Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MIGRATING USER ACCOUNT DATA
Field of the Invention
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of
communications systems, and, more particularly, to
electronic mail (email) communications systems and
related methods.
Background of the Invention
[00021, Electronic mail (email) has become an
integral part of business and personal communications.
As such, many users have multiple email accounts for
work and home use. Moreover, with the increased
availability of mobile cellular and wireless local area
network (LAN) devices that can send and receive emails,
many users wirelessly access emails from mailboxes
stored on different email storage servers (e.g.,
corporate email storage server, Yahoo, Hotmail, AOL,
etc. ) .
[0003] Yet, email distribution and synchronization
across multiple mailboxes and over wireless networks
can be quite challenging, particularly when this is
done on a large scale for numerous users. For example,
different email accounts may be configured differently
and with non-uniform access criteria. Moreover, as
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emails are received at the wireless communications
device, copies of the emails may still be present in
the original mailboxes, which can make it difficult for
users to keep their email organized.
[0004] One particularly advantageous "push" type
email distribution and synchronization system is
disclosed in U.S. Patent No. 6,779,019 to Mousseau et
al., which is assigned to the present Assignee and is
hereby incorporated herein by reference. This system
pushes user-selected data items from a host system to a
user's mobile wireless communications device upon
detecting the occurrence of one or more user-defined
event triggers. The user may then move (or file) the
data items to a particular folder within a folder
hierarchy stored in the mobile wireless communications
device, or may execute some other system operation on a
data item. Software operating at the device and the
host system then synchronizes the folder hierarchy of
the device with a folder hierarchy of the host system,
and any actions executed on the data items at the
device are then automatically replicated on the same
data items stored at the host system, thus eliminating
the need for the user to manually replicate actions at
the host system that have been executed at the mobile
wireless communications device.
[0005] The foregoing system advantageously provides
great convenience to users of wireless email
communication devices for organizing and managing their
email messages. Yet, further convenience and
efficiency features may be desired in email
distribution and synchronization systems as email usage
continues to grow in popularity. An email push system
often requires some mass migration from a web client
system having an email service to a more sophisticated
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internet service, but it is not always desirable to
allow a mass migration of data from one system to tha
new electronic mail system operative as an upgraded
system because data often is =not synchronized in a mass
migration. Inconsis#.encies could remain between the
new data and old data, in whxch a huge amount of data
may be provided ~rom different providers, cxeating
inconsistencies. For example, the older email servi.ae
as a web client could indicate that a*Persanal
Identification Number (PIN) belongs to a portable
wireless communications dev3.ce in which the new email
service does not have a record, even after migration.
D1 as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0254976
discloses a system that overcomes the disadvantages and
inconveniences in switching from one internet service
provider (ISP) to another ISP, which aze remedied by
providing streamlined approaches that facilitate the
migration from one ISP to another T9P. In one
embodi.ment, a user's migration from an old ISP =nstant
messaging (IM) service to a new ISP IM service is
facilitated by transferring the IM contacts from the
old ISP to the new ISP, thereby relieving the user of
any need to manually copy the contact information. D2
as U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0038857 discloses a
system and method that generates configurations used
for accessing electronic mailboxes. A database stores
the configuration conventions that are sets of email
expressions formed by sXmbols. a transformer module
expaads configuration conventions stored in the
database to generate configurations based on user.
supplied context da.ta.
Brief DescgiptioA of the Drawings
[0006] Other objects, features and advantages of
different embodiments will become apparent from the
detailed description which follows, when considered in
light of the accompanying drawings zn=which:
;ceived at the EPO on Oct 30, 200& 17:08:45. Pa AMENDED SHEET
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-3d.-
[00071 Other objects, features and advantages of
different embodiments wrill become apparent frozn the
detailed description which follows, urheri considered in
light of the accompanying drawings in which:
[0008] FIG. 1 is schematip block diagram of a direct
access electronic mail (email) da.st.ribv.tion and
synchronization system.
[0009] FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an
exemplary embodiment of user interface components of
the direct access proxy of the system af FIG. 1.
(0010] FIG. 3 is a sch.eanatic blook diagram of.an
exemplary embodinment of the Web client engine of the
system of FIG. 1.
[00111 FIGS. 4:,s a schematic block diagram of an
exemplary embodiment of the mobil,e ffice platform
engine machine for us& in, the system of 'FZG. 1.
aceived at the EPO on Oct 30, 200617:08:45. Pa AMENDED SHEET
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[0012] FIG. 5 is a schematic block diagram of an
exemplary embodiment of the database module of the
system of FIG. 1.
[0013] FIG. 6 is a schematic block diagram of
another embodiment of user interface components of the
direct access proxy similar to that shown in FIG. 2.
[0014] FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram for the
migration in accordance with one non-limiting
embodiment.
[0015] FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram
illustrating an exemplary mobile wireless
communications device that can be used with the Direct
Access system shown in FIG. 1.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiments
[0016] Different embodiments will now be described
more fully hereinafter with reference to the
accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments
are shown. Many different forms can be set forth and
described embodiments should not be construed as
limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,
these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure
will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey
the scope to those skilled in the art. Like numbers
refer to like elements throughout.
[0017] A system migrates user account data from an
integrated electronic mailbox to a new electronic mail
service. An electronic mail (email) server is
operative as a web client and has an integrated
electronic mailbox of a user and user account data. A
mobile office platform is operative with the email
server and has at least one stored procedure call for
pulling user account data from the email server into a
new electronic mail service at the mobile office
platform.
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[0018] The mobile office platform can be operative
for querying a user of the integrated electronic
mailbox whether the user desires to migrate the user
account data into the new electronic mail service. The
mobile office platform is also operative for querying a
user to accept new terms and conditions of the new
electronic mail service in order to log-in to a user
interface using HTTP or WAP. This email server could
include a simple object access protocol (SOAP)
interface to pull the user account data from the
integrated electronic mailbox. The mobile office
platform also includes a SOAP interface operative for
creating a new, integrated electronic mailbox account
of the new electronic mail service.
[0019] In yet another aspect, the system can include
a mobile wireless communications device having a
subscriber account associated therewith. The
electronic mail (email) server is operative as a web
client and has an integrated electronic mailbox for the
subscriber account of the user and contains user
account data. The mobile office platform is operative
with the email server and has at least one stored
procedure call for pulling the user account data from
the email server into a new electronic mail service at
the mobile office platform and is operative with the
mobile wireless communications device as a new
subscriber account.
[0020] A method is also set forth.
[0021] Referring initially to FIG. 1, a direct
access (DA) email distribution and synchronization
system 20 allows direct access to different mail
sources, allowing messages to be transferred directly
to a mobile wireless handheld device from a source
mailbox. As a result, different mail stores need not
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be used for integrated external source mail accounts,
and a permanent copy of an email in a local email store
is not required.
[0022] Although this diagram depicts objects as
functionally separate, such depiction is merely for
illustrative purposes. It will be apparent to those
skilled in the art that the objects portrayed in this
figure can be arbitrarily combined or divided into
separate software, firmware or hardware components.
Furthermore, it will also be apparent to those skilled
in the art that such objects, regardless of how they
are combined or divided, can execute on the same
computing device or can be arbitrarily distributed
among different computing devices connected by one or
more networks.
[0023] The direct access system 20 enables email
users or subscribers to have email from third party
email services pushed to various mobile wireless
communications devices 25. Users need not create a
handheld email account to gain direct access to an
existing external email account. The direct access
system 20 may operate without performing aggregation as
used in some prior-art systems, in which emails are
aggregated from multiple different source mailboxes to
a single target mailbox. In other words, email need
not be stored in an intermediate target mailbox, but
instead may advantageously be accessed directly from a
source mail store.
