CA2549250A1 - System and method for integrating electronic mail services - Google Patents
System and method for integrating electronic mail services Download PDFInfo
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- CA2549250A1 CA2549250A1 CA002549250A CA2549250A CA2549250A1 CA 2549250 A1 CA2549250 A1 CA 2549250A1 CA 002549250 A CA002549250 A CA 002549250A CA 2549250 A CA2549250 A CA 2549250A CA 2549250 A1 CA2549250 A1 CA 2549250A1
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
- G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G06Q10/00—Administration; Management
- G06Q10/10—Office automation; Time management
- G06Q10/107—Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
- H04L51/42—Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
- H04L51/00—User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
- H04L51/56—Unified messaging, e.g. interactions between e-mail, instant messaging or converged IP messaging [CPM]
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Abstract
In the disclosed invention, the systems and methods are provided for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) services, composed of an email synchronization service, an integrated email service and a persistent storage module. The email synchronization service synchronizes emails from a plurality of email services with the persistent storage module while the integrated email service coupled to the persistent storage module and the email services provides necessary functions and interfaces as an intermediary between users and the email services. In the persistent storage, instead of being stored in folders, emails are associated to customizable views according to views' definitions.
Description
SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR INTEGRATING ELECTRONIC MAIL SERVICES
FIELD OF INVENTION
The technology described in this patent document, in general, lies in the field of electronic mail systems. Particularly, the patent document describes a system and method for integrating multiple electronic mail services.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
An electronic mail (email) system, basically, is composed of two parts, sending part and receiving part, connected by the Internet. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an example email system, which illustrates one sending part, i.e. mail transfer service 106 and email sender 102, and three receiving parts, i.e. webmail service 104 and web browser 100, ISP email service 110 and email client 114, and enterprise email service 112 and email client 116, respectively.
The sending part composed of a mail transfer service 106 and an email sender 102, is to accept emails from users and send them to their destinations, i.e. email addresses of receivers. The mail transfer service may, for example, be a server on which a program that implements the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is up and running. A user may use an email sender, i.e. an email program, to access the mail transfer service and send email.
Essentially, a user only needs one mail transfer service 106 to send email because it is able to send emails to any destination that is accessible through the Internet. Also, after an email has been successfully sent to its destinations, the mail transfer service 106 doesn't store a copy of the email.
Therefore, the sending part is simple and there is no need to integrate it.
On the other hand, the receiving part composed of an email service 104, 110, 112 and an email client 104, 114, 116, is to receive emails and store emails for later retrieval. An email service may receive and store emails for multiple users, who must have an email account with the email service.
Each email account must at least be associated to one email address, which may be used to send email to that account.
Fig. 1 illustrates three most popular types of email services, webmail service104, ISP email service 110 and enterprise email service 112. ISP email service 110 is an email service that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides to its subscribers while enterprise email service 112 is an email service that a corporate or any organization provides to its employees or members. These two types of email services usually can be accessed through an email retrieval protocol by an email client 114, 116. An email client is a special program run on users' computers and is able to communicate with email services through an email retrieval protocol. Two popular email retrieval protocols are Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
Webmail service 104 is an email service that is accessible via the World Wide Web (WWW). A user can access a webmail service through a web client, such as a web browser (100), to retrieve emails.
Some of the popular ones are Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and GMail. Essentially, webmail service is nothing but an email service providing a new retrieval method through the web and so can be provided by virtually anyone on the Internet. Many ISP email service and even enterprise email services also provide webmail services while many webmail service providers also provide other email retrieval methods, such as POP3 and IMAP accessible by an email client.
From the above introduction of email systems, we may notice that the receiving part of email systems is diversified in terms of different types of email services, different email retrieval methods and numerous email service providers. The diversification poses a daily inconvenience to the users who have multiple email service accounts with multiple email services. They have to retrieve emails through all of their email service accounts one by one manually. Thus, there is an increasing demand to have a way to integrate email services.
Currently, the only possible solution is to forward all of the emails from all the other email services to the email service that a user "prefers" or uses most frequently. However, the solution may cause more problems than it solves. Some of the problems are:
= In many cases, users are forced to choose a "preferred" email service rather than they really prefer the chosen ones.
= Many users don't want to their emails being piled up in one email service for the reasons of security, clarity, insufficient storage, or simply personal preferences.
FIELD OF INVENTION
The technology described in this patent document, in general, lies in the field of electronic mail systems. Particularly, the patent document describes a system and method for integrating multiple electronic mail services.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
An electronic mail (email) system, basically, is composed of two parts, sending part and receiving part, connected by the Internet. Fig. 1 is a block diagram of an example email system, which illustrates one sending part, i.e. mail transfer service 106 and email sender 102, and three receiving parts, i.e. webmail service 104 and web browser 100, ISP email service 110 and email client 114, and enterprise email service 112 and email client 116, respectively.
