Abstract:
A system and method of distributing a file by email is described: receiving a first email in a server, wherein the first email includes a first attachment; storing the first attachment on the server; converting the first attachment to create a converted attachment; outputting the first email to an addressee, wherein the first email includes the converted attachment and further wherein the first email is received in a client comprising the addressee; receiving a forward email message in the server from the addressee, the forward email message containing the converted attachment and a forward addressee; identifying the first attachment in response to receiving the forward email message, wherein identifying the first attachment comprises using an attachment identifier to identify the first attachment from a plurality of stored attachments, wherein the attachment identifier includes the converted attachment; attaching the first attachment to the forward email message; and forwarding the forward email with the first attachment to the forward addressee.

Description:
The present application claims priority from a U.S. provisional application entitled “A System and Method of Distributing a File by Email”, Application No. 60/317,772, filed Sep. 6, 2001. 

   FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
   The present invention relates to email systems and more specifically to an improved system and method of distributing file attachments by email. 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   Electronic mail (email) is used by many people. Often an email includes a file attachment (attachment) so that the attachment can be distributed to the addressees/recipients of the email. Attachments can include any type of file such as data, computer applications, graphics, text documents, and other files. Typically, an attachment is distributed to one or more persons or computers. The attachment can be viewed or otherwise used by the recipients of the email. Email is a preferred method of distributing attachments that more than one person needs access to. 
   The recipients can also reply to or forward the email and can opt to include the attachment as part of the replying or forwarding function. Forwarding the email includes creating a new email that includes the contents of the original email to additional addressees/recipients. The forwarding party (i.e. the recipient of the original email) can also edit the email. Replying to the email includes forwarding the email to one or more of the other addresses and/or the sender of the email. 
     FIG. 1  illustrates a typical email. The email includes an addressee&#39;s email address “jim.smith@kookoo.com” in the addressee field  104 , a carbon copy (CC) addressee&#39;s email address “jim.jones@anycompany.com” in the carbon copy (CC) addressee&#39;s field  106 , the author/sender&#39;s email address “jane.doe@kookoo.com”, in the author/sender&#39;s field  102 . The addressees and CC addressees are often referred to generally as the addressees. The email can also include other types of addressees. The email also includes a message window  110  that shows a message  111  from the author to the addressees and a signature block  112  from the author. In addition, an attachment is attached to the email. A small icon  115  represents the attachment in the email. Typically the icon  115  also includes a file name  116 . The attachment shown is a Microsoft Excel (MSExcel) spread sheet as can be seen from the file extension “.xls” of the file name  116 . 
   One of the deficiencies of using email as a file distribution system is that attached files can be very large. A very large attachment can severely burden many email systems as the email server creates a different email to route to each addressee. For example if the email has ten addressees and an attachment size of that is 325 k, then the email server must manage at least 3250 k (325 k* 10) of data throughput. Then the email server must distribute this 3250 k of data through the various output channels available to the server and thereby consume a large quantity of bandwidth available to the email server. 
     FIG. 2  shows a process of receiving an email and forwarding the email on to additional addressees. First, the email is received in block  205 . The email also includes an attachment. Second, in block  210 , the email is forwarded to one or more addressees. The forwarded email can also be considered a “new” email. The forwarded email also includes the attachment. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   A system and method of distributing a file by email is described. In one embodiment, an email is received. The email includes an attachment. The attachment is converted to create a converted attachment. The email is then output to an addressee. The output email includes the converted attachment. 
   In another embodiment, the email is forwarded. The forwarded email includes an attachment identifier such as the converted attachment or a representation of the converted attachment or a representation of the original email or combinations thereof. The forwarded email is received in a server that converted the attachment. The server attaches the original, non-converted attachment to the forwarded email and outputs the forwarded email to a forward addressee. 
   In yet another embodiment, the converted attachment is edited in a client. The email is then forwarded. The forwarded email includes the edited, converted attachment. The edits from the edited converted attachment are then determined and the edits are applied to the original, non-converted attachment to create an edited attachment. The edited attachment is attached to the forwarded email. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements. 
       FIG. 1  illustrates a typical email. 
       FIG. 2  shows a process of receiving an email and forwarding the email on to additional addressees. 
       FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of a process of converting the attachment. 
       FIG. 3A  shows one embodiment of a process of converting the attachment in a client-server system. 
       FIG. 4  shows one embodiment of a process of receiving an email with the converted attachment in an email client. 
       FIG. 5  illustrates one embodiment of a process where the converted attachment is edited in the email client. 
       FIG. 6  shows a general computer that can be used as the client or as the server computer. 