[0024] As illustrated in FIG. 1, the direct access
system 20 illustratively includes a Web client (WC)
engine 22 and a mobile office platform (MOP) 24. These
Web client engine 22 and mobile office platform 24
operate together to provide users with direct access to
their email from mobile wireless communications devices
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25 via one or more wireless communications networks 27,
for example. Both the Web client engine 22 and the
mobile office platform 24 may be located at the same
location or at separate locations, and implemented in
one or more servers. The web client engine 22
illustratively includes a port agent 30 for
communicating with the wireless communications devices
25 via the wireless communications network(s) 27, a
worker 32, a supervisor 34, and an attachment server
36, which will be discussed further below. An alert
server 38 is shown in dashed lines, and in one
preferred embodiment, is not used, but could be part of
the system in yet other embodiments.
[0025] The mobile office platform 24 illustratively
includes a DA proxy 40, and a proxy application
programming interface (API) 42 and a cache 44
cooperating with the DA proxy. The mobile office
platform 24 also illustratively includes a load balance
and cache (LBAC) module 46, an event server 48, a
universal proxy (UP) Servlet 54, an AggCron module 56,
a mobile office platform (MOP) engine 58, and a
database (DB) engine 60, which will be discussed in
further detail below. The Least Recently Used (LRU)
cache 41 caches new messages, and can release messages
and objects that were least recently used.
[0026] The supervisor 34 processes new mail
notifications that it receives from the direct access
proxy 40. It then assigns a job, in the form of a User
Datagram Protocol (UDP) packet, to the least-loaded
worker 32, according to the most recent UDP heartbeat
the supervisor 34 has received. For purposes of this
description, heartbeat is a tool that monitors the
state of the server. Additionally, the supervisor 34
will receive a new service book request from the direct
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access proxy 40 to send service books to the mobile
wireless communication device for new or changed
accounts. A service book can be a class that could
contain all service records currently defined. This
class can be used to maintain a collection of
information about the device, such as connection
information or services, such as an email address of
the account.
[0027] The worker 32 is an intermediary processing
agent between the supervisor 34 and the port agent 30,
and responsible for most processing in the Web client
engine 22. It will retrieve e-mail from a universal
proxy 54, via a direct access proxy, and format e-mail
in Compressed Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension
(CMIME) as a type of Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extension, and send it to the port agent 30, for
further processing. Its responsibilities include the
following tasks: (1) messages sent to and received from
the handheld; (2) message reply, forward and more
requests; (3) Over The Air Folder Management operation
(OTAFM); (4) attachment viewing; and (5) service book.
[0028] The port agent 30 acts as a transport layer
between the infrastructure and the rest of the Web
client engine 22. It is responsible for delivering
packets to and from the mobile wireless communications
device. To support different integrated mailboxes with
one device, more than one service book can be used, and
each service book can be associated with one integrated
mailbox. A port agent 30 can include one Server Relay
Protocol (SRP) connection to a relay, but it can also
handle multiple SRP connections, and each connection
may have a unique Globally Unique Identifier (GUID)
associated with a service book. The attachment server
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36 provides service for document/attachment conversion
requests from workers 32.
[0029] The direct access proxy 40 provides a Web-
based Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV)
interface that is used by the worker 32 to access
account and mailbox information. This provides
functionality to create, change and move documents on a
remote server, e.g., a Web server. The direct access
proxy 40 typically will present an asynchronous
interface to its clients. The LBAC module 46 is used by
a notification server and the Web client engine 22
components to locate the proper DA proxy for the
handling of a request. The universal proxy Servlet 54
abstracts access to disparate mail stores into a common
protocol. The event server 48 responds to notifications
of new messages from corporate servers 52 and/or mail
service providers 50, which may be received via the
Internet 40, for example. The notifications are
communicated to the direct access proxy 40 by the
AggCron module 56 and the event server 48 so that it
may initiate checking for new mail on source mailboxes
51, 53 of the mail service providers 50 and/or
corporate servers 52. The proxy API can be a Simple
Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Daemon 42 and is the
primary interface into a database 60, which is the
primary data store for the mobile office platform 24.
The AggCron module 56 may also periodically initiate
polling for new messages as well.
[0030] FIG. 2 is a high-level block diagram showing
user interface components of the direct access proxy
40. More particularly, the direct access proxy 40
illustratively includes an identifier module 72 with
various downstream proxy modules for different
communication formats, such as a Wireless Application
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Protocol (WAP) proxy module 74 and a Hypertext Markup
Language (HTML) proxy module 76. Of course, it will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art that other
types of proxy modules for other communications formats
may also be used.
[0031] The identifier module 72 provides a
centralized authentication service for the direct
access system 20 and other services. An authentication
handshake may be provided between an ID service and
direct access system 20 to ensure that users have the
proper credentials before they are allowed access to
the direct access system 20. The ability to switch
from managing a Web client to a direct access system,
or vice versa, may occur without requiring the user to
re-enter any login credentials. Any Web client and
direct access may share session management information
on behalf of a user.
[0032] The WAP proxy 74 provides a wireless markup
language (WML)-based user interface for configuring
source mailboxes with the mobile office platform 24.
The HTML proxy 76 provides an HTML-based user interface
for configuring of source mailboxes in the MOP 24. The
proxy API 42 (SOAP Daemon) is the primary interface
into the database 60. The engine 58 is a protocol
translator that connects to a source mailbox to
validate configuration parameters. The database 60 is
the primary user data store for the mobile office
platform 24.
[0033] FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 illustrate respective Web
client engine machines 80 (FIG. 3), an engine machine
82 (FIG. 4), and database machine 84 (FIG. 5). The Web
client engine machine 80 illustratively includes the
supervisors 34, workers 36, and port agents 38. Relays
86 cooperate with the port agents 38 using a GUID.
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[0034] The engine machine 82 illustratively includes
a direct access proxy 40, HTML proxy 76, WAP proxy 74,
PDS module 88, UP Servlet 54, LBAC module 46, a
sendmail module 90, an secure mail client (SMC) server
92, a secure sockets layer (SSL) proxy 94, an
aggregation engine 96, and event server 48. The SMC
server 92 cooperates with corresponding SMC modules
resident on certain corporate networks, for example, to
convey email data between the mobile office platform 24
and source mailboxes. The database machine 84 may
include an aggregation application programming
interface (API) 100 as a SOAP Daemon, an administration
console 102, an aggregation database 104, the AggCron
module 56, an SMC directory server 106, and a send mail
module 90.
[0035] The various components of the Web client
engine 22 may be configured to run on different
machines or servers. The component binaries and
configuration files may either be placed in a directory
on the network or placed on a local disk that can be
accessed to allow the appropriate components to run
from each machine. In accordance with one exemplary
implementation, deployment may include one supervisor,
two workers, and one port agent for supporting 30,000
external source mailboxes, although other
configurations may also be used. Actual production
deployment may depend on the results of load,
performance and stress testing, as will be appreciated
by those skilled in the art.
[0036] For the mobile office platform 24 direct
access components, modules and various functions,
machines are typically installed in two configurations,
namely engine machines (FIG. 4) and database machines
(FIG. 5). While these machines may have all of the
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above-described components installed on them, not all
of these components need be active in all applications
(e.g., aggregation may be used with systems that do not
support push technology, etc.). Once again, actual
production deployment may depend on the results of
load, performance and stress testing.