The sending part composed of a mail transfer service 106 and an email sender 102, is to accept emails from users and send them to their destinations, i.e. email addresses of receivers. The mail transfer service may, for example, be a server on which a program that implements the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) is up and running. A user may use an email sender, i.e. an email program, to access the mail transfer service and send email.
Essentially, a user only needs one mail transfer service 106 to send email because it is able to send emails to any destination that is accessible through the Internet. Also, after an email has been successfully sent to its destinations, the mail transfer service 106 doesn't store a copy of the email.
Therefore, the sending part is simple and there is no need to integrate it.
On the other hand, the receiving part composed of an email service 104, 110, 112 and an email client 104, 114, 116, is to receive emails and store emails for later retrieval. An email service may receive and store emails for multiple users, who must have an email account with the email service.
Each email account must at least be associated to one email address, which may be used to send email to that account.
Fig. 1 illustrates three most popular types of email services, webmail service104, ISP email service 110 and enterprise email service 112. ISP email service 110 is an email service that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides to its subscribers while enterprise email service 112 is an email service that a corporate or any organization provides to its employees or members. These two types of email services usually can be accessed through an email retrieval protocol by an email client 114, 116. An email client is a special program run on users' computers and is able to communicate with email services through an email retrieval protocol. Two popular email retrieval protocols are Post Office Protocol Version 3 (POP3) and Internet Message Access Protocol (IMAP).
Webmail service 104 is an email service that is accessible via the World Wide Web (WWW). A user can access a webmail service through a web client, such as a web browser (100), to retrieve emails.
Some of the popular ones are Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, and GMail. Essentially, webmail service is nothing but an email service providing a new retrieval method through the web and so can be provided by virtually anyone on the Internet. Many ISP email service and even enterprise email services also provide webmail services while many webmail service providers also provide other email retrieval methods, such as POP3 and IMAP accessible by an email client.
From the above introduction of email systems, we may notice that the receiving part of email systems is diversified in terms of different types of email services, different email retrieval methods and numerous email service providers. The diversification poses a daily inconvenience to the users who have multiple email service accounts with multiple email services. They have to retrieve emails through all of their email service accounts one by one manually. Thus, there is an increasing demand to have a way to integrate email services.
Currently, the only possible solution is to forward all of the emails from all the other email services to the email service that a user "prefers" or uses most frequently. However, the solution may cause more problems than it solves. Some of the problems are:
= In many cases, users are forced to choose a "preferred" email service rather than they really prefer the chosen ones.
= Many users don't want to their emails being piled up in one email service for the reasons of security, clarity, insufficient storage, or simply personal preferences.
= This solution generates lots of duplicated copies of forwarded emails, so a user can be easily confused to make some mistakes, such as replying to one email twice, or not replying to an email because he might think he has already replied to it.
= It is not reliable because the forwarding mechanism could fail in many situations and there is no way to know the failure and try to forward the emails again. Thus, users may end up missing important emails.
= An important question that the solution doesn't address is how a user can manage these integrated emails in a convenient way when emails being put together in one email service.
The fundamental problem with email services is the affinity between email service accounts and email addresses. This means that an email address is tighdy coupled to its email service account so that the emails sent to this email address must be retrieved through the specific email service account. This is the source of the daily inconvenience. Therefore, to integrate email service, we should first break up the affinity between email service accounts and email addresses.
After emails being integrated, another problem will become more noticeable and unbearable. It is that emails are organized into folders. One email must be in one and only one folder. One default folder is usually called Inbox, where all emails are placed when they are first received. A user can create customized folders to organize one's emails, which is a daily time-consuming task that almost everyone complains about and many finally give it up. How to organize them after emails being integrated becomes the main concern for the users who want to integrate their emails.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Thus, the present invention is to address these two problems by decoupling email service account from email addresses and providing an alternative structure for organizing emails.
In the disclosed invention, the systems and methods are provided for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) services, composed of an email synchronization service, an integrated email service and a persistent storage module. The email synchronization service synchronizes emails from a plurality of email services with the persistent storage module while the integrated email service coupled to the persistent storage module and the email services provides necessary functions and interfaces as an intermediary between users and the email services. In the persistent storage, instead of being stored in folders, emails are associated to customizable views according to views' definitions.
SUMMARY OF DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example email system;
Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example system for integrating multiple email services;
Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example email synchronization service;
Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example integrated email service;
Fig. 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of synchronizing emails from an email service account with a persistent storage module; and Fig. 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of retrieving emails from an integrated email services.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
With reference now to the remaining drawing figures, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an example system for integrating a plurality of email services 200, 202, 204. This system indudes an email synchronization service 208, integrated email service 210, and persistent storage module 212. The email synchronization service 208 uses the email service account information stored in the persistent storage module 212 to synchronize emails from email services 200, 202, 204 with the email content stored in the persistent storage module 212.
