Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Special service
Reexamination Certificate
2000-01-10
2004-06-01
Cumming, William (Department: 2684)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Special service
C709S206000, C709S207000, C709S217000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06745024
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to wireless communications. More specifically, this invention relates to electronic mail communications using a handheld wireless communications device.
2. Description of Related Art and General Background
A. Electronic Mail
Communication using electronic mail (hereinafter “e-mail”) has several advantages which have helped to fuel the recent exponential growth in e-mail usage. An e-mail message may be sent around the world substantially instantly, without incurring any long-distance telephone tolls or postage charges or delays. An e-mail message is also more tangible than a telephone call, as an exact copy of the transmission remains available for future reference by both the sender and the recipient. An e-mail transmission may easily be encrypted for security and can also be authenticated to ensure the integrity of the received message and the identity of the sender. It is also much easier to send an e-mail transmission to multiple recipients simultaneously than to send multiple letters or conduct a conference call or a series of calls. Additionally, e-mail messages may be preferable over telephone calls in situations where only one-way communication is desired. With the advent of easy-to-use software applications, e-mail has become a convenient and inexpensive way to communicate.
Initially, e-mail communication was limited to users connected within a particular network. Today, the Internet provides a communications pathway between users in separate and unrelated networks. As a result, e-mail transmissions may be exchanged between any two users who each have an established e-mail account on a server connected to the Internet. As shown in
FIG. 1
, each of the users D-G using computers
10
c
and
10
d
may correspond with any of the other users via servers
20
a
and
20
b
(which service the users' e-mail accounts) and the Internet
250
. Additionally, data modems
15
a
and
15
b
coupled to computers
10
a
and
10
b
, respectively, allow the connection between users to extend beyond the Internet
250
to include data links over the public switched telephone network (PSTN)
230
, such that users A-C using computers
10
a
and
10
b
and their accounts on server
20
a
may correspond with any of the other users as well.
Common standards and protocols exist that enable e-mail and other forms of communications to be conducted over the Internet across a wide variety of software applications, computing platforms, and transmission channels. One such protocol, the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), is the standard method for transferring electronic mail over a network and is defined in “Simple Mail Transfer Protocol” by J. Postel, RFC
821
, University of Southern California/Information Sciences Institute, August 1982. Because SMTP can be used to communicate across different platforms, it enables users of disparate systems to exchange e-mail messages transparently. For example, a researcher using a supercomputer running under a UNIX operating system can send the same e-mail message to a colleague on the same supercomputer, a co-worker in a different building using a different server and operating system, and a friend using a personal computer from home. A software routine or “layer” running on each of the latter two systems receives an SMTP transmission containing the message and handles it appropriately, allowing the researcher to transmit her message without regard to the nature or configuration of any recipient's system.
In
FIG. 1
, a message sent by user B to user G might typically be delivered in three SMTP transmissions. In the first transmission, the message is transmitted by computer
10
a
to server
20
a
over the PSTN
230
. In the second transmission, the message is transmitted by server
20
a
to server
20
b
over the Internet
250
. In the third transmission, the message is transmitted by server
20
b
to computer
10
d
over a local-area network connection such as an Ethernet link. In each case, the SMTP transmission is carried across a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection, which is sustained only during the length of the transmission.
A message passes from a transmitting system to a receiving system via SMTP as shown in
FIGS. 2A and 2B
. The mail transaction is initiated when the SMTP layer executing on the transmitting system (hereinafter “Transmitter-SMTP”) establishes communication with the SMTP layer executing on the receiving system (hereinafter “Receiver-SMTP”) as shown in block P
005
. In block P
010
, the Transmitter-SMTP sends a MAIL command to the Receiver-SMTP. This MAIL command instructs the Receiver-SMTP to reset all of its state tables and buffers and also identifies the sender, whose mailbox address appears in a reverse-path argument. If the Receiver-SMTP can accept mail, shown in the decision block P
015
, the Receiver-SMTP responds by transmitting an OK command as in block P
025
. Otherwise, the Receiver-SMTP rejects the mail as in block P
020
.
Once the Receiver-SMTP acknowledges that it can accept mail, the Transmitter-SMTP issues the RCPT command, which contains a forward-path argument that identifies the mailbox of one recipient, as shown in block P
030
. This process may be repeated several times, as SMTP provides the user with the ability to send the same message to multiple recipients. If the Receiver-SMTP can recognize the mail addressee as in decision block P
035
, the Receiver-SMTP transmits an OK command as in block P
045
. Otherwise, the Receiver-SMTP rejects the, unrecognized addressee as in block P
040
. The Receiver-SMTP processes any remaining addressees in a similar manner, shown in decision block P
050
and blocks P
070
-P
085
(corresponding to blocks P
030
-P
045
).
When the last addressee is processed, the Transmitter-SMTP sends the body of the message to the Receiver-SMTP, as shown in block P
055
. A DATA command defines the body of the mail message. The Receiver-SMTP treats the incoming data as message text until it detects an end-of-text signal, which comprises a line containing only a period. In block P
060
, the Transmitter-SMTP supplies the end-of-text signal. The Receiver-SMTP acknowledges this signal with an OK command as in block P
065
.
In addition to mail transmission, SMTP also supports features for address verification and correction, including supplying an address for e-mail forwarding and verifying and expanding a user's name or mailing list. Moreover, SMTP also supports delivering messages to a user's terminal instead of the user's mailbox.
B. Attachments to E-Mail Transmissions
In traditional paper mail, a sender may enclose other documents, and even non-textual materials such as photographs, into the same envelope as a letter. E-mail transmissions, however, were originally limited to text. While SMTP is effective in bridging the gap between different computer platforms, control and data sequences within the SMTP layer must be composed entirely of the 128 characters of the ASCII character set.
Eventually, standardized methods for converting non-textual information into ASCII were developed, allowing the creation of software packages that provide users with the ability to attach non-textual material to an e-mail communication. One such method that has become a universal standard is uuencode (originally for ‘UNIX-to-UNIX encode’). Another standard used primarily on Apple Macintosh computers is BinHex (for ‘binary hexadecimal’). The ability to use attachments has expanded the power and utility of e-mail, as a user may now send audio data, image or video files, or any other file created with any computer application as e-mail.
Recently, the Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) protocol has become an Internet standard for attaching materials to e-mail transmissions. This protocol is defined in the following documents entitled “Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions”: RFC
2045
(Part One), RFC
2046
(Part Two), and RFC
2049
(Part: Five) by N. Freed and N. Borenstein; RFC
2047
(Part Thre
DeJaco Andrew P.
Han Charles S.
Baker Kent D.
Cumming William
Gantt Alan T.
Kordich Donald C.
Qualcomm Incorporated
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