       FIG. 7  describes one embodiment of a network server system. 
       FIG. 8  illustrates one embodiment of a client computing device. 
       FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment of a handheld keyboard and display device such as may be used as the client computing device of  FIG. 8 . 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
   As will be described is more detail below, a system and method for distributing an attachment by email is described. In one embodiment, the attachment is automatically converted to reduce the file size of the attachment. In another embodiment, the attachment is converted to a predetermined format according to an addressee&#39;s preferences. In another embodiment, the original attachment is automatically attached to the email when the email is forwarded to another addressee. 
     FIG. 3  shows one embodiment of a process of converting the attachment. First, the email is received in block  305 . The email includes an attachment. Then the attachment is converted in block  315 . Various embodiments of converting the attachment will be described in more detail below. In block  320 , the converted attachment replaces the original attachment in the email and the email is sent onto the addressees in block  325 . 
   In one embodiment, the attachment is detached from the email so that the attachment can be manipulated separately from the email. In another embodiment the original, unconverted attachment is stored in the server. In yet another embodiment, the converted attachment includes a representation of the attachment such as an attachment ID and the attachment ID is also recorded to correspond to the correct original, unconverted attachment and the correct converted attachment. 
     FIG. 3A  shows one embodiment of a process of converting the attachment in a client-server system. First, the email is received in an email server for an addressee of the email in block  340 . The email includes an attachment. The attachment is converted in block  342 . In block  344 , the converted attachment replaces the original attachment in the email and the email is sent onto the addressee in block  346 . 
   In another embodiment, the email is received by a recipient (i.e. an addressee of the received email). Then the recipient forwards the email to a new addressee. Then the attachment is automatically converted and attached to the forwarded email. Then the forwarded email with converted attachment is sent on to the new addressee. 
   In one embodiment the attachment is converted to reduce the file size of the attachment. Converting the attachment to reduce the file size reduces the bandwidth required to distribute the email. For example, if the attachment is a Microsoft Word (MSWord).doc file format that has a size of 200 k, the file may be converted to any one or more or combinations thereof, of other file formats such as ASCII text, rich text format, HTML, XML and many other file formats. The converted attachment can be substantially smaller than the original attachment. 
   Another example of reducing a file size is converting a 16-bit color, high resolution JPEG (.jpg) graphic attachment to a low resolution, 4-bit gray scale graphic. Determining the correct conversion process to use to convert the attachment can include many factors. In one embodiment, the attachment is converted to a file format according to the preferences of the addressee of the email. 
   In another embodiment, the attachment is converted to a predetermined file format. For example, if the attachment is a proprietary file format such as a proprietary database report format, then the converting process could convert the report from the proprietary format to a more common format such as the Adobe Acrobat .pdf file type format or an HTML format. Other conversion processes can also be used so that the converted attachment is more easily useable by the addressee. 
   There are many attachment conversion applications that are commercially available. Proprietary or specialized conversion applications can also be used to convert the attachment to meet the requirements of the viewer of the attachment. 
     FIG. 4  shows one embodiment of a process of receiving an email with the converted attachment in an email client. An email client can include a client computer that accesses the email server for email services. The email client can also include an email client application operating on the same computer as the email server. The email is received in the email client (client) of the email addressee in block  405 . The received email includes a converted attachment. In block  410 , the email is forwarded from the client to one or more addressees (forward addressees). In one embodiment, the forwarded email also includes the converted attachment. 
   Alternatively, the forwarded email can also include a representation of the received email. A representation of the received email can include an unique email ID or other reference that identifies the received email. The forwarded email is sent to the server in block  415 . The server is the same server such as the email server that converted the attachment and also stored the original, unconverted attachment as part of the conversion process. The server receives the forwarded email in block  420  and determines the correct, original, unconverted attachment from the received email. The server automatically replaces the converted attachment with the corresponding original, unconverted attachment in the forwarded email in block  425 . Then the server sends the forwarded email with the original attachment to the forward addressee(s) in block  430 . 
   In one embodiment, the server determines the correct, original, unconverted attachment by comparing the converted attachment or a representation of the converted attachment to several stored attachments. In another embodiment, the correct, original, unconverted attachment is determined by comparing the representation of the received email to the email received for the client or otherwise stored in the server. 
   As described above, the server converted the attachment to reduce bandwidth requirements to the client and/or according to the preferences of the email client. However, the forward addressees of the forwarded email may or may not have the same preferences or limitations of bandwidth or format. Further, the converted format is often a pared down version that includes fewer details (i.e. less formatting, lower resolution, etc) and other aspects than the original attachment. Therefore, the original attachment may be a preferable format for the forwarded email. 
