Patent ID: 8392923

Claim:
A method comprising: retrieving historical data comprising a plurality of data entries each corresponding to a previously completed asynchronous task related to an electronic mail (e-mail) application software, wherein each data entry indicates: an asynchronous task completion time, and a type of asynchronous task; dynamically modifying, by a computer processor, a time period between successive polling requests for a specific type of asynchronous task by: identifying a set of asynchronous tasks of the specific type from the historical data; calculating an average completion time using the asynchronous task completion time for each of the asynchronous tasks of the set of asynchronous tasks by calculating a ratio of a sum of the asynchronous task completion time for each of the asynchronous tasks of the set of asynchronous tasks to the number of asynchronous tasks in the set of asynchronous tasks, wherein calculating the average completion time comprises using a weighted average computation, in which greater weight is given to the asynchronous task completion time for asynchronous tasks most recently completed; retrieving a set of preset configuration parameters including: a first parameter, which provides a minimum time interval between successive polling requests; and a second parameter, which provides a percentage to be applied to the average completion time; and calculating a time interval between successive polling requests for the specific type of asynchronous task as a sum of the first parameter and a result of the second parameter multiplied by the average completion time; and issuing a next polling request for an asynchronous task of the specific type of asynchronous task at a time determined by the calculated time interval between successive polling requests.