Patent · US Expired

Method and system for polling a server for new emails, downloading the new emails in a background process, and caching the downloaded emails for access by an email application of an electronic device, such as a portable computer

US7290034B2 · kind B2 · utility

176Cited by
7References
41Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 7, 2004
Grant dateOct 30, 2007
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 22, 2025

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04L51/08
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An electronic device, such as a hand-held portable computer, is provided with client-side email capability that allows emails to be independently downloaded from a server, regardless of an operating mode of an email application and without using the standard email retrieval mechanism of the email application. The emails are periodically downloaded without attachments in response to a poll of the server and if a sufficient high-speed connection to the server is available, and then the downloaded email is locally stored in a local cache of the portable computer. Attachments associated with downloaded emails stored in the local cache can be selectively downloaded, via a background process, from the server independently of the operating mode of the email application and during any suitable power state of the electronic device. Synchronization of attachments to emails in the local cache is also independently performed, thereby bypassing synchronization that is normally performed by the email application while in the online mode.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.