E-mail notification device

Abstract

A method, system and computer program product for notifying a user of recently received information while away from the display connected to the computer. Using a non-commercial, private network, the information is forwarded from a computer through a transmitter to a portable receiver with an integrated display. Such information may be in the form of e-mails, stock quotes, and calendar alarms.

1 . A computer program product comprising: 
 a computer storage medium and a computer program code mechanism embedded in the computer storage medium for causing a computer to forward a portion of a message to a wireless notification device using a private, non-commercial network, the computer program code mechanism comprising: 
 a first computer code device configured to periodically connect to a remote information server to poll for new messages;  
 a second computer code device configured to download a portion of each of the new messages;  
 a third computer code device configured to transmit, for a subset of the new messages, the portion of the subset of messages using a private, non-commercial network.  
   
     
     
         2 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first computer code device comprises a fourth computer code device configured to connect to a remote e-mail server, wherein the message is an e-mail message.  
     
     
         3 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the second computer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configured to download the e-mail message in its entirety.  
     
     
         4 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the second computer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configured to download a “From:” field and a “Subject:” field of the e-mail message.  
     
     
         5 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the second computer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configured to download a header of the e-mail message.  
     
     
         6 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first computer code device comprises a fourth computer code device configured to connect to a remote hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) server, wherein the message is a dynamically updated web-page.  
     
     
         7 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the third computer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configured to select the subset using at least one of a “From:” field and a “Subject:” field of the e-mail message.  
     
     
         8 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein the third computer code device comprises a fifth computer code device configured to select all e-mail messages as belonging to the subset.  
     
     
         9 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the third computer code device comprises a fourth computer code device configured to transmit the portion of the subset of messages using at least one of a parallel port, a serial port, a PS/2 port, a USB port, an audio output port, and an infrared link.  
     
     
         10 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the third computer code device comprises a fourth computer code configured to transmit the portion of the subset of messages using a wireless radio frequency.  
     
     
         11 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the third computer code device comprises a fourth computer code configured to transmit the portion of the subset of messages using at least one of an X-10 transmitter and a Bluetooth transmitter.  
     
     
         12 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first computer code device further comprises a fourth computer code configured to transmit at least one of calendar events, weather info, stock quotes, and sports results.  
     
     
         13 . The computer program product as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the first computer code device comprises a fourth computer code device configured to connect to a remote instant messaging server, wherein the message is a list of people available for participating in computer-based “chat” conversation.  
     
     
         14 . An information notification device comprising: 
 a non-commercial, private network receiver for receiving information downloaded by a computer and forwarded from the computer; and    a display for displaying the received information.    
     
     
         15 . The information notification device as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the display comprises at least one of a multi-line display and dot matrix display for displaying at least one line of an e-mail message.  
     
     
         16 . The information notification device as claimed in  claim 14 , further comprising an information parsing code device configured to parse out information fields from the information and display like information fields together on the display.  
     
     
         17 . The information notification device as claimed in  claim 16 , wherein the display comprises at least one of a multi-line display and dot matrix display for displaying at least one line of headers of plural e-mail messages grouped together.  
     
     
         18 . The information notification device as claimed in  claim 14 , wherein the display comprises a graphic display.  
     
     
         19 . An appliance control system comprising: 
 a communications adapter for downloading information from a Wide-Area Network;    a first non-commercial, private network transmitter for transmitting to at least one of a home appliance and an office appliance using at least one of a power-line carrier and a Bluetooth protocol to control the at least one of a home appliance and an office appliance;    a microprocessor; and    memory configured to control the microprocessor to control the communications adapter and the appliance transmitter.    
     
     
         20 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising a power regulator for regulating power to the at least one of a home appliance and an office appliance.  
     
     
         21 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 19 , further comprising a sensor receiver for receiving status information from the at least one of a home appliance and an office appliance.  
     
     
         22 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 21 , wherein the at least one of a home appliance and an office appliance further comprises a second non-commercial, private network transmitter for transmitting the status information to the microprocessor.  
     
     
         23 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 22 , further comprising a sensor having an ID wherein the status information is transmitted along with the ID of the sensor by the second non-commercial, private network to the microprocessor.  
     
     
         24 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 22 , further comprising a sensor receiver for receiving the status information from the sensor.  
     
     
         25 . The appliance control system as claimed in  claim 19 , wherein the power-line carrier is an X-10 protocol.