WO2001086932A1

WO2001086932A1 - Method and apparatus for receiving and reading e-mail attachments

Info

Publication number: WO2001086932A1
Application number: PCT/US2001/014820
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mitesh Patel; Warren Melnick
Original assignee: Astata Corporation
Priority date: 2000-05-09
Filing date: 2001-05-08
Publication date: 2001-11-15
Also published as: AU2001259634A1

Abstract

A method and apparatus (30) for forwarding e-mail attachments to a wireless device (50) is provided. An e-mail message is received, and it is determined that an attachment is attached to the e-mail message. The textual portion of the attachment is extracted and the textual data is transmitted to the wireless device (50).

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECEIVING AND READING E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to a method and apparatus for receiving e-mail and other electronic messages, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for receiving e-mail or other electronic messages including attachments, wherein the receiving device does not include a proper program for opening the attachment, but which nonetheless allows the receiver to open, read, view, store and otherwise manipulate the contents of the attachment.

The use of e-mail messages between parties has grown greatly in recent years with the advent of computers and the Internet. Through the use of e-mail, a user at a particular individual computer address may receive text messages, video, audio, or any other data from users at any other computer address. As is shown in Fig. 1, an e-mail sender 10 may compose an electronic message, and then send this electronic message via Internet 20, or any other communication network or network protocol (hereinafter "Internet") to an e-mail receiver 30. Upon receipt of the e-mail, a user at e-mail receiver 30 is notified of the existence of the e-mail. The user of e-mail receiver 30 can then open the message, and view the text or other data originally transmitted by e-mail sender 10. Originally this system worked well between two stationary computers. However, with further advent of various wireless and cell phone technology, it became desirable for users to be able to retrieve their electronic messages while away from their desktop, and wirelessly. Wireless e-mail may be retrieved by a user who is away from his desktop in any number of ways. In a first manner, a user using a laptop computer or other appropriate computing device may form a standard wired connection between his or her mobile device and e-mail receiver 30 via Internet 20, or other direct communication link. E-mail is then transferred from e-mail receiver 30 to the user's mobile device. The user's mobile device is typically a complete computer, and therefore includes various word processing spreadsheets and other programs. Alternatively, providing even greater freedom, if a user wishes to receive e-mail to his or her cell phone, or other wireless mobile device, the system may be set up so that e-mail receiver 30 retransmits a received e-mail message via Internet 20 to a wireless e-mail server 40. Wireless e-mail server 40 then transmits, via an antenna 42, the wireless e-mail message to wireless e-mail receiver 50, which comprises the user's wireless device. The method of locating and transmitting information to this wireless e- mail receiver is well known in the art of pagers, cell phones and other wireless computing devices.

In addition to sending a text message, an electronic message often includes one or more attachments. These attachments may comprise video, audio, multi-media, photographs, graphic or text files or any other data (hereinafter "data"). Typically, this data has been generated in one or more associated executable generation programs. For example, user may attach a word-processing file, spreadsheet file, image file, multi-media video or audio content or the like. Once attached, this data is transmitted along with the electronic message from e-mail sender 10 via Internet 20 to e-mail receiver 30. Once the user of e-mail receiver 30 opens and views the electronic message, an indication is given that an attachment is present. If the user of e-mail receiver 30 wishes to open the attachment, a program used to generate the attachment is opened, and the attachment is opened therein. Alternatively, a user may simply view the data in the attachment, if the document is a text-only document, or the like. The viewer may not be able to handle various codes of an image or the like which might be included in the data file. Thus, the e-mail attachment can be opened properly only because e-mail receiver 30 includes a copy of the program used to originally generate the e-mail attachment at e-mail sender 10. However, a problem arises when this e-mail, including attachment, is then forwarded to wireless e-mail receiver 50. Specifically, as noted above, e-mail receiver 30 forwards the e-mail message, along with the attachment, via Internet 20 to wireless e-mail server 40. Wireless e-mail server 40 in turn passes the received e-mail message, along with the attachment, via an antenna 42 to wireless e-mail receiver 50. A user of wireless e-mail receiver 50 can open the e-mail and read the text of the e-mail message. However, it is not possible for a user to open the e-mail attachment, because wireless e-mail receiver 50 does not include a copy of the program used to generate the e-mail attachments. While certain wireless devices currently exist that may include crippled or smaller versions of various programs to allow a user to open an attachment in that program, the programs are quite mited, and the e-mail attachment must be generated in a predetermined program corresponding to the program on the wireless device.

