System and method for pushing information from a host system to a
Contents
1. Editorial Contacts CE Software Inc 1995 3 pgs News Release CE Software Ships MobileVision Jun 20 1995 3 pgs Newton Reference Communications 1996 1997 4 pgs PC Pro Issue 31 Realworld Computing PDA Column Jul 30 1997 7 pgs Enterprise Solutions for Email Overload Founder Publica tions http www amikanow com corporte publication s htm Aug 6 2001 9 pgs Motorola s Marco Wireless Communicator http ww w msu edu luckie gallery marco htm Aug 6 2001 2 pgs Press Release Apple Agrees to License Newton Technol ogy to Schlumberger Digital Ocean Nov 3 1995 3 pgs Frezza Bill PDA PDA Wherefore Art Thou PDA Freewire Aug 6 2001 6 pgs Black Lauren et al Personal Digital Assistants Mac world Reviews Aug 6 2001 5 pgs Reference Mobile Vision Direct Wireless Connection to Your LAN Based Electronic Mailbox CE Software Inc pp 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 1995 User Manual MobileVision Direct Wireless Connection to Your LAN Based Electronic Mailbox CE Software Inc 1995 Johnson David B Ubiquitous Mobile Host Internetwork ing Fourth Workshop on Workstation Operating systems pp 85 90 Oct 14 15 1993 Johnson David B Mobile Host Internetworking Using IP Loose Source Routing School of Computer Science Car negie Mellon University pp 1 14 Feb 1993 Schoettle Bob IP Address Management on2. 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 with these synchronization systems is that the only time that the user data items are replicated between the host system and the mobile data communication device is when the user commands the mobile device to download or pull the user data from the host system Five minutes later a new message could be sent to the user but the user would not receive that message until the next time the user fetches the user data items Thus a user may fail to respond to an emergency update or message because the user only periodically syn chronizes the system such as once per day Other problems with these systems include 1 the amount of data to be reconciled between the host and the mobile device can become large if the user does not synchronize on a daily or hourly basis leading to bandwidth difficulties particu larly when the mobile device is communicating via a wire less packet switched network and 2 reconciling large amounts of data as can accrue in these batch mode syn chronization systems can require a great deal of communi cation between the host and the mobile device thus leading to a more complex costly and energy inefficient system A more automated continuous efficient and reliable system of ensuring that user data items are replicated at the user s mobile device is therefore needed An additional feature of the present invention is that the push par
3. A 10 2000 Moon et al 5 633 810 A 5 1997 Mandal et al 6 141 690 A 10 2000 Weiman 5 638 450 A 6 1997 Robson 6 144 671 A 11 2000 Perinpanathan et al 5 666 553 A 9 1997 Crozier 6 154 839 A 11 2000 Arrow et al 5 073 322 A 9 1997 Pepe et al 6 157 950 A 12 2000 Krishman 5 706 211 A 1 1998 Beletic et al 6 163 274 A 12 2000 Lindgren 5 727 202 A 3 1998 Kucala 6 167 379 A 12 2000 Dean et al SUAM Ar 3 1998 Meyering 6 240 088 B1 5 2001 Gayton et al 5 737 531 A 4 1998 Ehley 6 249 820 B1 6 2001 Dobbins et al 5 742 905 A 4 1998 Pepe et al 6 256 666 B1 7 2001 Singhal 5 745 689 A 4 1998 Yeager et al 6 272 545 B1 8 2001 Flanagin et al 5 751 960 A 5 1998 Matsunaga 6 275 848 B1 8 2001 Arnold 5 751 971 A 5 1998 Dobbins et al 6 275 850 B1 8 2001 Beyda et al 5 754 954 A 5 1998 Cannon et al 5 757 901 A 5 1998 Hiroshige FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 761 416 A 6 1998 Mandal et al 5 765 170 A 6 1998 Morikawa EP 0772327 A2 5 1997 5 781 614 A 7 1998 Brunson 379 88 14 EP 0777394 6 1997 5 781 901 A 7 1998 Kuzma EP 0788287 8 1997 5 790 790 A 8 1998 Smith et al EP 09214556 8 1997 5 790 974 A 8 1998 Tognazzini EP 0793387 9 1997 5 812 819 A 9 1998 Rodwin et al EP 0825788 2 1998 5 813 016 A 9 1998 Sumimoto EP 0838774 4 1998 5 819 172 A 10 1998 Campana Jr et al EP 0838934 4 1998 5 819 284 A 10 1998 Farber et al EP 0772327 A3 2 1999 5 822 434 A 10 1998 Caronni et al EP 0930766 7 1999 5 826 062 A 10 1998 Fake Jr et al JP 1128
4. LANs Byte pp 199 200 Feb 1996 Cheshire Stuart et al Internet Mobility 4x4 Computer Science Department Stanford University pp 1 12 Aug 1996 Yeom Hoen Y et al IP Mutliplexing by Transparent Port Address Translator Proceedings of the Tenth USENIX System Administration Conference pp 113 122 Sep 29 Oct 4 1996 Johnson David B Scalable and Robust Internetwork Routing for Mobile Hosts IEEE Computer Society pp 2 11 1994 Perkins Charles IMHP A Mobile Host Protocol for the Internet Computer Networks and ISDN System vol 27 pp 479 491 1994 Proceedings of the IEEE 7th International Workshop on Network and Operating System Support for Digital Audio and Video Innsbrook Estates Conference Center May 19 21 1997 pp 135 146 Lucent Technologies Bell Labs Technical Journal vol 2 3 pp 152 163 Summer 1997 Lavana Hemang et al Internet Based Workflows A Para digm for Dynamically Reconfigurable Desktop Environ ments Group 97 pp 204 213 1997 Perkins Charles E et al Mobility Support in IPv6 Mobicom 96 pp 27 37 1996 Goldszmidt German et al ShockAbsorber A TCP Con nection Router IEEE vol 3 pp 1919 1923 1997 Egevang K et al The IP Network Address Translator Network Working Group pp 1 10 May 1994 Manual Server and BBS Software for the Packet Radio by Jean Paul Roubelat pp 1 173 Book Inter
5. TCP IP keyboard screen saver webpages and certain programs that can either create user data items or be configured to provide trigger points and 5 the ability to operate locally on a user s desktop system or at a distance via a network server These are just a few of the many advantages of the present invention as described in more detail below As will be appreciated the invention is capable of other and different embodiments and its several details are capable of modifi cations in various respects all without departing from the spirit of the invention Accordingly the drawings and description of the preferred embodiments set forth below are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention satisfies the needs noted above as will become apparent from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein FIG 1 is a system diagram showing the redirection of user data items from a user s desktop PC host system to the user s mobile data communication device where the redi rector software is operating at the user s desktop PC FIG 2 is a system diagram showing the redirection of user data items from a network server host system to the user s mobile data communication device where the redirector software is operating at the server FIG 3 is a block diagram showing the interaction of the redirector software with other
6. also stores and redirects messages received from the mobile device to the network 12 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets US 6 389 457 B2 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 6 034 621 A 3 2000 Kaufman 6 035 104 A 3 2000 Zahariev 5 416 842 A 5 1995 Fleming III 6 052 563 A 4 2000 Macko 5 436 960 A 7 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 052 735 A 4 2000 Ulrich etal 709 236 5 438 611 A 8 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 058 431 A 5 2000 Srisuresh et al 5 452 356 A 9 1995 Albert 6 073 165 A 6 2000 Narasimhan et al 709 206 5 479 472 A 12 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 084 969 A 7 2000 Wright et al 5 487 100 A 1 1996 Kane 6 085 231 A 7 2000 Agraharam et al 5 493 692 A 2 1996 Theimer et al 6 085 232 A 7 2000 Kikinis 5 495 484 A 2 1996 Self et al 6 091 951 A 7 2000 Sturniolo et al 5 572 528 A 11 1996 Shuen 6 092 114 A 7 2000 Shaffer et al 5 579 472 A 11 1996 Keyworth II et al 6 092 191 A 7 2000 Shimbo et al 5 588 009 A 12 1996 Will 6 101 531 A 8 2000 Eggleston et al 5 598 536 A 1 1997 Slaughter III et al 6 115 394 A 9 2000 Balachandran et al 5 603 054 A 2 1997 Theimer et al 6 115 736 A 9 2000 Devarakonda et al 5 604 788 A 2 1997 YA 455r het 455 412 6 125 281 A 9 2000 Wells et al 5 625 670 A 4 1997 Campana Jr et al 6 128 739 A 10 2000 Fleming III 5 627 829 A 5 1997 Gleeson et al 6 130 892 A 10 2000 Short et al 5 630 060 A 5 1997 Tang etal 709 238 6 134 432 A 10 2000 Holmes et al 5 631 946 A 5 1997 Campana Jr et al 6 138 146