The integrated email service 210 acts as an intermediary between users and the email services 200, 202, 204, providing functions and interfaces for users to register and manage ema.il service account information, and search, retrieve and manage emails from the email services 200, 202, 204. The integrated email service 210 stores email service account information, the content of emails that have been synchronized from email services, and the organization structure of emails in the persistent storage module 212.
The persistent storage module 212 is a device for persistently storing data and information used by the email synchronization service 208 and the integrated email service 210.
The persistent storage module 212 may be a computer hard drive, a database management system running a plurality of computers, or some other data storage system or device.
= It is not reliable because the forwarding mechanism could fail in many situations and there is no way to know the failure and try to forward the emails again. Thus, users may end up missing important emails.
= An important question that the solution doesn't address is how a user can manage these integrated emails in a convenient way when emails being put together in one email service.
The fundamental problem with email services is the affinity between email service accounts and email addresses. This means that an email address is tighdy coupled to its email service account so that the emails sent to this email address must be retrieved through the specific email service account. This is the source of the daily inconvenience. Therefore, to integrate email service, we should first break up the affinity between email service accounts and email addresses.
After emails being integrated, another problem will become more noticeable and unbearable. It is that emails are organized into folders. One email must be in one and only one folder. One default folder is usually called Inbox, where all emails are placed when they are first received. A user can create customized folders to organize one's emails, which is a daily time-consuming task that almost everyone complains about and many finally give it up. How to organize them after emails being integrated becomes the main concern for the users who want to integrate their emails.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Thus, the present invention is to address these two problems by decoupling email service account from email addresses and providing an alternative structure for organizing emails.
In the disclosed invention, the systems and methods are provided for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) services, composed of an email synchronization service, an integrated email service and a persistent storage module. The email synchronization service synchronizes emails from a plurality of email services with the persistent storage module while the integrated email service coupled to the persistent storage module and the email services provides necessary functions and interfaces as an intermediary between users and the email services. In the persistent storage, instead of being stored in folders, emails are associated to customizable views according to views' definitions.
SUMMARY OF DRAWINGS
Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing an example email system;
Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example system for integrating multiple email services;
Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing an example email synchronization service;
Fig. 4 is a block diagram showing an example integrated email service;
Fig. 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of synchronizing emails from an email service account with a persistent storage module; and Fig. 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of retrieving emails from an integrated email services.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
With reference now to the remaining drawing figures, Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an example system for integrating a plurality of email services 200, 202, 204. This system indudes an email synchronization service 208, integrated email service 210, and persistent storage module 212. The email synchronization service 208 uses the email service account information stored in the persistent storage module 212 to synchronize emails from email services 200, 202, 204 with the email content stored in the persistent storage module 212.
The integrated email service 210 acts as an intermediary between users and the email services 200, 202, 204, providing functions and interfaces for users to register and manage ema.il service account information, and search, retrieve and manage emails from the email services 200, 202, 204. The integrated email service 210 stores email service account information, the content of emails that have been synchronized from email services, and the organization structure of emails in the persistent storage module 212.
The persistent storage module 212 is a device for persistently storing data and information used by the email synchronization service 208 and the integrated email service 210.
The persistent storage module 212 may be a computer hard drive, a database management system running a plurality of computers, or some other data storage system or device.
In operation, the email synchronization service 208 has no way to know new emails arriving at the email services 200, 202, 204 except polling them from time to time. The polling frequency with which the email synchronization service 208 polls the email services 200, 202, 204 can be a fixed rate set up at the service level or can be customized by users according to their own preferences.
This is because there is no absolute optimal rate and we have to balance between the increasing workload due to a higher frequency and the longer delay of synchronizing emails due to a lower frequency. The description about the structure of an email synchronization service and the synchronization method is provided below with reference to Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 respectively.
To access the integrated email service 210, a user has to have an account with the integrated email service 210 first. When a user uses integrated email service 210 for the first time, a user has to register the account information of the email services that he wants to integrate and determine some preferences, like the polling frequency used by the email synchronization service 208. After that, it may take some time for the email synchronization service 208 to pick up the newly registered email service account information and synchronize all the emails with the persistent storage module 212.
Fig. 3 is a block dia.gram of an example email synchronization service 208.
The email synchronization service includes a network connector 300, which allows the email synchronization service to communicate via a computer network, an email synchronization logic unit 302, and a persistent storage module 304.
The persistent storage module 304, part of the persistent storage module 212, includes an email service account information store 306 and an email content store 308.
The email service account information store 306 stores information of email services and accounts used to access them and may, for example, include a list of email services with the information of server addresses, email retrieval methods, etc., and for each email services listed, a list of email addresses and accounts that are associated with that email service, with the information of authentication method, e.g. username and password, synchronization preferences, e.g. polling frequency, etc. The email retrieval methods may be Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) or some other methods.
