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System and method for pushing information from a host system to a

1. 370 338 5 604 491 A 2 1997 et al 6 157 950 A 12 2000 Krishman 5 625 670 A 4 1997 Campana Jr et al 6 167 379 A 12 2000 Dean et al 5 627 829 A 5 1997 Gleeson et al 6 178 331 B1 1 2001 Holmes et al 5 631 946 A 5 1997 Campana Jr et al 6 205 448 3 2001 Kruglikov et al 707 200 5 633 810 A 5 1997 Mandal et al 6 208 996 3 2001 Ben Shachar et al 707 104 5 666 530 A 9 1997 Clark et al 707 201 6 240 088 B1 5 2001 Gayton et al 5 666 553 A 9 1997 Crozier 6 249 820 B1 6 2001 Dobbins et al 5 673 322 A 9 1997 Pepe et al 6 256 666 1 7 2001 Singhal 5 705 995 1 1998 Lalin et al 6 272 545 B1 8 2001 Flanagin et al 5 706 211 A 1 1998 Beletic et al 6 275 848 B1 8 2001 Arnold 5 727 202 A 3 1998 Kucala 707 10 6 275 850 1 8 2001 et al 5 729 735 A 3 1998 Meyering 6 311 282 B1 10 2001 Nelson et al 5 742 668 A 4 1998 Pepe et al us 455 415 2001 0001552 A1 5 2001 Vong 5 742905 A 4 1998 Pepe et al 2001 0029531 A1 10 2001 Ohta 5 745 689 A 4 1998 Yeager et al 2001 0040693 A1 11 2001 Saito et al 358 1 15 5 751 971 A 5 1998 Dobbins et al 2001 0042093 A1 11 2001 Shirai et al 709 201 5 754 954 5 1998 Cannon et al 2001 0054072 A1 12 2001 Discolo et al 709 206 5 757 201 5 1998 Hiroshige 5 761 416 6 1998 Mandal et al FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 765 170 A 6 1998 Morikawa 5 781 901 A 7 1998 K
2. 709 248 5 315 635 A 5 1994 Kane et al 6 009 455 12 1999 Doyle 709 201 5 333 152 A 7 1994 Wilber 6 018 762 A 1 2000 Brunson et al 5 333 266 A 7 1994 Boaz et al 6 023 700 A 2 2000 Owens et al 5 392 390 A 2 1995 Crozier 6 034 621 A 3 2000 Kaufman 340 825 44 5 406 557 A 4 1995 Baudoin 6 052 563 A 4 2000 Macko 5 410 543 A 4 1995 Seitz et al 6 052 735 4 2000 Ulrich et al 709 236 5 416 473 A 5 1995 Dulaney et al 6 058 431 A 5 2000 Srisuresh et al 5 436 960 A 7 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 078 826 A 6 2000 Croft et al 5 438 611 A 8 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 085 232 A 7 2000 Kikinis 5 452 356 A 9 1995 Albert 380 271 6 091 951 A 7 2000 Sturniolo et al 5 479 472 12 1995 Campana Jr et al 6 092 114 A 7 2000 Shaffer et al 709 232 5 487 100 A 1 1996 Kane 6 092 191 A 7 2000 Shimbo et al 5 493 692 A 2 1996 Theimer et al 6 115 394 A 9 2000 Balachandran et al 5 495 484 2 1996 Self et al 6 115 736 A 9 2000 Devarakonda et al 5 559 800 A 9 1996 Mousseau et al 6 125281 A 9 2000 Wells et al 5 572 528 11 1996 Shuen 6 125 369 A 9 2000 Wu et al 707 201 5 579 472 A 11 1996 Keyworth II et al 6 130 892 A 10 2000 Short et al 5 588 009 A 12 1996 Will 6 141 690 A 10 2000 Weiman 5 598 536 A 1 1997 Slaughter et al 6 157 318 A 12 2000 Minata 5 603 054 A 2 1997 Theimer et al 6 157 630 12 2000 Adler et al
3. Article Comerford Handhelds Duke It Out for the Inter net Wireless Internet pp 35 38 41 Aug 2000 Press Detail Extended Systems and Motorola Bring Shor t Range Wireless to the Paging E volution Jan 13 2000 3 pgs Press Detail 3Com Corporation Licenses Bluetooth Tech nology from Extended Systems Feb 22 2000 2 pgs Web site Article Hawaleshka The Web in Your Pocket Maclean s May 15 2000 3 pgs Claxton Messaging API s for Voice Networks Telecom munications pp 116 120 1998 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 Internetwork Mobility The CDPD Approach by Mark S Taylor William Waung and Mohsen Banan Jun 11 1996 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 pgs 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
4. 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 on 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 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 No 3 pp 152 163 Summer 1997 US 6 463 464 1 Page 4 Lavana Hemang et al Internet Based Workflows digm for Dynamically Reconfigurable Desktop Environ ments Group 97 pp 204 213 1997 Perkins Charles E et al Mobility Support in IP
5. communication device via the repackaging systems Other functions not specifically enumerated could also be inte grated into this program The E Mail sub 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 6 463 464 B1 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 info
6. 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 device 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 exter
7. 09 528495 DATED October 8 2002 INVENTOR S Lazaridis et al It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent is hereby corrected as shown below Column 1 Line 54 instead of System and Method for Pushing Information from a Host System to a Mobile Data Communication Device the Title should read System and Method for Replicating Information Between a Host System and Mobile Communication Device Via a Wireless Network Column 16 Line 28 in Claim 21 19 should be 20 Column 16 Line 32 in Claim 22 19 should be 20 Column 16 Line 60 in Claim 25 date should be data Column 20 Line 13 in Claim 59 49 should be 58 Signed and Sealed this Twenty first Day of November 2006 JON W DUDAS Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office