7. components of the host sys tem in FIG 1 the user s desktop PC to enable the pushing of information from the host system to the user s mobile data communication device FIG 4 is a flow chart showing the steps carried out by the redirector software operating at the host system FIG 5 is a flow chart showing the steps carried out by the mobile data communication device to interface with the redirector software operating at the host system DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Referring now to the drawings FIG 1 is an example system diagram showing the redirection of user data items such as message A or C from a user s office PC host system 10 to the user s mobile data communication device 24 where the redirector software 12 is operating at the users PC Message A in FIG 1 represents an internal message sent from desktop 26 to the user s host system 10 via LAN 14 Message C in FIG 1 represents an external message from a sender that is not directly connected to LAN 14 such as the user s mobile data communication device 24 some other user s mobile device not shown or any user connected to the Internet 18 Message C also represents a command message from the user s mobile data communi cation device 24 to the host system 10 As described in more detail in FIG 3 the host system 10 preferably includes along with the typical hardware and software associated with a workstation or desktop computer the redirector program 12 a TC
8. envelope addressed using an elec tronic address of the mobile communication device 12 The method of claim 11 further comprising the steps of at the mobile communication device removing the encrypted copied data item from each electronic envelope and decrypting the encrypted copied data item in order to recover the copied data item at the mobile communication device UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 389 457 B2 Page 1 of 1 DATED May 14 2002 INVENTOR S Mihal Lazaridis and Gary P Mousseau It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 14 Line 42 after items please add from a network Signed and Sealed this Ninth Day of July 2002 Attest JAMES E ROGAN Attesting Officer Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 389 457 B2 Page 1 of 1 DATED May 14 2002 INVENTOR S Mihal Lazaridis and Gary P Mousseau It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 15 Line 3 change step to steps Signed and Sealed this Tenth Day of December 2002 JAMES E ROGAN Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
9. for additional messages 54 to act upon If however the message is one of these three types of information then the program 12 determines at step 68 whether the trigger flag has been set indicating that the user wants these items redirected to the mobile device If the trigger flag is set then at step 70 the redirector 12 causes the repackaging system E Mail or TCP IP to add the outer envelope to the user data item and at step 72 the repackaged data item is then redirected to the user s mobile data communication device 24 via LAN 14 WAN 18 wireless gateway 20 and wireless network 22 Control then returns to step 56 where the program waits for additional messages and signals to act upon Although not shown explicitly in FIG 4 after step 68 the program could if operating in the preferred list mode determine whether the sender of a particular data item is on the preferred list and if not then the program US 6 389 457 B2 13 would skip over steps 70 and 72 and proceed directly back to step 56 If the sender was on the preferred list then control would similarly pass to steps 70 and 72 for repackaging and transmission of the message from the preferred list sender FIG 5 sets forth the method steps carried out by the user s mobile data communication device 24 in order to interface to the redirector program 12 of the present invention At step 80 the mobile software is started and the mobile device 24 is configured to operate with
10. for the data items and 3 storing the type of data communication device to which the desktop system s data items are to be redirected whether and what type of attach ments the device is capable of receiving and processing and the address of the mobile device Once the redirector program is configured 50 the trigger points or event triggers are enabled at step 52 The program 12 then waits 56 for messages and signals 54 to begin the redirection process A message could be an E Mail message or some other user data item than may have been selected for redirection and a signal could be a trigger signal or could be some other type of signal that has not been configured as an event trigger When a message or signal is detected the program determines 58 whether it is one of the trigger events that has been configured by the user to signal redirection If So then at step 60 a trigger flag is set indicating that subsequently received user data items in the form of messages that have been selected for redirection should be pushed to the user s mobile data communication device 24 If the message or signal 54 is not a trigger event the program then determines at steps 62 68 and 66 whether the message is respectively a system alarm 62 an E Mail message 64 or some other type of information that has been selected for redirection If the message or signal is none of these three items then control returns to step 56 where the redirector waits
11. from the mobile device 24 that are directed to the desktop system 10 to trigger redirection or to carry out some other function The functionality of the E Mail sub system 44 is controlled by the redirector program 12 The TCP IP sub system 42 is an alternative repackaging system It includes all of the functionality of the E Mail sub system 44 but instead of repackaging the user selected data items as standard E mail messages this system repack ages the data items using special purpose TCP IP packaging techniques This type of special purpose sub system is use ful in situations where security and improved speed are important to the user The provision of a special purpose wrapper that can only be removed by special software on the mobile device 24 provides the added security and the bypassing of E mail store and forward systems can improve speed and real time delivery As described previously the present invention can be triggered to begin redirection upon detecting numerous external internal and networked events or trigger points Examples of external events include receiving a command message from the user s mobile data communication device 24 to begin redirection receiving a similar message from some external computer sensing that the user is no longer in the vicinity of the host system or any other event that is external to the host system Internal events could be a calendar alarm screen saver activation keyboard timeout progr
12. per sonal alerts alarms warnings stock quotes news bulletins etc but could alternatively include any other type of message that is transmitted to the host system 10 or that the host system 10 acquires through the use of intelligent agents such as data that is received after the host system 10 initiates search of a database or a website or a bulletin board In some instances only a portion of the data item is transmitted to the mobile device 24 in order to minimize the amount of data transmitted via the wireless network 22 In these instances the mobile device 24 can optionally send a command message to the host system to receive more or all of the data item if the user desires to receive it Among the user defined event triggers that can be detected by the redirector program 12 are in the preferred embodiment external events internal events and networked events External events preferably include 1 receiving a command message such as message C from the user s mobile data communication device to begin redirection or to execute some other command at the host such as a command to enable the preferred list mode or to add or subtract a particular sender from the preferred list 2 receiving a similar message from some external computer and 3 sensing that the user is no longer in the vicinity of the host system although alternatively an external event can be any other detectable occurrence that is external to the host sy
