WO2001088653A2

WO2001088653A2 - An e-mail management system for wireless pcd

Info

Publication number: WO2001088653A2
Application number: PCT/IL2001/000440
Authority: WO
Inventors: Elie Hantsis; Naftali Nissani
Original assignee: Powerloc Technologies Inc.
Priority date: 2000-05-17
Filing date: 2001-05-17
Publication date: 2001-11-22
Also published as: IL136207A0; AU6056201A; WO2001088653A3

Abstract

An e-mail management system a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, the system including: Firstly, a service module, for managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith, between a user's wireless personal communications device (101) and a proximate base station (104) of the terrestrial communications network, and also between the proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and Secondly, a standardization module, for specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol, for transmission of a packet of e-mail , is operative to append predetermined header/trailer to the packet, and to allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header-packet-trailer.

Description

An E-Mail Management System for Wireless PCD

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to wireless communication for electronic mail. More specifically, the present invention relates to protocol methods for wireless communication of electronic mail.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to send electronic mail, a wireless communication device user contacts a nearby fixed Base Station, which in turn is linked to an electronic mail service Network Server. Contact between the user, Base station, and Network Server involves opening a virtual channel. The Network Server then communicates with the wireless personal communication device (PCD), e.g. cellular telephone, in order to further facilitate wireless data and electronic mail specific services.

Today the Base Station uses TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) for electronic mail services. TCP/IP uses a large envelope, including a large header and trailer for a mail packet. For a mail packet, TCP/IP also holds a socket open on the Base Station allocated virtual channel. This Base Station, with open socket, allows back and forth traffic between the user and the Base Station. The TCP/IP protocol also allows for one host (host application) to talk to another, e.g electronic mail.

TCP/IP is the predominant communication protocol of the Internet, allowing networked computers to communicate with each other. Each computer is provided with a copy of a TCP/IP program interface. TCP/IP is a two-layered program. The higher layer, Transmission Control Protocol, manages the assembling of a message or file into smaller packets that are transmitted over the Internet and received by a TCP layer. This layer reassembles the packets into the original message. The TCP is a higher level protocol that allows applications running on different hosts to exchange data streams. TCP divides data streams into packets called TCP segments and transmits them using IP. The lower layer, Internet Protocol, handles the routing of data between networks and address part of the packet in order to get to the right destination; to identify networks, and paths to networks and host.

In order to send electronic mail, the user opens up a virtual channel. A wireless link of the virtual channel connects a "path" to a nearby Base Station; proximate to the wireless personal communication device user. Likewise, between the Server and the Base Station, a path is provided as part of the virtual channel. When the user opens the virtual channel, the protocol TCP/IP is specified to a virtual channel communication. TCP/IP uses the client/server model of communication in which a computer user (a client) requests and is provided a service (such as sending an Email) with another computer (a server) in the Network. TCP/IP uses a large "envelope" and holds an allocation of a socket of the Base Station. The socket is held to facilitate mail transfer, acknowledgements and confirmations between sender and receiver of electronic mail on the virtual channel. The reason for Base Station and Server acknowledgements is to confirm that communication packets are received and that the user is connected to a Base Station.

The Base Station has a limited number of time domain modulated frequencies (virtual channels) allocated for wireless data. When two users are using a channel of the Base Station, the first user can transmit while the second user is on standby. Even if the two users elect or are scheduled to transmit at different intervals of time, each user transmission still has to wait, until the transmission of the other is completed. If there is a large number of users of electronic mail, in the Base Station's service area, then electronic mail transmission may become overloaded due to the many users' open sockets for virtual channels. The overload is due to the waiting time of the user for transmission completion of other users, channel use for acknowledgements, confirmations and ability to connect.

Suppose only one user at a time is assigned to each slot in the channel. A schedule using one transmission at a time with a large number of users allows all users to transmit, but each of the users has to wait an increased time for a respective scheduled slot. Increased Network latency is intolerable for communication streams, such as electronic mail transmission. The transmission of acknowledgements and confirmations adds to degrading the wireless data response time between the Base station and users. Electronic mail processes messages and confirmations for a large number of users. TCP/IP protocol contribute to increase cost due to the large number user's increased standby. If factors peripheral to extra electronic mail, such as acknowledgements and confirmations, were minimized, then more time would be available for actual electronic mail messages.