Therefore, in general, it is not possible for a user to open an attachment received with an electronic message at a wireless e-mail receiver unless the message is of a predetermined type and the e-mail receiver includes a corresponding proper program for opening the attachment. It would therefore be beneficial to provide this ability.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for viewing and reading e-mail attachments at a wireless, or other reduced capability e- mail receiver.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for opening an attachment to an electronic message and a wireless e-mail receiver that does not require any additional program for opening the attachment at the wireless e-mail receiver.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for receiving an electronic message at a desktop receiver, opening an attachment associated with the electronic message with an appropriate executable program, exporting data from the opened attachment to a file of a predetermined format, appending the file to the original electronic message or generating a second electronic message including the original attachment, and transmitting the original and second electronic messages, including the data from the original attachment, to a wireless e-mail receiver.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a method and apparatus for allowing a desktop e-mail receiver to extract information from an attachment of an e- mail, and transmit this extracted information, along with an original e-mail message, to a wireless e-mail receiver.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part be apparent from the specification and the drawings. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Generally speaking, in accordance with the invention, a method and apparatus for allowing a user of a wireless or other e-mail receiver to open, view, read, store and otherwise manipulate the contents of electronic message attachments. In accordance with the invention, an electronic message including an attachment is first received at a desktop or server e-mail receiver. The e-mail receiver opens the attachment using an appropriate executable program associated with the attachment. A function of the executable program is then used to generate an output text file or file of other desired format (i.e. video, multi-media, audio, etc.) from the data in the original attachment. This additional data may either be appended to the message area in the original electronic message, or, in the alternative, a second electronic message may be generated, including this data. Thereafter, the original message and additional message are transmitted in a conventional manner to a wireless e-mail receiver via the Internet, or other communication network, and a wireless e-mail server. A filter may be provided so that attachments for only particular messages are transmitted. This filter would make determinations based upon header information of the e-mail. The attachment information could also be stored at a third party storage location at the direction of the filter.

Upon receipt, the user is able to view, in an appropriate format, the original message, as well as the data included with the attachments to the original message. No additional software or hardware is required on the wireless e-mail receiver to review this information. Additionally, if a program for opening an attachment is not present on desktop e-mail receiver 30, the invention further includes a method and apparatus for extracting relevant information from the document, irrespective of the format thereof, and including this information with the original or second message. Thereafter, these e-mail messages are transmitted as noted above. The invention accordingly comprises several steps and the relation of one or more of such steps with respect to each of the others, and the apparatus inviting features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts that are adapted to effect such steps, all as exemplified in the following detailed disclosed, and the scope of the invention will be indicated in the claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following description and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 depicts the transmission of an e-mail message from an e-mail sender to a wireless e-mail receiver; and Fig. 2 is a flowchart depicting method of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring once again to Fig. 1, an apparatus for use in accordance with the present invention will be described. As is shown in Fig. 1, an electronic message including an attachment is received from e-mail sender 10 via Internet 20, or other network or communication protocol (hereinafter "Internet") at desktop, server or handheld e-mail receiver 30 in a usual manner. The attachment will typically include text, but may include video, audio, animation, graphics, photographs, digital currency, or any other data. However, rather than simply retransmitting this e-mail via Internet 20 to wireless e-mail receiver 50 via wireless e-mail server 40 and antenna 42, processing in accordance with the invention is performed at e-mail receiver 30. Specifically, the proper format and therefore executable program for opening an attachment is determined at e-mail receiver 30. Once determined, this executable program is opened, and the e-mail attachment is similarly opened thereby. Once opened in this executable program, the function associated with the executable program to export the data as a standard text, or other appropriate file is invoked, and a resulting exported file is generated. This function is known as a native filter, in that it is resident in the executable program at all times and may be used to output data in a filtered format. The output can be as text only, as required by the preferred embodiment of the invention, or can be to any other desired predetermined format that is supported by the receiving device. Thus, in an alternative embodiment, rather than outputting to a text format only, if it were determined that a wireless or other reduced capability receiving device or appliance included a particular viewing program, the native filter could be employed to output the attachment in such a format. This formatted data could then be transmitted in place of the textual data, as described below. Additionally, the attachment data could be output to any format, including but not limited to, an electronic wallet, media player or any other third party or add-on software or hardware device (i.e. MP3 player) that requires a predefined file format. Additionally, upon opening the attachment, the data therein could be reformatted to a different media, for proper use before transmission. This could include reformatting from text to voice, voice to text, or any other reformatting so the attachment can be accessed by the receiving device. Thus, the format to which the attachment is changed is dependent upon the capabilities of the receiving device.