13. playing audio files such as a voice mail system The present invention includes the ability to redirect certain message attachments to such an external machine 30 if the redirector program configuration data reflects that the mobile device 24 cannot receive and process the attachments or if the user has specified that certain attachments are not to be forwarded to mobile device 24 even if such device can process those attachments By way of example consider an E mail sent to a user that includes three attachments a word processing document a video clip and an audio clip The redirection program could be configured to send the text of the E mail to the remote device to send the word processing document to a networked printer located near the user to send the video clip to a store accessible through a secure connection through the internet and to send the audio clip to the user s voice mail system This example is not intended to limit the breadth and scope of the invention but rather to illustrate the variety of possibilities embodied in the redirection concept The preferred mobile data communication device 24 is a hand held two way wireless paging computer a wirelessly enabled palm top computer a mobile telephone with data messaging capabilities or a wirelessly enabled laptop computer but could alternatively be other types of mobile data communication devices capable of sending and receiv ing messages via a network connection 22 Alt
14. the system of the present invention including for example storing the address of the user s desktop system 10 At step 82 the mobile device waits for messages and signals 84 to be generated or received Assuming that the redirector software 12 operating at the user s desktop system 10 is configured to redirect upon receiving a message from the user s mobile device 24 at step 86 the user can decide to generate a command message that will start redirection If the user does so then at step 88 the redirection message is composed and sent to the desktop system 10 via the wireless network 22 through the wireless gateway 20 via the Inter net 18 to the LAN 14 and is finally routed to the desktop machine 10 In this situation where the mobile device 24 is sending a message directly to the desktop system 10 no outer wrapper is added to the message such as message C in FIGS 1 and 2 In addition to the redirection signal the mobile device 24 could transmit any number of other commands to control the operation of the host system and in particular the redirector program 12 For example the mobile 24 could transmit a command to put the host system into the preferred list mode and then could transmit addi tional commands to add or subtract certain senders from the preferred list In this manner the mobile device 24 can dynamically limit the amount of information being redi rected to it by minimizing the number of senders on the preferred lis
15. 0 30 35 40 16 9 The method of claim 6 wherein the common electronic address is an e mail address 10 A method of mirroring data items between a first computer system and a mobile communication device wherein the first computer system is a desktop networked computer comprising the steps of receiving data items at the first computer system from a network directed to an e mail address associated with a user of the mobile communication device and the first computer system generating a copy of each received data item transmitting the copies of the received data items to the mobile communication device generating data items at the mobile communication device and transmitting the generated data items from the mobile communication device to a wireless communi cation network and receiving the generated data items at the first computer system wherein the first computer system causes the generated data items to be sent to the wireless com munication network wherein data items generated at the mobile communica tion device or the first computer system are addressed using the e mail address associated with the user of the mobile communication device and the first computer system 11 The method of claim 10 further comprising the steps of prior to sending the copied data items to the mobile communication device encrypting the copied data items and placing each encrypted copied data item into a separate electronic
16. 9346 10 1999 5 838 252 A 11 1998 Kikinis US 0001552 5 2001 5 838 926 A 11 1998 Yamagishi US 2001 0029531 10 2001 5 844 969 A 12 1998 Goldman et al WO 9619064 6 1996 5 867 660 A 2 1999 Schmidt et al WO 9726709 7 1997 5 878 434 A 3 1999 Draper et al WO 9727717 7 1997 5 889 845 A 3 1999 Staples et al WO 9732251 9 1997 5 903 723 A 5 1999 Beck et al WO 9733421 9 1997 5 905 777 A 5 1999 Foladare et al WO 9741654 11 1997 5 913 040 A 6 1999 Rakavy et al 709 232 WO 9744942 11 1997 5 937 161 A 8 1999 Mulligan et al 709 206 WO 9800787 1 1998 5 941 956 A 8 1999 Shirakihara et al WO 982191 5 1998 5 948 066 A 9 1999 Whalen et al WO 9823108 5 1998 5 953 322 A 9 1999 Kimball WO 9848560 10 1998 5 961 590 A 10 1999 Mendez et al WO 9945484 9 1999 5 964 833 A 10 1999 Kikinis 5 974 180 A 10 1999 Schwendeman OTHER PUBLICATIONS 5 974 238 A 10 1999 Chase Jr 5 978 837 A 11 1999 Foladare et al Newsletter E Mail Merges With Voice Through Infinite 5 983 073 A 11 1999 Ditzik Technologies Voice Technology amp Services News May 26 5 987 508 A 11 1999 Agraharam et al 1998 Note This reference was cited by Examiner in 5 995 597 A 11 1999 Woltz et al 09 087 623 but copy never provided Please see parent 6 000 000 A 12 1999 Hawkins et al case 6 006 274 A 12 1999 Hawkins et al c 6 014 429 A 1 2000 LaPorta et al Newsletter Vodapage Vodapage demos increasing conver 6 018 762 A 1 2000 Brunson et al gence of pagers and mobile c
17. GGER TRIGGER SCREEN SAVER KEYBOARD SUB SYSTEM SUB SYSTEM DESKTOP COMPUTER Fig 3 U S Patent May 14 2002 Sheet 4 of 5 US 6 389 457 B2 REDIRECTION SOF TWARE STARTED INSTALL TRIGGER POINTS IN SYSTEM 54 WAIT FOR LS LI MESSAGES AND TRIGGER SIGNALS PION FORWARD TO USER ADD OUTER ENVELOPE IS TRIGGER FIRED FLAG ON 66 OTHER EVENTS TO BE Fig 4 U S Patent May 14 2002 Sheet 5 of 5 US 6 389 457 B2 MOBILE SOF TWARE STARTED 84 MESSAGE AND 86 SIONAL WAIT FOR USER SIGNAL MESSAGES AND TO START SIGNALS MESSAGE FROM DESKTOP MESSAGE eee PRESENT TO USER REMOVE OUTER ENVELOPE SET DESKTOP REDIRECTION FLAG ON 100 MESSAGE IS USER USING DESKTOP SOF TWARE SEND 0 DESTINATION ADDRESS 108 PUT OUTER ENVELOPE MESSAGE AND ADDRESS TO DESKTOP IS DESKTOP REDIRECTION FLAG ON Fig 9 US 6 389 457 B2 1 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PUSHING INFORMATION FROM A HOST SYSTEM TO A MOBILE DATA COMMUNICATION DEVICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation application of U S patent application Ser No 09 087 623 filed on May 29 1998 now U S Pat No 6 219 694 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed toward the field of replicating info
18. P IP subsystem 42 a primary message store 40 an E mail subsystem 44 a screen saver subsystem 48 and a keyboard subsystem 46 In FIG 1 the host system 10 is the user s desktop system typically located in the user s office The host system 10 is connected to a LAN 14 which also connects to other computers 26 28 that may be in the user s office or else 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 6 where The LAN 14 in turn is connected to a wide area network WAN 18 preferably the Internet which is defined by the use of the Transmission Control Protocol Internet Protocol TCP IP to exchange information but which alternatively could be any other type of WAN The connection of the LAN 14 to the WAN 18 is via high bandwidth link 16 typically a T1 or T3 connection The WAN 18 in turn is connected to a variety of gateways 20 via connections 32 A gateway forms a connection or bridge between the WAN 18 and some other type of network such as an RF wireless network cellular network satellite network or other synchronous or asynchronous land line connection In the example of FIG 1 a wireless gateway 20 is connected to the Internet for communicating via wireless link 22 to a plurality of wireless mobile data communication devices 24 Also shown in FIG 1 is machine 30 which could be a FAX machine a printer a system for displaying images such as video or a machine capable of processing and
19. TRACT 51 G06F 15 16 GO6F 15 173 GO6F 17 00 H04Q 7 00 A system and method for pushing information from a host 52 U S Cli acre 709 207 709 206 709 245 System to a mobile data communication device upon sensing 709 238 340 7 21 340 7 29 455 556 a triggering event is disclosed A redirector program oper 707 201 ating at the host system enables a user to continuously 58 Field of Search 340 7 54 7 29 redirect certain user selected data items from the host sys 340 7 21 7 51 709 206 238 245 253 tem to the user s mobile data communication device upon 207 455 555 557 707201 detecting that one or more user defined triggering events has i occurred The redirector program operates in connection i with event generating applications and repackaging systems 56 References Cited g 8 app packaging sy U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 086 502 A 2 1992 Malcolm 5 159 592 A 10 1992 Perkins 5 313 582 A 5 1994 Hendel et al 5 392 390 A 2 1995 Crozier 5 410 543 A 4 1995 Seitz et al 5 416 473 A 5 1995 Dulaney III et al List continued on next page at the host system to configure and detect a particular user defined event and then to repackage the user selected data items in an electronic wrapper prior to pushing the data items to the mobile device The host system can be a desktop computer that stores and redirects messages received from a network to the mobile device and
