Source: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/8577971.html
Timestamp: 2019-07-20 08:49:24
Document Index: 340469831

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 2008271011', 'Application No. 08', 'Application No. 2008271011', 'Application No. 200880020377', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60', 'Application No. 60']

Email fetching system and method in a portable electronic device - Apple Inc.
United States Patent 8577971
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method for fetching email from an email server to a portable electronic device is disclosed. The method includes fetching email from the email server upon occurrence of at least one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of an email application running on the device; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in background; or expiration of a fourth period of time after the portable device is unlocked.
Ganatra, Nitin K. (San Jose, CA, US)
Keen, Dan (Sunnyvale, CA, US)
11/968070
709/217, 709/223
709/203, 709/206, 709/217, 709/219, 709/223, 709/224
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This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Nos. 60/947,395, “Email Fetching System and Method in a Portable Electronic Device,” filed Jun. 29, 2007; and 60/937,993, “Portable Multifunction Device,” filed Jun. 29, 2007. Both of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
This application is related to the following applications: (1) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/188,182, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,046,230, “Touch Pad For Handheld Device,” filed Jul. 1, 2002; (2) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/722,948, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,495,659, “Touch Pad For Handheld Device,” filed Nov. 25, 2003; (3) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/643,256, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,499,040, “Movable Touch Pad With Added Functionality,” filed Aug. 18, 2003; (4) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/654,108, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,808,479, “Ambidextrous Mouse,” filed Sep. 2, 2003; (5) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/840,862, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 7,663,607, “Multipoint Touchscreen,” filed May 6, 2004; (6) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/903,964, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,479,122, “Gestures For Touch Sensitive Input Devices,” filed Jul. 30, 2004; (7) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/038,590, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 8,239,784, “Mode-Based Graphical User Interfaces For Touch Sensitive Input Devices” filed Jan. 18, 2005; (8) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/057,050, now published as U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2006/0181517, “Display Actuator,” filed Feb. 11, 2005; (9) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/658,777, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 4, 2005; (10) U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/367,749, now published as U.S. Patent Pub. No. 2006/0197753, “Multi-Functional Hand-Held Device,” filed Mar. 3, 2006; (11) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/824,769, “Portable Multifunction Device,” filed Sep. 6, 2006; (12) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/879,253, “Portable Multifunction Device,” filed Jan. 7, 2007; (13) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/879,469, “Portable Multifunction Device,” filed Jan. 8, 2007; and (14) U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/947,396, “Port Discovery and Message Delivery in a Portable Electronic Device,” filed Jun. 29, 2007. All of these applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: at a portable electronic device configured with an email application, setting a first period of time to a first value and a fourth period of time to a fourth value; and fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of: elapse of the first period of time after activation of the email application, wherein the activation of the email application occurs upon occurrence of at least one of launching or resuming of the email application; or elapse of the fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first or fourth periods of time is user-definable.
3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first value is greater than 1 minute.
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the fourth value is 1 minute.
5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: upon activation of the email application, resetting the first time period to the first value.
6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: anytime the device is unlocked, resetting the fourth period to the fourth value.
7. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after the elapse of the first period of time or the fourth period of time, repeatedly fetching email from the email server upon occurrence of a next one of: elapse of the first period of time after activation of the email application; or elapse of the fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising: setting a second period of time to a second value and a third period of time to a third value; and fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of: elapse of the second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in foreground on the portable electronic device; or elapse of the third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in background on the portable electronic device.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the second or third periods of time is user-definable.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the second value is greater than or equal to 5 minutes.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the third value is greater than or equal to 15 minutes.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein the second value is 5 minutes and the third value is at least 15 minutes.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: upon activation of the email application, resetting the second period to the second value and the third period to the third value.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: anytime email is fetched, resetting the second period to the second value and the third period to the third value.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising: after the elapse of the first, second, third, or fourth period of time, repeatedly fetching email from the email server upon occurrence of a next one of: elapse of the second period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in foreground on the portable electronic device; or elapse of the third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in background on the portable electronic device.
16. A portable computing device, comprising: a display; one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: an email application; and instructions for: setting a first period of time to a first value and a fourth period of time to a fourth value; and fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of: elapse of the first period of time after activation of the email application, wherein the activation of the email application occurs upon occurrence of at least one of launching or resuming of the email application; or elapse of the fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
17. A computer readable non-transitory storage medium storing one or more programs, the one or more computer programs including instructions, which when executed by a portable computing device with an email application, cause the device to: set a first period of time to a first value and a fourth period of time to a fourth value; and fetch email to the portable device from an email server upon occurrence of: elapse of the first period of time after activation of the email application, wherein the activation of the email application occurs upon occurrence of at least one of launching or resuming of the email application; or elapse of the fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
18. A portable computing device with a touch screen display and configured with an email application, comprising means for: setting a first period of time to a first value and a fourth period of time to a fourth value; and fetching email to the portable device from an email server upon occurrence of: elapse of the first period of time after activation of the email application, wherein the activation of the email application occurs upon occurrence of at least one of launching or resuming of the email application; or elapse of the fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
19. A portable computing device, comprising: a display; one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs, wherein the one or more programs are stored in the memory and configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including: an email application; and instructions for: testing for occurrence of: elapse of a first period of time after activation of the email application, wherein the activation of the email application occurs upon occurrence of at least one of launching or resuming of the email application; elapse of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in foreground on the portable electronic device; elapse of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in background on the portable electronic device; and elapse of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device; and fetching email from an email server if at least one of the elapses is tested to have occurred.