Upon receipt of this data file, as is shown in Fig. 1, an initial message, and a second electronic message including the information from the original attachment, are transmitted via Internet 20. Thus, the original e-mail message is represented by the solid line, and the newly-generated electronic message including the text data (or other formatted data, as appropriate) from the attachment is represented by the dashed line in Fig. 1. After retransmission of the original and newly-generated attachment messages, these two messages travel in tandem via Internet 20 to wireless e-mail server 40, and thereafter, via antenna 42 to wireless e-mail receiver 50. The user then receives a first electronic message^' including the original message and an indication that an attachment was present, and a second electronic message including the data documentation of the attachment. In this manner, the user may receive and view, read, or otherwise have access to an attachment to a received electronic message. At e-mail receiver 30, in an alternative embodiment, rather than presenting a second message, it is possible to append the data retrieved from the attachment into the original message with a designation indicating that it is the attachment. Furthermore, a filter may be provided that determines whether to forward an attachment to an e-mail message based upon header information. Thus, a user may designate attachments be transmitted only if attached to an e-mail message from a particular sender, or having particular text in the subject. Any header information, or for that matter, any information in the original e-mail message, or even attachment, could be employed by the filter. Also, attachments of certain formats only could be sent by the filter. Finally, in addition to sending an attachment to the receiver, the attachment could be sent to a third party storage device for storage. The stored data could be in the original format, the modified format as transmitted to the receiver, or an additional format as selected for storage.

Referring next to Fig. 2, the steps comprising a method of the invention will now be described. As is shown in Fig. 2, at a step ST200, an application running on an e- mail receiver 30 listens for incoming electronic messages. When a new incoming message is detected, after the message is transmitted in the usual fashion, the application opens and examines the electronic message. This examination proceeds as control passes to step ST210. At step ST210, an inquiry is made as to whether the new message received at the e-mail receiver includes an attachment. If the inquiry at step ST210 is answered in the negative, then control returns to step ST200 where the desktop waits for the receipt of another e-mail. Because no attachment was detected, no additional e-mail is transmitted.

However, if the inquiry at step ST210 is answered in the positive, then at a step ST220, the attachment is examined by the application running on the user's desktop or other e-mail server in accordance with the invention. Control then passes to step ST230 where the format of the attachment is determined. This format may be determined based upon an extension of the file name, or a review of origination of one or more codes within the document to determine the format thereof. At step ST230, an inquiry is made as to whether the attachment data can be extracted by a native filter associated with a program residing on the desktop, such as Microsoft Word, Excel or Adobe Acrobat, for example. If this inquiry is answered in the affirmative, control then passes to step ST240. At ST240, the attachment data file is extracted from the electronic message, and is opened in accordance with one of the native filters noted above. The relevant data is removed therefrom in accordance with a file format output function of the native filter, and an object is created with the appropriate data from this attachment. (Alternatively, another output format as determined by the device to receive the attachment could be employed, as noted above). Then, in a preferred embodiment, a second message is generated and is sent out following the original message previously transmitted.

In a preferred embodiment, because of the potential great size of the attachment, this data is sent in a plurality of consecutive electronic messages, each including approximately 2K of data. Thus, upon receipt of a first message containing attachment data, a user can request the next message of attachment data. Alternatively, the plurality of messages could be transmitted consecutively without prompting. The attachment could alternatively be converted to streaming or other continuously transmitted data, as desired.