20. United States Patent US006389457B2 12 10 Patent No US 6 389 457 B2 Lazaridis et al 45 Date of Patent May 14 2002 54 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PUSHING FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS INFORMATION FROM A HOST SYSTEM TO A MOBILE DATA COMMUNICATION EP 0617373 9 1994 DEVICE EP 0736989 10 1996 75 Inventors Mihal Lazaridis Gary P Mousseau List continued on next page both of Waterloo CA OTHER PUBLICATIONS 73 Assignee Research In Motion Limited Waterloo CA eibus esktop In Your Palm Informationweek Aug Feibus A Desktop In Your Palm Inf i k Ai Wu 25 1997 pp 65 Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this Behr Handheld Solutions Informationweek Oct 27 e EIE adjusted under 35 1997 pp 106 113 e e b by 0days Moody s Investors Service Socket Communications Inc Ths patent is Sibiechto a terial dis History amp Debt Investex Report No 3240276 Note This J reference was cited by Examiner in 09 087 623 but copy i never provided Please see parent case 21 Appl No 09 782 380 List continued on next page 22 Filed Feb 13 2001 Ga Pie e Primary Examiner Glenn Burgess Related U S Application Data Assistant Examiner Bradley Edelman 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Jones Day Reavis amp 63 Continuation of application No 09 087 623 filed on May Pogue Krishna K Pathiyal Charles B Meyer 29 1998 Pat No 6 219 694 57 ABS
21. a single E mail address such that the recipients of messages sent from the mobile communi cations device do not know where the user was physically located when the message was first sent The repackaging also permits both messages to the mobile device and sent from the mobile device to be encrypted and decrypted as well as compressed and decompressed In an alternative system and method the redirector pro gram executes on a network server and the server is programmed to detect numerous redirection event triggers over the network from multiple user desktop computers coupled to the server via a LAN The server can receive internal event triggers from each of the user desktops via the network and can also receive external event triggers such as messages from the users mobile data communication devices In response to receiving one of these triggers the server redirects the user s data items to the proper mobile data communication device The user data items and addressing information for a particular mobile device can be stored at the server or at the user s PC Using this alternative configuration one redirector program can serve a plurality of users This alternative configuration could also include an internet or intranet based redirector program that could be accessible through a secure webpage or other user interface The redirector program could be located on an Internet Service Provider s system and accessible only through the Inter
22. adigm in combination with a return communica tions pathway lends itself well to a system that permits a user to control remotely through the user s mobile device a number of aspects of the host system There remains a general need in this art for a system and method of continuously pushing user selected data items or certain portions of the selected data items stored at a host system to a user s mobile data communication device There remains a more particular need for such a system and method where user selected data items are continuously pushed from the host system to the mobile data commu nication device upon the occurrence of one or more user defined triggering events There remains an additional need for such a system and method that provides flexibility in the types and quantities of user data items that are pushed from the host system to the mobile data communication device and that also provides flexibility in the configuration and types of events that can serve to trigger the redirection of the user data items There remains yet an additional need for such a system and method that can operate locally on a user s desktop PC or at a distance via a network server There remains still another need for such a system and method that provides for secure transparent delivery of the user selected data items from the host system to the mobile device SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention overcomes the problems noted ab
23. ammable timer or any other user defined event that is internal to the host system Networked events are user defined messages that are transmitted to the host system from another computer that is connected to the host system via a network to initiate redirection The screen saver and keyboard sub systems 46 48 are examples of systems that are capable of generating internal events Functionally the redirector program 12 provides the user with the ability to configure the screen saver and keyboard systems so that under certain conditions an event trigger will be generated that can be detected by the redi rector 12 to start the redirection process For example the Screen saver system can be configured so that when the Screen saver is activated after for example 10 minutes of inactivity on the desktop system an event trigger is trans mitted to the redirector 12 which starts redirecting the previously selected user data items In a similar manner the keyboard sub system can be configured to generate event triggers when no key has been depressed for a particular period of time thus indicating that redirection should com mence These are just two examples of the numerous appli cation programs and hardware systems internal to the host system 10 that can be used to generate internal event triggers 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 12 FIGS 4 and 5 set forth respectively flow charts showing the step
24. b system 44 is the preferred link to repack aging the user selected data items for transmission to the mobile data communication device 24 and preferably uses industry standard mail protocols such as SMTP POP IMAP MIME and RFC 822 to name but a few The E Mail sub system 44 can receive messages A from external com puters on the LAN 14 or can receive messages C from some US 6 389 457 B2 11 external network such as the Internet 18 or a wireless data communication network 22 and stores these messages in the primary data store 40 Assuming that the redirector 12 has been triggered to redirect messages of this type the redi rector detects the presence of any new messages and instructs the E Mail system 44 to repackage the message by placing an outer wrapper B about the original message A or C and by providing the addressing information of the mobile data communication device 24 on the outer wrapper B As noted above this outer wrapper B is removed by the mobile device 24 and the original message A or C is then recovered thus making the mobile device 24 appear to be the desktop system 10 In addition the E Mail sub system 44 receives messages back from the mobile device 24 having an outer wrapper with the addressing information of the desktop system 10 and strips this information away so that the message can be routed to the proper sender of the original message A or C The E Mail sub system also receives command messages C
25. determine whether a message is to be redirected If activated the preferred list mode causes the redirector program 12 to operate like a filter only redirecting certain user data items based on whether the data item was sent from a sender on the preferred list or has certain message characteristics that if present will trigger or sup press redirection of the message In the example of FIG 1 if desktop system 26 was operated by a user on the preferred list of host system 10 and the preferred list option was activated then message A would be redirected If however desktop 26 was operated by a user not on the host system s preferred list then message A would not be redirected even if the user of the host system had configured the redirector to push messages of type A The user of the host system 10 can configure the preferred list directly from the desktop system or alternatively the user can then send a command message such as C from the mobile device 24 to the desktop system 10 to activate the preferred list mode or to add or delete certain senders or message characteristics from the preferred list that was previously configured It should be appreciated that a redirection program could combine mes sage characteristics and preferred sender lists to result in a more finely tuned filter Messages marked as low priority or that are simple return receipts or message read receipts for example could always be suppressed from redirection wh