Many users are discouraged from using the wireless electronic mail because of its high cost. There are three basic reasons why electronic mail service is expensive. The most trivial reason is the use of a large envelope in protocol TCP/IP size adds to the cost. A more substantial contributor to the high cost is the connections is the protocol's use of acknowledgements and confirmations; between the wireless device and the Base station. The electronic equivalent of saying, "I am still here", " O.K.", "Waiting for reply" etc., although seemingly only short acknowledgements and confirmations, are in fact costly. Holding on to the socket and paying for message response privileges is expensive and wasteful. While TCP is a "reliable" protocol, using checksums to verify data integrity and handshaking to make sure transmitted data is received intact, the ultimate results of this protocol for a large number of users trying to use any common base station is collective long delay time.

The primary contributor to the high cost is the TCP/IP protocol maintaining on going acknowledgements between user and Base station confirming the user is still connected. It may not be obvious, but the primary contributors to TCP/IP cost are these token acknowledgements. IP is an expensive protocol sending packets of data across separate networks forming Internet. Base station service with a schedule works primarily according to connect time. The actual cost of sending electronic mail can become very expensive and delayed, by a large number of users using the TCP protocol. In order to recognize why this is the main contributor, lets look at a situation where there is a large number of users connected to a Base station. The very fact that each of these users maintain a periodic token contact with the Base station integrally contributes to a degradation of service between Base station and user, that wants to send or receive electronic mail. The user would prefer to pay for actual service time and not for connect time spent waiting. Therefore, the high cost of TCP/IP results from each user having to wait for token acknowledgements and confirmations to be transacted between the base station and a preponderance of passive albeit connected users. User time waiting to maintain connecting time degrades the opportunity for other users to transmit. Simply stated, this would be equivalent to a national postal system charging mainly for delay time and only circumstantially charging somewhat for parcel delivery.

Therefore there is a need in the art to use allocated frequencies of the Base Station in a way to handle and accommodate a large number of users of electronic mail without causing a disproportionate increase in delay time. More specifically there is a need for a more reasonable cost for the actual benefits of the necessary feature of the service that is provided; the electronic mail delivery, per se.

ADVANTAGES, OBJECTS AND BENEFITS OF THE INVENTION

Technical Issues: The present invention provides for the use of a simple communications protocol for the sending of electronic mail between a base station and associated proximate personal communications devices. The specified protocol, when elected by a preponderance of the proximate devices, reduces delay time and reduced prorated costs associated with the electronic mail services.

Ergonomic Issues: The present invention reduces the load on base stations, thereby reducing the tiresome delay times currently burdening wireless electronic mail services. Furthermore, the present invention is directly retro-fit-able to existing base stations; as well as to a preponderance of known personal communications devices that presently support wireless electronic mail services.

Economic Issues: The present invention allows a single base station to effectively provide substantially efficient electronic mail services to a larger community of users than is currently feasible using the accepted methods. Clearly, using the predetermined lighter protocols of the present invention is far less expensive than building, connecting, and maintaining a much larger number of base stations. Likewise, the present invention acquires for the user a lower cost per unit of actual electronic mail. Thus, the technological improvement provided by the present invention is both beneficial to the service provider and to the service customer.

NOTICES

Numbers, alphabetic characters, and roman symbols are designated in the following sections for convenience of explanations only, and should by no means be regarded as imposing particular order on any method steps. Likewise, the present invention will forthwith be described with a certain degree of particularity, however those versed in the art will readily appreciate that various modifications and alterations may be carried out without departing from either the spirit or scope, as hereinafter claimed.

In describing the present invention, explanations are presented in light of currently accepted communications protocols. Such protocols are subject to changes, both adiabatic and radical. Often these changes occur because representations for fundamental component elements are innovated, because new transformations between these elements are conceived, or because new interpretations arise for these elements or for their transformations. Therefore, it is important to note that the present invention relates to specific technological actualization in embodiments. Accordingly, protocol dependent explanations herein, related to these embodiments, are presented for the purpose of teaching, the current man of the art or the current team of the art, how these embodiments may be substantially realized in practice. Alternative or equivalent explanations for these embodiments may neither deny nor alter their realization.