This is because there is no absolute optimal rate and we have to balance between the increasing workload due to a higher frequency and the longer delay of synchronizing emails due to a lower frequency. The description about the structure of an email synchronization service and the synchronization method is provided below with reference to Fig. 3 and Fig. 5 respectively.
To access the integrated email service 210, a user has to have an account with the integrated email service 210 first. When a user uses integrated email service 210 for the first time, a user has to register the account information of the email services that he wants to integrate and determine some preferences, like the polling frequency used by the email synchronization service 208. After that, it may take some time for the email synchronization service 208 to pick up the newly registered email service account information and synchronize all the emails with the persistent storage module 212.
Fig. 3 is a block dia.gram of an example email synchronization service 208.
The email synchronization service includes a network connector 300, which allows the email synchronization service to communicate via a computer network, an email synchronization logic unit 302, and a persistent storage module 304.
The persistent storage module 304, part of the persistent storage module 212, includes an email service account information store 306 and an email content store 308.
The email service account information store 306 stores information of email services and accounts used to access them and may, for example, include a list of email services with the information of server addresses, email retrieval methods, etc., and for each email services listed, a list of email addresses and accounts that are associated with that email service, with the information of authentication method, e.g. username and password, synchronization preferences, e.g. polling frequency, etc. The email retrieval methods may be Post Office Protocol (POP), Internet Mail Access Protocol (IMAP) or some other methods.
The email content store 308 includes a list of emails synchronized from email services. While it is unnecessary to store the entire content to an email, the identity of an email, which can be used to uniquely identify that email when retrieving it from the email service, is a must. Preferably, only text part of emails with some useful information like sender, recipient, subject, etc., may be stored while file attachments and email headers may not.
In the present invention, a logic unit may be a software module executing on one or more multi-purpose computers, a processing device such as a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP), or some other type of processing device or system.
The email synchronization logic unit 302 is operable to control the components of the email synchronization service. The detail of the method of synchronizing emails from email service, used by the email synchronization logic unit 302, is provided below with reference to Fig. 5.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an example integrated email services 210. The integrated email service includes a network connector 422, which allows the integrated email service to communicate via a computer network, a persistent storage module 400, a logic unit module 410, a user interface 418, and an application programming interface 420.
The persistent storage module 400, the same as the persistent storage module 212, indudes an email service account information store 402, an email content store 404, a view information store 408 and an email-view associaxion store 406. The email service account information store 402 is the same as the email service account information 306 while the email content store 404 is the same as the email content store 308. Thus, the changes updated by users through the integrated email service 210 will be automatically updated in the email synchronization service 210.
To facilitate an easy email organization structure, a new concept is introduced with the integrated email service. The new concept, named View, represents a definable set of emails. The definition of such a set of emails can be further translated into an association rule, i.e.
the condition, with which an email in that set of emails must comply. In other words, an email will be associated with a view as long as it complies with the association rule of the view.
In the present invention, a logic unit may be a software module executing on one or more multi-purpose computers, a processing device such as a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP), or some other type of processing device or system.
The email synchronization logic unit 302 is operable to control the components of the email synchronization service. The detail of the method of synchronizing emails from email service, used by the email synchronization logic unit 302, is provided below with reference to Fig. 5.
Fig. 4 is a block diagram of an example integrated email services 210. The integrated email service includes a network connector 422, which allows the integrated email service to communicate via a computer network, a persistent storage module 400, a logic unit module 410, a user interface 418, and an application programming interface 420.
The persistent storage module 400, the same as the persistent storage module 212, indudes an email service account information store 402, an email content store 404, a view information store 408 and an email-view associaxion store 406. The email service account information store 402 is the same as the email service account information 306 while the email content store 404 is the same as the email content store 308. Thus, the changes updated by users through the integrated email service 210 will be automatically updated in the email synchronization service 210.
To facilitate an easy email organization structure, a new concept is introduced with the integrated email service. The new concept, named View, represents a definable set of emails. The definition of such a set of emails can be further translated into an association rule, i.e.
the condition, with which an email in that set of emails must comply. In other words, an email will be associated with a view as long as it complies with the association rule of the view.
This view-based email organization structure helps at least lessen the daily inconvenience of managing email with folders experienced by many people. All one has to do is to define a set of views based on one's needs and preferences. When an email is synchronized by the email synchronization service 208, it will be associated automatically with the views that email belongs to according to the association rules of views. When the user retrieves emails through a view, new emails are already in that view.
A user has the freedom to create any number of views of his own, based on his needs and preference, using any methods provided by an integrated email service to define the association rules of views. However, some default views defined by an integrated email service are also helpful for users to start using email service right away. One default view is all of the synchronized emails, which may be named, for example, ALL. Two other useful views are all in-bound emails and all out-bound emails, named, for example, IN and OUT respectively. Certainly, other default views can be provided by an integrated email service.
