CN101589588A

CN101589588A - Method and apparatus for an email gateway

Info

Publication number: CN101589588A
Application number: CNA2007800149616A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 罗格·格伦贝里
Original assignee: Momail AB
Current assignee: Momail AB
Priority date: 2006-04-26
Filing date: 2007-04-24
Publication date: 2009-11-25

Abstract

An email gateway capable of managing email experiences of users operating on heterogeneous devices and networks. The gateway allows configuring the e-mail on the basis of the hardware and software capabilities of the receiving, also called target device. The email gateway includes: a decomposer, a memory, a device detector and a target optimizer. The splitter splits a received email into a separate body portion and attachment portion. The memory is coupled to the disassembler and is configured to store the discrete body and attachment portions of each email received from the disassembler. The device detector detects hardware and software capabilities of a corresponding communication device before the email is to be delivered to the communication device. The target optimizer is connected to the memory and the device detector, and optimizes a body portion and an attachment portion of an associated email to be delivered to the communication device in response to an email request based on capabilities of the communication device detected by the device detector.

Description

The method and apparatus that is used for E-mail gateway

Cross reference to related application

It is the common unsettled provisional application No.60/794 that formerly submits to of " methods that change data " (the numbering #MOMAP010P of agency) that the application requires in the exercise question that on April 26th, 2006 submitted to, 690 rights and interests, this application is incorporated herein by reference with its full content, as fully in this elaboration.

Technical field

Present invention relates in general to network communicating system, more particularly, relate to the device specific optimization of E-mail communication in the network.

Background technology

Consumer's pressure of eliminating the traditional difference between mobile phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), notebook computer and the desk-top workstation increases day by day.The appearance free and paid service that VOIP sent in voice of internet protocol-based (VOIP) and being used to is changing the impression to desktop computer.The appearance indication of Windows Mobile and other operation Mobile operating system extends to mobile device to desk-top experience.Current, the general example of the fusion that wired and wireless cellular network and computer network are growing is provided by the Email of seamless delivery between the disparate devices that is desirably on cable network or the wireless network.

From technical standpoint, the task of handling Email on mobile communication equipment and desktop communication devices is challenging.Cellular communication apparatus and desktop communication devices differ from one another in the following areas: display size, disposal ability, network and processing bandwidth and resident software application.176 * 220=38, the exemplary cellular telephone pixel of 720 pixel counts is counted to 1920 * 1200=2 of the large-sized panel display device of desktop computer, and between 304,000 pixel counts, total pixel number differs about two size.Have with 300 megahertzes be clock single core processor typical mobile phone and may to have with 3.8 GHzs (Giga Hertz) be that disposal ability differs several sizes between the work station of the double-core of clock or four core processors.Volatile memory in typical case's mobile phone, also being called random access memory (' RAM ') is 64 Mbytes, and desktop computer will have 1-4 gigabyte (Gigabytes).File storage on the mobile phone uses resident RAM to finish, and the file storage on the computer uses the hard disk of 40-80 gigabyte to finish.Cellular network has the data transmission rate of 300-700 kilobits per second, and typical intranet has the data transmission rate of 10-100 MBPS.

The complexity of E-mail communication changes in the scope from simple text information to the html document that has embedded images and related accessories.The frequent Email opposite with file transfer protocol (FTP) (' FTP ') serve as in the size tissue and between file-sharing and the method for optimizing of document transmission.Although these files and document are called as e-mail attachment, but in fact they are parts of Email itself, and they conciliate boundling (unbundling) considerable processing power of consumption and time at the boundling (bundling) of the opposite end of communication process.After e-mail attachment was received, it must be opened by the resident applications of compatibility, views or edits for the recipient.If there is not corresponding application program, for example, word processing, electrical form and drawing are attempted so opening the attachment and will be proved futile, thereby hindered communication process.

Required is to be used for the unified communication means that process range moves widely and fixes, reach the communication between wireless and wired communication equipment.

Summary of the invention

The present invention discloses a kind of method and apparatus of E-mail gateway of the email experience that can manage the user who operates on disparate devices and network.This gateway allows to receive, and the hardware and software ability that also is called target device is that the basis disposes Email.Introduce Email and be broken down into main part and accessories section, and be stored in the gateway.Outgoing email is by each assembling stage, and each stage, it was specific also being called target device for requesting service.Integrated memory and retrieval capability allow gateway to produce the Email that is forwarded to desktop computer from mobile phone again, thereby keep the integrality of original communication.The e-mail attachment of storage can be directly fetches independent access by the chain based on the user interface of World Wide Web (WWW) or the main part by being embedded into outgoing email.In either case, annex is by each assembling stage, and wherein each stage is according to the ability concrete configuration annex of requesting service.

In one embodiment of the invention, a kind of E-mail gateway that is configured to be connected to the communication equipment of at least one network is disclosed.This E-mail gateway comprises: decomposer, memory, device detector and objective optimization device.Described decomposer resolves into discrete main part and accessories section with the Email that is received.Described memory is connected to described decomposer, is configured to store discrete main part and accessories section from every envelope Email of described decomposer reception.Described device detector detects the hardware and software ability of this communication equipment before Email will be delivered to corresponding communication equipment.Described objective optimization device is connected to described memory and described device detector, in response to e-mail request, based on come main part and accessories section to be optimized by the ability of the detected described communication equipment of described device detector to the electronics mail that is associated that will be delivered to described communication equipment.

In another embodiment of the present invention, E-mail gateway comprises: decomposer, memory, at least one management web page and storage manager.Described decomposer resolves into discrete main part and accessories section with the Email that is received.Described memory is connected to described decomposer, is configured to store discrete main part and accessories section from every envelope Email of described decomposer reception.Described at least one attachment management web page is arranged to search and checks the e-mail attachment that is independent of Email and is associated with this Email.Described storage manager is connected to described memory, in response to the inquiry of importing via described at least one attachment management web page by email recipient, come to retrieve from described memory the annex of e-mail to described recipient, this annex is complementary with the recipient's who shows on described at least one attachment management web page query argument.

