Patent ID: 7882181

Claim:
A method of mitigating bandwidth and memory consumption by a user device when retrieving email via a post office protocol when a time (T) since a last download request is greater than a predetermined threshold time (D), comprising: employing a processor to execute computer executable instructions stored in memory to perform the following acts: identifying a user request to download at least a portion of an email message, the at least a portion of the email message including a header for the message and at least a portion of a body for the message; determining, from an analysis of the message header, whether the message is received at a message server more recently than D; determining whether the message body portion is less than a threshold body size (R) derived from a size of the message header (H) using a formula R=H/E−H, wherein E is an expected percentage of messages excluded by D, wherein E=(1−D/T), and wherein E approaches zero as T decreases to approach D; if the message is received at the message server more recently than the predetermined threshold time or the message body portion is less than the threshold body size relative to the size of the message header, downloading the at least a portion of the email message to the user device; and if the message is not received at the message server more recently than the predetermined threshold time and the message body portion is not less than the threshold body size derived from the size of the message header: downloading the header to the user device in a first download; and upon user request, downloading the message body to the user device in a second download.