   For example, a high resolution, color .jpg attachment is received in the server. The server converts the high resolution, color .jpg to a low-resolution, 4-bit gray-scale .jpg or other graphic format because the server knows preferences of the addressee. In this example the addressee is a wireless PDA client of the server. Because the wireless PDA has a small, low-resolution monochrome display, then the addressee does not need the high resolution color jpg. The addressee receives and views the email and attachment. The addressee then forwards the email on to a group of forward addressees. The email with the converted attachment is returned to the server. The server determines the original attachment and replaces the converted attachment with the original high-resolution, 16-bit color .jpg graphic attachment and sends the forwarded email to the forward addressees. 
   In one embodiment, the attachments are identified by an attachment ID in the server that performs the attachment conversion. The server stores the original attachment and the attachment ID and the converted attachment. The server can then more easily identify the original and converted attachments that are received by the server. The attachment ID can be in the file name or can be part of a file header in the converted attachment or elsewhere in the converted attachment so that the server is able to identify the converted attachment. 
   In one alternative embodiment of the process of  FIG. 4 , forwarding the email from the client to a forward addressee, the converted attachment is replaced by an attachment ID in the forwarded email. When the forwarded email is received in the server, the server identifies the original attachment by comparing the attachment ID from the forwarded email to the attachment IDs of the stored attachments. Then the attachment ID in the forwarded email is replaced by the corresponding original attachment. Then the forwarded email is sent to the forward addressee(s) specified by the email. Including only the attachment ID in the forwarded email from the client to the server can further reduce the bandwidth required to distribute an attachment by email. 
     FIG. 5  illustrates one embodiment of a process where the converted attachment is edited in the email client. The email with the converted attachment is received in the client in block  505 . The client then views the attachment and edits the attachment in block  510 . In block  515 , the email is forwarded. The forwarded email includes the edited, converted attachment and one or more forward addressees. In block  520 , the forwarded email is sent to the server that converted the attachment as described above. The server then as descried above, detects the edited, converted attachment and identifies the corresponding converted attachment stored in the server. The server then compares the edited, converted attachment to the original converted attachment in block  525 . There are many known methods in the art of comparing two similar files to identify differences (i.e. edits in this instance). In block  530 , the server automatically edits the original, unconverted attachment in accordance with the edits that were applied to the edited, converted attachment in the client. In block  535 , the server replaces the converted, edited attachment in the forwarded email with the edited, unconverted attachment. In block  540 , the server sends the forwarded email to the forward addressees. 
   As described above in  FIG. 5 , the server can receive an edited converted attachment and then forward a correspondingly edited original attachment. For example, if the original attachment is a MSWord document, the server converts the MSWord document to an ASCII text file. The ASCII text file then sent to the client. The client views the ASCII text file and edits the ASCII text file, (e.g. changing a sentence, or a letter, etc.). Then the client forwards the email with the edited ASCII text file to one or more forward addressees. The server receives the edited ASCII text attachment. The server determines the corresponding converted ASCII text attachment and compares the edited ASCII text attachment edited to the corresponding ASCII text attachment. The server identifies the differences/edits that were made in the client. The server then applies the identified edits to the original, unconverted MSWord document attachment to create an edited, MSWord document. The server then attaches the edited MSWord document to the forwarded email and sends the forwarded email on to the forward addressees. 
   The process of  FIG. 5  allows a client to virtually view and edit the original format attachments without being burdened by having to actually manipulate the large original attachment. The process of  FIG. 5  also allows the client to forward the client&#39;s proposed changes to other addressees. 
     FIG. 6  is a high-level block diagram of a computer system representative of any or all of the client  701  or the servers, i.e., network servers  716 ,  720  and gateway server  708 , shown in  FIG. 7 . As shown, the computer system includes a processor  602 , ROM  604 , and RAM  606 , each connected to a bus system  608 . The bus system  608  may include one or more buses connected to each other through various bridges, controllers and/or adapters, such as are well known in the art. For example, the bus system  608  may include a “system bus” that is connected through an adapter to one or more expansion buses, such as a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus. Also coupled to the bus system  608  are a mass storage device  610 , a network interface  612 , and a number (N) of input/output (I/O) devices  616 - 1  through  616 -N. 
   I/O devices  616 - 1  through  616 -N may include, for example, a keyboard, a pointing device, a display device and/or other conventional I/O devices. Mass storage device  610  may include any suitable device for storing large volumes of data, such as a magnetic disk or tape, magneto-optical (MO) storage device, or any of various types of Digital Versatile Disk (DVD) or Compact Disk (CD) based storage. 