8. FAX machine a printer a system for displaying images such as video or a machine capable of processing and 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
9. 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 Editorial Contacts CE Software Inc 1995 3 pgs News Release CE Software Ships Mobile Vision 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 MobileVision Direct Wireless Connection to Your LAN Based Electronic Mailbox 0 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
10. at the server FIG 3 is a block diagram showing the interaction of the redirector software with other 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 is system 10 As described in more detail in FIG 3 the host system 10 preferably includes along with the typi
11. though it were the host system 4 integration with other host system components such as E mail 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
12. 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 steps carried out by the redirector software 12 operating at the 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 ad
13. 37 800 A 6 1989 Freeburg et al 5 838926 A 11 1998 Yamagishi 4 856 047 A 8 1989 Saunders 5 850 219 12 1998 Kumomura 345 751 4 928 096 A 5 1990 Leonardo et al 5 867 660 A 2 999 Schmidt et al 4 951 044 A 8 1990 Nelson et al 5 878 434 A 3 1999 Draper et al 4 980 907 A 12 1990 Raith et al 5 900 875 5 1999 Haitani et al 1 345 349 5 008 926 A 4 1991 Misholi 5 903 723 A 5 1999 Beck et al 5 043 721 A 8 1991 May 5 913 040 6 1999 Rakavy et al 709 232 5 086 502 A 2 992 Malcolm 5 928 329 A 7 1999 Clark et al 709 227 5 125 021 A 6 1992 Lebowitz 5 948 066 A 9 1999 Whalen et al 5 127 041 A 6 1992 O Sullivan 5 953 322 A 9 1999 Kimball 5 136 291 A 8 1992 Teague 5 959 621 A 9 1999 Nawaz etal 345 329 5 157 660 A 10 1992 Kuwahara et al 5 964 833 A 10 1999 Kikinis 5 159 592 A 10 1992 Perkins 5 969 636 A 10 1999 Parvulescu et al 5 177 680 A 1 1993 Tsukino et al 5 974 238 A 10 1999 Chase Jr sse 709 248 5 181 200 A 1 1993 Harrison 5 978 689 A 11 1999 Tuoriniemi et al 5 265 033 A 11 1993 Vajk et al 5 978 837 A 11 1999 Foladare et al 709 207 5 283 887 A 2 1994 Zachery 5 995 597 A 11 1999 Woltz et al 5 293 250 A 3 1994 Okumura et al 6 000 000 12 1999 Hawkins et al 707 201 5 299 255 A 3 1994 Iwaki et al 6 002 427 A 12 1999 Kipust 348 156 5 307 059 A 4 1994 Connary et al 6 006 274 12 1999 Hawkins et al
14. 9 207 709 206 709 203 system to a mobile data communication device upon sensing 709 245 340 7 21 340 7 29 340 7 51 a triggering event is disclosed A redirector program oper 455 556 707 201 ating at the host system enables a user to continuously 58 Field of Search 709 248 206 redirect certain user selected data items from the host Sys 709 207 203 245 707 201 203 204 to the user s mobile data communication device upon 455 555 7 340 7 21 7 29 7 51 detecting that one or more user defined triggering events has occurred The redirector program operates in connection 56 References Cited with event generating applications and repackaging systems U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 4 106 060 A 8 1978 Chapman Jr 4 438 433 A 3 1984 Smoot et al 4 695 880 A 9 1987 Johnson et al List continued on next page 26 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 75 Claims 5 Drawing Sheets US 6 463 464 1 Page 2 U S PATENT DOCUMENTS 5 819 172 A 10 1998 Campana Jr et al 5 819 284 A 10 1998 Farber et al 4 697 281 A 9 1987 O Sullivan 5 826 062 A 10 1998 Fake Jr et al 4 713 780 12 1987 Schultz et al 5 831 664 A 11 1998 Wharton et al 725 81 4 837 798 A 6 1989 Cohen et al 5838252 11 1998 Kikinis 4 8
15. IGGER SCREEN SAVER KEYBOARD SUB SYSTEM SUB SYSTEM DESKTOP COMPUTER Fig 3 U S Patent Oct 8 2002 Sheet 4 of 5 US 6 463 464 1 REDIRECTION SOFTWARE STARTED 50 INSTALL TRIGGER POINTS IN SYSTEM 54 MESSAGE AND SIGNALS WAIT FOR MESSAGES AND SIGNALS TRIGGER SIGNAL 64 66 EVENTS TO BE REDIRECTED FORWARD TO USER ADD OUTER ENVELOPE IS TRIGGER FIRED FLAG ON Fig 4 U S Patent Oct 8 2002 Sheet 5 of 5 US 6 463 464 1 80 88 MOBILE SOF TWARE 84 STARTED YES x AND 86 WAIT FOR USER SIGNAL MESSAGES AND TO START SIGNALS See 98 PRESENT TO USER REMOVE OUTER ENVELOPE MESSAGE FROM ae dl MESSAGE ir M SET DESKTOP REDIRECT ION FLAG ON 100 MESSAGE TO gent SEND TO DESTINATION ADORESS IS USER USING DESKTOP SOFTWARE 108 PUT OUTER ENVELOPE ON MESSAGE AND ADDRESS TO DESKTOP IS DESKTOP REDIRECTION FLAG ON Fig 9 US 6 463 464 B1 1 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PUSHING INFORMATION FROM A HOST SYSTEM TO A MOBILE DATA COMMUNICATION DEVICE CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a divisional of U S patent application Ser 09 087 623 filed on 29 1998 now U S Pat No 6 219 694 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention is d
16. INVENTION The present invention overcomes the problems noted above 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 or could be any other system that is 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 6 463 464 B1 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 t