In the context of the present invention, a wireless personal communication device (PCD) relates to a wireless communications device having an associated computation capable processor (preferably internal). For example, a PCD may be a modern cellular telephone unit. Alternatively, a PCD may be a palm size personal computer having a wireless interface to a local or a remote base station. Similarly, a PCD may be a global positioning system (GPS) enabled device for personal or vehicular navigation. It is a particular common feature of PCDs that they are enabled for transfer of voice, text, data, or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a management system for a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, the system including:

^■ a service module, for managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith,

^■ between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network,

^■ and also between the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and

^■ a standardization module, for specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein the protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to

^■ append a substantially low volume header to the packet,

^■ append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and

■ allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer.

The present invention also relates to a method for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the method including the steps of: ^■ for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, pre-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet;

^■ for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith, post-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet;

^■ specifying a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless communications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein the protocol includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and

■ using the specified protocol, transmitting the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith.

Furthermore, the present invention relates to an article of manufacture including a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the computer readable program code in the article of manufacture including:

^■ First computer readable program code for causing a computer to pre- append a substantially low volume header to the packet of electronic mail for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith;

^■ Tied to the first computer readable code, second computer readable program code for causing the computer to post-append a substantially low volume header to the packet for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith;

^■ Tied to the second computer readable code, third computer readable program code for causing the computer to specify a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless communications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein the protocol • includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and

^■ Tied to the third computer readable code, fourth computer readable program code for causing the computer to transmit the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith using the specified protocol.

The present invention also relates to a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for partial management of a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, the method steps including:

^■ managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith,

^■ between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network,

■ specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein the protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to

■ append a substantially low volume header to the packet,

■ append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and

■ allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

In order to understand the invention and to see how it may be carried out in practice, embodiments including the preferred embodiment will now be described, by way of non-limiting example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 illustrates a schematic view of a terrestrial electronic mail service environment and shows an example of how an email travels to a wireless personal communication device, such as a cellular telephone;

Figure 2 illustrates a schematic view of a terrestrial electronic mail service environment and shows an example of how a service module is added to the server and base station for the sole purpose of managing the email traffic between the server and the base station, and between the base station and the wireless communications device, as was illustrated by Figure 1 ;

Figure 3 illustrates a schematic view of steps of the present method;

Figure 4 illustrates a schematic view of a computer program for enabling steps of the present method; and

Figure 5 illustrates a schematic view of an example of a machine readable program storage device including therein machine readable coded portions of a computer program for enabling steps of the present method.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Firstly, a service module, for managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith, between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, and also between the proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and

Secondly, a standardization module, for specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to append a substantially low volume header to the packet, to append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and to allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer.

The present invention increases the efficiency of electronic mail transmissions (emails) to wireless communication devices, such as cellular phones. Currently, the process of retrieving emails using a cellular phone is often laborious and time consuming. The use of a predetermined protocol, currently Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), currently causes the emails which are passed to be artificially inflated, thus requiring more time to download. In addition, the protocol currently in use generates frequent messages, even when no emails are being transmitted (e.g. are you there? and confirmation messages), thereby creating excessive traffic and loading both the base station which routes all transmissions (both email and audio) and the channels that would otherwise be available for email transmissions. This causes further slowness in the transmission and reception of emails. TCP/IP additionally requires the establishment and maintenance of a connection, on which the protocol checks for errors in the transmission on an ongoing basis, thus further slowing the transmission of emails, and inflating the cost of the service, which cannot differentiate between a connection which is created for transmission, and one which is maintained for messages. Figure 1 illustrates how an email travels to a wireless personal communication device such as a cellular telephone. A wireless personal communication device (101) has a wireless connection (102) to a communications network (103) which includes a base station (104) for the wireless communications device and a server (105) where the processing of emails takes place. Emails which are downloaded to a given wireless communications device must pass through the base station en route to the communications device. A common example of such a setup is a cellular phone on which the owner can connect to the Internet or receive emails and announcements (e.g. stock changes, a weather report). The current protocol used to connect between the cellular phone and between the base station and adds headers and footers to email messages which artificially inflate the size of each email, thereby significantly increasing the time it takes to download each email. This ties up the limited number of channels available for such communication. In addition, even when no email is being transferred, the protocol generates messages, such as requests for confirmations that an email was successfully transferred, acknowledgements of emails received from the server, messages inquiring and confirming the presence of communication, other elements in the network, and cellular phones, and acknowledgements of these inquiry and confirmation messages. All of these messages create more traffic on the already loaded channels, thereby slowing the service even further. During the actual transmission of email, the protocol requires ongoing error recovery, which generally guarantees that the email will be transmitted completely, but which also slows the transmission significantly thereby tying up a data channel for longer than actually necessary for the transmission of the email. The result is poor service, which is frequently expensive.