Association rules of views can be defined in any way as long as it can differentiate an email from another email in a meaningful and feasible way. One example of an association rule may be checking if an email contains a word or a phrase. Another example may be checking if an email is sent by one specific person or one source. An integrated email service may selectively provide only a few simple and general ways, which may be sufficient in most situations.
The view information store 408 includes a list of views for each user of the integrated email service.
A view has at least a name and an association rule with other information, e.g. definition or description. The email-view association store 406 includes a list of associations between emails and views, or email-view association. An email-view association has an identity of an email and an identity of a view.
The logic unit module 410 includes a view management logic unit 416, an email-view association logic unit 412, and an email retrieval logic unit 414. The view management logic unit 416 is operable to provide the functions of managing views, induding adding a new view, modifying an existing view and deleting a view.
A user has the freedom to create any number of views of his own, based on his needs and preference, using any methods provided by an integrated email service to define the association rules of views. However, some default views defined by an integrated email service are also helpful for users to start using email service right away. One default view is all of the synchronized emails, which may be named, for example, ALL. Two other useful views are all in-bound emails and all out-bound emails, named, for example, IN and OUT respectively. Certainly, other default views can be provided by an integrated email service.
Association rules of views can be defined in any way as long as it can differentiate an email from another email in a meaningful and feasible way. One example of an association rule may be checking if an email contains a word or a phrase. Another example may be checking if an email is sent by one specific person or one source. An integrated email service may selectively provide only a few simple and general ways, which may be sufficient in most situations.
The view information store 408 includes a list of views for each user of the integrated email service.
A view has at least a name and an association rule with other information, e.g. definition or description. The email-view association store 406 includes a list of associations between emails and views, or email-view association. An email-view association has an identity of an email and an identity of a view.
The logic unit module 410 includes a view management logic unit 416, an email-view association logic unit 412, and an email retrieval logic unit 414. The view management logic unit 416 is operable to provide the functions of managing views, induding adding a new view, modifying an existing view and deleting a view.
The email-view association 412 is operable to associate / de-associate emails with views upon one of the following events:
1. An email has been synchronized from an email service;
2. A new view has been added;
3. An existing view has been deleted; and 4. The association rule of an existing view has been modified.
The email retrieval logic unit 414 is operable to control the process of a user retrieving an email from the integrated email service. Further detail of the retrieval method is provided below with reference to Fig. 6.
The user interface 418 allows users to interact directly with the integrated email service. The user interface 418 may be, for example, a web application that executes on a multi-purpose computer and that may be accessed via the World Wide Web (WWV), or some other computer programs that can provide similar interaction to users.
The application programming interface 420 allows users to interact indirectly with the integrated email service through some other software or devices. It may be, for example, a network protocol, a web service that may be accessed via the WWW, or some other programming interface.
The user interface 418 and the application programming interface 420 don't have to be present together for the integrated email service to be able to function. In addition, a user interface can be built on an application programming interface instead of on the integrated email service directly.
However, by providing both, users can have much more flexibility to deterinine when, where and how to use the integrated email service with less limitation. Through the application programming interface 420, the integrated email service can be further integrated with other services to provide more added values to users.
Fig. 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of synchronizing emails from an email service account with a persistent storage module. At step 500, the information of an email service account is retrieved from the email service account information store in the persistent storage module, and then is used to access to the email service at step 502.
1. An email has been synchronized from an email service;
2. A new view has been added;
3. An existing view has been deleted; and 4. The association rule of an existing view has been modified.
The email retrieval logic unit 414 is operable to control the process of a user retrieving an email from the integrated email service. Further detail of the retrieval method is provided below with reference to Fig. 6.
The user interface 418 allows users to interact directly with the integrated email service. The user interface 418 may be, for example, a web application that executes on a multi-purpose computer and that may be accessed via the World Wide Web (WWV), or some other computer programs that can provide similar interaction to users.
The application programming interface 420 allows users to interact indirectly with the integrated email service through some other software or devices. It may be, for example, a network protocol, a web service that may be accessed via the WWW, or some other programming interface.
The user interface 418 and the application programming interface 420 don't have to be present together for the integrated email service to be able to function. In addition, a user interface can be built on an application programming interface instead of on the integrated email service directly.
However, by providing both, users can have much more flexibility to deterinine when, where and how to use the integrated email service with less limitation. Through the application programming interface 420, the integrated email service can be further integrated with other services to provide more added values to users.
Fig. 5 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of synchronizing emails from an email service account with a persistent storage module. At step 500, the information of an email service account is retrieved from the email service account information store in the persistent storage module, and then is used to access to the email service at step 502.