17. United States Patent US006463464B1 12 10 Patent No US 6 463 464 B1 Lazaridis et al 45 Date of Patent Oct 8 2002 54 SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PUSHING FOREIGN PATENT DOCUMENTS INFORMATION FROM A HOST SYSTEM TO A MOBILE DATA COMMUNICATION 20 DEVICE EP 0736989 10 1996 EP 0772327 A2 5 1997 75 Inventors Mihal Lazaridis Waterloo CA Gary EP 0772327 5 1997 P Mousseau Waterloo CA List continued on next page 73 Assignee Research in Motion Limited Waterloo CA OTHER PUBLICATIONS Notice Subject to any disclaimer the term of this patent is extended or adjusted under 35 Smith et al Integration of wireless technology in the U S C 154 b by 0 days Defense Inform System Network DISN Military Commu nications Conference MILCO Conference Proceedings This patent is subject to a terminal dis IEEE vol 2 pp 389 393 Oct 1996 claimer List continued on next page 21 Appl No 09 528 495 22 Filed Mar 17 2000 Primary Examiner Moustafa M Meky f Assistant Examiner Bradley Edelman Related U S Application Data 74 Attorney Agent or Firm Jones Day Reavis amp uu 5 Pogue Krishna Pathiyal Esq Charles Meyer Esq 62 Division of application No 09 087 623 filed on May 29 1998 now Pat No 6 219 694 57 ABSTRACT 51 Int NORTON TIEN NETTE TRIES G06F 15 16 A system and method for pushing information from a host 82 8 70
18. a wireless network configuring one or more replication events at the host system wherein the one or more replication events include an internal event that is generated by the host system detecting the occurrence of the one or more replication events in response to the occurrence of the one or more replica tion events continuously replicating changes in the set of data items between the host system and the mobile device by immediately transmitting in real time rep lication information between the host system and the mobile device via the wireless network wherein the set of data items in the host system and mobile device is a set of email messages and the replication information includes copies of the email messages receiving the copies of email messages at the mobile device generating reply messages at the mobile device to be sent to a plurality of message senders and transmitting the reply messages to the host system receiving the reply messages at the host system and configuring address information of the reply messages such that the reply messages use a first address asso US 6 463 464 B1 15 ciated with the host system as the originating address wherein messages generated at either the host system or the mobile device share the first address and transmitting the reply messages from the host system to the plurality of message senders wherein the host system is an office computer system 2 The method of clai
19. and process attachments of the determined type and if so then transmitting replication information regarding the attachments to the mobile communications device 59 The method of claim 49 wherein the type of attach ment is a sound file 60 The method of claim 51 wherein the step of estab lishing a bi directional link further comprises the step of providing an encryption module at the office computer system for encrypting the replication information prior to transmission and a corresponding decryption mod ule at the mobile communications device for decryption the replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted until at the mobile com munications device 61 The method of claim 49 wherein the one or more replication events include networked events generated by a device coupled to the office computer system via a computer network 62 The method of claim 49 wherein the one or more replication events include an internal event generated by the office computer system 63 The method of claim 62 wherein the internal event is a calendar alarm 64 The method of claim 62 wherein the internal event is screen saver activation 65 The method of claim 62 wherein the internal event is a keyboard timeout signal 66 The method of claim 49 wherein the mobile com munications device is a pager 67 The method of claim 49 wherein the mobile com munications device is a device equipped to receive b