Description of drawings

From the detailed description below in conjunction with accompanying drawing, it is more obvious that these and other characteristic of the present invention and advantage will become to those skilled in the art, in the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 illustrates a plurality of wired and Wireless Telecom Equipment with the email client that shows common email;

Fig. 2 illustrates the communication equipment of selecting from the communication equipment of Fig. 1, these communication equipments are connected with each other, and carries out email exchange by E-mail gateway;

Fig. 3 A illustrates the embodiment that is used for member's hobby is inputed to the graphic user interface (GUI) of E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2;

Fig. 3 B illustrates the alternate embodiment that is used for member's hobby is inputed to the GUI of E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2;

Fig. 4 illustrates the GUI that is used for the managing email annex according to the embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 5 A-5B is illustrated in and optimizes before the specific target communication device and head part, textual portions, main part and the accessories section of Email afterwards;

Fig. 6 illustrates the hardware and software specification of the selected mobile device of XML form;

Fig. 7 illustrates the data structure that is used for discrete managing email head part, main part and accessories section according to the embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 8 illustrates the combination hardware of the embodiment of E-mail gateway and the block diagram of software as shown in Figure 2;

Fig. 9 illustrates the hardware block diagram of the embodiment of E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2;

Figure 10 A-10B illustrates according to the reception of Email in E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2 of the embodiment of the invention and the process flow diagram that sends;

Figure 11 is the process flow diagram according to the processing that is associated with discrete attachment request of management or inquiry in E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2 of the embodiment of the invention.

Embodiment

Fig. 1 illustrates a plurality of wired and Wireless Telecom Equipment with the email client that shows common email.Show several cell phones 108,118, notebook computer 104 and computer workstation display 100.These communication equipments differ from one another in the following areas: display size, disposal ability, network and processing bandwidth and resident software application.Evident difference is a display size separately in these differences.Cell phone 108 has the display of 176 * 220 pixels, and cell phone 118 has the display of 320 * 240 pixels.Notebook computer 104 has the display of 1024 * 768 pixels and the display that flat panel monitor 100 has 1920 * 1200 pixels.Therefore at 176 * 220=38, the minimum cell phone total pixel number of 720 pixels is to 1920 * 1200=2 of massive plate monitor, and between 304,000 pixel counts, total pixel number differs 70/1 or be approximately two size.Disposal ability, volatile memory, file storage and network bandwidth ability present similar difference.

E-mail gateway of the present invention is managed the E-mail communication of these heterogeneous communication equipment rooms in the mode of the hardware software capabilities of considering each target communication device and consumer taste.The complexity of E-mail communication changes in the scope from simple text message to the html document with embedded images and related accessories.Although these files and document are called as e-mail attachment, in fact they are parts of Email itself.The ability and the consumer taste of E-mail gateway based target of the present invention or reception electronic mail equipment are managed annex.Annex can be to be ostracised outside Email in the basis with the particular device, can be cited in Email by text hyperlink, also can be included in the Email.When annex was delivered to requesting service, E-mail gateway can make annex carry out particular device conversion, from the original document type conversion become with received communication equipment on the software application file type of compatibility mutually.

In Fig. 1, by to based on particular device, promptly be configured to the e-mail client application that is associated of the common email of sending, all communication equipments be shown with initial demonstration based on each communication equipment of the hardware and software specification of target device and Any user associated therewith hobby.The unprocessed form 102 of this common email is shown on display 100.Email 102 comprises main body, the embedded images 104a of html format and is identified as: ' baby P.psd ', ' three annexes of the different file types of baby D.doc ' and ' BabG.gif '.Each annex is associated with different software application..psd file type is proprietary (proprietary) bitmap format that is associated with the image processing application program ' Photoshop ' of the Adobe system house in San Jose city..doc the proprietary word processing form that is associated with Microsoft corporation, Redmond, Washington ' WORD ' application program of file type..gif file type is by the extensive bitmap format of supporting of image processing application program, World Wide Web (WWW) reader and email client.Also show identical electronic mail 106 in the email client of notebook computer 104 with embedded images 104b and related accessories.

Because display size, disposal ability and the limited software application collection of the reduction on the cell phone, E-mail gateway of the present invention is sent Email with different forms to these mobile communication equipments 108 and 118.Under the situation that is cell phone 118, embedded images 104c and appended image file (not shown) are at target devices display, i.e. 320 * 240 pixels and be adjusted size, and also can be converted into the picture format of extensively being supported such as JPEG (joint photographic experts group) (' .jpg ') from .psd and .gif form.Adjusting size has in proportion reduced picture size and has not influenced picture quality.Because image is scaled at receiving equipment, therefore adjusting size has not only reduced data transfer bandwidth but also has reduced the processing demands on the receiving equipment.Especially under the situation of the Application Type that is not supported such as .psd, format conversion allows to come viewing files by the application file type that is supported such as .jpg on receiving equipment.In addition, because the .jpg form is to diminish form,, can realize the further reduction of data transfer bandwidth though therefore can lose picture quality by compression.

The Email that is sent to mobile communication equipment 108 is neither being sent under also not with the situation of embedded images with annex at first.This is because the display size that reduces, the consumer taste that lacks required software application and set up at target device.The baby's image 104a that embeds in the Email 102 is substituted by the image hyperlink in the e-mail body.Select this link to cause the image in gateway place original storage is carried out the equipment particular procedure, for being delivered to cell phone subsequently.This processing can comprise: adjust size, then carry out the image rotation and carry out file type conversion as required as if suitable, to enable checking image by the resident software applications on the cell phone at target indicator.The textual portions 112 of original electronic mail is transferred to cell phone.In shown embodiment, E-mail gateway is determined the hardware and software specification of the consumer taste and/or the acquiescence of target communication device 108, and correspondingly, the management annex.In the example shown, the annex of original electronic mail is not sent in initial communication, arrive the text link 110 of text link also correspondingly to be marked of this annex on the contrary by for example ' picture (Pictures) ' or ' document (Documents) ' by the type of attachment classification, 114,116 mode be delivered to cell phone.The recipient can visit these annexes by these hyperlink 110,114,116 of selecting e-mail body to embed.Select hyperlink to cause the annex that is stored on the gateway is carried out the particular device processing, for being delivered to cell phone subsequently.This processing can comprise: at target indicator adjust size, if suitablely then carry out the image rotation and for carrying out file type conversion as required, to enable checking image by the resident software applications on the cell phone.