26. erably detected at the user s desktop system 10 26 28 and can be any of the external internal or network events listed above The desktop systems 10 26 28 preferably detect these events and then transmit a message to the server computer 11 via LAN 14 to initiate redirection Although the user data items are preferably stored at the server computer 11 in this embodiment they could alternatively be stored at each user s desktop system 10 26 28 which would then transmit them to the server computer 11 after an event has triggered redirection As shown in FIG 2 desktop system 26 generates a message A that is transmitted to and stored at the host system 11 which is the network server operating the redirector program 12 The message A is for desktop system 10 but in this embodiment user messages are stored at the network server 11 When an event occurs at desktop system 10 an event trigger is generated and transmitted to the network server 11 which then determines who the trigger is from whether that desktop has redirection capabilities and if so 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 10 the server operating the redirector program uses the stored configuration information to redirect message A to the mobile computer 24 associated with the user of desktop system 10 As described above with reference to FIG 1 message C could be either a command message from a user s mobile data communication de
27. ernal message from a computer on the Internet 18 to the host system 10 and the host 10 has been configured to redirect messages of type C then in a similar manner to message message C would be repackaged with an outer US 6 389 457 B2 9 envelope B and transmitted to the user s mobile device 24 In the case where message C is representative of a command message from the user s mobile device 24 to the host system 10 the command message C is not redirected but is acted upon by the host system 10 If the redirected user data item is an E mail message as described above the user at the mobile device 24 sees the original subject sender s address destination address car bon copy and blind carbon copy When the user replies to this message or when the user authors a new message the software operating at the mobile device 24 adds a similar outer envelope to the reply message or the new message to cause the message to be routed first to the user s host system 10 which then removes the outer envelope and redirects the message to the final destination such as back to computer 26 In the preferred embodiment this results in the outgoing redirected message from the user s host system 10 being sent using the E mail address of the host mailbox rather than the address of the mobile device so that it appears to the recipient of the message that the message originated from the user s desktop system 10 rather than the mobile data communicat
28. ge is simply transmitted to the destination address at step 106 If however the mobile determines that the user is using the redirector software 12 at the desktop system 10 then control passes to step 110 where the outer envelope is added to the message The repackaged original message is then transmit ted to the desktop system 10 at step 106 which as described previously strips the outer envelope and routes the message to the correct destination Following transmission of the message at step 106 control of the mobile returns to step 82 and waits for additional messages or signals Having described in detail the preferred embodiments of the present invention including the preferred methods of operation it is to be understood that this operation could be carried out with different elements and steps This preferred embodiment is presented only by way of example and is not meant to limit the scope of the present invention which is defined by the following claims What is claimed 1 A method of mirroring data items between a host system and one or more mobile communication devices wherein the host system is a desktop networked computer comprising the steps of receiving one or more incoming data items directed to a common address associated with a user account of the host system storing at the host system in association with the user account the one or more incoming data items copying the one or more incoming data items sendi
29. h the sensing of an internal network or external event to replicate certain user data items including messages of type A or C to the mobile device 24 when the message A is received at the host system 10 the redirector program 12 detects its presence and prepares the message for redirection to the mobile device 24 In preparing the message for redirection the redirector program 12 could compress the original message A could compress the message header or could encrypt the entire message to create a secure link to the mobile device 24 Also programmed into the redirector 12 is the address of the user s mobile data communication device 24 the type of device and whether the device 24 can accept certain types of attachments such as word processing or voice attach 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 8 ments If the user s type of mobile device cannot accept these types of attachments then the redirector 12 can be programmed to route the attachments to a fax or voice number where the user is located using an attached fax or voice machine 30 The redirector may also be programmed with a preferred list mode that is configured by the user either at the host system 10 or remotely from the user s mobile data com munication device by transmitting a command message C The preferred list contains a list of senders other users whose messages are to be redirected or a list of message characteristics that
30. hough it is preferable for the system to operate in a two way commu nications mode certain aspects of the invention could be beneficially used in a one and one half or acknowledg ment paging environment or even with a one way paging system The mobile data communication device 24 includes software program instructions that work in conjunction with the redirector program 12 to enable the seamless transparent redirection of user selected data items FIG 4 describes the basic method steps of the redirector program 12 and FIG 5 describes the steps of the corresponding program operating at the mobile device 24 In an alternative embodiment of the present invention not explicitly shown in the drawings the mobile device 24 also includes a redirector program In this embodiment user selected data items can be replicated from the host to the mobile device and vice versa The configuration and opera tion of the mobile device 24 having a redirector program is similar to that described herein with respect to FIGS 1 4 A user of the present invention can configure the redirec tor program 12 to push certain user selected data items to the users mobile data communication device 24 when the redirector 12 detects that a particular user defined event trigger or trigger point has taken place User selected data US 6 389 457 B2 7 items preferably include E mail messages calendar events meeting notifications address entries journal entries
31. ile messages from a particular sender would always be redi rected After the redirector has determined that a particular message should be redirected and it has prepared the message for redirection the software 12 then sends the message A to a secondary memory store located in the mobile device 24 using whatever means are necessary In the preferred embodiment this method is to send the mes sage back over the LAN 14 WAN 18 and through the wireless gateway 20 to the mobile data communication device 24 In doing so the redirector preferably repackages message A as an E mail with an outer envelope B that contains the addressing information of the mobile device 24 although alternative repackaging techniques and protocols could be used such as a TCP IP repackaging and delivery method most commonly used in the alternative server configuration shown in FIG 2 The wireless gateway 20 requires this outer envelope information B in order to know where to send the redirected message A Once the message A in B is received by the mobile device 24 the outer envelope B is removed and the original message A is placed in the secondary memory store within the mobile device 24 By repackaging and removing the outer envelope in this manner the present invention causes the mobile computer 24 to appear to be at the same physical location as the host system 10 thus creating a transparent system In the case where message C is representative of an ext