The solution offered by the present invention involves allowing the user to select an alternative protocol for the purpose of downloading emails. The selection of the desired protocol is made upon turning on the wireless communications device, and is transmitted to a standardization module which then applies it only on channels used for data (as opposed to voice) transmissions to the particular wireless communications device, and only for the purpose of transmitting and receiving emails, and only between the wireless communications device and the base station. (The connection between the base station and the server may also be changed, depending on the specific configuration of the communications network.) Since alternative protocols exist which do not require the maintenance of a connection, and which also do not inflate the size of an email, generate extraneous confirmation and acknowledgement messages, and require error recovery, some of the volume of traffic on the data channels would be removed, thereby freeing the channels to transmit emails more efficiently and effectively. Additionally, the invention specifies that a service module be added to the server and base station for the sole purpose of managing the email traffic between the server and the base station, and between the base station and the wireless coinmunications device, as illustrated by Figure 2. The wireless communications device (201) has a wireless connection (202) with a communications network (203) which includes a base station (204) for the communications device, a server (205) which handles the incoming and outgoing emails (and may serve other purposes), and a service module (206) which manages the email transmissions and notifies users of the existence of emails. The service module is shown here as being external to the server. However, it is also possible to include the service module in the server computer.

For instance, a cellular telephone user who has data transmission available through his cellular telephone service, may turn on his cellular telephone, and specify that the email is to be transmitted using a protocol called User Datagram Protocol (UDP). In the transmission of an email, for example, UDP does not require a connection to exist between the origin (in this case the base station) and the destination (in this case the cellular phone). Instead, UDP allows for the transmission to occur on the assumption that the destination will be able to receive it. Since in this case alternative means exist to determine whether the email should be transmitted to the cellular phone before the transmission begins, the further establishment of a connection by the transmission protocol becomes redundant and unnecessarily cumbersome. Moreover, UDP provides very few error recovery services, which also burden the transmission in many cases. Instead, the email is sent, and error recovery is left to the user (of the cellular phone), who may reload the message if it arrives incomplete. Likewise, UDP does not generate acknowledgements, and confirmations of its own, thereby alleviating the load of traffic on the data channels. The receipt of messages sent using UDP is never verified. Instead, if a reply is needed, a specific reply is requested, and that reply is also sent without confirmation of receipt. The base station may query a cellular phone to see whether it is turned on. The base station will received no acknowledgement as to whether the query was lost along the way (due to interference of some kind or the cellular phone being turned off), it may be received and ignored, which, for the base station, will yield the same result as the phone being turned off, or it may be received and answered. Even when the query is answered, if the answer is lost or damaged before it reaches the base station, the result will be identical to what occurs if the phone is turned off. However, the main purpose of the service module is to inform the user that he has mail so that he may initiate a download process. Clearly, if the user initiates a download process to a cellular phone, the cellular phone must be turned on and available to receive the emails. And in the event that an email is received incomplete, the user may manually generate an error recovery process. The result of this is significantly less traffic on available data channels, allowing for faster service. The elimination of the constant connection also reduces the cost of the service. Protocols other than UDP may be used, providing they offer the same basic features that UDP offers: they do not require an ongoing connection (beyond what is needed to transmit the email), do not perform extensive error recovery, and do not add extensive headers and footers to emails.