At step 504, the list of identities of all emails related to the email service account and marked as to be deleted is retrieved from the email content store in the persistent storage module. At step 510, the emails in that list are deleted from the email service account by using their identities. At step 508, the emails in that list are deleted from the email content store in the persistent storage module.
At step 506, the list of identities of all emails in the email service account is retrieved from the email service. For the purpose of discussion here, we call it List A. The list of identities of all emails related to the email service account, called I.ist B is retrieved from the email content store in the persistent storage module at step 512.
For each identity in List A, determining if the identity is in the List B. If it is not, the email with the identity then is retrieved from the email service account and the email content is stored in the email content store in the persistent storage at step 526. Then, the identity is removed from the List B.
After all identities in List A has been examined, the email content with the remaining identities in the List B, if any, is deleted from the email content store in the persistent storage module.
Fig. 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of retrieving emails from an integrated email services. At step 600, all the emails are associated with the views by the associating rules of the views and the associations are stored in the email-view association store.
When the user selects one view at step 602, the list of emails in the selected view is return and present to the user at step 604.
After the user browses the list and selects the email he wants to review at step 608, the parts of the email that are stored in the email content store are retrieved and presented to the user at step 606.
These parts of the email may be sufficient for user to review at this stage.
If not in some situations, for example, that he may like to get the file attachments, or that he may simply need to download the entire email, the user can specify what he requires at step 610.
At step 612, the entire email is retrieved from the email service account by using the account information in the email service account information store in the persistent storage module. Then, the parts of the email that the user required is prepared and presented to the user at step 614.
It should be understood that for the purpose of simplifying the process, the examples illustrated in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 are based on some straightforward assumptions, which even if not true, can be dealt with easily by common programming practice. For example, the email service account information stored in the email service account information store in the persistent storage module has been validated and therefore the email service can be accessed with no problem.
Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it should be understood that various modifications, additions and alterations may be made to the invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
At step 506, the list of identities of all emails in the email service account is retrieved from the email service. For the purpose of discussion here, we call it List A. The list of identities of all emails related to the email service account, called I.ist B is retrieved from the email content store in the persistent storage module at step 512.
For each identity in List A, determining if the identity is in the List B. If it is not, the email with the identity then is retrieved from the email service account and the email content is stored in the email content store in the persistent storage at step 526. Then, the identity is removed from the List B.
After all identities in List A has been examined, the email content with the remaining identities in the List B, if any, is deleted from the email content store in the persistent storage module.
Fig. 6 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example method of retrieving emails from an integrated email services. At step 600, all the emails are associated with the views by the associating rules of the views and the associations are stored in the email-view association store.
When the user selects one view at step 602, the list of emails in the selected view is return and present to the user at step 604.
After the user browses the list and selects the email he wants to review at step 608, the parts of the email that are stored in the email content store are retrieved and presented to the user at step 606.
These parts of the email may be sufficient for user to review at this stage.
If not in some situations, for example, that he may like to get the file attachments, or that he may simply need to download the entire email, the user can specify what he requires at step 610.
At step 612, the entire email is retrieved from the email service account by using the account information in the email service account information store in the persistent storage module. Then, the parts of the email that the user required is prepared and presented to the user at step 614.
It should be understood that for the purpose of simplifying the process, the examples illustrated in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 are based on some straightforward assumptions, which even if not true, can be dealt with easily by common programming practice. For example, the email service account information stored in the email service account information store in the persistent storage module has been validated and therefore the email service can be accessed with no problem.
Although the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it should be understood that various modifications, additions and alterations may be made to the invention by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims (19)
THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. A system for integrating a plurality of electronic mail (email) services, comprising:
a. a plurality of email services accessible through email service accounts and operable to at least receive electronic messages over a wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their associating rules, and associations between emails and views;
c. an email synchronization service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the synchronizing agent operable to synchronize emails in an email service account on an email service with the store of email content on the persistent storage; and d. an integrated email service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the integrated email service operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to manage views and their associating rules, to associate emails with views, and to retrieve emails through views.
a. a plurality of email services accessible through email service accounts and operable to at least receive electronic messages over a wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their associating rules, and associations between emails and views;
c. an email synchronization service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the synchronizing agent operable to synchronize emails in an email service account on an email service with the store of email content on the persistent storage; and d. an integrated email service coupled to the wide area network and independent of the plurality of email services, the integrated email service operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to manage views and their associating rules, to associate emails with views, and to retrieve emails through views.
2. The system of claim 1, wherein a view represents a definable set of emails, comprising a name and a definition, which can be translated into an associating rule, and wherein an associating rule coupled to a view is a condition, with which an email must comply to be associated with that view.