32. ion device Any replies to the redirected message will then be sent to the desktop system 10 which if it is still in redirector mode will repackage the reply and resend it to the user s mobile data device as described above FIG 2 is an alternative system diagram showing the redirection of user data items from a network server 11 to the user s mobile data communication device 24 where the redirector software 12 is operating at the server 11 This configuration is particularly advantageous for use with mes sage servers such as Microsoft s Exchange Server which is normally operated so that all user messages are kept in one central location or mailbox store on the server instead of in astore within each user s desktop PC This configuration has the additional advantage of allowing a single system admin istrator to configure and keep track of all users having messages redirected If the system includes encryption keys these too can be kept at one place for management and update purposes In this alternative configuration server 11 preferably maintains a user profile for each user s desktop system 10 26 28 including information such as whether a particular user can have data items redirected which types of message and information to redirect what events will trigger redirection the address of the users mobile data commu nication device 24 the type of mobile device and the user s preferred list if any The event triggers are pref
33. l to the host that the pushed data has been received are especially well suited for this type of push paradigm Present systems and methods for replicating information from a host system to a user s mobile data communication device are typically synchronization systems in which the user s data items are warehoused or stored at the host system for an indefinite period of time and then transmitted in bulk only in response to a user request In these types of systems and methods when replication of the warehoused data items to the mobile device is desired the user typically places the mobile device in an interface cradle that is electrically connected to the host system via some form of local dedicated communication such as a serial cable or an infrared or other type of wireless link Software executing on the mobile data communication device then transmits com mands via the local communications link to the host system to cause the host to begin transmitting the user s data items for storage in a memory bank of the mobile device In these synchronization schemes the mobile unit pulls the ware housed information from the host system in a batch each time the user desires to replicate information between the two devices Therefore the two systems host and mobile only maintain the same data items after a user initiated command sequence that causes the mobile device to down load the data items from the host system A general problem
34. m prising the steps of receiving one or more incoming data items from a net work directed to a common electronic address storing the one or more incoming data items at the computer system copying the one or more incoming data items sending the copied incoming data items to the mobile communication device receiving at the computer system outgoing data items sent from the mobile communication device and storing at the computer system the outgoing data items sent from the mobile communication device the com puter system causing the outgoing data items to be sent to the network wherein data items generated at either the computer system or the mobile communication device share the common electronic address as an address from which data items originated 7 The method of claim 6 further comprising the steps of prior to sending the copied incoming data items to the mobile communication device encrypting the copied incoming data items and placing each encrypted copied incoming data item into a separate electronic envelope addressed using an electronic address of the mobile communication device 8 The method of claim 7 further comprising the steps of at the mobile communication device removing the encrypted copied incoming data item from each elec tronic envelope and decrypted the encrypted copied incoming data item in order to recover the copied incoming data item at the mobile communication device 10 15 2
35. net In another alternative configuration of the present invention a redirector program operates at both the host system and at the user s mobile data communication device In this configuration the user s mobile device operates similarly to the host system described below and is config ured in a similar fashion to push certain user selected data items from the mobile device to the user s host system or some other computer upon detecting an event trigger at the mobile device This configuration provides two way push ing of information from the host to the mobile device and from the mobile device to the host The primary advantage of the present invention is that it provides a system and method for triggering the continuous and real time redirection of user selected data items from a host system to a mobile data communication device Other advantages of the present invention include 1 flexibility in defining the types of user data to redirect and in defining a preferred list of message types that are to be redirected or preferred senders whose messages are to be redirected 2 flexibility in configuring the system to respond to numerous internal external and networked triggering events 3 trans parent repackaging of the user data items in a variety of US 6 389 457 B2 5 ways such that the mobile data communication device appears as though it were the host system 4 integration with other host system components such as E mail
36. network Mobility The CDPD Approach by Mark S Taylor William Waung and Mohsen Banan Jun 11 1996 BlackBerry Technical White Paper Research in Motion Ltd Version 1 0 1998 1999 Newsletter Battery Friendly Bulletin vol 1 Issue 3 pp 1 7 and unnumbered page 1999 Article Comerford Handhelds Duke It Out for the Inter net Wireless Internet pp 35 38 and 41 Aug 2000 Press Detail Extended Systems and Motorola Bring Shor t Range Wireless to the Paging E volution Jan 13 2000 3 ppJ Press Detail 3Com Corporation License Bluetooth Tech nology from Extended Systems Feb 22 2000 2 pp Web site Article Hawaleshka The Web in Your Pocket Macleans s May 15 2000 3 pp Claxton Messaging API s for Voice Networks Telecom munications pp 116 120 1998 cited by examiner U S Patent May 14 2002 Sheet 1 of 5 US 6 389 457 B2 TN DESKTOP COMPUTER M e gt U S Patent May 14 2002 Sheet 2 of 5 US 6 389 457 B2 28 26 A y REDIRECTION SERVER SOFTWARE 7 30 P FAX OR VOICE MACHINE Er B A 36 WIRELESSL MOBILE GATEWAY s COMPUTER 24 Fig 2 U S Patent May 14 2002 Sheet 3 of 5 US 6 389 457 B2 LOCAL AREA NETWORK LAN TCP IP E MAIL SUB SYSTEM PRIMARY STORE SUB SYSTEM ALTERNATE LINK MAIN LINK REDIRECTOR PROGRAM SETUP EVENTS SETUP EVENTS TRI
37. ng the copies to a mobile communication device receiving at the host system outgoing data items sent from the mobile communication device and storing at the host system the data items sent from the mobile communication device the host system causing the sent data items to be sent to the network wherein data items generated at either the host system or the mobile communication device share the common address as an address from which data items originated 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the common address is an e mail address 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of encrypting the data items redirected to the mobile com munication device and decrypting encrypted data items sent from the mobile communication device 4 The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of encrypting the data items sent from the mobile commu nication device and 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 60 65 US 6 389 457 B2 15 decrypting encrypted data items received at the mobile communication device 5 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of packaging into electronic envelopes the data items prior to redirecting them and unpackaging from electronic envelopes the data items sent from the mobile communication devices 6 A method of mirroring data items between a computer system and a mobile communication device wherein the computer system is a desktop networked computer co