The first embodiment of the present invention relates to the management system wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail at the server, which specifies the user as the articles' intended recipient. In this case, the function of the service module is to access users' mail. Once the service module has accessed this mail, the mail can then be forwarded to the base station and from there to the user. If the service module determines that a particular user has mail, the service module may inform the user directly or it may initiate an inquiry as to the availability of the user. The mail is, in any case, need not be transmitted directly to the cellular phone. In some cases, the user may even elect to download the email to a computer rather than a cellular phone, using a wired rather than a wireless connection, and the service module will not be needed for the download process. According to the first variation of the embodiment wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail which specify the user as the articles' intended recipient, the service module also issues a notice transaction to the standardization module for transmission to the user's personal communications device, and the notice transaction includes a packet of data relating to the existence at the server of at least one new article of electronic mail which specifies the user as the article's intended recipient. Here, a notice is sent to the user informing him that he has new mail. The transmission of the mail does not automatically follow the notification. Instead, the user is informed that mail exists, and he may download it at his leisure either to his cellular phone or to any other device (wired or wireless) which is able to download the email. In some cases, the service module will have to send multiple messages to the user, since the user may not receive the message the first time it is sent (and the protocol does not confirm the receipt of the message), or the user may receive the message but elect not to download his email immediately. In either case, as long as the mail remains on the server, the service module will continue to send notification messages to the user, either periodically (e.g. once every hour) or as prompted by an event (e.g. the service module is notified that the cellular phone has been turned on).

One type of notice transaction that the service module may issue according to the variation wherein the service module issues a notice transaction to the standardization module for transmission to the user's personal communications device, and the notice transaction includes a packet of data relating to the existence at the server of at least one new article of electronic mail which specifies the user as the article's intended recipient, is a message wherein the protocol uses a fixed length messaging protocol or Short Message Service type protocol. The service module may use the most efficient protocol for the transmission of messages to the user. This protocol allows for messages of a fixed length (usually fairly short), without adding headers and footers to the message. Thus, only a very brief message (e.g. "new mail") is transmitted to the user. Another variation of the embodiment wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail which specify the user as the articles' intended recipient, the query by the service module is issued periodically. The service module may be set to check for new mail every fixed period of time. For example, the service module may query the server every 30 minutes. The period of time between queries may vary from user to user, depending on how each user sets his preferences.

An additional variation of the embodiment wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail which specify the user as the articles' intended recipient, the query by the service module is issued according to a predetermined schedule. The predetermined schedule may be set to accommodate the user's daily schedule, as is the case, for example, when certain hours of the day are more convenient for receiving or responding to email. For such user, the service module may query the server for new mail only at pre-specified hours of the day, or at more frequent intervals during some hours than others.

A further variation of the embodiment wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail which specify the user as the articles' intended recipient, the query by the service module is issued as a response to a direct instruction to the service module from the user. The instruction to query may be issued automatically when the cellular telephone is turned on, or it may be generated by the user. In either case, the service module queries the server for new mail upon receiving the instruction from the user. This may occur in addition to regularly scheduled queries.

Another type of notice transaction that the service module may issue according to the variation wherein the service module issues a notice transaction which includes a packet of data relating to the existence at the server of at least one new article of electronic mail which specifies the user as the article's intended recipient, is a notification messages, is a transaction wherein the service module issues the notice transaction periodically, until acknowledged by the user. Since the transaction is issued without confirmations, the service module does not "know" whether the notification of new mail was received by the user. As such, it continues to send notifications that new emails (emails which have not yet been downloaded) to the user, until the user responds either with a message or by downloading the email. Downloading the email is not requisite to ending the notifications, providing another message is sent instead. Rather, the user may elect to leave the emails until a later time.

One example of the acknowledgement according to the type of transaction notice wherein claim 8 wherein the service module issues the notice transaction periodically, until acknowledged by the user, is when the acknowledgement by the user is initiated at the user's wireless personal communications device. In other words, when the communications device (e.g. cellular phone) sends a response automatically. In this case, the user does not needs to manually enter a response or even prompt the communications device to do so. Instead, the communications device initiates the response, and the user may remain unaware of the transaction at the time it occurs.