   Network interface  612  provides data communication between the computer system and other computer systems such as via the networks  704 ,  712  of  FIG. 7 . Hence, network interface  612  may be any device suitable for or enabling the computer system  600  to communicate data with a remote processing system over a data communication link, such as a conventional telephone modem, an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) adapter, a Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) adapter, a cable modem, a satellite transceiver, an Ethernet adapter, or the like. 
   Of course, many variations upon the architecture shown in  FIG. 6  can be made to suit the particular needs of a given system. Thus, certain components may be added to those shown in  FIG. 6  for given system, or certain components shown in  FIG. 6  may be omitted from the given system. 
     FIG. 7  describes one embodiment of a network server system. The network server system includes a gateway server  708  that provides a gateway to a wireless network  704 , and the wireless network has a wireless client  701 . As shown the wireless client  701  is a cellular telephone, but other types of wireless clients such as a wireless PDA, and other devices could also be used. In addition, the gateway server is attached to a network  712 , also attached to the network  712  are two network servers  716 ,  720 . The gateway server  708  can also be part of one of the network servers  716 ,  720 . One of the servers  708 ,  712 ,  720  is an email server for the wireless client  701 . Because the bandwidth across the wireless network  704 , tends to be more limited than across the wired network  712 , then it is advantageous to have reduced sized the email. In addition, the wireless client  701  does not have the viewing capabilities and the processing capabilities of larger computer system such as a lap top and desk top PCs and other computing platforms. Therefore, a reduced sized and/or converted format attachment might also be required to allow that wireless client  701  to use the attachment. The wireless network  704  is typically limited to narrow bandwidths of approximately 14.4 kbps or less and sometimes slightly higher bandwidths such as like 19.2 or 28.8 kbps. The wireless network  704  is typically substantially narrower bandwidth when compared to the large bandwidth capabilities of a wired network  712 . Often wired network  712  includes a 1.4 megabit of a T1 connection, the approximately 1 megabit connection of a DSL connection, a 10 megabit ethernet connection or other types of broad bandwidth (i.e. approximately 300 kbps or greater) connections that are capable in a wired network  712 . 
     FIG. 8  illustrates one embodiment of a client computing device. The client computing device  800  includes a microcontroller  805 , an external memory  865 , a display  875 , various I/O devices  880  such as a keyboard, and a battery  860 . The external memory  865  may be used to store programs and/or portal data transmitted to the client computing device  800  from the portal server  708 . In one embodiment, the external memory  865  is non-volatile memory (e.g., an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (“EEPROM”); a programmable read only memory (“PROM”), etc). Alternatively, the memory  865  may be a volatile memory (e.g., random access memory or “RAM”) but the data stored therein may be continually maintained via the battery  860 . The battery  860  in one embodiment is a coin cell battery (e.g., of the same type used in portable electronic devices such as calculators and watches). In one embodiment, when the battery power decreases below a threshold level, the client computing device  850  will notify the user and/or the portal server  708 . The portal server  708  in one embodiment will then automatically send the user a new battery. 
   The microcontroller  805  of one embodiment is comprised of a central processing unit (“CPU”), a read only memory (“ROM”), and a scratchpad RAM. The ROM is further comprised of an interpreter module and a toolbox module. 
   The toolbox module of the ROM contains a set of toolbox routines for processing data, text and graphics on the client computing device  800 . These routines include drawing text and graphics on the client computing device&#39;s display  875 , decompressing data transmitted from the portal server  708 , reproducing audio on the client computing device  800 , and performing various input/output and communication functions (e.g., transmitting/receiving data over the client link). A variety of additional client computing device functions may be included within the toolbox while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention. 
   In one embodiment, microprograms and portal data are transmitted from the portal server  708  to the external memory  865  of the client computing device via a communication interface under control of the microcontroller  805 . Various communication interfaces may be employed without departing from the underlying principles of the invention including, for example, a Universal Serial Bus (“USB”) interface or a serial communication (“serial”) interface. The microprograms in one embodiment are comprised of compact, interpreted instructions known as “bytecodes,” which are converted into native code by the interpreter module before being executed by the microcontroller  805 . One of the benefits of this configuration is that when the microcontroller portion of the client computing device  800  is upgraded (e.g., to a faster and/or less expensive model), only the interpreter module and toolbox of the ROM needs to be rewritten to interpret the currently existing bytecodes for the new microcontroller  805 . In addition, this configuration allows client computing devices  800  with different CPUs to coexist and execute the same microprograms. Moreover, programming frequently-used routines in the ROM toolbox module reduces the size of microprograms stored in the external memory  865 , thereby conserving memory and bandwidth over the client link. In one embodiment, new interpreter modules and/or toolbox routines may be developed to execute the same microprograms on cellular phones, personal information managers (“PIMs”), or any other device with a CPU and memory. 