Fig. 2 illustrates several communication equipments of selecting from the communication equipment 100,108,118 of Fig. 1, these communication equipments are connected with each other, and carry out email exchange by E-mail gateway 210.E-mail gateway comprises memory 212, and except related program code, user interface, equipment code and member's summary, this memory 212 also comprises: to the storage of head, main part and the accessories section of Email.In an example shown, Email 102 is sent to the recipient from the work station (not shown) that is connected to display 100, and this recipient's associated communication comprises cell phone 108.For the purpose of this example, the recipient has the account on E-mail gateway 210.This allow gateway when processing is delivered to their Email, not only consider they target device the hardware and software ability and also consider their particular device Email hobby.Email is forwarded to another recipient from cell phone 108, and at this recipient place, this Email is checked on their one of communication equipment 118.

Email 102 is sent out 200 to follow at ARPA the Internet text message with to its form of RFC822 standard of multipurpose internet mail expansion (' MIME ') form.This form comprise have head, HTML, body of text part 202a and single file with accessories section of inline and

non-inline attachment

204a, 206a, 208a and 210a.In case received by gateway 220, Email is broken down into discrete part to be stored in the memory 222.Email header and main body 202b and inline and non-inline attachment: 204b, 206b, 208b and 210b are by discrete storage.When email delivery request 230 was received by E-mail gateway, E-mail gateway was sent hobby based on the hardware and software specification of request communication equipment and therefore any available and is determined the content that will send and adopt which kind of form to remove to send requested Email.Cell phone 108 minimum display size and a limited number of resident software applications number cause Email 232a to be sent as the text that only has embedding document/file hyperlink.Therefore there is not the annex of inline or alternate manner to be given equipment 108 by the E-mail gateway initial delivery.The baby's image 104a that embeds in the Email 102 is substituted by the image hyperlink in the main body of Email 110.Select this link to cause that the image in gateway place original storage is carried out particular device and handle, for being delivered to cell phone subsequently.The textual portions 112 of original electronic mail is transferred to cell phone.The non-inline attachment of original electronic mail is not sent in initial communication yet.Yet the recipient can visit annex by the hyperlink 110,114 and 116 that embeds in the e-mail body, selects this hyperlink to cause handling carry out particular device in gateway place stored accessory, for being delivered to cell phone subsequently.

Communication equipment 108b is presented at the communication equipment 108 after the selection image hyperlink 110.Be connected by HTTP with URL 110b that this image hyperlink 110 is associated and be sent to E-mail gateway 220.This starts communication 260, and causing with the specific objective is the embedded images 204b that based process is stored.In the case, E-mail gateway is adjusted size, rotation to the image stored, and and the file type of the image stored of conversion.In addition, according to the document size that obtains, image carried out extra compression step possibly before being delivered to cell phone as .jpg image file 204d.The image file of sending with the .jpg form is displayed on cell phone reader client shown in image 104d.

Next procedure in representative email exchange as shown in Figure 2 is that Email 232b is transmitted 240 to the expection recipient, and this recipient's associated communication is a cell phone 118.E-mail gateway makes the Email 232b that comprising of being forwarded embeds hyperlink relevant with original inline and

non-inline attachment

204b, 206b, 208b and 210b on being stored in memory.When E-mail gateway 220 when communication equipment 118 receives e-mail request 250, the target specific conversion of these annexes of being stored is affected.Inline baby picture 204b is restored after adjusting size and file type conversion step and is added the sub-mail of wiring back as inline attachment 204c.Not only comprise textual portions but also comprise that the Photoshop.psd file 206b of visuals is restored after being converted to the annex 206c of .jpg form.Word.doc file 208b is restored after being converted to the annex 208c of .txt form.Appended .gif image file 210b is restored after adjusting size and being converted to the file type attachment 210c of .jpg form.Shown communication equipment shows the in-line image 104c and the associated text of the Email that is forwarded.For, the ability that E-mail gateway restores the Email that is forwarded also can be used for there is not account's recipient's E-mail communication on E-mail gateway 220.For these recipients, the Email that is forwarded to their e-mail server can be recovered to original document type and picture size with 100% fidelity by using the stored accessory 204b of institute, 206b, 208b and 210b.

Fig. 3 A illustrates the embodiment that member's hobby is inputed to the graphic user interface (GUI) 300 of E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2.User interface comprises target device selection part 310, source control part 312, image management part 314 and applicant management section 316.

Select part at target device, the member imports the manufacturer and the model of their communication equipment.The associated hardware of this communication equipment and software specifications are associated with this member's record then.

In the source control part, the Email that the user has them receives the check box option of liking.Dynamic sender option makes gateway change the address that email source/sender address meets primary reception side in the mode of program, for example Me@hotmail.com, rather than forwarding address me@momail.com.This allows the transparent unification of the electronic mail account on the single gateway.Graphical attachment option makes gateway can send the outgoing email that has graphical attachment.If this option is not verified, then gateway will be sent the Email that has the hyperlink that is linked to the graphical attachment on the E-mail gateway.Other accessibility options makes gateway can send the outgoing email that has non-graphical attachment.If this option is not verified, then gateway will be sent the outgoing email that has the hyperlink that is linked to the non-graphical attachment on the E-mail gateway.Removing messages option allows gateway to carry out introducing the removing of message.Converting the plain text option to allows gateway from the HTML extracting section text of introducing Email and the textual portions of the text being injected outgoing email.Removing the link option stops gateway that outgoing email is injected in the link of annex.