As noted above, if the converted data of the original attachment is appended to the data of the first message, only a single message is transmitted, this first message, including the attachment data, can be viewed by a user at once. In this case the original e-mail is not transmitted prior to this procedure, but is rather held back until data is appended thereto, or until it is determined that no data can be extracted from the attachment. Additionally, a filter may be employed to determine whether to transmit the second e-mail as described above. After the second message (or group of messages) is sent out, control passes to step ST250 in which the second message is redirected to the wireless device, following the original first message, an end-user receives the data originally in the attachment as this second separate message. While this description utilizes the desktop computer or mail server to redirect the e-mail message, in an alternative embodiment, the desktop or server e-mail receiver merely transmits all e-mail to an intermediate wired e-mail server (not shown). This intermediate e-mail server then redirects the e- mail via the Internet as described above. Thus, a user can view the original e-mail, including the original message, and a second message for the data of the attachment.

Control then passes to step ST260 where the second message (the SMTP object) with the attachment data is deleted from the desktop, because the desktop can view the original message and attachment. Obviously, if only one message is transmitted, there is nothing to delete at step ST260. Thereafter, control returns to step ST200 to wait for additional messages.

Referring back to step ST230, if the inquiry at step ST230 is answered in the negative, a next inquiry is made at step ST270 as to whether any relevant data can be extracted from the attachment via a generic data filter. This would be applicable when an attachment is in a format unrecognized by the method and apparatus of the invention. If this inquiry at step ST270 is answered in the affirmative, control returns to step ST240, and processing continues as above. However, if the inquiry at step ST270 is answered in the negative, it is determined that the data from the attachment cannot be displayed, control returns to step ST200 waiting for a next message to be received.

Therefore, in accordance with the method and apparatus of the invention, it is possible for a user to receive and view attachments to electronic messages on a wireless apparatus, appliance, other reduced capability computing device or the like. While the method and apparatus of the invention have been described with respect to a wireless device, any device including but not limited to an appliance or limited computing capability apparatus, which might not include all programs for interpreting and opening attached programs can benefit from this invention. Additionally, while only a single attachment is shown in accordance with the invention, any number of attachments can be processed in accordance with the invention, each one being tested in accordance with the steps shown in Fig. 2.

It will thus be seen that the objects set forth above, among those made apparent from the preceding description, are efficiently attained and, because certain changes may be made in carrying out the above method and in the constructions set forth without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the following claims are intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED:

1. A method for forwarding electronic message attachments to a wireless device, comprising the steps of : receiving an electronic message; determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; extracting a relevant portion of the data of said attachment; and transmitting the data to said wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said extracted data is sent to said wireless device as a second electronic message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said extracted data is sent to said wireless device as a plurality of second electronic messages.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said plurality of second electronic messages are sent consecutively, one at a time, upon a request for each from said wireless device.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein each of said plurality of second electronic messages comprises approximately 2K of data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said data of said attachment is extracted in accordance with a native filter comprising a portion of a program resident on a computing device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said data from said attachment is extracted via a generic text filter.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said extracted data is appended to the data in said original e-mail.

9. The method of claim 1, upon determination that said e-mail includes an attachment, further comprising the steps of: examining the attachment; determining whether said attachment can be opened, and textual data can be extracted therefrom in accordance with a native filter; and employing said native filter to extract said textual data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said native filter comprises a filter resident in a commercial executable program.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said commercial executable program includes one of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat or the like.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein said extracted data is transmitted to an additional storage medium, in addition to being sent to said wireless device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of determining whether to transmit said textual data based upon at least a portion of a header information included with the e-mail message.

14. A method for forwarding message attachments to an appliance, comprising the steps of: receiving an electronic message; determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; extracting the data of said attachment; and transmitting the data to said appliance.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said extracted data is sent to said appliance as a second message.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said extracted data is sent to said appliance as a plurality of follow-up messages.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said plurality of second messages are sent consecutively, one at a time, upon a request for each from said appliance.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein each of said plurality of second electronic messages comprises approximately 2K of data.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein said data of said attachment is extracted in accordance with a native filter comprising a portion of a program resident on a computing device.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein said data from said attachment is extracted via a generic text filter.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein said extracted textual data is appended to the data in said original electronic message.