20. ation information includes copies of the email messages the method further comprising the steps of receiving the copies of email messages at the mobile device generating reply messages at the mobile device to be sent to a plurality of message senders and transmitting the reply messages to the host system 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 55 60 65 18 receiving the reply messages at the host system and configuring address information of the reply messages such that the reply messages use a first address asso ciated with the host system as the originating address wherein messages generated at either the host system or the mobile device share the first address and transmitting the reply messages from the host system to the plurality of message senders 35 The method of claim 25 wherein the one or more replication events include networked events generated by a device coupled to the host system via a computer network 36 The method of claim 35 wherein the networked events include messages to begin replication from computer systems other than the mobile device which are connected to the host system via a wired network 37 The method of claim 25 wherein the internal event is a calendar alarm 38 The method of claim 25 wherein the internal event is a screen saver activation 39 The method of claim 25 wherein the internal event is a keyboard timeout signal 40 The method of claim 25 wherein the mobile dev
21. be located on an Internet Service Provider s system and accessible only through the Internet 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 6 463 464 B1 5 ways such that the mobile data communication device appears as
22. cal hardware and software associated with a workstation or desktop computer the redirector program 12 a TCP 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 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
23. ces especially those that can return a confirmation signal 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 do
24. contains a list of senders other users whose messages are to be redirected or a list of message characteristics that 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
25. der 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 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 additional commands to add or subtract certain senders from the preferr
26. device to be transmitted from the host system thus enabling the user to appear to have 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 internetor intranet based redirector program that could be accessible through a secure webpage or other user interface The redirector program could
27. dress 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 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 inf
28. e host system for compressing the replication information prior to replication and providing a data decompression module at the mobile device for decompressing the compressed replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted and compressed until received at the mobile device 7 The method of claim 6 further comprising the step of storing configuration information regarding the mobile device at the host system 8 The method of claim 7 wherein the configuration information stored at the host system includes the network address of the mobile device and an indication of the types of attachments that the mobile device can receive and process 9 The method of claim 8 wherein the configuration information further includes an indication of the type of mobile device 10 The method of claim 7 further comprising the steps of for each data item to be replicated the host system determining whether the data item includes an attachment and if so then determining the type of attachment accessing the stored configuration information at the host system to determine whether the mobile device can receive and process attachments of the determined type and if so then transmitting replication information regarding the attachments to the mobile device and if not then 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 16 transmitting replication information regarding the attachments to a devic
29. e recipient of the message that the message originated from the user s desktop system 10 rather than the mobile data communication 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 store 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
30. e that is capable of processing the attachment 11 The method of claim 10 wherein the type of attach ment is a sound file 12 The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more replication events include networked events generated by a device coupled to the host system via a computer network 13 The method of claim 12 wherein the networked events include messages to begin replication from computer systems other than the mobile device which are connected to the host system via a wired network 14 The method of claim 1 wherein the internal event is a calendar alarm 15 The method of claim 1 wherein the internal event is a screen saver activation 16 The method of claim 1 wherein the internal event is a keyboard timeout signal 17 The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device is a pager 18 The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile device is a device equipped to receive both voice and non voice data messages 19 The method of claim 1 wherein the host system includes a preferred list for limiting the replicating step to transmitting replication information only for those data items that are associated with a sender on the preferred list 20 The method of claim 19 wherein a user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list 21 The method of claim 19 wherein the user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list by configuring the host system 22 The method of claim 19 wherein the user can add and subt