[0037] The mobile office platform 24 architecture in
one known technique advantageously uses a set of
device/language-specific eXtensible Stylesheet Language
(XSL) files, which transform application data into
presentation information. In one non-limiting example,
a build process takes a non-localized XSL and generates
a localized XSL for each supported language. When the
XSL is used, it is "compiled" in memory and cached for
repeated use. The purpose of pre-localizing and
caching the templates is to reduce the CPU cycles
required to generate a presentation page.
[0038] Branding may also be performed. Initially, a
localized XSL may build a WAP application to adcess
aggregated email accounts. A WAP proxy application may
be localizable and support multiple WAP devices. For
each logical page of an application, a device-specific
XSL may be created, which may be localized for each
language/country supported. This rendering scheme may
support not only WAP devices, but also SMTP, HTML and
POP proxies, for example. In branding, each page of a
given application may be customized for each different
brand.
[0039] The branding of a page may be accomplished
through XSL imports, including the use of a Java
application programming interface (API) for XML
processing (JAXP) feature to resolve the imports
dynamically. This need not require that each combined
page/brand template be compiled and cached. By way of
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example, in a sample template directory, first and
second pages for a single language/country may be
combined with branded counterparts to generate a
plurality of distinct template combinations. It is
also possible to profile memory requirements of an
application by loading templates for a single language,
device/application and brand. An HTML device may
include a set of templates that are large compared to
other devices.
[0040] In one known technique, the mobile office
platform 24 advantageously builds processes and takes
non-localized files and language-specific property
files and combines them to make each non-localized XSL
into an XSL for each supported language. A separate
XSL for each language need not be used, and the
language factor may be removed from the memory usage
equation. A JAXP API may be used to extend XSL with
Java classes. The extensions may take various forms,
for example, including extension elements and extension
functions. A template may be transformed by creating
and initializing an extension object with a locale and
passing an object to a transformer. The system can
remove multiple imports and use less memory. HTML
templates can use template importing to enable template
reuse, much like Java classes, and reuse other Java
classes through a mechanism like derivation or
importing.
[0041] In the direct access system 20, users receive
email on their mobile wireless communications devices
25 from multiple external accounts, and when replying
to a received message, the reply-to and sent-from
address integrity is preserved. For example, for a
user that has an integrated Yahoo! account
(user@yahoo.com) and a POP3 account (user@pop3.com), if
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they receive an email at user@yahoo.com, their replies
generated from the device 25 will appear to come from
user@yahoo.com. Similarly, if a user receives an email
at user@pop3.com, their replies will appear to come
from user@pop3.com.
[0042] Selection of the "sent from" address is also
available to a user that composes new messages. The
user will have the ability to select the "sent from"
address when composing a new message. Depending on the
source mailbox type and protocol, the message may also
be sent through the source mail service. This
functionality can be supported by sending a
configuration for each source mailbox, for example, as
a non-limiting example, a service book for each source
mailbox 51, 53 to the mobile wireless communications
device 25.
[0043] As noted above, a service book is a class
that may include all service records currently defined.
This class may be used to maintain a collection of
information about the device, such as connection
information. The service book may be used to manage
HTTP connections and mail (CMIME) information such as
account and hierachy. At mobile wireless
communications devices 25, a delete service book
request may be sent when a source mailbox 51, 53 is
removed from the account. The service book may also be
resent to the device 25 with a viewable name that gives
the u5er some indication that the selection is no
longer valid.
[0044] A sent items folder may also be
"synchronized." Any device-originated sent messages
may be propagated to a source account and stored in a
sent mail folder, for example. Also, messages deleted
on the device 25 may correspondingly be deleted from
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the source mailbox 51, 53. Another example is that
device-originated marking of a message as read or
unread on the device 25 may similarly be propagated to
the source mailbox 51, 53. While the foregoing
features are described as source-dependent and
synchronizing one-way, in some embodiments certain
synchronization features may in addition, or instead,
propagate from the source mailbox/account to the
handheld device, as will be appreciated by those
skilled in the art.
[0045] When available, the mail service provider or
corporate mail server may be used for submission of
outgoing messages. While this may not be possible for
all mail service providers or servers, it is
preferrably used when available as it may provide
several advantages. For example, subscribers to AOL
will get the benefit of AOL-specific features like
parental controls. Furthermore, AOL and Yahoo users,
as non-limiting examples, will see messages in their
sent items folder, and messages routed in this manner
may be more compliant with new spam policies such as
Sender Policy Framework (SPF) and Sender Id. In
addition, messages sent via corporate mail servers 52
will have proper name resolution both at the global
address list level and the personal level. It should
be understood, however, that the use of the mail
service provider 50 to deliver mail may be dependant on
partner agreements and/or protocol, depending upon the
given implementation.
[0046] The architecture described above also
advantageously allows for features such as on-demand
retrieval of message bodies and attachments and
multiple folder support. Morever, a "this-is-spam"
button or indicator may be used allowing company labels
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and other service provider-specific features when
supported by an underlying protocol, as will be
appreciated by those skilled in the art.
[0047] One particular advantage of the direct access
system 20 is that a user need not configure an account
before integrating additional accounts. However, a
standalone email address may be used, and this address
advantageously need not be tied to a mailbox size which
the subscriber is required to manage. For example, the
email account may be managed by an administrator, and
any mail could be purged from the system after a pre-
determined period of time (i.e., time-based auto-aging
with no mailbox limit for all users).
[0048] Additionally, all aspects of any integrated
email account creation, settings and options may
advantageously be available to the user from their
mobile wireless communications device 25. Thus, users
need not visit an HTML site and change a setting,
create a filter, or perform similar functions, for
example. Of course, an HTML site may optionally be
used.
[0049] As a system Internet email service with the
direct access system 20 grows, ongoing emphasis may
advantageously be placed on the administrative site to
provide additional information to carrier
administrators, support teams, and similar functions.
However, in some instances a mail connector may be
installed on a personal computer, and this
functionality may not always be available from the
mobile wireless communications device.
[0050] The Web client engine 22 may advantageously
support different features including message to
handheld (MTH), message from handheld (MFH),
forward/reply a message, request to view more for a
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large message (e.g., larger than 2K), request viewing
message attachment, and over the air folder management
(OTAFM). These functions are explained below.
[0051] For an MTH function, each email account
integrated for a user is linked with the user device
through a Web client service book. For each new
message that arrives in the Web client user mailbox, a
notification that contains the new message information
will typically be sent to a Web client engine
supervisor component (FIG. 3), which in turn will
assign the job to an available worker with the least
load in the system. The chosen worker 32 will validate
the user information and retrieve the new message from
the user source mailbox and deliver it to the user
device.
[0052] In an MFH function, MFH messages associated
with a Web client service book are processed by the Web
client engine 22 and delivered to the Internet 49 by
the worker 32 via the simple mail transfer protocol
(SMTP) or native outbox. If a user turns on the option
to save the sent message to the sent items folder, the
direct access proxy will save a copy of the sent
message to this folder.
[0053] In a Forward/Reply/More function, the user
can forward or reply an MTH or MFH message from the
mobile wireless communications device 25 as long as the
original message still existed in the direct access
proxy cache or in user mailbox. For MTH, the worker 32
may send the first 2K, for example, or the whole
message (whatever is less) to the user device. If the
message is larger than 2K, the user can request MORE to
view the next 2K of the message. In this case, the
worker 32 will process the More request by retrieving
the original message from the user source mailbox, and
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send back the 2K that the device requests. Of course,
in some embodiments more than 2K of message text (or
the entire message) may be sent.
