Abstract:
A method and apparatus for fast communication with a symbol linked object based system is useful in allowing a user to maintain control over the user&#39;s system when receiving an E-mail with a large attachment. The current art requires selecting and downloading an E-mail attachment to determine its size, which can result in a time consuming transfer of unwanted data to the user&#39;s system and causes the user to lose control of the system during the lengthy downloading process. The present invention allows separate files to be created and stored with the E-mail attachment while converting information about the size of the attachment into a set of symbols linked to the attachment sent to the E-mail recipient with the E-mail. The recipient can then determine whether to select, download or delete the attachment to which the symbols are linked.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD  
       [0001]     The present invention relates to electronic mail (E-mail) messages transmitted over communication networks such as the World Wide Web (Web) to display terminals, and particularly to large attachments to the E-mail messages.  
       BACKGROUND OF RELATED ART  
       [0002]     The past decade has been marked by a technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. The effect has, in turn, driven technologies that have been known and available but relatively quiescent over the years. A major one of these technologies is the Internet of Web related distribution of documents. The Web or Internet, which had quietly existed for over a generation as a loose academic and government data distribution facility, reached, “critical mass” and commenced a period of phenomenal expansion. With this expansion, businesses and consumers have direct access to all matter of documents and media through the Web. Also, as a result, of the rapid expansion of the Web, E-mail, which has been distributed for over 25 years over smaller private and specific purpose networks, has moved into distribution over the Web because of the vast distribution channels that are available.  
         [0003]     The availability of extensive E-mail distribution channels has made it possible to keep all necessary parties in business, government and public organizations completely informed of all transactions that they need to know about at almost nominal costs. Such communication can also include large attachments that are time consuming to download, which causes a receiving terminal to lose control of its terminal while the applications and the channel are finishing the downloading process. Currently, a user of the receiving terminal is not notified of the size of an attachment before beginning to download it.  
       SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION  
       [0004]     The present invention provides a method and apparatus for fast communication over the Web via E-mails with large attachments. The present invention allows a user in a communication network for E-mail distribution between data processor controlled interactive display terminals, including a sending terminal and a receiving terminal, to determine the size of an E-mail attachment before selecting and downloading the attachment. The sending terminal stores data as a body and an attachment for sending with the E-mail. The sending terminal handshakes with the receiving terminal and converts the data in the sending terminal into a set of symbols that contain information regarding the size of an object to which it is linked. Then the symbols are transmitted from the sending terminal to the receiving terminal without transferring the data objects to which they correspond, allowing a user to determine the size of the data objects before selecting, downloading, or deleting the data objects.  
         [0005]     The present invention is particularly useful to users of a computer system who receive E-mails with large attachments who want to maintain control of their systems while determining whether to select, download, or delete E-mail attachments. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0006]     The present invention will be better understood and its numerous objects and advantages will become more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following drawings, in conjunction with the accompanying specification, in which:  
         [0007]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a data processing system including a central processing unit and network connections via a communications adapter that is capable of implementing the interactive display terminals, as well as servers in the Internet or Web E-mail distribution of this invention;  
         [0008]      FIG. 2  is a generalized view of an E-mail distribution system in a Web or Internet that may be used in the practice of the present invention;  
         [0009]      FIG. 3  is a diagrammatic illustration of an interactive display interface used for the writing of an E-mail document where the attachment is a set of symbols indicating the size of the attachment to which it is linked; and  
         [0010]      FIG. 4  is an illustrative flowchart describing the setting up of the functions to store an attachment separately from its E-mail while converting it to a set of symbols indicating the size of the attachment linked to the attachment. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0011]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a typical data processing system is shown which may function as the computer network terminal or Web station used conventionally as any of the sending or receiving Web stations for electronic mail transmission; the system shown is also illustrative of any of the server computers used for the Web E-mail distribution to be described in greater detail with respect to  FIG. 2 .  
         [0012]     A central processing unit (CPU)  10 , may be one of the commercial microprocessors in personal computers available from International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) or Dell Corporation; when the system shown is used as a server computer at the Web distribution site, to be subsequently described, then a workstation is preferably used, e.g. RISC System/6000™ (RS/6000) series available from IBM. The CPU  10  is interconnected to various other components by system bus  12 . An operating system  41  runs on a CPU  10 , provides control and is used to coordinate the functions of the various components of  FIG. 1 . Operating system  41  may be one of the commercially available operating systems such as IBM&#39;s AIX 5L™ operating system; Microsoft&#39;s Windows XP™; or Windows2000™, as well as other UNIX and AIX operating systems. Application programs  40 , controlled by the system, are moved into and out of the main memory Random Access Memory (RAM)  14 . These programs include the programs of the present invention for faster communication with a symbol linked object based system by separately storing an E-mail from its attachment in a sending terminal, transmitting information regarding the size of the attachment to a receiving terminal, and allowing the user of the receiving terminal to make an informed decision regarding whether to select, download or delete the attachment. Where the computer system shown functions as the receiving Web station, then any conventional Web browser application program, such as Microsoft&#39;s Internet Explorer™, will be available for accessing E-mail from the Web and for sending E-mail to the Web from the network station. A Read Only Memory (ROM)  16  is connected to CPU  10  via bus  12  and includes the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) that controls the basic computer functions. RAM  14 , I/O adapter  18  and communications adapter  34  are also interconnected to system bus  12 . I/O adapter  18  communicates with the disk storage device  20 . Communications adapter  34  interconnects bus  12  with the outside network enabling the computer system to communicate with other such computers over the Web or Internet. The latter two terms are meant to be generally interchangeable and are so used in the present description of the distribution network. I/O devices are also connected to system bus  12  via user interface adapter  22  and display adapter  36 . Keyboard  24  and mouse  26  are all interconnected to bus  12  through user interface adapter  22 . It is through such input devices that the user at a receiving station may interactively relate to the Web in order to access Web documents. Display adapter  36  includes a frame buffer  39 , which is a storage device that holds a representation of each pixel on the display screen  38 . Images may be stored in frame buffer  39  for display on monitor  38  through various components, such as a digital to analog converter (not shown) and the like. By using the aforementioned I/O devices, a user is capable of inputting information to the system through the keyboard  24  or mouse  26  and receiving output information from the system via display  38 .  