38. ommunications at TMA 29 M2 6 023 700 A 2 2000 Owens et al Presswire Nov 28 1996 US 6 389 457 B2 Page 3 Mosher Microsoft Exchange User s Handbook Duke Press 1997 pp 547 549 Note This reference was cited by Examiner in 09 087 623 but copy never provided Please see parent case Copy of DTS Wireless Website located at D R L http www dtswireless com 3Com PalmPilot Gets Wireless Link for E Mail Spooner John G PC Week Dec 8 1997 Have Your Pager Call My Pager Sullivan Kristina B PC Week Dec 8 1997 News Release Motorola Rings in 1995 with the Launch of the Marco Wireless Communicator Jan 4 1995 4 pgs Timeline FLEX Technology Timeline 3 pgs General Magic Inc Corporate Backgrounder 2001 2 pgs Pegasus Email Settings ABSnet Internet Services Inc 4 85 Motorola Inc emailVClient 2001 4 pages News Release Motorola Announces Pagewriter 250 The World s Smallest Pager with Full Keyboard Feb 27 1997 2 pgs Dewey Barney Communications Strategies for Newton 2 0 Newton Technology Journal p 10 Jun 1996 Press Release Motorola Announces New Solutions to Provide Consumers with Wireless Access to Personal and Enterprise E mail Accounts Mar 21 2001 4 pgs Motorola s Marco Wireless Communicator http ww w msu edu luckie gallery marco htm Jun 14 2001 3 pgs News Release CE Software Announces Mobile Vision
39. ove and satisfies the needs in this field for a system and method of pushing user selected data items from a host system to a user s mobile data communication device upon detecting the occurrence of one or more user defined event triggers As used in this application the term host system refers to the computer where the redirector software is operating In the preferred embodiment of the present invention the host system is a user s desktop PC although alternatively the host system could be a network server connected to the user s PC via a local area network 61 or could be any other system that is in commu nication with the user s desktop PC A redirector program operating at the host system enables the user to redirect or mirror certain user selected data items US 6 389 457 B2 3 or parts of data items from the host system to the user s mobile data communication device upon detecting that one or more user defined triggering events has occurred Also operating at the host system are various sub systems that can be configured to create triggering events such as a screen saver sub system or a keyboard sub system as well as sub systems for repackaging the user s data items for trans parent delivery to the mobile data device such as a TCP IP sub system or one or more E Mail sub systems Other sub systems for creating triggering events and repackaging the user s data items could also be present at the host system The host sy
40. pabilities of the mobile device For example if a user is traveling and receives a message with an attachment that the user s mobile device can process or display the user may from a mobile communications device send a command message to the host system indicating that attachment is to be sent to a fax machine at a hotel where the 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 user will be spending the evening This enables the user to receive important E mail attachments as long as the host system is provided with sufficient information about the destination where the attachment is to be forwarded Once an event has triggered redirection of the user data items the host system then repackages these items in a manner that is transparent to the mobile data communication device so that information on the mobile device appears similar to information on the user s host system The pre ferred repackaging method includes wrapping the user data items in an E mail envelope that corresponds to the address of the mobile data communication device although alternatively other repackaging methods could be used with the present invention such as special purpose TCP IP wrap ping techniques or other methods of wrapping the user selected data items The repackaging preferably results in E mail messages generated by the user from the mobile device to be transmitted from the host system thus enabling the user to appear to have
41. rmation from a host system where the infor mation is normally stored to a mobile data communication device In particular the system and method of the present invention provide an event driven redirection computer pro gram redirector program operating at the host system which upon sensing a particular user defined event has occurred redirects user selected data items from the host system to the user s mobile data communication device The mobile data communication device is preferably coupled to the host system via a wireless network and one or more landline networks Due to the bandwidth limitations of wireless networks only a portion of a user selected data item is generally redirected to the user s mobile device with the user given the option of then retrieving the entire data item or some other portion of the data item from the host system Instead of warehousing or storing the user s data items at the host system and then synchronizing the mobile data communication device to data items stored at the host system when the mobile device requests that such items of information be communicated to it the present invention employs a push paradigm that continuously packages and retransmits the user selected items of information to the mobile data communication device in response to a trigger ing event detected at the host system Wireless mobile data communications devices especially those that can return a confirmation signa
42. s carried out by the redirector software 12 operating atthe host system 10 and the steps carried out by the mobile data communication device 24 in order to interface with the host system Turning first to FIG 4 at step 50 the redirector program 12 is started and initially configured The initial configuration of the redirector 12 includes 1 defining the event triggers that the user has determined will trigger redirection 2 selecting the user data items for redirection 3 selecting the repackaging sub system either standard E Mail or special purpose technique 4 selecting the type of data communication device indicating whether and what type of attachments the device is capable of receiving and processing and inputting the address of the mobile device and 5 configuring the preferred list of user selected senders whose messages are to be redirected FIG 4 sets forth the basic steps of the redirector program 12 assuming it is operating at a desktop system 10 such as shown in FIG 1 If the redirector 12 is operating at a network server 11 as shown in FIG 2 then additional configuration steps may be necessary to enable redirection for a particular desktop system 10 26 28 connected to the server including 1 setting up a profile for the desktop system indicating its address events that will trigger redirection and the data items that are to be redirected upon detecting an event 2 maintaining a storage area at the server
43. stem Internal events could be a calendar alarm screen saver activation keyboard timeout programmable timer or any other user defined event that is internal to the host system Networked events are user defined messages that are transmitted to the host system from another com puter coupled to the host system via a network to initiate redirection These are just some of the events that could be used with the present invention to initiate replication of the user selected data items from the host system 10 to the mobile device 24 FIG 1 shows an E mail message A being communicated over LAN 14 from computer 26 to the user s desktop system 10 also shown in FIG 1 is an external message C which could be an E mail message from an Internet user or could be a command message from the user s mobile device 24 Once the message A or C reaches the primary message store of the host system 10 it can be detected and acted upon by the redirection software 12 The redirection software 12 can use many methods of detecting new messages The preferred method of detecting new messages is using Microsoft s Messaging API MAPI in which programs such as the redirector program 12 register for notifications or advise syncs when changes to a mailbox take place Other methods of detecting new messages could also be used with the present invention Assuming that the redirector program 12 is activated and has been configured by the user either throug
44. stem also includes primary memory store where the user s data items are normally stored Using the redirector program the user can select certain data items for redirection such as E mail messages calendar events meeting notifications address entries journal entries personal reminders etc Having selected the data items for redirection the user can then configure one or more event triggers to be sensed by the redirector program to initiate redirection of the user data items These user defined trigger points or event triggers include external events internal events and networked events Examples of external events include receiving a message from the user s mobile data communication device to begin redirection receiving a similar message from some external computer sensing that the user is no longer in the vicinity of the host system or any other event that is external to the host system Internal events could be a calendar alarm screen saver activation keyboard timeout programmable timer or any other user defined event that is internal to the host system Networked events are user defined messages that are trans mitted to the host system from another computer coupled to the host system via a network to initiate redirection These are just some of the examples of the types of user defined events that can trigger the redirector program to push data items from the host to the mobile device Although in the preferred embodiment i
45. t Other example commands include 1 a message to change the configuration of the host system to enable the mobile device 24 to receive and process certain attachments and 2 a message to instruct the host system to redirect an entire data item to the mobile device in the situation where only a portion of a particular data item has been redirected Turning back to FIG 5 if the user signal or message is not direct message to the desktop system 10 to begin redirec tion or some other command then control is passed to step 90 which determines if a message has been received If a message is received by the mobile and it is a message from the user s desktop 10 as determined at step 92 then at step 94 a desktop redirection flag is set on for this message and control passes to step 96 where the outer envelope is removed Following step 96 or in the situation where the message is not from the user s desktop as determined at step 92 control passes to step 98 which displays the message for the user on the mobile device s display The mobile unit 24 then returns to step 82 and waits for additional messages or signals If the mobile device 24 determines that a message has not been received at step 90 then control passes to step 100 where the mobile determines whether there is a message to send If not then the mobile unit returns to step 82 and waits for additional messages or signals If there is at least one message to send then a
46. t is anticipated that the configuration that specifies which data items will be redirected and in what form will be set at the host system it is within the scope of this invention that such configuration may be set or modified through data sent from the mobile communications device In addition to the functionality noted above the redirector program provides a set of software implemented control functions for determining the type of mobile data commu nication device and its address for programming a preferred list of message types that are to be redirected and for determining whether the mobile device can receive and process certain types of message attachments such as word processor or voice attachments The determination of whether a particular mobile device can receive and process attachments is initially configured by the user of that mobile device at the host system This configuration can be altered on a global or per message basis by transmitting a command message from the mobile device to the host system If the redirector is configured so that the mobile data device cannot receive and process word processor or voice attachments then the redirector routes these attachments to an external machine that is compatible with the particular attachment such as an attached printer or networked fax machine or telephone Other types of attachments could be redirected to other types of external machines in a similar fashion depending upon the ca
47. t step 102 the mobile determines whether it is a reply message to a message that was received by the mobile unit If the message to send is a reply message then at step 108 the mobile determines whether the desktop redirection flag is on for this message If the redirection flag is not on then at step 106 the reply message is simply transmitted from the mobile device to the destination 14 address via the wireless network 22 If however the redi rection flag is on then at step 110 the reply message is repackaged with the outer envelope having the addressing information of the user s desktop system 10 and the repack 5 aged message is then transmitted to the desktop system 10 at step 106 As described above the redirector program 12 executing at the desktop system then strips the outer enve lope and routes the reply message to the appropriate desti nation address using the address of the desktop system as the from field so that to the recipient of the redirected message it appears as though it originated from the user s desktop system rather than the mobile data communication device If at step 102 the mobile determines that the message is not a reply message but an original message then control passes to step 104 where the mobile determines if the user is using the redirector software 12 at the desktop system 10 by checking the mobile unit s configuration If the user is not using the redirector software 12 then the messa
48. vice 24 or it could be a message from an external computer such as a computer connected to the Internet 18 If the message C is from an Internet computer to the user s desktop system 10 and the user has redirection capabilities then the server 11 detects the mes sage C repackages it using electronic envelope B and redirects the repackaged message C in B to the user s mobile device 24 If the message C is a command message from the user s mobile device 24 then the server 11 simply acts upon the command message Turning now to FIG 3 a block diagram showing the interaction of the redirector software 12 with additional components of the host system 10 of FIG 1 the desktop PC to enable more fully the pushing of information from the host system 10 to the user s mobile data communication device 24 is set forth These additional components are illustrative of the type of event generating systems that can be configured and used with the redirector software 12 and of the type of repackaging systems that can be used to interface with the mobile communication device 24 to make it appear transparent to the user The desktop system 10 is connected to LAN 14 and can send and receive data messages signals event triggers etc to and from other systems connected to the LAN 14 and to external networks 18 22 such as the Internet or a wireless data network which are also coupled to the LAN 14 In addition to the standard hardware operating s
49. ystem and application programs associated with a typical microcom puter or workstation the desktop system 10 includes the redirector program 12 a TCP IP sub system 42 an E mail sub system 44 a primary data storage device 40 a screen saver sub system 48 and a keyboard sub system 46 The TCP IP and E mail subsystems 42 44 are examples of repackaging systems that can be used to achieve the trans parency of the present invention and the screen saver and keyboard sub systems 46 48 are examples of event gener ating systems that can be configured to generate event messages or signals that trigger redirection of the user selected data items The method steps carried out by the redirector program 12 are described in more detail in FIG 4 The basic functions of this program are 1 configure and setup the user defined event trigger points that will start redirection 2 configure the types of user data items for redirection and optionally configure a preferred list of senders whose messages are to be redirected 3 configure the type and capabilities of the user s mobile data communication device 4 receive mes sages and signals from the repackaging systems and the event generating systems and 5 command and control the redirection of the user selected data items to the mobile data communication device via the repackaging systems Other functions not specifically enumerated could also be inte grated into this program The E Mail su
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search