31. ed list In this manner the mobile device 24 can dynamically limit the amount of information being redirected to it by minimizing the number of senders on the preferred list Other example commands include 1 a message to change the configura tion 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 a 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 dete
32. he user s data items could also be present at the host system The host system also includes a 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 i
33. hough alternatively an external event can be any other detectable occurrence 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 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 in
34. i directional link further comprises the steps of providing a data compression module at the office com puter system for compressing the replication informa tion prior to replication and providing a data decompression module at the mobile communications device for decompressing the com pressed replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted and compressed until received at the mobile communications device 55 The method of claim 54 further comprising the step of storing configuration information regarding the mobile communications device at the office computer system 56 The method of claim 55 wherein the configuration information stored at the office computer system includes the network address of the mobile communications device and an indication of the types of attachments that the mobile communications device can receive and process 57 The method of claim 56 wherein the configuration information further includes an indication of the type of mobile communications device 5 20 30 35 45 20 58 The method of claim 55 further comprising the steps of for each data item to be replicated the office computer system determining whether the data item includes an attachment and if so then determining the type of attachment accessing the stored configuration information at the office computer system to determine whether the mobile communications device can receive
35. ice is a pager 41 The method of claim 25 wherein the mobile device is a device equipped to receive both voice and non voice data messages 42 The method of claim 25 wherein the host system includes a preferred list for limiting the replicating step to transmitting replication information only for those data items that are associated with a sender on the preferred list 43 The method of claim 42 wherein a user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list 44 The method of claim 43 wherein the user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list by configuring the host system 45 The method of claim 43 wherein the user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list by transmitting a command message from the mobile device to the host system 46 The method of claim 42 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated at the host system 47 The method of claim 42 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated by a command message transmit ted from the mobile device to the host system 48 The method of claim 25 wherein the type of attach ment is a sound file 49 A method of replicating data items in real time between an office computer system and a mobile commu nications device comprising the steps of establishing a set of data items in both the office computer system and the mobile communications device to be replicated over an Internet communications network coupled to a wireless communication
36. iding a packaging module at the host system for packaging the replication information into electronic envelopes addressed using an electronic address of the mobile device associated with the wireless network and providing an unpackaging module at the mobile device for extracting the replication information from the electronic envelopes 30 The method of claim 29 wherein the step of estab lishing a bi directional link further comprises the steps of providing a data compression module at the host system for compressing the replication information prior to replication and providing a data decompression module at the mobile device for decompressing the compressed replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted and compressed until received at the mobile device 31 The method of claim 30 further comprising the step of storing configuration information regarding the mobile device at the host system 32 The method of claim 31 wherein the configuration information stored at the host system includes the network address of the mobile device and an indication of the types of attachments that the mobile device can receive and process 33 The method of claim 32 wherein the configuration information further includes an indication of the type of mobile device 34 The method of claim 25 wherein the set of data items in the host system and mobile device is a set of email messages and the replic