         [0013]     Before going further into the details of specific embodiments, it will be helpful to understand from a more general perspective the various elements and methods that may be related to the present invention. Since a major aspect of the present invention is directed to E-mail documents transmitted over networks, an understanding of networks and their operating principles would be helpful. We will not go into great detail in describing the networks to which the present invention is applicable. Reference has also been made to the applicability of the present invention to a global network, such as the Internet or Web. For details on Internet nodes, objects and links, reference is made to the text,  Mastering the Internet,  G. H. Cady et al., published by Sybex Inc., Alameda, Calif., 1996. The Internet or Web is a global network of a heterogeneous mix of computer technologies and operating systems. Higher level objects are linked to the lower level objects in the hierarchy through a variety of network server computers. E-mail is distributed through such a network.  
         [0014]     A generalized diagram of a portion of the Web for illustration of the E-mail distribution system of the present invention is shown in  FIG. 2 . The computer controlled display terminals  11  and  13  have displays  57  upon which E-mail documents  56  may be created by senders and displayed. Terminals  11  and  15  may be implemented by the computer system set up in  FIG. 1 , and connection  58  ( FIG. 2 ) is the network connection shown in  FIG. 1 . For purposes of the present embodiment, terminals  11  and  13  serve as a Web display station for the sending of E-mail via the display interfaces to be described with respect to  FIGS. 3 through 6  via Web browser programs. Reference may be made to the above-mentioned  Mastering the Internet,  pp. 136-147, for typical connections between local display stations to the Web via network servers, any of which may b used to implement the system on which this invention is used. In the typical set up shown, terminals are connected via, for example, host dial connections (not shown) to server  45  provided by a Web Service Provider that in turn accesses the Web  50  via connection  51  to a Web access server  53  and connection  61 . For the purpose of this embodiment, E-mail is created on either terminal  11  or  13 , and sent over the Web  50  to receiving terminals  15 ,  19  or  21 . A key to the invention is the separate storage at the sending terminal of the E-mail with information about its attachment, and the full attachment. This is illustrated on terminal  13  wherein the E-mail attachment is stored separately, e.g. in the form of a folder.  
         [0015]     In  FIG. 3  there is illustrated an E-mail document or letter  35  being created by a sender as shown in  FIG. 2 , e.g. E-mail on sending terminals  13 . The sender writes the message and attaches the attachment  31  or data object. When the sender clicks on the send button  33 , the sending terminal  13  stores the attachment  31  in a separate file folder from the E-mail message being sent. The sending terminal  13  handshakes with the receiving terminal  11  and converts the attachment in the sending terminal  13  into a set of symbols  37  that contain information regarding the size of the attachment  31  to which it is linked. The sending terminal  13  is able to transmit these symbols  37  to the receiving terminal  11  without transferring the attachment  31  to which the symbols  37  are linked. The user of the receiving terminal  11  can determine from the information received in the symbols  37  the size of the attachment  31 , and make a decision about whether to select, download or delete the attachment  31 . This prevents a user of a receiving terminal  11  from losing control of the system by unknowingly selecting a large attachment that ties up the user&#39;s system for a long period of time.  
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a flowchart showing the development of a process according to the present invention for enabling receivers of electronic mail with attachments to make an informed decision about whether to select, download or delete the attachment. At the display terminal of the E-mail sender there is provided an interface enabling the sender to attach an attachment or data object, step  70 . The attachment is stored in the sending terminal, step  72 . When the user of the sending terminal sends the E-mail with the attachment, step  74 , the sending terminal handshakes with the receiving terminal, step  76 . The attachment is converted into a set of symbols containing information about the size of the attachment to which the attachment is linked, step  78 . The symbols are transmitted to the receiving terminal without transferring the attachment, step  80 . The user of the receiving terminal determines from the symbols the size of the attachment, step  82 . The attachments are transferred to the receiving terminal if requested by the user of the sending terminal, step  84 . With regard to the attachment, the user of the receiving terminal can select, step  86 , delete, step  88 , or download, step  90 .  
         [0017]     One of the preferred implementations of the present invention is in application program  40  made up of programming steps or instructions resident in RAM  14 ,  FIG. 1 , of Web server computers during various Web operations. Until required by the computer system, the program instructions may be stored in another readable medium, e.g. in disk drive  20 , or in a removable memory, such as an optical disk for use in a CD ROM computer input or in a floppy disk for use in a floppy disk drive computer input. Further, the program instructions may be stored in the memory of another computer prior to use in the system of the present invention and transmitted over a Local Area Network (LAN) or a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as the Internet, when required by the user of the present invention. One skilled in the art should appreciate that the processes controlling the present invention are capable of being distributed in the form of computer readable media of a variety of forms.  
         [0018]     Although certain preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that many changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the scope and intent of the appended claims.