In one instance of the example wherein the acknowledgement by the user is initiated at the user's wireless personal communications device, the acknowledgement uses a fixed length messaging protocol or a Short Message Service type protocol. Just as the notification may be sent in a fixed length messaging protocol or a Short Message Service type protocol to maximize the efficiency of the sending, the response may also be sent in such a protocol.

Two other embodiments of the present invention relates to the management system wherein electronic mail is transmitted from the base station to the wireless personal communications device using User Datagram Protocol and wherein electronic mail is transmitted to the base station from the wireless personal communications device using User Datagram Protocol. UDP is an effective protocol for such transmissions, because it neither adds extensive headers and footers to messages, nor does it require acknowledgements and confirmations. Since UDP does not perform error recovery, the user may be required occasionally to reload an email that came through incomplete. However, the speed and efficiency which the protocol otherwise offers are suited for the wireless transmission of emails, and because the protocol does not maintain a constant connection for confirmations and acknowledgements, the cost to the user is reduced.

An additional embodiment of the present invention relates to the management system wherein the service module is integral to the server. While the service module may be independent of the server, it is often integrated into the server. This allows for further efficiency in the elimination of an additional connection (either wired or wireless) and reduces the potential sources of failure in the system.

A further embodiment of the present invention relates to the management system wherein the standardization module is integral to the user's wireless personal communications device. The standardization module is what applies the user's protocol of choice to email transmission. While this may be independent of the communication device, integrating it into the wireless communication device allows the user immediate access to the standardization module upon initiating use of the device. For example, in the case of a cellular phone, the phone may be programmed to display a selection menu immediately upon being powered up. The selection menu allows the user to select any of the protocols available for email transmission, and upon selection, the standardization module may immediately apply the user's selected protocol to all email transmissions on the data channel being used.

The present invention further relates to a method for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the method including the steps of: a) for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, pre-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet; b) for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith, post-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet; c) specifying a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless communications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and d) using the specified protocol, transmitting the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith.

This method improves the wireless transmission of electronic mail from a base station to a wireless communications device by substantially reducing the sized of any appended header, substantially reducing the size of any appended trailer, allowing the user to specify that the transmission protocol to be used will be UDP or a substantially similar protocol, and transmitting the email using the specified protocol. For instance, a cellular phone user who downloads his email to his cellular phone may wish to increase the efficiency of the downloads by reducing the time and the cost of downloading each email. By choosing a substantially UDP protocol, such a user effectively reduces or eliminates the size of appended headers and footers when the emails are transmitted using this protocol. Additionally, since the protocol does not maintain an ongoing connection to the base station, the charge for cellular "air time" is significantly reduced and the available data channels are left open for further transmissions (either to or from the same or to or from other users), thus increasing the speed at which the user may receive his email. Figure 3 illustrates the steps of this method. The method improves communications between a wireless communications device and a base station by appending a substantially shorter header (301), by appending a substantially shorter footer (302), by specifying a protocol substantially like UDP (or UDP itself) (303), and by transmitting emails using this protocol (304).

The present invention further relates to an article of manufacture including a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture including: a) First computer readable program code for causing a computer to pre- append a substantially low volume header to the packet of electronic mail for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith; b) Tied to the first computer readable code, second computer readable program code for causing the computer to post-append a substantially low volume header to the packet for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith; c) Tied to the second computer readable code, third computer readable program code for causing the computer to specify a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless communications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and d) Tied to the third computer readable code, fourth computer readable program code for causing the computer to transmit the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith using the specified protocol.

A computer program may be written which applies this method for improving communication between a base station and a wireless communications device (such as a cellular phone). Figure 4 illustrates this computer program. This software includes software code which does the following: for transmitting an email, the software may cause the computer to append a substantially shorter header (or none at all) (401), cause the computer to append a substantially shorter footer (or none at all) (402), causes the computer to select a protocol for transmission which is substantially like UDP (or is UDP) (403), and to transmit the email using the selected protocol (404). Thus, the computer software incorporates all of the steps which cause the transmission of the email to become more efficient and cost effective for the user.

