Patent ID: 7814162
Filing Date: 2010-10-12
Classification: G06F,G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method for storing e-mail comprising: storing local capacity threshold values for a user e-mailbox hosted on a local server, including a first local capacity threshold level, a second local capacity threshold level and a maximum local capacity threshold value; storing costs for overflow storage devices remote from the local server and accessible on a network, wherein the costs provide a ranking from a least costly to a most costly overflow storage device; receiving an e-mail that increases the accumulated storage volume of the user's e-mails beyond the first local capacity threshold level and responsively compressing subsequent incoming e-mail subsequent to the first local capacity threshold level being exceeded; receiving an e-mail that increases the accumulated storage volume of the user's e-mails beyond the second local capacity threshold level and responsively truncating any attachments of incoming e-mail subsequent to the second local capacity threshold level being exceeded, in addition to e-mail messages being compressed and stored; processing e-mails of the user responsive to increases in accumulated storage volume of the e-mails beyond the respective local capacity threshold values, wherein the processing reduces storage space of the e-mails for the e-mailbox; receiving an e-mail that increases the accumulated storage volume of the user's e-mails beyond the maximum local capacity threshold value; selecting, by reference to the stored costs, a subset of the overflow storage devices having lesser costs than non-selected ones of the overflow storage devices; selecting one of the overflow storage devices of the subset responsive to availability of storage space on the overflow storage devices of the subset and responsive to cost ranking among the overflow storage devices of the subset; and sending the received e-mail for storing on the selected overflow storage device, instead of storing the received e-mail in the user's e-mailbox.