37. ilbox account address and transmitting the reply calendar messages from the office computer system to the plurality of calendar message senders 50 The method of claim 49 wherein the one or more replication events include an external event that is generated by the mobile communications device and transmitted to the office computer system via a wireless network 51 The method of claim 49 further comprising the step of establishing a bi directional secure link between the office computer system and the mobile communications device over the wireless network prior to transmitting replication information between the office computer system and the mobile communications device 52 The method of claim 51 further comprising the steps of generating an encryption key for the mobile communica tions device and storing the encryption key at the office computer system 53 The method of claim 52 wherein the step of estab lishing a bi directional link further comprises the steps of providing a packaging module at the office computer system for packaging the replication information into electronic envelopes addressed using an electronic address of the mobile communications device associ ated with the wireless network and providing an unpackaging module at the mobile commu nications device for extracting the replication informa tion from the electronic envelopes 54 The method of claim 53 wherein the step of estab lishing a b
38. irected toward the field of replicating information 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 devi
39. m 1 wherein the one or more replication events further include an external event that is generated by the mobile device and transmitted to the host system via the wireless network 3 The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of establishing a bi directional secure link between the host system and the mobile device over the wireless network prior to transmitting replication information between the host system and the mobile device 4 The method of claim 3 wherein the step of establishing a bi directional link further comprises the step of providing an encryption module at the host system for encrypting the replication information prior to transmission and a corresponding decryption module at the mobile device for decryption the replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted until at the mobile device 5 The method of claim 4 wherein the step of establishing a bi directional link further comprises the steps of providing a packaging module at the host system for packaging the replication information into electronic envelopes addressed using an electronic address of the mobile device associated with the wireless network and providing an unpackaging module at the mobile device for extracting the replication information from the electronic envelopes 6 The method of claim 5 wherein the step of establishing a bi directional link further comprises the steps of providing a data compression module at th
40. mobile data communication devices capable of sending and receiv ing messages via a network connection 22 Although 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 6 463 464 B1 7 item
41. n additional feature of the present invention is that the push paradigm 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
42. n as the host system 10 thus creating a transparent system In the case where message C is representative of an external 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 A message C would be repackaged with an outer US 6 463 464 B1 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 th
43. nal 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 system 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
44. nformation at the host system to determine whether the mobile device can receive and process attachments of the determined type and US 6 463 464 B1 17 if so then transmitting replication information regarding the attachments to the mobile device and if not then transmitting replication information regarding the attachments to a device that is capable of processing the attachment wherein the host system is an office computer system 26 The method of claim 25 wherein the one or more replication events further include an external event that is generated by the mobile device and transmitted to the host system via the wireless network 27 The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of establishing a bi directional secure link between the host system and the mobile device over the wireless network prior to transmitting replication information between the host system and the mobile device 28 The method of claim 27 wherein the step of estab lishing a bi directional link further comprises the step of providing an encryption module at the host system for encrypting the replication information prior to transmission and a corresponding decryption module at the mobile device for decryption the replication information wherein the replication information remains encrypted until at the mobile device 29 The method of claim 28 wherein the step of estab lishing a bi directional link further comprises the steps of prov