In the image management part, the member can be provided with the hobby to the inline or non-in-line image that is received.These hobbies comprise custom images size, colored to black and white and decrement.

In applicant management section, the user can select: a) with the unprocessed form of non-image file attachment, for example .psd or .doc preserve this non-image file attachment; Or b) by gateway they is converted into form with graphics mode videotex and image, for example .jpg; Or c) converts them to plain text format, for example .txt.

Fig. 3 B illustrates the alternate embodiment that member's hobby is inputed to the GUI 350 of E-mail gateway as shown in Figure 2.This GUI comprises equipment code part 352, source control section 356, content management section 358 and progress bar (band plan) part 360.

In the equipment code part, the user is the hardware and software parameter of each the communication equipment input particular device in their communication equipment.

At the source control section, user input is used for receiving the email configuration settings of Email on their particular communication devices of communication equipment of equipment code part appointment.These Emails that are provided with being sent by friend or colleague provide different processing by the Email that other people sends relatively.The Email that is received can be configured to discretely comprise or be got rid of discrete part, for example: head, body of text, main body html and annex.

In content management section, the conversion of e-mail attachment mapping, adjusting size, compression and size restrictions conversion can be based on file type and designated.It is one of following that every kind of file type also can be obeyed: as comprising and comprising by hyperlink or module only of annex.

In the progress bar part, the slider bar utilization as baseline, is presented at given be provided with under estimated moon data traffic to the user at the Email that receives in preceding month.Alternately, when the user moved slider bar, source control and content management section were changed in programmable mode, to reach required data transfer rate based on the Email that receives in preceding month again.

Fig. 4 illustrates the GUI that is used for the managing email annex 400 according to the embodiment of the invention.In an embodiment of the present invention, inline and non-inline e-mail attachment is as the part of original electronic mail, with the discrete storage of original electronic mail.In addition, the one or more web pages that provided by E-mail gateway allow independent member to remove to manage and visit their e-mail attachment.GUI comprises attachment management part 402 and annex search and checks part 408.

The attachment management of attachment management web page 400 partly has two

subdivisions

404 and 406, and in these two subdivisions, the member can dispose the attachment policy of the annex that is sent and received by this member respectively.The strategy of the annex that is sent by the member comprises: storage duration, recipient's authority and access notifications.The strategy of the annex that is received by the member comprises the storage duration that changes based on the relation between transmit leg and the recipient.

Annex search and check that part 408 comprises enquiry form 410 and the results list 412.Enquiry form 410 comprises the input that is used for being set up by parameter attachment query, and described parameter comprises: for example, and file name, file type, file size, transmit leg, recipient and theme.Accessories list part 412 comprises the delegation that makes each annex satisfy inquiry with comprising, every row comprises the hyperlink of the corresponding e-mail body part that is associated with annex.The knob that singly selects on every row allows and the tactful consistent attachment access that is provided with by transmit leg that is associated or recipient.

Fig. 5 A-5B is illustrated in and optimizes before the specific target communication device and head part, textual portions, main part and the accessories section of Email afterwards.The Email 500 that is received comprises an electronic mail document such as .eml or .msg type, and this electronic mail document comprises the annex that inline and non-inline basic 64 (base64) encode.The Email that is received comprises the main body 504 of head 502, text formatting, the alternative main body 508 and the annex 516 of html format.Head partly comprises such as: To:(extremely :), From:(from :), CC:, BCC:, the Subject:(theme), Email metadata Return Path (return path) and the Mime Type (type), and with the custom field that produces Email or check the application program of the SPAM (Spam) of the content that is performed on this Email to be associated.

Main text part 504 is by ' ...=_ Next Part: ' label and content, character the label that identifier 506 defines to be set.Character set, promptly iso-8859-n is 8 character codes of standard that are used on North America and the West Europe computer, this character set attempts using in main language more than 14 kinds main character covers 256 characters through coding.-n suffix is the variant that covers 9 areas at present, covers Eastern Europe, Mediterranean and african languages with expansion.The whole world has and surpasses the electronic bits " 1 and 0 " that is used for that 100 character set use encode on the various computing machine, and by these character set, document is stored on computers and transmits at intercomputer with communicating by letter.The complexity of these character set is in the scope of every character 7-32 position, older character set such as ' iso-8859 ' covers 256 or less character and needs less bits to come character is encoded, and such as ' the newer international standard single code-n ' attempts covering all universal languages with single character set, thereby every character needs more multidigit to encode.In these standards afterwards, single code conversion form-8 (' UTF-8 ') is most popular.UTF-8 is encoded to each single code character the variable number of 1 to 16 byte.

Main body HTML part 508 is the labels that defined by Next Part (next part) label, and comprises the e-mail body of html document form.The document comprises metatag 510, and this metatag 510 limits content type ' text/html (text/html) ' and character set iso-8859-1 for document.In '＜the td〉' of document label, the image tag of baby picture 104a (referring to Fig. 1) is shown.The source attribute 512 of image tag has ' CID ' pointer that points to one of the following annex 522 be also included within the electronic mail document.

The accessories section 520 of Email comprises subdivision 522,526,528,530, and each subdivision integral body comprises the discrete inline or non-inline attachment in the inline and non-inline attachment of Email.Owing to be the length of basic coding content, the content of each annex is write in the accompanying drawings by strictness.First annex 522 be as shown in Figure 1 and be named as ' the inline .gif baby picture 104a of baby E '.Each pixel of picture in its entirety is basic 64 coded strings 524.Next part 526 comprises the annex of 500Kb, and basic 64 coded strings of this annex partly are that title is ' the .gif image of baby G '.Next part comprises the annex 528 of 200Kb,, basic 64 coded strings of this annex partly are that title is ' the Microsoft Word.doc file of baby D '.Next part comprises the annex 530 of 500Kb, and basic 64 coded strings of this annex partly are that title is ' the Adobe Photoshop.psd file of baby P '.

