the header 112. However, such data
blocks would integrate the functionality of the header 112,
rendering such a structure substantially equivalent.
[0053] FIG. 6 illustrates the "POLL A REMOTE E-MAIL SYSTEM FROM A
USER MACHINE" step 72 of FIG. 3 in greater detail. The process of
the 72 begins at 124 and, in a step 126, it is determined whether a
poll should be initiated. This determination in step 126 can be
manual, e.g. a user indicates that a poll should be initiated or it
can be automatic, e.g. the computer initiates the poll at regular
time intervals or upon the detection that certain conditions have
been met. In the case of automatic polling, the frequency of
polling indicated in box 96 of FIG. 4b can be used. Alternatively,
if certain conditions have been met, such as the power-up of the
system, the log-in of a new user, or the exiting from computational
or memory intensive user applications, the poll can be
automatically initiated.
[0054] If a poll is not to be initiated, the process 72 goes into
an idle loop. Of course, other processes may be occurring
concurrently. If a poll is to be initiated, the mail connection is
established in step 128. As described previously, this is
preferably accomplished through a mail system accessor such as a
mail system accessor 62 of FIG. 2. Next, in a step 130, it is
determined whether the connection was successful. If not, data is
stored in an error file in a step 132. Next, in a step 134, is
determined whether there should be an additional poll. Reasons for
an additional poll can include an unsuccessful connection, or an
additional e-mail system on the same communication link. If no
additional polling is to be done, the process 72 is complete as
indicated by step 136.
[0055] An example of the establishment of an e-mail connection to
the Internet is illustrated in FIGS. 7a and 7b. The Internet has
become an increasingly popular vehicle for electronic communication
and information transfer. An example of an access method display is
presented in FIG. 7a. This display is entered traditionally by
double-clicking on an icon associated with a windows session on a
personal computer. The toolbar 700 facilitates rapid access to most
important commands. The commands on the toolbar can also be
typically accessed with the menus on the menu bar. The address bar
730 displays the Internet address (URL) of the World Wide Web page
a user is currently viewing. In this instance, the page has an
address (URL) of http://www.hickman.com. If the page is located on
a local computer, the full path to the page is displayed. The
address bar can also be utilized for navigation by typing the
address of a page that is of interest to a user. The globe
animation 710 revolves in an animated fashion on the display when
information transfer is in process from a remote computer on the
Internet. The status bar 740 interactively presents information on
what is currently happening. The icon at the far right of the bar
shows detailed information when the pointer is positioned over it.
As data is being retrieved, the detailed information also appears
at the status bar's left end. The document display area 720
displays the World Wide Web page currently active in the display
area. Any items that are highlighted are links (e.g. "Information",
"Explore", "Go To", and "Search"), and clicking on them transfers
control to the page of information associated with the link
area.
[0056] When a particular World Wide Web site is accessed, the
information associated with the area is placed in a cache, a set of
files stored on the user's computer. When a link is selected, the
cache is initially queried to determine if the page of interest is
located in the cache. If it is, then the page is loaded from the
cache instead of transferring the information from the Internet.
This greatly increases the speed of operation of the browser. If
the page is not found in the cache, then a connection is attempted
with the Internet utilizing a modem and autodialer software or
through a Local Area Network (LAN) access if a link exists on a
local network.
[0057] A preferred embodiment utilizes the Setting Options display
shown in FIG. 7b to customize features to suit a user's particular
preferences and access the Internet through a common interface.
From the Select Options display, many of the Internet's features
can be selected in accordance with a user's preferences. For
example, the Appearance tab 760 allows a user to set colors for
foreground, background, and links. Control of the appearance of
information on a display can also be manipulated utilizing this
display. The Start Page tab 762 allows a user to specify what World
Wide Web page should be the first presented to a user when the
system is started. The Advanced tab 764 allows a user to specify
how many items will be kept in a history folder and how large the
cache size should be. The File Types tab 766 allows a user to
associate a particular program with a particular file type. For
example, if a WordPerfect (WP) file is encountered, WordPerfect.TM.
can be started to allow the file to be properly manipulated by a
user. All of these tabs are stored in a file with the values
associated with each tab. This file can be manipulated by a program
to facilitate interfacing with the standard displays already
discussed in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the
invention.
[0058] Therefore, in the present embodiment, the Internet browser
is used as the accessor software. The browser is evoked, preferably
in the background, to make a connection to the Internet. Macros are
then used to poll appropriate web pages (as selected by the user)
and/or retrieve e-mail (and any attachments) addressed to the user.
For example, commercial services such as UUNET permit users to have
a "virtual" domain name on the internet, such as
USER@VIRTUALDOMAINNAME.COM. In this instance, "USER" is the name of
the mail recipient, "VIRTUALDOMAINNAME" is the name of the
commercial entity (e.g. the company), and "COM" designates that it
is a commercial enterprise. Other common suffixes are "EDU" for
educational entities, "GOV" for government entities, and "NET" for
network entities. The accessor software then retrieves the
pertinent information from the Internet e-mail, or the e-mail
itself and/or its attachments, and uses that information as
described herein.
[0059] In FIG. 8, the step 74 "RETRIEVE DATA CONCERNING E-MAIL" of
FIG. 3 is illustrated in greater detail. The process 74 begins at
150 and, in a step 152, the number of messages for a given user on
a given e-mail system is retrieved. Next, in a step 154, the number
of unread messages for the given user on the given e-mail system is
retrieved. Next, in a step 156, the priority, sender, Re, date,
time for each message is retrieved. However, it should be noted
that steps 152-156 can be performed at different orders, or in some
instances, essentially simultaneously.