45. o other types of external machines in a similar fashion depending upon the capabilities 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 that attachment is to be sent to a fax machine at a hotel where 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 4 the 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
46. ontrol 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 message 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 method of replicating data items real time between a host system and a mobile device comprising the steps of establishing a set of data items in both the host system and the mobile device to be replicated over
47. or that are simple return receipts or message read receipts for example could always be suppressed from redirection while 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 A 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 place 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 locatio
48. ormation 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 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 6 463 464 B1 13 would slip 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 or
49. oth voice and non voice data messages 68 The method of claim 49 wherein the office computer system includes a preferred list for limiting the replicating step to transmitting replication information only for those data items that are associated with a sender on the preferred list 69 The method of claim 68 wherein a user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list 70 The method of claim 69 wherein the user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list by configuring the office computer system 71 The method of claim 69 wherein the user can add and subtract senders from the preferred list by transmitting a command message from the mobile communications device to the office computer system 72 The method of claim 68 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated at the office computer system 73 The method of claim 68 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated by a command message transmit ted from the mobile communications device to the office computer system 74 The method of claim 49 wherein the step of repli cating changes in the set of data items between the office computer system and the mobile communications device is continuous 75 The method of claim 49 wherein the mobile com munications device is a mobile phone with data messaging capabilities UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION PATENT NO 6 463 464 B1 Page 1 of 1 APPLICATION NO
50. ract senders from the preferred list by transmitting a command message from the mobile device to the host system 23 The method of claim 19 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated at the host system 24 The method of claim 19 wherein the preferred list is activated and deactivated by a command message transmit ted from the mobile device to the host system 25 A method of replicating data items in real time between a host system and a mobile device comprising the steps of establishing a set of data items in both the host system and the mobile device to be replicated over a wireless network configuring one or more replication events at the host system wherein the one or more replication events include an internal event that is generated by the host system storing configuration information regarding the mobile device at the host system detecting the occurrence of the one or more replication events in response to the occurrence of the one or more replica tion events continuously replicating changes in the set of data items between the host system and the mobile device by immediately transmitting in real time rep lication information between the host system and the mobile device via the wireless network for each date item to be replicated the host system determining whether the data item includes an attachment and if so then determining the type of attachment accessing the stored configuration i
51. rmation 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 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 ho
52. rmines 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 at 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 10 15 25 40 45 50 55 60 65 14 transmitted from the mobile device to the destination 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 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 c