Email client is handled the assembling and the demonstration of every envelope Email, and every envelope Email comprises the size of ' Attach: ' field among the Email GUI of the tabulation of non-inline attachment and email client.Email client is also handled the formatting of the HTML of e-mail body or text and demonstration, and this formatting and demonstration also comprise decoding and the demonstration to any in-line image.

Fig. 5 B illustrates the Email that is received of Fig. 5 A after optimizing, for delivery to specific request target equipment, and the mobile communication equipment of for example all cell phones 118 as shown in Figure 1 and so on.The Email of being sent is the single file 550 with head 552, main body style 554 and annex 560 parts.Head 552 has been eliminated, to remove self-defined head.The in-line image that main text part 554 comprises text and extracts from original electronic mail (referring to Fig. 5 A) HTML main part.Character code 556 has been converted into UTF-8 and has guaranteed compatibility on receiving equipment.Accessories section 560 comprises inline attachment 562 and three non-inline attachment 568,574 and 580.

Annex 562 is .jpg image file type 564 of called after baby E, derives from the conversion of the inline attachment of being stored 522 (referring to Fig. 5 A) from the .gif image file type to the .jpg image file type of same names..jpg image has been adjusted size and has been converted, and also can be compressed, to be delivered to target device.Each switch process depends on the hardware and software specification of request target equipment and any improvement that the same standard that comes from user's selection is done.In involved basic 64 coded strings 566 of the image file that obtains.

Annex 568 is .jpg image file type 570 of called after baby G, and it derives from the conversion of institute's stored accessory 526 (referring to Fig. 5 A) from .gif to the .jpg image file type of same title.In order to send to target device, the .jpg image is resized and is converted, and also can be compressed.Any modification that each switch process is based on the hardware and software specification of request target equipment and the hardware and software specification to request target equipment that caused by consumer taste is done determines.The image file that obtains is comprised in basic 64 coded strings 572.

Annex 574 is .txt text file type 576 of called after baby D, derives from the conversion of institute's stored accessory 528 (referring to Fig. 5 A) from Microsoft Word.doc document format to plain text .txt file type to same names.Any modification that file type conversion is based on the hardware and software specification of request target equipment and the hardware and software specification to request target equipment that caused by consumer taste is done determines.The image file that obtains is comprised in basic 64 coded strings 578.

Annex 580 is .jpg image file type 582 of called after baby P, derives from the conversion of institute's stored accessory 530 (referring to Fig. 5 A) from Adobe PhotoShop.psd file format to image file type of same names.Any modification that file type conversion is based on the hardware and software specification of request target equipment and the hardware and software specification to request target equipment that caused by consumer taste is done determines.The image file that obtains is comprised in basic 64 coded strings 584.

Fig. 6 illustrates the standard 600 of the XML form of selecteed mobile device.In an embodiment of the present invention, this record from standard body or manufacturer self acquisition is used to form the basis of device specification record.Device specification record comprises hardware platform part 602, software platform part 604, network characterization part 606, browser part 608, wireless access protocol (' WAP ') part 610, ' pushing on ' electronic mail features part 612 and information receiving characteristic 614.

Fig. 7 illustrates the data structure that is used for discrete managing email head part, main part and accessories section according to the embodiment of the invention.

In this embodiment of the present invention, first group record 700 comprises head part, main text part and the main body HTML part of the Email that is received.Second group record 702 is linked to first group record relatively with many-to-one relation.Second group record 702 comprise with record group 700 in email header-entity record in the actual inline and non-inline attachment that is associated of a corresponding record.Each attachment record can comprise as ' field (blob field) ' actual annex or point to pointer as the discrete stored corresponding accessory of file.In alternate embodiment of the present invention, the discrete storage of email header-main part and accessories section can realize by the alternate embodiment of the related table structure that shows as Fig. 7, described related table structure comprises: for example under the situation that does not break away from scope of the presently claimed invention, object-based, based on flat file and based on XML's.

Fig. 8 illustrates the combination hardware of E-mail gateway 220 embodiment as shown in Figure 2 and the block diagram of software.E-mail gateway comprises to be supported by Simple Mail Transfer protocol (' SMTP '), it is SMTP module 806, post office protocol (' POP ') and internet information access protocal (' IMAP '), it is module 800, and HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) (' HTTP '), the i.e. module of module 804 transmission of e-mail and/or annex.Gateway also comprises and being used for: the memory 222 of program code 850, device hardware and software specifications record 852, member's summary record 854, email header and main part record 856, e-mail attachment record 858 and web page 860.

E-mail gateway also comprises: be used for and will introduce the splitter module 812 that Email resolves into head-main part and accessories section; Remover module 838, character conversion module 840, the storage manager 842 that is used for the record of diode-capacitor storage 222, the target device that is sent to based on Email and/or annex is optimized the Email sent and/or the objective optimization device module 814 of annex, be used to assemble the email header-main part optimized and accessories section for the assembler module 808 of sending, be used for the detection of dynamic request and send the structure of the target device of Email, the device detector module of model and/or standard and the World Wide Web (WWW) interface module 810 that is used to control to the user HTTP visit of Email and/or annex.

Shown E-mail gateway receives Email 202a (referring to Fig. 2) via SMTP module 806.Decomposer 812 will be introduced Email and resolve into the part that comprises head part, main body-textual portions, main body-HTML part and accessories section.Each several part is processed in remover module 838 then, carries out such as removal: the removing unwanted label, forbidden script or the type of attachment.Character conversion module converts the character set of part to international standard then, typically, and single code, for example UTF-8.In alternate embodiment of the present invention, when sending Email or annex, this character conversion is that the basis is performed with the specific objective.Next, the head of the Email that is received and main part are passed to the e-mail management submodule of storage manager, and this e-mail management submodule produces corresponding email header-entity record 856 in memory 222.The accessories section of the Email that is received is passed to the attachment management submodule 844a-b of storage manager, and this attachment management submodule produces corresponding attachment record 858 in memory 222.