[0060] After retrieving information concerning the messages, an
iterative loop 158 is entered. The iterative loop uses a counter
"i" and loops for the number of unread messages that were
determined in step 154. Upon the completion of the iterative loop
158, the process 74 is completed as indicated in step 160. However,
if there are still unread messages, a step 162 determines whether
the message should be read. This can be determined by the fill-in
boxes 100 and 102 of window 94 of FIG. 4b. If the message is to be
read, a decision is made in step 164 whether the image should be
captured. If so, the image is captured in a step 166. In a step
168, it is determined whether the text should be downloaded. If so,
the text is downloaded in a step 170. Process control is then
directed to step 172, which determines whether the attachment (if
any) for a given message should be downloaded. If "yes", the
attachment is downloaded in a step 174. Process control is then
returned to iterative loop 158 wherein the counter i is incremented
by 1. If here are additional unread messages, iterative loop 158 is
traversed again, and if not, the process 74 is completed at step
160 as described previously.
[0061] FIG. 9 is used to illustrate the step 76 "STORE DATA ON USER
MACHINE" described with reference to FIG. 3. A preferred data
structure has already been described with reference to FIG. 5. As
previously described, the data structure 110 includes a number of
pointers A0, A1, A2, . . . AN which points to various data D0, D1,
D2. . . . DN. Data D0, in this instance, is the image of message 0
retrieved from the e-mail system QM Remote. As used herein and
"image" of a message refers to data with contains little or no
content information, i.e. just data pertaining to the image itself.
For example, an image of a message might include only a bitmap of
the visual image of the message, without having information
concerning the content of the message, such as the ASCII text of
the message. Data D1 is the text for the same message. Likewise, a
data structure 110' can be for a different remote e-mail system
such as the Internet. In this instance, pointers A0' would point to
data D0', pointer A1' points to data D1', and pointer AN' points to
pointer DN'. The use of pointers allows large data files (such as
images) to be placed in slower mass storage while the searchable
data structures 110 and 112 can be placed compactly in a faster
storage medium, such as RAM 30.
[0062] In FIGS. 10a-10c, various aspects of steps 80 of FIG. 3
"DISPLAY DATA CONCERNING A NUMBER OF REMOTE E-MAIL SYSTEMS" are
illustrated. With brief reference to FIG. 4a, it will be noted that
there is an icon 87 in the upper left hand corner of screen 82. In
the case of the Macintosh.TM. computer system, this icon is the
Apple logo for Apple Computer, Inc. A method for displaying the
receipt of messages as illustrated in FIG. 10a is to alternatively
flash the icon 87 with abbreviations or icons representing a remote
e-mail system having unread messages for a designated user. In is
instance, the abbreviations "QMR," "CC," and "I" are flashed in
succession to indicate that there are messages on Quick Mail
Remote, CC mail, and the Internet for the user. For example, the
icon 87 can be flashed for one second, the abbreviation "QMR" can
be flashed in the place of icon 87 for one second, the abbreviation
"CC" can be flashed in the place of the abbreviations QMR for one
second, the abbreviation "I" can be flashed in the place of
abbreviation CC for one second, and then the icon 87 can replace
the abbreviation "I" for one second with the loop repeating until
stopped by the user.
[0063] In FIG. 10b, a more simplified designator is illustrated. In
this instance, the icon 87 and the number 5 are alternatively
flashed on the "command bar" 86 of the screen 82. The "command bar"
is a visual location on the screen 82 which includes titles of
pull-down menus for various system functions. The number "5"
indicates that five messages have been received from various e-mail
sources. Of course, the number "5" is merely an example, and the
actual number of messages received is alternatively flashed with
the icon 87.
[0064] A still simpler mechanism is illustrated in FIG. 10c. In
this instance, the icon 87 is alternatively flashed with an
arbitrary symbol, such as the asterisk symbol "*" shown. This
merely indicate to users that there is e-mail in the system that is
addressed to them from some remote e-mail source.
[0065] FIG. 11 illustrates a window 176 that can "pop up" on the
screen upon the receipt of data concerning a remote e-mail system.
This type of window is typically only used for urgent messages, as
indicated by priority display selection 98 of FIG. 4b. In this
example, an urgent message is being sent by James Winston
concerning a deadline, and the service QM. Remote is indicated as
the source of the message. The user can then log-in to QM Remote to
receive the message or can retrieve the message or image of the
message that had already been downloaded, if the download option
had been selected.
[0066] FIGS. 12a-12c illustrate a hierarchy of menus concerning
e-mail from a variety of e-mail sources. In FIG. 12a, a window 178
indicates with selection box 180 that mail has been received
through Quick Mail, the Internet, and CC Mail. A pointer 182 can be
used to select the Quick Mail source, and the number of read and
unread messages on Quick Mail for all senders is displayed in a
window 184 in FIG. 12b. A pointer 186 can then select a given
sender (in this case "Sierra") to create a window 188 which shows
all of the Quick Mail messages from Sierra and the status of those
messages. In this instance, message 1 is unread, but the image and
attachment for the message is stored in local memory, message 2 has
been read and the text has been stored in local memory, and message
3 has been unread and the image, text, and attachment has been
stored in local memory.
[0067] While this invention has been described in terms of several
preferred embodiments, it is contemplated that alternatives,
modifications, permutations and equivalents thereof will become
apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the
specification and study of the drawings. It is therefore intended
that the following appended claims include all such alternatives,
modifications, permutations and equivalents as fall within the true
spirit and scope of the present invention.
* * * * *
References