53. s network oper able with the mobile communications device configuring one or more replication events at the office computer system detecting the occurrence of the one or more replication events in response to the occurrence of the one or more replica tion events replicating changes in the set of data items between the office computer system and the mobile communications device by immediately transmitting in real time replication information between the office computer system and the mobile communications device via the wireless network wherein the data items in the office computer system and the mobile commu nications device include a set of calendar messages and the replication information includes copies of the calendar messages US 6 463 464 B1 19 receiving the copies of the calendar messages at the mobile communications device generating reply calendar messages at the mobile com munications device to be sent to a plurality of calendar message senders and transmitting the reply calendar messages to the office computer system receiving the reply calendar messages at the office com puter system storing the reply calendar messages at the office computer system wherein address information of the reply calendar mes sages includes a first address associated with the office computer system and the mobile communications device the first address indicating that the reply cal endar messages originated from a ma
54. s preferably include E mail messages calendar events meeting notifications address entries journal entries 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 a 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 alt
55. st 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 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
56. tems from the host to the mobile device Although in the preferred embodiment it 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 t
57. users mobile data commu nication device 24 the type of mobile device and the user s preferred list if any The event triggers are preferably 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
58. uzma EP 0777394 6 1997 5 790 790 A 8 1998 Smith et al EP 0788287 8 1997 5 790 974 A 8 1998 Tognazzini EP 09214556 8 1997 5 796 806 A 8 1998 Birckbichler 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 5 815 081 A 9 1998 Motohashi EP 0838934 4 1998 US 6 463 464 1 Page 3 0772327 2 1999 0930766 7 1999 JP 11289346 10 1999 WO 9741654 6 1997 WO 9726709 7 1997 WO 9727717 7 1997 WO 9733421 9 1997 WO 9800787 1 1998 WO 9821911 5 1998 WO 9848560 10 1998 WO 9919988 4 1999 WO 9945484 9 1999 WO 9948312 9 1999 WO 9950974 10 1999 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Woo et al Pigeon A Wireless Two Way Messaging Sys tem IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications vol 15 No 8 pp 1391 1405 Oct 1997 Feibus A Desktop In Your Palm Informationweek Aug 25 1997 pp 65ff Behr Handheld Solutions Informationweek Oct 27 1997 106 113 Gifford David K et al The Application of Digital Broad cast Communication to Large Scale Information Systems IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications vol SAC 3 No 3 pps 457 467 May 1985 Gifford David K et al An Architecture for Large Scale Information Systems ACM pps 161 170 1985 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
59. v6 Mobicom 96 pp 27 37 1996 Goldszmidt German et al ShockAbsorber A TCP Con nection Router IEEE vol 3 pp 1919 1923 1997 Moody s Investors Service Socket Communications Inc History amp Debt Investex Report No 3240276 Feb 1998 Newsletter E Mail Merges With Voice Through Infinite Technologies Voice Technology amp Services News May 26 1998 Newsletter VODAPAGE Vodapage demos increasing con vergence of pagers and mobile communications at TMA 29 M2 Presswire Nov 28 1996 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 cited by examiner U S Patent Oct 8 2002 Sheet 1 of 5 US 6 463 464 1 ae DESKTOP COMPUTER Fee gt REDIRECTION SOFTWARE Fig 1 US 6 463 464 B1 Sheet 2 of 5 U S Patent Oct 8 2002 28 SERVER COMPUTER 2 REDIRECTION SERVER SOF TWA TWARE 30 EE CON FAX OR VOICE MACHINE i 32 WIRELESS 2 MOBILE GATEWAY e COMPUTER 20 00 24 Fig 2 U S Patent Oct 8 2002 Sheet 3 of 5 US 6 463 464 1 LOCAL AREA NETWORK LAN TCP IP E MAIL SUB SYSTEM PRIMARY STORE SUB SYSTEM ALTERNATE LINK MAIN LINK REDIRECTOR PROGRAM SETUP EVENTS SETUP EVENTS TRIGGER TR
60. vention Assuming that the redirector program 12 is activated and has been configured by the user either through 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 A 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
61. wn load the data items from the host system A general problem with these synchronization systems is that the only time that 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 2 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 more automated continuous efficient and reliable system of ensuring that user data items are replicated at the user s mobile device is therefore needed A

System and method for pushing information from a host system to a

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