22. The method of claim 14, upon determination that said e-mail includes an attachment, further comprising the steps of: examining the attachment; determining whether said attachment can be opened, and data can be extracted therefrom in accordance with a native filter; and employing said native filter to extract said data.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein said native filter comprises a filter resident in a commercial executable program.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein said commercial executable program includes one of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat or the like.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein said extracted data is transmitted to an additional storage location in addition to being transmitted to said appliance.

26. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of determining whether to transmit said textual data based upon at least a portion of a header information included with the e-mail message.

27. An apparatus for forwarding electronic message attachments to a wireless device, comprising: a receiver for receiving an electronic message; means for determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; means for extracting the relevant data portion of said attachment; and a transmitter for transmitting the extracted data to said wireless device.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said extracted data is sent to said wireless device as a second electronic message.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said extracted data is sent to said wireless device as a plurality of second electronic messages.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein said plurality of second electronic messages are sent consecutively, one at a time, upon a request for each from said wireless device.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein each of said plurality of second electronic messages comprises approximately 2K of data.

32. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said textual data of said attachment is extracted in accordance with a native filter comprising a portion of a program resident on a computing device.

33. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said textual data from said attachment is extracted via a generic text filter.

34. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said extracted textual data is appended to the data in said original e-mail.

35. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising: means for examining an attachment to the e-mail message; means for determining whether said attachment can be opened, and textual data can be extracted therefrom in accordance with a native filter; and means for employing said native filter to extract said textual data.

36. The apparatus of claim 35, wherein said native filter comprises a filter resident in a commercial executable program.

37. The apparatus of claim 36, wherein said commercial executable program includes one of Microsoft Word, Mcrosoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat or the like.

38. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said extracted data is transmitted to an additional storage medium, in addition to being sent to said wireless device.

39. The apparatus of claim 27 further comprising a filter for determining whether to transmit said extracted data based upon at least a portion of a header information included with the e-mail message.

40. An apparatus for forwarding attachments to an appliance, comprising: a receiver for receiving an electronic message; means for determining that an attachment is attached to the message; means for extracting the relevant portion of said attachment; and a transmitter for transmitting the textual data to said appliance.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein said extracted data is sent to said appliance as a second electronic message.

42. The method of claim 40, wherein said extracted relevant data is sent to said appliance as a plurality of second electronic messages.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein said plurality of second electronic messages are sent consecutively, one at a time, upon a request for each from said appliance.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein each of said plurality of second electronic messages comprises approximately 2K of data.

45. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein said extracted data of said attachment is extracted in accordance with a native filter comprising a portion of a program resident on a computing device.

46. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein said data from said attachment is extracted via a generic text filter.

47. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein said extracted textual data is appended to the data in said original electronic message.

48. The apparatus of claim 40, further comprising: means for examining an attachment to the electronic message; means for determining whether said attachment can be opened, and the textual data be extracted therefrom in accordance with a native filter; and means for employing said native filter to extract said textual data.

49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein said native filter comprises a filter resident in a commercial executable program.

50. The apparatus of claim 49, wherein said commercial executable program includes one of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Adobe Acrobat or the like.

51. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein said extracted data is transmitted to an additional storage device in addition to being transmitted to said appliance.

52. The apparatus of claim 40 further comprising a filter for determining whether to transmit said extracted data based upon at least a portion of a header information included with the e-mail message.

53. A method for forwarding attachments to an electronic message to a wireless device, comprising the steps of: receiving an electronic message; determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; extracting relevant data of said attachment in a predetermined format; and transmitting said extracted data to said wireless device.

54. A method for forwarding attachments to an electronic message to an appliance, comprising the steps of: receiving an electronic message; determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; extracting relevant data of said attachment in a predetermined format; and transmitting said extracted data to said appliance.

55. An apparatus for forwarding attachments to an electronic message to a wireless device comprising: a receiver for receiving an electronic message; means for determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; means for extracting relevant data from said attachment into a predetermined format; and means for transmitting the extracted data to said wireless device.

56. An apparatus for forwarding attachments to an electronic message to an appliance, comprising: a receiver for receiving an electronic message; means for determining that an attachment is attached to the electronic message; means for extracting relevant data from said attachment into a predetermined format; and means for transmitting the extracted data to said appliance.