   One embodiment of the ROM may be comprised of interpreted code as well as native code written specifically for the microcontroller CPU. More particularly, some toolbox routines may be written as interpreted code (as indicated by the arrow between the toolbox and the interpreter module) to conserve memory and bandwidth for the same reasons described above with respect to microprograms. Moreover, in one embodiment, data and microprograms stored in external memory  865  may be configured to override older versions of data/microprograms stored in the ROM (e.g., in the ROM toolbox). 
   The client computing device  800  may communicate with the portal server  708  (discussed above) using various RF communication techniques. In one embodiment, the RF communication is established through the communication device  880 . In one embodiment, the communication device  880  includes a cellular telephone module that includes a full function cellular telephone that the microcontroller  805  may access for establishing a wireless link to the portal server  708 . The communication device  880  can also include any other similar RF receiver/transmitter combination that will allow the microcontroller  805  to establish a link to the portal server  708  or other network server such as network server  716 , 720 . For example, in one particular embodiment, the client computing device  800  transmits and receives data to/from a cellular network via the cellular digital packet data (“CDPD”) standard. As it is known in the art, the CDPD standard is a digital wireless standard that is deployed as an enhancement to the existing analog cellular network. It provides a packet overlay onto the AMPS network and moves data at 19.2 Kbps over continuously-changing unused intervals in standard voice channels. Accordingly, this embodiment of the client computing device is capable of exploiting normally unused bandwidth on a nation-wide, analog cellular network. Embodiments of the client computing device may also be configured to transmit/receive data using a variety of other communication standards including 2-way paging standards and third generation (“3G”) wireless standards (e.g., UTMS, CDMA 2000, NTT DoCoMo, . . . etc). 
   As indicated in  FIG. 8 , one embodiment of the client computing device  800 , the CPU employs a 32-bit RISC-based microprocessor such as an ARM processor. As is known in the art, ARM processors are widely used in PDAs, cell phones and a variety of other wireless devices. It should be noted, however, that various other hardware and software (and/or firmware) architectures may be used for the client computing device  800  while still complying with the underlying principles of the invention. 
   Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forth above. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to perform certain steps. Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components. 
   Elements of the present invention may also be provided as a machine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable instructions. The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, propagation media or other type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. For example, the present invention may be downloaded as a computer program which may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem or network connection). 
     FIG. 9  illustrates an embodiment of a handheld keyboard and display device such as may be used as the client computing device of  FIG. 8 . The handheld keyboard and display device  900  can also include additional user interface devices such as a pointing device, selection buttons  904 ,  906 ,  908  and other user interface devices such as joysticks, mice, trackballs, or trackpoint  909 . 
   In one embodiment, the display  902  rotates about a pivot. For example,  FIG. 9  shows one embodiment of the keyboard and display device in the open position so that the keyboard  904  is accessible. When the display  902  is rotated 180 degrees about the pivot, to the closed position, the keyboard  914  is substantially covered. 
   In one embodiment, the display  902  is a liquid crystal display, or other similar monochrome or color display devices. The display  902  can also include a scratch resistant display surface such as glass or polycarbonate or other scratch resistant coating or outer layers as are known in the art. In one embodiment, the display also includes a removable transparent cover to protect the display screen. The transparent cover can also be a disposable cover. In one embodiment, the display  902  can also include a touch screen. 
   Throughout the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details were set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. For example, while the system described above in  FIG. 7  employs a single gateway server  708 , alternative embodiments of the invention may include numerous different servers (e.g., database servers, web servers, etc), and/or mirrored servers distributed across a network. Moreover, while the embodiments described above focus on a client computing device, which executes interpreted code (e.g., Java byte codes), the principles of the invention may also be implemented on devices, which execute non-interpreted code. Accordingly, the scope and spirit of the invention should be judged in terms of the claims that follow. 
   One skilled in the art will immediately appreciate that the invention can be practiced with other computer system configurations, including multi-processor systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, and the like. The invention can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network. 
   It will be further appreciated that the instructions represented by the blocks in  FIGS. 3–5  are not required to be performed in the order illustrated, and that all the processing represented by the blocks may not be necessary to practice the invention 
   In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evident that various modifications may be made thereto without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.