Email and/or annex send invokes target specific optimization.The conversion that this needs the identification of target device and responds the Email and/or the annex of this identification.

Target device can be identified based in the direct or indirect method one or both.The direct method of direct methods of target communication device comprises: be in target communication device when sending by device detector module 802 detection of dynamic.This detection of dynamic also can comprise the identification to capacity of equipment or resident software applications of the information that comprises in the head by request.

Also the indirect method of the direct methods of target communication device of being carried out by device detector module 802 comprises: by log-on message identification e-mail request person, carry out related with member's summary record 854 of the identification recipient target device that is associated the requestor, and based on the associated device canonical record in the device specification record 852 or in the member's summary record that is associated to the modification of this associated device canonical record, come from the corresponding hardware and software specification of target device to determine.

In case target device is identified, the objective optimization device is promptly based on the requestor, also is called target device and any member who can be used for this target device and likes and influence appropriate attachment policy.Attachment management is determined mode that annex is carried and any conversion that can be used for this annex.Annex can be ostracised outside Email, can be comprised by reference with the form by the attachment hyperlinks of file type classification and mark, also can be included in the Email.Annex also can be based on the ability of requesting service and is subjected to various types of conversions.Conversion comprises: adjust size, rotation, compression and change file type to meet the available application program on the target device.The recipient likes submodule 836 and receives the hardware and software specification discerned and the recipient hobby to target device, and correspondingly disposes the residue submodule of target optimizer.These submodules comprise: attachment restorer 834, application converter 816, image converter 822 and combiner 830.Email and/or annex that storage manager module identification will be sent.Email header-main part is stored manager and is passed to combiner 830.Combiner is handled the HTML part of e-mail body and the combination of textual portions, and character conversion if desired, and is then mutual with processing character transducer 840.In addition, the link injector submodule 832 of combiner modules is handled the required injection of attachment hyperlinks to the main body of electronic mail pack main body.Any required annex is stored the attachment restorer submodule 834 that manager is passed to the objective optimization device.Attachment restorer determines whether to utilize link to inject.Delivery of attachments if desired, attachment restorer is passed to image converter submodule 822 with imagery collateral so, and other annex is passed to application converter sub 816.

In scaler submodule 824, image converter is adjusted to image and the corresponding size of the display size of target device by handling.Convergent-divergent comprises: rotation, adjustment size and change aspect ratio.File type conversion, for example conversion from .gif to the .jpg file type is carried out by converter sub 826.The compression that diminishes image type of any needs is also liked specified particular device in the modification that the hardware and software specification of target device is done based on hardware and software specification and any member of coming from of target device, is performed in compressor reducer submodule 828.

Application converter is handled any required conversion to the file type of annex, convert thereof into the file type that the resident applications on the target device is supported, this target device is by being liked indication by annex with the software specifications of the target communication device that is sent to and/or by the member who revises this software specifications.Which kind of conversion mapper submodule 818 determines to carry out, and selecteed converter sub is carried out required conversion in the converter sub 820, and for example Adobe Photoshop.psd file type is to the conversion of .jpg image type.In this case, the conversion of Adobe Photoshop file type can comprise that image layer and the text layers of analyzing the .psd file determine assembled view, and the graphic image file of .jpg form is produced from this assembled view.If desired, the annex after the conversion also can carry out subsequently conversion, for example convergent-divergent and compression by image converter.

Next, annex after the various conversions and email header and main part are delivered to assembler 808 from the objective optimization device, being assembled into one or more Emails, described one or more Emails are to the influence that is subjected to POP/IMAP protocol module 800 of sending of the request email client of target device.In Fig. 8, shown E-mail gateway 220 is delivered to email client via POP and IMAP module 800 with Email 232a.This module separately with SMTP module 806 combine support to push on or to pop to the basis by email client from the E-mail gateway retrieving electronic mail.

Like to revise in target specification or to the member of target specification and avoid sending in Email under the situation of annex, these annexes keep and can select attachment hyperlinks in the Email or directly visit by the one or more web pages 860 that offer the member for this purpose especially by sending in the institute that is being associated.Exemplary web page shown in Fig. 4 for example is used for the attachment management web page 400 of directly inquiry and delivery of attachments.HTTP module 804 provides such visit via the access control submodule 811 of World Wide Web (WWW) interface module 810 and this World Wide Web (WWW) interface module 810.

Fig. 9 illustrates the hardware block diagram of E-mail gateway embodiment as shown in Figure 2.Gateway comprises local bus 918, the input-output unit 906 that this local bus 918 is connected to, network interface unit (NIC) 910, primary storage parts 912, read-only memory unit 914, big capacity storage parts 916 and processor 920.Input/output module is handled by gateway management person for example via the direct visit to gateway of for example keyboard and screen interface.NIC processing gateway and the Internet 902 or other local or wide-area wireless or cable network mutual.The volatile storage of the calculating that main memory handles is carried out on the program code of gateway run duration, program code and the high-speed cache of needed intermediate data.Other program code of read-only memory 914 storage basic input output systems (BIOS) and computer run institute wildcard.Big capacity storage parts 916 processing are mutual with the medium that is used for memory 222.Processor 920 is carried out the process 904 that institute's stored program code 850 is implemented in following Figure 10 A-B and 11.