3. The system of claim 1, wherein the email synchronization service comprises:
a. a network connector for interfacing the email synchronization service with the wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information and storing email content; and c. an email synchronization logic unit coupled to the network connector and the persistent storage module, the email synchronization logic unit operable to use the information in the persistent storage module and synchronize emails from email service accounts with the persistent storage module.
a. a network connector for interfacing the email synchronization service with the wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information and storing email content; and c. an email synchronization logic unit coupled to the network connector and the persistent storage module, the email synchronization logic unit operable to use the information in the persistent storage module and synchronize emails from email service accounts with the persistent storage module.
4. The system of claim 3, wherein the persistent storage module comprises:
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them; and b. an email content store, i.e. a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account.
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them; and b. an email content store, i.e. a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein the email synchronization logic unit is operable to retrieve the email service account information from the email service account information store and synchronize emails in the email service account on the email service with the email content store in the persistent storage module.
6. The system of claim 1, wherein the integrated email service comprises:
a. a network connector for interfacing the integrated email service with the wide area network;
b. a user interface (UI) for end users to interact the integrated email service directly;
c. an application programming interface (API) for end users to interact the integrated email service indirectly through other software or devices;
d. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their, associating rules, and associations between emails and views;
e. a logic unit module coupled to the network connector, the persistent storage module, the user interface and the API, the logic unit module operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to associate emails with views, to manage views and their associating rules, and to retrieve emails through views.
a. a network connector for interfacing the integrated email service with the wide area network;
b. a user interface (UI) for end users to interact the integrated email service directly;
c. an application programming interface (API) for end users to interact the integrated email service indirectly through other software or devices;
d. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their, associating rules, and associations between emails and views;
e. a logic unit module coupled to the network connector, the persistent storage module, the user interface and the API, the logic unit module operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to associate emails with views, to manage views and their associating rules, and to retrieve emails through views.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein a view represents a definable set of emails, comprising a name and a definition, which can be translated into an associating rule, and wherein an associating rule coupled to a view is a condition, with which an email must comply to be associated with the view coupled to the associating rule in question.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein the persistent storage module comprises:
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them;
b. an email content store, including a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account;
c. a view information store, including a list of views and their associating rules; and d. an email-view association store, including a list of associations between emails and views.
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them;
b. an email content store, including a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account;
c. a view information store, including a list of views and their associating rules; and d. an email-view association store, including a list of associations between emails and views.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein the logic unit module comprises:
a. an email-view association logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store and the email content store in the persistent storage module and associate emails with views;
b. an email retrieval logic unit of operable to use the information in the view information store, the email content store, the email-view association store, and the email service account information store in the persistent storage module and retrieve emails by specifying views; and c. a view management logic unit operable to receive instructions from the user through the UI or the API and manage views and their associating rules.
a. an email-view association logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store and the email content store in the persistent storage module and associate emails with views;
b. an email retrieval logic unit of operable to use the information in the view information store, the email content store, the email-view association store, and the email service account information store in the persistent storage module and retrieve emails by specifying views; and c. a view management logic unit operable to receive instructions from the user through the UI or the API and manage views and their associating rules.
10. A method of synchronizing emails from a plurality of email services with a persistent storage module, independent of the plurality of email services and the persistent storage module, comprising:
a. from the email service account information store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the information of the email service account ;
b. using the email service account information to access to the email service account;
c. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the list of identities of all emails related to the email service account and marked as to be deleted;
d. from the email service account, deleting the emails in the list;
e. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, deleting the emails in the list;
f. from the email service account, retrieving the list (List A) of identities of all emails;
g. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the list of identities of all emails related to the email service account;
h. for each identities in List A, determining if the identity is in the List B;
i. if not, then retrieving the email with the identity from the email service account, storing the email content in the email content store in the persistent storage, and removing the identity from the List B; and j. deleting the email content with the remaining identities in the List B from the email content store in the persistent storage module.
a. from the email service account information store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the information of the email service account ;
b. using the email service account information to access to the email service account;
c. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the list of identities of all emails related to the email service account and marked as to be deleted;
d. from the email service account, deleting the emails in the list;
e. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, deleting the emails in the list;
f. from the email service account, retrieving the list (List A) of identities of all emails;
g. from the email content store in the persistent storage module, retrieving the list of identities of all emails related to the email service account;
h. for each identities in List A, determining if the identity is in the List B;
i. if not, then retrieving the email with the identity from the email service account, storing the email content in the email content store in the persistent storage, and removing the identity from the List B; and j. deleting the email content with the remaining identities in the List B from the email content store in the persistent storage module.
11. An electronic mail (email) synchronization service for use with a plurality of email services that are operable to receive emails over a wide area network, independent of the plurality of email services, comprises:
a. a network connector for interfacing the email synchronization service with the wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information and storing email content; and c. an email synchronization logic unit coupled to the network connector and the persistent storage module, the email synchronization logic unit operable to use the information in the persistent storage module and synchronize emails from email service accounts with the persistent storage module.
a. a network connector for interfacing the email synchronization service with the wide area network;
b. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information and storing email content; and c. an email synchronization logic unit coupled to the network connector and the persistent storage module, the email synchronization logic unit operable to use the information in the persistent storage module and synchronize emails from email service accounts with the persistent storage module.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the persistent storage module comprises:
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them; and b. a email content store, i.e. a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account.
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them; and b. a email content store, i.e. a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the email synchronization logic unit is operable to retrieve the email service account information from the email service account information store and synchronize emails in the email service account on the email service with the email content store in the persistent storage module.
14. An integrated electronic mail (email) service for use with a plurality of email services that are operable to receive emails over a wide area network, independent of the plurality of email services, comprising:
a. a network connector for interfacing the integrated email service with the wide area network;
b. a user interface for end users to interact with the integrated email service directly;
c. an application programming interface (API) for end users to interact with the integrated email service indirectly through other software or devices;
d. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their associating rules, and associations between emails and views; and e. a logic unit module coupled to the network connector, the persistent storage module, the user interface and the API, the logic unit module operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to associate emails with views, to manage views and their associating rules, and to retrieve emails through views.
a. a network connector for interfacing the integrated email service with the wide area network;
b. a user interface for end users to interact with the integrated email service directly;
c. an application programming interface (API) for end users to interact with the integrated email service indirectly through other software or devices;
d. a persistent storage module for storing email service account information, email content, views and their associating rules, and associations between emails and views; and e. a logic unit module coupled to the network connector, the persistent storage module, the user interface and the API, the logic unit module operable to receive information of an email service account on an email service and use the information to configure the email synchronization service, to associate emails with views, to manage views and their associating rules, and to retrieve emails through views.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein a view represents a definable set of emails, comprising a name and a definition, which can be translated into an associating rule, and wherein an associating rule coupled to a view is a condition, with which an email must comply to be associated with the view coupled to the associating rule in question.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the persistent storage module comprises:
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them;
b. an email content store, including a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account;
c. a view information store, including a list of views and their associating rules; and d. an email-view association store, including a list of associations between emails and views.
a. an email service account information store, including a list of email service accounts and the information of how to access them and retrieve emails from them;
b. an email content store, including a list of content of emails retrieved from email service accounts, wherein the content includes at least the identity that can be used to uniquely identify the email in the email service account;
c. a view information store, including a list of views and their associating rules; and d. an email-view association store, including a list of associations between emails and views.
17. The system of claim 14, wherein the logic unit module comprises:
a. an email-view association logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store and the email content store in the persistent storage module and associate emails with views;
b. an email retrieval logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store, the email content store, the email-view association store, and the email service account information store in the persistent storage module and retrieve emails by specifying views;
c. a view management logic unit operable to receive instructions from the user through the UI or the API and manage views and their associating rules;
a. an email-view association logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store and the email content store in the persistent storage module and associate emails with views;
b. an email retrieval logic unit operable to use the information in the view information store, the email content store, the email-view association store, and the email service account information store in the persistent storage module and retrieve emails by specifying views;
c. a view management logic unit operable to receive instructions from the user through the UI or the API and manage views and their associating rules;
18. A method of retrieving emails from a plurality of email services through an integrated email service, independent of the plurality of email services, comprising:
a. associating emails with the views by the associating rules of the views and saving the associations in the email-view association store;
b. when the user selects one view, returning the list of emails in the selected view;
c. when the user selects an email to review, displaying the parts of the email that are stored in the email content store;
d. when the user requires the parts of the email that are not stored in the email content store, retrieving the email from the email service account by using the account information in the email service account information store; and e. returning the parts of the email that the user required.
a. associating emails with the views by the associating rules of the views and saving the associations in the email-view association store;
b. when the user selects one view, returning the list of emails in the selected view;
c. when the user selects an email to review, displaying the parts of the email that are stored in the email content store;
d. when the user requires the parts of the email that are not stored in the email content store, retrieving the email from the email service account by using the account information in the email service account information store; and e. returning the parts of the email that the user required.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein a view represents a definable set of emails, comprising a name and a definition, which can be translated into an associating rule, and wherein an associating rule coupled to a view is a condition, with which an email must comply to be associated with the view coupled to the associating rule in question.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002549250A CA2549250A1 (en) | 2006-06-09 | 2006-06-09 | System and method for integrating electronic mail services |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002549250A CA2549250A1 (en) | 2006-06-09 | 2006-06-09 | System and method for integrating electronic mail services |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2549250A1 true CA2549250A1 (en) | 2007-12-09 |
Family
ID=38829278
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002549250A Abandoned CA2549250A1 (en) | 2006-06-09 | 2006-06-09 | System and method for integrating electronic mail services |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA2549250A1 (en) |
-
2006
- 2006-06-09 CA CA002549250A patent/CA2549250A1/en not_active Abandoned
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