The present invention additionally relates to a program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for partial management of a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, said method steps including: a) managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith, i) between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, ii) and also between the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and b) specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to i) append a substantially low volume header to the packet, ii) append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer.

The machine readable program storage device (e.g. a CD or a floppy disk) contains coded instruction for managing email and associated transactions between the user's wireless communications device (e.g. cellular phone) and the base station and between the base station and the server. Additionally, the storage device contains coded instructions for specifying a transmission protocol which appends substantially lower headers and footers and which does not require the communication device to maintain a constant connection with the base station. Figure 5 shows an example of such a machine readable program storage device (501).

Claims

1. A management system for a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, the system including: a) a service module, for managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith, i) between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, ii) and also between the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and b) a standardization module, for specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to i) append a substantially low volume header to the packet, ii) append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and iii) allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer.

2. The system according to claim 1 wherein the service module queries the server for articles of electronic mail at the server which specifies the user as the article's intended recipient.

3. The system according to claim 2 wherein the service module issues a notice transaction to the standardization module for transmission to the user's personal communications device, and the notice transaction includes a packet of data relating to the existence at the server of at least one new article of electronic mail which specifies the user as the article's intended recipient.

4. The system according to claim 3 wherein the protocol uses a fixed length messaging protocol or Short Message Service type protocol.

5. The system according to claim 2 wherein the query by the service module is issued periodically.

6. The system according to claim 2 wherein the query by the service module is issued according to a predetermined schedule.

7. The system according to claim 2 wherein the query by the service module is issued as a response to a direct instruction to the service module from the user.

8. The system according to claim 3 wherein the service module issues the notice transaction periodically, until acknowledged by the user.

9. The system according to claim 8 wherein acknowledgement by the user is initiated at the user's wireless personal communications device.

10. The system according to claim 9 wherein the acknowledgement uses a fixed length messaging protocol or Short Message Service type protocol.

11. The system according to claim 1 wherein electronic mail is transmitted from the base station to the wireless personal communications device using User Datagram Protocol.

12. The system according got claim 1 wherein electronic mail is transmitted to the base station from the wireless personal communications device using User Datagram Protocol.

13. The system according to claim 1 wherein the service module is integral to the server.

14. The system according to claim 1 wherein the standardization module is integral to the user's wireless personal communications device.

15. A method for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the method including the steps of: a) for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, pre-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet; b) for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith, post-appending a substantially low volume header to the packet; c) specifying a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless coinmunications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and d) using the specified protocol, transmitting the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith.

16. An article of manufacture including a computer usable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for improving utilization between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of a terrestrial communications network, the computer readable program code in said article of manufacture including: a) First computer readable program code for causing a computer to pre- append a substantially low volume header to the packet of electronic mail for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith; b) Tied to the first computer readable code, second computer readable program code for causing the computer to post-append a substantially low volume header to the packet for transmission of the packet of electronic mail or of the transaction associated therewith; c) Tied to the second computer readable code, third computer readable program code for causing the computer to specify a substantially User Datagram Protocol as wireless communications protocol, between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol includes allocating base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer; and d) Tied to the third computer readable code, fourth computer readable program code for causing the computer to transmit the electronic mail or the transaction associated therewith using the specified protocol.

17. A program storage device readable by machine, tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps for partial management of a wireless personal communications device user of a terrestrial electronic mail service, said method steps including: a) managing electronic mail and transactions associated therewith, i) between a user's wireless personal communications device and a proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, ii) and also between the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network and a terrestrial communications network's server wherein the user has an electronic mail account; and c) specifying a wireless communications protocol, at least between the user's wireless personal communications device and the proximate base station of the terrestrial communications network, wherein said protocol, for transmission of a packet of electronic mail or of a transaction associated therewith, is operative to i) append a substantially low volume header to the packet, ii) append a substantially low volume trailer to the packet, and iii) allocate base station transmission/reception time substantially equivalent to an interval necessary for transmitting/receiving the appended header, the packet and the appended trailer.