Figure 10 A-10B illustrates according to embodiments of the invention, is used for carrying out the process flow diagram that Email receives and sends at the E-mail gateway as Fig. 2.The processing of introducing Email in step 1000 beginning, in this step, is affected via the email delivery of SMTP or other required agreement.Control is passed to step 1002, and in this step, the Email that is received is broken down into head body-textual portions, main body-HTML part and accessories section.The removing of email header and main part is affected in step 1004 then.Next in step 1006, email header-main part is stored and the email record that is associated is added into memory.In decision steps 1008,, then make definite if inline or non-inline attachment is included in the Email that is received.Otherwise step 1000 is returned in control.If annex is included in the Email, then control is passed to step 1010.In an embodiment of the present invention, step 1010 is determined the annex received whether with previous reception, and the annex that is arranged in memory now is corresponding.There is this situation by gateway in previous Forwarding Email that receives and the Email sent by the quilt of gateway processes subsequently.In an embodiment of the present invention, this determines during delivery process by gateway to be that make on the basis with the single-attachment identifier that embeds in the annex self.If such identifier or pointer exist, so in decision steps 1012,, and control and be delivered to step 1014 because the existence of pointer obtains affirmative judgement.In step 1014, produce attachment record, this attachment record comprises or points to institute's stored accessory formerly, and this attachment record is linked to the email record that produces in step 1006.Control turns back to decision steps 1008 then, handles next annex.Alternately, if in decision steps 1012, do not find the formerly identifier and the pointer of stored annex, control is delivered to step 1016 so.In step 1016, the annex that is received is stored in the attachment record that is associated, or is stored with the attachment record that is associated.Attachment record is linked to the email record that produces in step 1006.Decision steps 1008 is returned in control then, to handle next annex.

Figure 10 B is illustrated on the target adhoc basis, for communication equipment, sends relevant step with optimised Email, will be affected to the transmission of this communication equipment.In step 1050, email delivery is affected beginning ' to pop ' from the e-mail request ' stacked ' of target device or the notice from the gateway to the target device.

In step 1052, determine such as for example hardware and software ability of requesting service or target device and can be used for member's hobby of this requesting service or target device.Can come the recognition objective capacity of equipment based in the direct or indirect method one or both.In an embodiment of the present invention, can determine based on dynamically make this from the information in the request head of requesting service or target device.In another embodiment of the present invention, can make this based on the device specification record of particular target device and/or any member's summary record that can be used for requesting service determines.

Next, in step 1054, the subclass of the inline and non-inline attachment record that identification is associated, the Email of being stored that all are asked at Email that the recipient stored or by the recipient.In step 1058, treat the head and the main part of the Email of sending and carry out any required conversion then.

In decision steps 1060, determine whether to exist the annex that is associated with Email to be sent then.If no, then control is directly delivered to step 1080, is used for Email is assembled and sent.If annex is associated with specific e-mail to be sent, control is delivered to decision steps 1062 so.

Next, in decision steps 1062, determine in Email to be sent, whether to comprise annex based on member's hobby and/or target device specifications.If comprise annex, then control is delivered to step 1064.If do not comprise, control is delivered to step 1070 so.In step 1064, from memory, duplicate annex.Then in step 1066, determine to like the conversion of the modification request that this target device specifications is made by target device specifications and/or member, and after carrying out in step 1068, control is delivered to step 1080, is used to assemble and send the Email that comprises the annex after the conversion.Alternately, if the annex that will be comprised is not determined any annex that is associated with the Email of being sent so in step 1070.In step 1072, annex is divided into groups then, and be each annex generation uniform resource locator (URL) URL hyperlink by the type such as picture or document.These hyperlink are classified and correspondingly are marked by type of attachment.In step 1074, hyperlink is injected into e-mail body then.Control is delivered to step 1080 then, is used for Email is assembled.

Figure 11 is according to one embodiment of present invention, in the E-mail gateway 220 of Fig. 2, and the process flow diagram of the processing that is associated with discrete attachment request of management or inquiry.In step 1100, processing starts from direct or indirect attachment request.If attachment request has the form of the URL link of annex, the correspondence in decision steps 1102 determines to pass control to step 1110 so.Alternately, if one or more annex web pages that attachment query provides by the member who has the account on gateway (referring to Fig. 4,400 pages) and being received, control is passed to step 1120 so.

The annex that beginning is selected via the hyperlink treatment of selected that embeds in the Email of being sent in step 1110, in this step, annex is arranged in memory, and for security purpose, is subjected to access control and handles in decision steps 1112.The user that link that the user that can retrieve annex is restricted to those embeddings is delivered to is handled in this access control, i.e. those users that list in the From of Email, To, CC or the BCC field, and may need login or IP Address Recognition just can retrieve.In an embodiment of the present invention, also can when determining access rights, consider to like for the member of annex.Shown in Fig. 4 and described the example of the setting of these members' hobbies, and attachment management web page is shown.In the add-on manager part of attachment management web page, specifically in part 404, transmit leg can be provided with the authority of recipient to the annex that received, and this authority comprises: the annex that is received is checked, downloaded and edits.If the visit annex is inappropriate, step 1100 is returned in control so, if suitable, then control is passed to step 1114.In step 1114, determine conversion requirement with the ability of the equipment that is delivered to and by any improvement that the member likes generation to annex to equipment based on annex.After this in step 1116, from memory, retrieving any required conversion that annex is carried out.Next, in step 1118, annex is delivered to target device, on this target device, selects the URL link, and step 1100 is returned in control after this.

On the other hand, if attachment request is a query type, for example passing through attachment management web page 400 as shown in Figure 4, is the attachment query form 410 by attachment management web page 400 specifically, and control is passed to step 1120 so.In step 1120, the member that identification produces inquiry is the annex of recipient or sender and satisfied inquiry.Then in decision steps 1122, the annex that is located in the step 120 is reflected any additional access control consideration by additional filtration, and this access control is considered to like generation by the member that the annex transmit leg in the annex transmission part 404 of attachment management web page shown in Figure 4 is set up.In step 1124, show for visiting the suitable annex of maintenance and the link of corresponding Email.(referring to Fig. 4, search result list part 412).On any given annex line item, select Email Links can produce the pop-up window of the main part that shows the Email that is associated.Step 1100 is returned in control then.

Presented for purpose of illustration and purpose of description, presented description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention more than.It is not intended to the exhaustive disclosed form that sticks to that maybe invention is restricted to.Obviously, many improvement and variation will be conspicuous for those skilled in the art.Scope of the present invention is intended to being equal to substitute and limiting by following claim and they.