Some portable electronic devices provide email capabilities in addition to other features, such as access to and display of online videos, Internet access, media player features, and cell phone capabilities. Email can either be pushed to a portable device or fetched. Fetching email involves a portable electronic device periodically downloading incoming email from an email server. How fetching is handled can negatively impact performance and battery life of the device and the quality of the user email experience. This is because downloading email can momentarily occupy a significant amount of the communications bandwidth available to a portable electronic device, which must sometimes use a relatively slow network connection. Also, downloading email can slow operation of other applications running on a portable electronic device (such as a video player that is playing streaming video during an email fetch), and the communications required to fetch email can drain battery resources, which are at a premium for portable devices. The quality of the user's email experience can also be negatively impacted depending on when the email is fetched. For example, email that is fetched according to an inflexible schedule is not likely to be fresh when a user is ready to read it.
Accordingly, there is a need for a portable electronic device with email capabilities that performs email fetching in a way that is sensitive to available communication bandwidth, does not monopolize system resources at the expense of other applications that are running on the device, and is sensitive to battery usage. There is also a need for a portable electronic device that performs email fetching in way that does negatively impact the user's email experience or use of other features of the device.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is performed at a portable electronic device configured with an email application. The computer-implemented method includes: fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of at least one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of the email application; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground on the portable electronic device; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in the background on the portable electronic device; or expiration of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device. In accordance with some embodiments, at least one of the first, second, third or fourth periods of time is user-definable. In accordance with other embodiments, at least one of the second and third periods of time are adapted to extend battery life of the portable electronic device by setting the third period to be substantially longer than the second period. In some embodiments, the second period can be approximately 5 minutes and third period at least approximately 15 minutes.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer-implemented method is performed at a portable electronic device configured with an email application. The computer-implemented method includes: repeatedly fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of a next one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of the email application; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground on the portable electronic device; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in the background on the portable electronic device; or expiration of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable computing device includes: a display; one or more processors; memory; and one or more programs. The one or more programs are stored in the memory and are configured to be executed by the one or more processors. The one or more programs include an email application and instructions for fetching email from an email server upon occurrence of at least one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of the email application; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground on the portable electronic device; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in the background on the portable electronic device; or expiration of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
In accordance with some embodiments, a computer readable storage medium stores one or more programs. The one or more programs include instructions, which when executed by a portable computing device with an email application, cause the device to fetch email to the portable device from an email server upon occurrence of at least one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of the email application; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground on the portable electronic device; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in the background on the portable electronic device; or expiration of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
In accordance with some embodiments, a portable computing device with a touch screen display includes means for fetching email to the portable device from an email server upon occurrence of at least one of: expiration of a first period of time after activation of the email application; expiration of a second period of time after a prior email fetch while the email application is running in the foreground on the portable electronic device; expiration of a third period of time after the prior email fetch while the email application is running in the background on the portable electronic device; or expiration of a fourth period of time after unlocking of the portable device.
Thus, a portable electronic device is provided that provides a more efficient and unobtrusive (to the user) system and method for fetching email from a server.
FIGS. 5A and 5B illustrate an exemplary user interface for an email client for a portable electronic device in accordance with some embodiments.
First After the email module is launched or resumed - the time period
Period since such launch event after which an autofetch is to be
182-1 performed.
Second While the email module is running in the foreground - the time
Period period since the prior fetch after which an autofetch is to be
182-2 performed.
Third While the email module is running in the background - the time
182-3 performed.
Fourth After the portable device 100 is unlocked, the time period since
Period such unlock event after when an autofetch is to be performed.
1. 587/SSL,
2. 587/STARTTLS,
3. 25/SSL,
4. 25/STARTTLS,
5. 465/SSL,
6. 465/STARTTLS,
7. 587/no SSL or STARTTLS,
8. 25/no SSL or STARTTLS,
9. 465/no SSL or STARTTLS.
1. 465/SSL,
2. 465/STARTTLS.
In some embodiments, the device detects contact with the touch-sensitive display (e.g., a user's finger making contact on or near the unlock image 302) while the device is in a user-interface lock state. The device moves the unlock image 302 in accordance with the contact. The device transitions to a user-interface unlock state if the detected contact corresponds to a predefined gesture, such as moving the unlock image across channel 306. Conversely, the device maintains the user-interface lock state if the detected contact does not correspond to the predefined gesture. As noted above, processes that use gestures on the touch screen to unlock the device are described in U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/322,549, “Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, and No. 11/322,550, “Indication Of Progress Towards Satisfaction Of A User Input Condition,” filed Dec. 23, 2005, which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
If a successful connection cannot be made with any of the secondary/alternative port/security combinations (610-N), the attempt to make an email connection is terminated (618). At this point, the process of port discovery can be repeated (604) —either automatically, after a predefined interval, or upon user request. Using this method, a default port and security setting for an email account is established automatically for a portable device 100. In some embodiments, depending on the arrangement of port/security combinations associated with the validation sequence, the port/security setting so determined is the strongest combination possible in view of capabilities of the portable device 100, the network 198, and the email server 199.
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