[0054] In an attachment-viewing function, a user can
view a message attachment of a popular document format
(e.g., MS Word, MS Power Point, MS Excel, Word Perfect,
PDF, text, etc.) or image format (GIF, JPEG, etc).
Upon receiving the attachment-viewing request, which is
implemented in a form of the more request in this
example, the worker 32 can fetch the original message
from the user source mailbox via the direct access
proxy, extract the requested attachment, process it and
send result back to the user device. The processing
requires that the original message has not been deleted
from the user Web client mailbox.
[0055] In the save sent message to sent items folder
function, if the user turns this option on, the worker
32 places a copy of each MFH message sent from the user
device in the user sent items folder in the mailbox.
In over the air folder management, the Web client OTAFM
service maintains any messages and folders in the user
mailbox synchronized with the user device over the air.
[0056] Whenever a message in the user source mailbox
is Moved/Deleted, the associated message on the device
may also be Moved/Deleted accordingly, and vice-versa.
When a message is Moved/Deleted on the device, the
associated message in the user Web client mailbox may
also be Moved/Deleted accordingly. Similarly, when a
folder is Added/Removed/Renamed from the user Web
client mailbox, the associated folder on the device may
be Added/Removed/Renamed, and vice-versa.
[0057] The system 20 may advantageously support
different subsets of various messaging features. For
example, in the message to handheld function, the
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mobile office platform 24 may be responsible for
connecting to the various source mailboxes 51, 53 to
detect new emails. For each new mail, a notification
is sent to the Web client engine 22 and, based on this
notification, the supervisor 34 chooses one of the
workers 32 to process that email. The chosen worker
will fetch additional account information and the
contents of the mail message from the direct access
proxy 40 and deliver it to the user device 25.
[0058] In a message sent from handheld function, the
MFH could be given to the direct access proxy 40 from
the Web client worker 32. In turn, the mobile office
platform 24 delivers a message to the Internet 49 by
sending through a native outbox or sending it via SMTP.
It should be understood, however, that the native
outbox, whenever possible, may provide a better user
experience, especially when taking into account current
anti-spam initiatives such as SPF and sender Id.
[0059] In a message deleted from handheld function,
when a message is deleted from the device 25, the Web
client engine 22 notifies the mobile office platform 24
via the direct access proxy 40. As such, the mobile
office platform 24 can delete the same message on the
source mailbox.
[0060] When handling More/Forward/Reply/Attachment
viewing requests, the Web client worker 32 may request
an original mail from the direct access proxy 40. It
will then process the request and send the results to
the mobile wireless communications device 25. The
architecture may additionally support on-demand
retrieval of message parts and other upgrades, for
example.
[0061] Upon the integration of a new source mailbox
51, 53, the service book notification from the alert
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server 38 may be sent to the supervisor 34, which
assigns this notification to a worker 32 for sending
out a service record to the device. Each source
mailbox 51, 53 may be associated with a unique service
record. In this way, each MFH message is linked with a
source mailbox 51, 53 based on the service record on
the device.
[0062] The system 20 may also poll the integrated
external mailboxes periodically to check for new mail
and to access any messages. The system 20 may further
incorporate optimizations for polling bandwidth from an
aggregation component allowing a quick poll. The system
20 can also advantageously support a large active user
base and incorporate a rapidly growing user base.
[0063] The topology of load balancing can be based
on the size of a component's queue and its throughput.
These load statistics can be monitored by a mechanism
in one example called the UDP Heartbeat, as described
before. If a component is overloaded or has a large
queue size, the component will have less chance to get
an assigned job from other components. In contrast, a
component will get more assigned jobs if it completes
more jobs in the last few hours than other components.
With this mechanism, the load could distribute over
heterogeneous machine hardware, i.e., components
running on less power machines will be assigned fewer
jobs than those on machines with more power hardware.
[0064] General load balancing for any mobile office
platform components can be accomplished through the use
of a load balancer module, for example, a BIG-IP module
produced by F5 Networks of Seattle, Washington. BIG-IP
can provide load balancing and intelligent layer 7
switching, and can handle traffic routing from the
Internet to any customer interfacing components such as
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the WAP and HTML proxies. The use of a BIG-IP or
similar module may provide the application with pooling
capabilities, fault tolerance and session management,
as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.
[0065] Typically, access to a single source mailbox
51, 53 can be from a single direct access proxy 40 over
a persistent connection. Any requests on behalf of a
particular user could persist to the same machine in
the same direct access clustered partition. As certain
components are system-wide and will be handling work
for users across many partitions, these components can
be designed to determine which direct access partition
to communicate with on a request-by-request basis.
[0066] The load balancer and cache (LBAC) 46 may
support this function. The LBAC 46 is a system-wide
component that can perform two important functions.
The first of these function is that it provides a
mapping from the device PIN to a particular direct
access proxy 40, while caching the information in
memory for both fast access and to save load on the
central database. Secondly, as the direct access proxy
40 will be run in clustered partitions, the LBAC 46 may
distribute the load across all direct access proxies
within any partition.
[0067] The LBAC 46 can be formed of different
components. For example, the code which performs the
load balancing can be an extended version of a secure
mail connector. The code can also perform lookups to
the central database and cache the results (LBAC).
[0068] In one non-limiting example, when a worker
requires that a direct access proxy 40 perform work, it
provides the LBAC 46 with a device PIN. The LBAC 46
will discover which partition that PIN is associated
with by looking in its cache, or retrieving the
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partition identifier from a central database (and
caching the result). Once the partition is known, the
LBAC 46 then consults its cache to see which direct
access proxy in that partition has been designated to
handle requests for that PIN. If no mapping exists,
the LBAC requests the PDS to create a new association
on the least loaded DA proxy 40 (again caching the
result). Finally, the LBAC 46 responds to the worker
32 with the connection information for the proper
direct access proxy to handle that particular request.
[0069] The secure mail connector 88 may run in
failover pairs, where one is an active master and the
other is a secondary standby. Internal data structures
may be replicated in real-time from the master to the
standby. Multiple LBACs 46 can be run for scalability
and fault tolerance, but typically would require an
external connection balancing component, such as the
BIG-IP component as explained before.
[0070] A receiving component in the Web client
engine 22 saves the job that has been assigned to it
from other components to a job store on the disk before
processing. It can update the status of the job and
remove the job from the job store when the job
processing is completed. In case of component failure
or if the process is restarted, it can recover the jobs
from the job store and, based on the current statuses
of these jobs, continue processing these jobs to the
next state, saving the time to reprocess them from the
beginning.
[0071] Any recovery from the standpoint of MTH/MFH
can be achieved through current polling behavior and on
the Web client engine 22 recovery mechanisms. From
within the mail office platform components, until a
message has been successfully delivered to a Web client
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engine 22, that message is not recorded in the
partition database 60. During the next polling
interval, the system can again "discover" the message
and attempt to notify the Web client engine 22. For
new mail events, if an event is lost, the system can
pick up that message upon receiving the next event or
during the next polling interval. For sources
supporting notifications, this interval could be set at
six hours, as one non-limiting example. For messages
sent from the Web client engine 22, and for messages
that have been accepted by the Web client engine,
recovery can be handled by different Web client engine
components.
[0072] The.Web client engine 22 may advantageously
be horizontally and vertically scalable. Multiple
supervisors 34 can be registered/configured with direct
access proxies 40 to provide the distribution of the
notification load and the availability of engine
service. Multiple workers 32 and port agents 30 can
run on the same machine or across multiple machines to
distribute load and achieve redundancy. As the number
of users grows, new components can be added to the
system to achieve high horizontal scalability.
[0073] It is possible for a new component to be
added/removed to/from the system automatically without
down time. Traffic can automatically be delegated to a
new component and diverted away from failed components.
Each component within the mobile office platform 24 can
be deployed multiple times to achieve horizontal
scalability. To achieve vertical scalability, each
mobile office platform 24 component can be a multi-
threaded process with a configurable number of threads
to scale under heavy load. Pools of connections can be
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used to reduce the overhead of maintaining too many
open connections.
[0074] FIG. 6 is another embodiment of the high
level architectural diagram of the BDA user interface
components similar to the functional components shown
in the diagram of FIG. 2. There will now follow a
brief description of these basic components and their
function.
[0075] Provisioning (PRV) 110 provides a centralized
database 111 or store to access user and device
Identifier (ID) profile information. During login, the
WAP and HTML Proxies 74, 76 retrieve the ID profile,
which provides user and device information. Proxies
update PRV 110 for certain user configuration actions,
such as a changed PIN. The web client database 112 (WC
DB) contains account information for web client users.
It is queried during login to determine if an unknown
user is a web client user and whether they can be
migrated. The WAP Proxy 74 provides a Wireless Markup
Language (WML) based user interface for configuration
of source mailboxes in the Mobile Office Platform
(MOP). The HTML Proxy 74 provides an HTML based user
interface for configuration of source mailboxes in MOP.
The Soap Servlet 114 (SOAP Daemon) provides an
interface into a database store. The Agg Engine 116
acts as a protocol translator that connects to a source
mailbox to validate configuration parameters. The
Mobile Office Platform Database (MOP DB) 118 is a
primary user data store for the MOP. The Web Admin 120
provides the MOP with notifications of account state
changes. Provisioning 110 also provides notification
of account state changes, such as inactive and active.
Provisioning (PRV) can be used to notify and migrate a
user from a Web Client (WC) service to an Internet
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Service (IS), having more advance features that are
accessible from a web browser with a user email
account, allowing a user to add and edit email
accounts.
[0076] The Web Client Aggregation Programming
Interface (WC AggAPI) 122 includes a database 124 and
provides integrated source data for WC accounts. It is
queried to retrieve integrated source configuration
data to be migrated to a new Internet Service (IS)
account for the user. The WC DB 112 provides web
client account information. It is queried to retrieve
web client account configuration data to be migrated to
a Internet Service account for the user. The system
can make use of existing products such as the
Provisioning 110 and WebAdmin 120. These products have
scaling characteristics. In this described embodiment,
functionality has moved from Aggcron to the BDA proxy.
The system provides a direct connection to a partition
database within the BDA proxy. Access to the database
can be from a configurable connection pool that will
grow and shrink as necessary, depending on the needs of
the system. The pool can recover from network errors
and database connectivity issues.
[0077] In accordance with a non-limiting embodiment,
users in a new electronic mail service at the mobile
office platform operative as an Internet Service (IS)
have the ability to perform a migration of their
existing Web Client/WebMail account data into the MOP
Internet Service Email system if their carrier enables
it. This feature is coined "self-migration" or "user-
initiated migration".
[0078] There are two possible approaches for making
the Web Client (WC) data available to the MOP code
base.
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(1) It is possible to pull user data from a WC
database with one (or more) stored procedure (proc)
calls at run-time. The procedure call could be any
type of subroutine, even a SOAP call. This requires
stored procedure (proc) calls from within the MOP
codebase and runtime access to the WC database.
(2) It is possible to store all WC user data in
Internet Service "import" tables. This requires
staging the WC data into the Internet Service import
tables at the time of cut-over.
[0079] The first option is more typical because not
all carriers would opt for simultaneously enabling the
internet service at launch. Also, it is unlikely there
would be a sufficiently complete dataset available in
time. In fact, a complete dataset would be large and
unwieldy.
[0080] The indicator for whether a site/brand has
enabled user-initiated migration could come from a
"user migrated enabled" column from a "Site" table in
the WC/WebMail database.
[0081] A carrier will indicate they would like to
enable user-initiated migration. A
"user migrated enabled" bit will be set for that
site/brand in the WC. Existing WC users will be
prompted at login to migrate to the Internet Service.
If they choose not to, then they will be routed to an
old WC system and carry on as before. When this user
returns later and attempts to login they will again be
prompted to migrate to the Internet Service. If the
user chooses to migrate then all required account
information for this user from the old WC system will
be passed to the new IS and a new IS account is created
along with a hosted mailbox and any integrated source
mailboxes.
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[0082] After a successful migration, the user would
then be routed to the IS system from then on. At this
point mail will begin to flow to and from the user's
handheld, but in-order to login to the HTML or WAP UI
the user will need to accept any new "terms and
conditions" that are part of the new Internet Service.
[0083] The migration process should happen within
seconds, and mail flow should not be interrupted. The
only real concern for mail flow interruption during
migration is if the user's handheld is off or out of
range. This will result in Service Book delivery delay
and even failure. Until Service Books are delivered
all mail flow is stopped. The old WC account of the
user will remain for 30 days to allow access to old
pre-migration messages via their handheld, but login
access and polling will be disabled. After 30 days the
account will be deleted.
[0084] The migration of integrated mailbox data is
accomplished by using an AggAPI Soap interface in the
WC system to pull the user data as shown in FIG. 7. A
ProxyAPI Soap interface in the Internet Service system
creates the account, creates the hos-ted mailbox, and
populates the integrated mailbox information. FIG. 7
shows basic components of the Internet Service Mobile
Office Platform 200 and its HTML/WAP 202 and Proxy API
204. Also illustrated are the electronic mail server
205 operative as a mail server, and including a web
client database 206, AggAPI 208. The PRV-IS API 208 is
operative therewith and a flow sequence of operation is
shown.
[0085] With the HTML/WAP proxy 202, a LoginHandler
212 obtains a WCSubscriber object during user login.
The WCSubscriber object contains enough information to
create an IS account if the user chooses to migrate. A
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SelfMigrationHandler 214 makes a migrate wcUser 216
soap call to the ProxyAPi 204. That soap call handles
all of the steps involved in user-initiated migration.
First, it looks at the IDProfile.loginId parameter. If
it is null, then the user has no WC account. Otherwise,
it fetches the WC Agg externalId by making a
getExternalld soap call to the PRV-IS API and passing
the IDProfile.loginId and siteName string concatenated
together with a period in between. It uses the
.externalId to make a retrieveMboxAcct soap call to the
WC AggAPI in order to retrieve the mailbox account and
any integrated source mailboxes (there may be none).
It then makes createMigratedAcct and createHostedMbox
calls to itself in order to create the IS account and
the hosted mailbox.
[0086] As a side-effect, the createMigratedAcct call
makes a migrateBwcUser soap call to PRV-IS in order to
create a IDProfile for the migrated user. It then makes
zero or more createMigratedMbox calls in order to
migrate any integrated mailboxes the user may have. It
calls deleteMboxAcct in order to delete the WC
aggregation account. Upon successfully executing the
migrateBwcUsersoap call, the SelfMigrationHandler makes
a stored procedure (proc) call to the WC DB in order
update the WC subscriber's status to MIGRATED.
[0087] Certain database changes are typically
required before any user-initiated migration can begin.
One change is made in the central database for the
MboxProvider/MboxAcctType. In order to easily map
between the MOP brand/MboxProviderName and the WC
siteName, a MboxProvider table has a column "siteName".
This allows some flexibility in coordinating the data
between the Internet Service (IS) MOP and Web Client
(WC) systems.
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(1) The name of a carrier can be different
between the two systems. For example, the carrier T-
Mobile Systems is referred to as siteName "tmo" in the
WC system and mboxProviderName "tmobile" in MOP.
(2) This allows mappings other than one-to-one
for testing purposes. For example, both the "tmobile"
and "bisgeneric" mboxProviders can map to the same
"cardhutrst" siteName.
[0088] A new MboxProvider entry could be made for
all existing WC sites to be migrated. New MboxAcctType
entries can be made for each site added above. There
could be new and unsupported rows for each MboxAcctType
entry above, and a MboxAcctTypeMap. This is a new
mapping table required to map a site/plan from the old
WC system to the new IS system. Locales may need to be
changed and there may be a need to add locale data. A
partitioned database may be necessary, for example,
MboxAcct, in which a new column is "migrated" to hold
the date of the user-initiated migration. A
hostmailbox database may need to be changed. For
example, a CarrierReservedLogin has each carrier
providing a list of reserved logins to be added to the
CarrierReservedLogin table, which will block all new
users for this carrier from integrating these logins.
A GlobalReservedLogin could be changed. A list of
reserved logins could be added to the
GlobalReservedLogin table, which will block all new
users from integrating these logins.
[0089] A login handler for the Interet Service will
obtain the following information from the WC database
and pass it into the Internet Service migratewcUser
SOAP ProxyAPI call:
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- Username Used for generating ID and hosted
mailbox login.
- Password MboxAcct.password.
- Site Name Used for generating ID and hosted
mailbox domain (full domain will be retrieved from
MboxProvider.hostedMailDomain).
- Service Plan Used to obtain
mboxProviderName/mboxAcctTypeName from
MboxAcctTypeMap table.
- PIN devicePIN for DevicePINMap.devicePIN and
MboxAcct.devicePIN
- UTF-8 enabled MboxAcct.settings&65536
- Reply To Address Used in logic to determine
SrcMbox.address.
- Sent From Address Used in logic to determine
SrcMbox.address.
- Auto BCC Address SrcMbox.autoBCC for POP and
IMAP sources only.
- Friendly Name SrcMbox.description
- Signature SrcMboxSignature table.
- Account Status MboxAcct.settings&64 (Active or
Suspended)
- Created MboxAcct.created (and AcctMap.created?)
- Timezone MboxAcct.timezone.
- Language MboxAcct.language.
- Counrty MboxAcct.country.
- Charset MboxAcct.charset.
[0090] The AcctMap.externalID could be the ID. The
ID could be the "sitename-username".
[0091] The "Password" could be the user's WC Web
login password from "subscriber_engine.user_password".
It is not determined from the MboxAcct.password in WC
TeamOn Aggregation database, because that is not used
for authentication and therefore is always empty.
An example of the logic used to determine the
SrcMbox.address (the BIS-X reply to address) is:
If integrated external mailbox then
SrcMbox.address = WC SrcMbox.address from TeamOn AggAPI
Else is hosted mailbox
If user has integrated external mailboxes then
If the WC sentFrom address matches one of the external sources
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SrcMbox.addess = WC sentFrom address (integrator)
Else if the WC replyTo address matches one of the external
sources
SrcMbox.addess = WC rgalyTo address (integrator)
Else
If the WC sentFrom address is not null
And is something other than the hosted mailbox address then
SrcMbox.addess = WC sentFrom address (forwarder)
Else if the WC replyTo address is not null
And is sanething other than the hosted mailbox address then
SrcMbox.addess = WC replyTo address (forwarder)
En d
If no action was taken above then
SrcMbox.addess = hosted mailbox address
End
End
[0092] The language, country, and character set
values received from WC will be checked against
carrier-supported values in the Internet Service. If
they are not supported, then carrier defaults will be
used. The "UTF-8 enabled" (MboxAcct.settings&65536) is
determined from the
"subscriber_engine.multi_byte_encoding_enabled" and WC
and the 0/S version from PRV.
[0093] Alert Rules usually will not be migrated.
The WC alert rules are stored in a WC database and have
a different format. Translating them would not be
easy, and would most likely end up with incorrect
rules. Filters can be easily re-created by the user.
Some data is required from PRV. The MOP ProxyAPI
migrateBwcUser SOAP method will request the following
information from PRV/BIS-API in separate requests:
Externalld - This is only required for retrieving
user data from the old WC Aggregation databases.
IMEI - Required for devicePIN verification.
[0094] Some data is required from AggAPI. The MOP
ProxyAPI migrateBwcUser SOAP method will request the
following information for each integrated external
mailbox from the old WC Aggregation API.
- is Valid SrcMbox.settings&16
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- Address Used in logic to determine
SrcMbox.address
- Login SrcMbox.login
- Password SrcMbox.password (ensure proper
encryption)
- Protocol Name SrcMbox.protocolName
- SSL Enabled SrcMbox.protocolSettings&8
- Server SrcMbox.server
- Port SrcMbox.port
- Suspended By User SrcMbox.settings&l
- PWP Client ID SrcMbox.pwpClientID
- Is Desktop SMC SrcMbox.settings&131072
- Is Primary User SrcMbox.settings&65536
- Date Created SrcMbox.created
[0095] Values that the system may want for each
source that is currently not returned from the AggAPI
are:
Polling Suspended by System SrcMbox.settings&2
Disable Expedited Polling SrcMbox.settings&262144
Force MRU Cache Strategy SrcMbox.settings&2097152
[0096] A disable quick polls
(SrcMbox.settings&524288) bit typically will not be
migrated. Instead all sources in the Internet Service
will default to 0 (false) to allow the new Internet
Service quick poll logic to determine what source is
quick pollable or not. The SubIDMap entries from WC
will not be migrated. In WC the SubId value is the WC
user id. This was done to allow account search by a
users address. Not all users will have an address in
the IS. It is optional. Instead, users will be
searched by ID, which will be a combination of username
and site-name.
[0097] There is some account migration. A new
method "migrateBwcUser" could perform the actual user
migration. This new SOAP method would be called from
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the new IS migration login handler when a users
indicates that they wish to be migrated. It will accept
most of the WC data as input and use the following
methods to complete the migration process.
[0098] A new method "getBrandPlanMapping" can
retrieve the new mboxProviderName and mboxAcctTypeName
for IS by referring to the new MboxAcctTypeMap table
using the old site name and plan from WC. The new
method will require the following information as
arguments:
String siteName from WC data
String servicePlan from WC data
The output is:
String mboxProviderName
String mboxAcctTypeName
[0099] A new method "createMigratedAccount" is
required for migrated user account creation in order to
incorporate the created date, migrated date, UTF-8
supported flag, and the users current status. This new
method may use the following information as arguments:
= String externalId E- the ID, generated from
username and site name
= String mboxAcctTypeName <- from getBrandPlanMapping
= String mboxProviderName E- from getBrandPlanMapping
= String pword <- from WC
= String created <- from WC
= boolean suspended F from WC (false = active, true
= suspended)
= boolean allowSeamlessLogin = false
= Timezone timezone F from WC
= String language F from WC
= String country <- from WC
= String targetAddr = null
= String charset E- from WC
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= String devicePin F from WC (expects decimal
format)
= String imei F from PRV
= boolean multibyteEnabled <- from WC
The output is:
boolean success (true = success, false = failed)
[00100] The existing method "createHostedMailbox" can
be used to create the user's hosted mailbox. This
method could use following information as arguments:
= String externalId F the ID, generated from
username and site name
= String login <- hosted mailbox address (for
example, username@sitename.blackberry.net)
= String srcAddr E- sentFrom/replyTo/source address
from WC
= int interval F from MboxAcctType.interval for
given site name
= 3.nt sizeLimit E- from MboxAcctType.sizeLimit for
given site name
= int timeout = 30
= String desc E- Friendly Name from WC (or null)
= boolean alertsEnabled = true
= boolean isPollTypeAlert = false
= String trackingInfo <- ??
= String clientType E- ??
= boolean ignoreOld = true
The output is:
o long srcMboxID for newly created SrcMbox row
The following values would also be updated for the
hosted mailbox:
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= String autoBccAddr <- from WC (or null)
= String signature F from WC (or null)
[00101] A new method "createMigratedMa.ilbox" would
allow for migrated user'-s source mailbox creation in
order to incorporate specific settings bits, autoCC,
signature, and to not perform source validation. The
source mailbox data is coming from a trusted source,
therefore the source valid bit, along with all required
source configuration values, will be preserved as it
was in the old WC database. This new method typically
requires the following information as arguments:
= String externalId E- the ID, generated from
username and site name
= String login <- from AggAPI Login
= String pword F from AggAPI Password
= String srcAddr <- from AggAPI Address
= String server F- from AggAPI Server
= int port <- from AggAPI Port
= String protocolName E- from AggAPI Protocol Name
= boolean ssl <- from AggAPI SSL Enabled
= int interval f from MboxAcctType.interval for
given site name
= int sizeLimit F from MboxAcctType.sizeLimit for
given site name
= int timeout = 30
= String desc F Friendly Name from WC (or null)
= boolean rememberPword = true (always true for DA)
= boolean alertsEnabled = true (always true for DA)
= boolean ignoreOld = true
= String pwpGuid E- from AggAPI PWP Client ID
= boolean isDesktopSMC F from AggAPI Is Desktop SMC
= boolean isPrimaryUser <- from AggAPI Is Primary
User
= String trackingInfo
= String srcMboxId = null
= boolean passwdNA <- from
MailProtocol.protocolSettings&l
= String clientType
= boolean isValid F from AggAPI Is Valid
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= boolean suspendedByUser F from AggAPI Suspended By
User
= boolean suspendedBySystem
= boolean disableExpeditedPolling
= boolean forceMRUCacheStrategy
= String autoBccAdd.r E- from WC (or null)
= String signature <- from WC (or null)
The output is: long srcMboxID for newly created
SrcMbox row.
[00102] ID user names could contain a-z, A-Z, 0-9
plus ". "-", and Also it is a requirement that
at least one character must not be a digit (this
requirement comes from quickmail). The maximum length
is 32.
[00103] There is a SMC Mailbox Migration. Some users
have WC integrated mailboxes-which use the SMC.
Currently this would be an older version of the SMC
which does not inherently support migration. A newer
version of the SMC has been developed which accepts a
PROPPATCH command to switch the PWP server that it
points to. This makes migration easier, in the sense
that the user is not required to intervene (i.e. the
user is not required to download or install an SMC)
during the migration process.
[00104] During user-initiated migration, users with
an integrated SMC mailbox(es) will have their SMC
changed to use the IS PWP server instead of a WC PWP
server. The createMigratedMbox() method call takes care
of doing this. It uses a SoapServlet property which
tells it the WC PWP server host, so it can issue a
command using that host and update the SMC to use the
new IS PWP server host and update URL values.
[00105] Some users will still have an older SMC for
various reasons if, for example, they never accepted a
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"nag" prompt. In this case, the createMigratedMbox call
would fail because the PROPPATCH command failed, and
the migration would not be completely successful. Since
this is considered to occur rarely, the system will
inform the user that the migration completed but the
SMC mailbox was not migrated. They will have to
integrate their SMC mailbox in IS.
[00106] There could be UID Migration. In moving from
WC to IS, the system has altered the format used to
store UIDs (or message IDs) in the database (in the
SrcMboxMsg table). In some cases, it is not possible
for the migration scripts to derive automatically the
new values, so a 100% seamless migration experience is
not possible for such sources. In addition, the IS
system requires that IMAP sources store a SrcMboxMsg
row for each message in the source mailbox (regardless
of whether the message was forwarded to the
Supervisor), which was not the case in the WC, so there
is no choice but to perform a catch-up ("ignoreOld")
poll against the source, in order to build and store
the SrcMboxMsg rows.
The rules (by protocol) are as follows:
(1) IMAP (and variants CS2000, AOL), Domino must
use catch-up ("ignore0ld") poll to build and store the
SrcMboxMsg rows. This is accomplished by ensuring that
"ignoreOld" setting bit is set to TRUE for the source,
and that no SrcMboxMsg rows are created for source in
BIS-T during migration.
(2) The OWA (Outlook Web Access) is distinguished
from OWA 2000 by UID starting with "http." SrcMboxMsg
rows need to be converted during migration.
SrcMboxMsg.uidPartl MUST match regex:
http.*/forms/ (.+)/frmRoot\.asp\?obj=(.+)&command
Assume 2 captures (...) now held in <msgType> and <objId>
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In <msgType>, convert all "/" characters to be "-"
characters. davUid =
TeamOnHash("/inbox/<msgType>#<objld>").
TeamOnHash(valueln) returns:
valueIn if length(valueIn) <= 24
Digest::MD5::md5 base64(valueIn)."==" otherwise.
(3) ALL OTHER
No conversation required.
davUid = uidPartl
[001071 In ALL cases, the SrcMboxMsg.davHref field
could be null, since it is only relevant in cases where
a notification was sent to a IS Supervisor, which is
never the case at the point of migration.
[001081 Also, the SrcMboxMsg.msgNumber could be set
to some arbitrary (but monotonically increasing) value
since it is a mandatory field and must to be unique
across all rows having the same srcMboxID. The value
for SrcMbox.lastMsgNumber MUST match the MAX(msgNumber)
in SrcMboxMsg for the corresponding srcMboxID.
[00109] Unlike a mass migration, the user-initiated
migration happens without downtime, and within seconds.
Retrieving the UIDs would require another call to the
System Aggregation database to retrieve the UIDs, which
is not part of the existing AggAPI. Therefore, the
system could add a new API call to the WC code line, or
query the database directly. This could add complexity
and risk to the migration process. An alternative is to
just do an IgnoreOld poll for all users. An IgnoreOld
poll will happen immediately after the SrcMbox row is
created resulting in a very small (seconds) window for
message loss. The advantages are considerable decrease
in migration complexity, allows all protocols to be
handled the same, eliminates the chance for duplicate
messages, and greatly decreases the migration time
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resulting in a pleasant user experience. Therefore the
decision was made to not migrate the UIDs, but instead
force an IgnoreOld poll for all sources.
[00110] There are some Service Book Notifications.
For each new SRCMbox created in the IS, the system
assigns a service book and pushes out a service book
notification for it. This could be handled
automatically just like any other non-migrating user.
[00111] After a users account has been migrated to
the IS, the old WC account will remain accessible from
the user's handheld for retrieving messages received
prior to migration for 30 days. All other UI access and
source mailbox polling will be disabled. After 30
days, the account will be deleted from the old WC
system.
[00112] It is known that there are duplicate external
ids in PRV for the same WC username. The migration
process will migrate the account actually logged into
by the user. This account will reference on externalID
in PRV and that externalID will be used to retrieve the
aggregation data. If this user happens to have a
duplicate account, then the data in the duplicate
account will be lost.
[0001] XML, of course, as an extensive mark-up
language, is a subset of the standard generalized mark-
up language (SGML) and would allow data to be stored
and published on websites and be richer in
presentation. Custom tags could be created to define
the content of documents. Common information formats
could be created and the format and data shared on the
internet, corporate internets and/or other networks.
The mark-up symbols in XML could be unlimited and self-
defining. The channel definition format (CDF) could
describe any channel and a specific CDF file can
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contain data that specifies an initial web page and how
it can be updated.
[0002] SOAP allows one program running in one kind
of operating system to communicate with the program in
the same or another type of operating system by using
HTTP and XML for information exchange. SOAP could
specify how to encode an HTTP header in an XML file,
thus, allowing one computer to call a program in
another computer and pass data, while also dictating
how it can return a response. SOAP is advantageous to
allow data to pass through firewall servers that
screen-out requests other than those for known
applications to a designated port.. SOAP is an XML-
based protocol that has at least three parts,
including: (a) an envelope to define a framework for
describing what is in a message; (b) a set of encoding
rules for expressing application-defined data types;
and (c) a convention for representing remote procedure
calls and responses.
[0003] The mobile office platform 16 could include
software that is implemented as an ActiveX control as a
component object model (COM) and provide a framework
for building software components that communicate with
each other. ActiveX controls could be automatically
downloaded and executed by a web browser. Distributed
object applications could be built in active web pages
and ActiveX controls could be downloaded to different
browsers and clients. ActiveX controls could be held
in a web browser as a container and distributed over an
internet or corporate intranet. ActiveX controls could
also manage and update web content and client systems
and work closely with a user interface of a targeted
operating system. Java applets or similar component
objects could also be used instead of ActiveX controls.
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It should be understood for purposes of the present
invention that an object model control could also be
any type of dynamic link library (DLL) module that runs
in a container as an application program using a
component object model program interface.
[0004] An example of a handheld mobile wireless
communications device 1000 that may be used is further
described in the example below with reference to FIG.
8. The device 1000 illustratively includes a housing
1200, a keypad 1400 and an output device 1600. The
output device shown is a display 1600, which is
preferably a full graphic LCD. Other types of output
devices may alternatively be utilized. A processing
device 1800 is contained within the housing 1200 and is
coupled between the keypad 1400 and the display 1600.
The processing device 1800 controls the operation of
the display 1600, as well as the overall operation of
the mobile device 1000, in response to actuation of
keys on the keypad 1400 by the user.
[0005] The housing 1200 may be elongated vertically,
or may take on other sizes and shapes (including
clamshell housing structures). The keypad may include
a mode selection key, or other hardware or software for
switching between text entry and telephony entry.
[0006] In addition to the processing device 1800,
other parts of the mobile device 1000 are shown
schematically in FIG. 8. These include a
communications subsystem 1001; a short-range
communications subsystem 1020; the keypad 1400 and the
display 1600, along with other input/output devices
1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120; as well as memory devices
1160, 1180 and various other device subsystems 1201.
The mobile device 1000 is preferably a two-way RF
communications device having voice and data
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communications capabilities. In addition, the mobile
device 1000 preferably has the capability to
communicate with other computer systems via the
Internet.
[0007] Operating system software executed by the
processing device 1800 is preferably stored in a
persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160, but
may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as
a read only memory (ROM) or similar storage element. In
addition, system software, specific device
applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarily
loaded into a volatile store, such as the random access
memory (RAM) 1180. Communications signals received by
the mobile device may also be stored in the RAM 1180.
[0008] The processing device 1800, in addition to
its operating system functions, enables execution of
software applications 1300A-1300N on the device 1000.
A predetermined set of applications that control basic
device operations, such as data and voice
communications 1300A and 1300B, may be installed on the
device 1000 during manufacture. In addition, a
personal information manager (PIM) application may be
installed during manufacture. The PIM is preferably
capable of organizing and managing data items, such as
e-mail, calendar events, voice mails, appointments, and
task items. The PIM application is also preferably
capable of sending and receiving data items via a
wireless network 1401. Preferably, the PIM data items
are seamlessly integrated, synchronized and updated via
the wireless network 1401 with the device user's
corresponding data items stored or associated with a
host computer system.
[0009] Communication functions, including data and
voice communications, are performed through the
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communications subsystem 1001, and possibly through the
short-range communications subsystem. The
communications subsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500,
a transmitter 1520, and one or more antennas 1540 and
1560. In addition, the communications subsystem 1001
also includes a processing module, such as a digital
signal processor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators
(LOs) 1601. The specific design and implementation of
the communications subsystem 1001 is dependent upon the
communications network in which the mobile device 1000
is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device
1000 may include a communications subsystem 1001
designed to operate with the Mobitex'-111, Data TACTM or
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile data
communications networks, and also designed to operate
with any of a variety of voice communications networks,
such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA, PCS, GSM, etc. Other types
of data and voice networks, both separate and
integrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device
1000.
[0010] Network access requirements vary depending
upon the type of communication system. For example, in
the Mobitex and DataTAC networks, mobile devices are
registered on the network using a unique personal
identification number or PIN associated with each
device. In GPRS networks, however, network access is
associated with a subscriber or user of a device. A
GPRS device therefore requires a subscriber identity
module, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in order to
operate on a GPRS network.
[0011] When required network registration or
activation procedures have been completed, the mobile
device 1000 may send and receive communications signals
over the communication network 1401. Signals received
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from the communications network 1401 by the antenna
1540 are routed to the receiver 1500, which provides
for signal amplification, frequency down conversion,
filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also
provide analog to digital conversion. Analog-to-
digital conversion of the received signal allows the
DSP 1580 to perform more complex communications
functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In a
similar manner, signals to be transmitted to the
network 1401 are processed (e.g. modulated and encoded)
by the DSP 1580 and are then provided to the
transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion,
frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and
transmission to the communication network 1401 (or
networks) via the antenna 1560.
[0012] In addition to processing communications
signals, the DSP 1580 provides for control of the
receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example,
gains applied to communications signals in the receiver
1500 and transmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled
through automatic gain control algorithms implemented
in the DSP 1580.
[0013] In a data communications mode, a received
signal, such as a text message or web page download, is
processed by the communications subsystem 1001 and is
input to the processing device 1800. The received
signal is then further processed by the processing
device 1800 for an output to the display 1600, or
alternatively to some other auxiliary I/0 device 1060.
A device user may also compose data items, such as e-
mail messages, using the keypad 1400 and/or some other
auxiliary I/0 device 1060, such as a touchpad, a rocker
switch, a thumb-wheel, or some other type of input
device. The composed data items may then be
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transmitted over the communications network 1401 via
the communications subsystem 1001.
[0014] In a voice communications mode, overall
operation of the device is substantially similar to the
data communications mode, except that received signals
are output to a speaker 1100, and signals for
transmission are generated by a microphone 1120.
Alternative voice or audio I/0 subsystems, such as a
voice message recording subsystem, may also be
implemented on the device 1000. In.addition, the
display 1600 may also'be utilized in voice
communications mode, for example to display the
identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice
call, or other voice call related information.
[0015] The short-range communications subsystem
enables communication between the mobile device 1000
and other proximate systems or devices, which need not
necessarily be similar devices. For example, the
short-range communications subsystem may include an
infrared device and associated circuits and components,
or a BluetoothTM communications module to provide for
communication with similarly-enabled systems and
devices.
[0016] Many modifications and other embodiments of
the invention will come to the mind of one skilled in
the art having the benefit of the teachings presented
in the foregoing descriptions and the associated
drawings. Therefore, it is understood that the
invention is not to be limited to the specific
embodiments disclosed, and that modifications and
embodiments are intended to be included within the
scope of the appended claims.