Claims

1, a kind of E-mail gateway is configured to be connected to the communication equipment of at least one network, and this E-mail gateway comprises:

Decomposer resolves into discrete main part and accessories section with the Email that is received;

Memory is connected to described decomposer, is configured to store discrete main part and accessories section from every envelope Email of described decomposer reception;

Device detector before Email is delivered to communication equipment, detects the hardware and software ability of this communication equipment; And

The objective optimization device, be connected to described memory and described device detector, in response to e-mail request, based on come main part and accessories section to be optimized by the ability of the detected described communication equipment of described device detector to the electronics mail that is associated that will be delivered to described communication equipment.

2, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

Described objective optimization device is further in response to described e-mail request, the main part of the Email that the every envelope of selected URL link injection of the annex that will be used for being associated on the retrieval network is associated, and described objective optimization device is further in response to receiving attachment request based on selecting the URL link, will from described memory search to corresponding annex convert the file type of the ability that meets described target device to.

3, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

Described objective optimization device is further in response to described e-mail request, based on ability, the accessories section that is associated of every envelope Email is become the file type of described target device support from the unsupported file type conversion of described target device by the detected communication equipment of described device detector.

4, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

Described objective optimization device is adjusted the size of the imagery collateral part that is associated, to meet the display size by the detected described target device of described device detector further in response to described e-mail request.

5, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

Described objective optimization device is further in response to described e-mail request, and the imagery collateral part that rotation is associated is to meet the display size by the detected described target device of described device detector.

6, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

Character converter converts the Email that is received to the international character sign indicating number from the area characters sign indicating number.

7, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

At least one member likes web page, is used to import the member's hobby at the conversion of the e-mail attachment of being sent; And

The request that described objective optimization device is sent the Email that is received in response to the described communication equipment of subtend is liked the conversion of managing the accessories section of every envelope Email based on the member who likes the web page input via at least one member.

8, E-mail gateway according to claim 1 further comprises:

At least one member likes web page, is used to import the member's hobby at the storage of e-mail attachment; And

Storage manager is connected to described memory, and the accessories section of the Email that receives in response to receiving is liked based on the member who likes web page input via at least one member and to be managed the annex storage policy.

9, a kind of E-mail gateway be configured to be connected to the communication equipment of at least one network, and this E-mail gateway comprises:

At least one attachment management web page is used to search for and check the e-mail attachment that is independent of Email and is associated with this Email;

Storage manager, be connected to described memory, the inquiry of importing via described at least one attachment management web page in response to email recipient, retrieval is by the annex of e-mail to described recipient from described memory, and the recipient's who shows on this annex and described at least one attachment management web page query argument is complementary.

10, a kind of method that is used for E-mail gateway, this electronics gateway is configured to be connected to the communication equipment of at least one network, and this method comprises:

The Email that is received is resolved into discrete main part and accessories section;

Store discrete main part and accessories section that every envelope Email is broken down in operation splitting;

Before sending Email, determine the hardware and software ability of this communication equipment to communication equipment; And

The e-mail attachment that is associated that to store in storage operation converts the form of being supported by the described communication equipment of determining in determining operation, thereby makes the e-mail attachment that will be delivered to described communication equipment meet the ability of described equipment.

11, method according to claim 10, wherein conversion operations further comprises:

The main part of the Email that every envelope sends is injected in selectable URL link, with the annex that is associated on the retrieval network; And

The annex of request converts the form that meets in the ability of determining the described request communication equipment that behaviour determines to via selectable URL link with communication equipment.

12, method according to claim 10, wherein conversion operations further comprises:

The file type that the software application that can use based on the described communication equipment of determining in determining operation and described communication equipment are supported, the file type that becomes described communication equipment to support from the unsupported file type conversion of described communication equipment the accessories section that is associated.

13, according to the method for claim 10, wherein conversion operations further comprises:

The imagery collateral that is associated partly is adjusted into the size of the display size that meets the described communication equipment of in determining operation, determining.

14, method according to claim 10, wherein conversion operations further comprises:

The imagery collateral part that rotation is associated is to meet the display size of the described communication equipment of determining in determining operation.

15, method according to claim 10 further comprises:

The Email that is received is converted to the international character sign indicating number from the area characters sign indicating number.

16, method according to claim 10 further comprises:

At least one member who is provided for importing at member's hobby of the conversion of the e-mail attachment of being sent likes web page; And

Like member's hobby that web page is imported based on what in operation is provided, provide via described at least one member, change the accessories section of every envelope Email.

17, method according to claim 10 further comprises:

At least one member who is provided for importing at member's hobby of the storage of e-mail attachment likes web page; And

Like member's hobby of web page input based on what in operation is provided, provide via described at least one member, manage storage the accessories section of every envelope Email of being received.

18. a method that is used for E-mail gateway, this E-mail gateway is configured to be connected to the communication equipment of at least one network, and this method comprises:

Be provided for searching for and checking at least one attachment management web page of the e-mail attachment that is independent of Email and is associated with this Email;

In response to the recipient of the Email inquiry via at least one attachment management web page input that provides in operation is provided, retrieval is by the annex of e-mail to described recipient from described memory, and this annex and described recipient's query argument is complementary.

19, a kind of computer software is embedded into computer-readable medium or propagates in the carrier signal in palpable mode, is used to be configured to the E-mail gateway that uses on the communication equipment of at least one network; And this software comprises the instruction of carrying out following operation:

20, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

The annex of request converts the form of the ability that meets the described request communication equipment of determining in determining operation to via selectable URL link with communication equipment.

21, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

22, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

23, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

24, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

25, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

26, software according to claim 19, wherein said instruction further comprises the instruction that is used for following operation:

27, a kind of computer software is embedded into computer-readable medium or propagates in the carrier signal in palpable mode, is used to be configured to the E-mail gateway that uses at least one network of communication equipment; And this software comprises the instruction of carrying out following operation: