System and method of polling electronic mailboxes

Abstract

A communications system includes a polling agent that can be part of a mobile office platform for polling an electronic mailbox to retrieve unique identifiers (UID's) of electronic messages. A database stores the UID's resulting from the polling operation. The polling agent is operative for polling the electronic mailbox and retrieving only those UID's that are newer than the UID's from a previous polling to determine that new messages are available.

1 - 33 . (canceled) 
     
     
         34 . A communications system comprising:
 a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices; and   a mobile office platform configured to access a plurality of electronic mailboxes of a given mobile wireless communications device using a plurality of respective protocol specific connectors;   said mobile office platform also configured to
 poll a given electronic mailbox to retrieve and store unique identifiers (UID's) of electronic messages resulting from polling, and 
 determine and compare a total number of electronic messages on the given electronic mailbox to a threshold, and if the threshold is exceeded, then poll and retrieve only those UID's that are newer than at least one UID from a previous polling. 
   
     
     
         35 . The communications system according to  claim 34  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to shorten a polling interval of the given electronic mailbox based upon recent activity of the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         36 . The communications system according to  claim 34  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to operate using at least one of a POP, IMAP and a webmail protocol. 
     
     
         37 . The communications system according to  claim 36  wherein the plurality of protocol specific connectors comprises a POP connector for accessing POP mailboxes, an IMAP connector for accessing IMAP mailboxes, and a connector for accessing electronic mail from an Exchange server. 
     
     
         38 . The communications system according to  claim 34  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to retrieve a webpage that contains a list of most recent electronic messages retrieved from the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         39 . The communications system according to  claim 34  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to issue a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID's of electronic messages. 
     
     
         40 . A communications system comprising:
 at least one mobile wireless communications device; and   a mobile office platform configured to access a plurality of electronic mailboxes of said at least one mobile wireless communications device using a plurality of respective protocol specific connectors;   said mobile office platform also configured to
 poll a given electronic mailbox to retrieve and store unique identifiers (UID's) of electronic messages resulting from polling, 
 determine and compare a total number of electronic messages on the given electronic mailbox to a threshold, and if the threshold is exceeded, then poll and retrieve only those UID's that are newer than at least one UID from a previous polling, and 
 shorten a polling interval of the given electronic mailbox based upon recent activity of the given electronic mailbox. 
   
     
     
         41 . The communications system according to  claim 40  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to operate using at least one of a POP, IMAP and a webmail protocol. 
     
     
         42 . The communications system according to  claim 41  wherein the plurality of protocol specific connectors comprises a POP connector for accessing POP mailboxes, an IMAP connector for accessing IMAP mailboxes, and a connector for accessing electronic mail from an Exchange server. 
     
     
         43 . The communications system according to  claim 40  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to retrieve a webpage that contains a list of most recent electronic messages retrieved from the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         44 . The communications system according to  claim 40  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to issue a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID's of electronic messages. 
     
     
         45 . A communications method for a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices comprising:
 using a mobile office platform to access a plurality of electronic mailboxes of a given mobile wireless communications device using a plurality of respective protocol specific connectors; and   further using the mobile office platform to
 poll a given electronic mailbox to retrieve and store unique identifiers (UID's) of electronic messages resulting from polling, and 
 determine and compare a total number of electronic messages on the given electronic mailbox to a threshold, and if the threshold is exceeded, then poll and retrieve only those UID's that are newer than at least one UID from a previous polling. 
   
     
     
         46 . The method according to  claim 45  further comprising using the mobile office platform to shorten a polling interval of the given electronic mailbox based upon recent activity of the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         47 . The method according to  claim 45  further comprising using the mobile office platform to operate using at least one of a POP, IMAP and a webmail protocol. 
     
     
         48 . The method according to  claim 47  wherein the plurality of protocol specific connectors comprises a POP connector for accessing POP mailboxes, an IMAP connector for accessing IMAP mailboxes, and a connector for accessing electronic mail from an Exchange server. 
     
     
         49 . The method according to  claim 45  further comprising using the mobile office platform to retrieve a webpage that contains a list of most recent electronic messages retrieved from the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         50 . The method according to  claim 45  further comprising using the mobile office platform to issue a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID's of electronic messages. 
     
     
         51 . A communications system comprising:
 a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices; and   a mobile office platform configured to access a plurality of electronic mailboxes of a given mobile wireless communications device using a plurality of respective protocol specific connectors;   said mobile office platform also configured to
 poll a given electronic mailbox to retrieve and store unique identifiers (UID's) of electronic messages resulting from polling, and 
 then poll and retrieve only those UID's that are newer than at least one UID from a previous polling. 
   
     
     
         52 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to determine and compare a total number of electronic messages on the given electronic mailbox to a threshold, and then polling and retrieving only those UID's that are newer than at least one UID from a previous polling if the threshold is exceeded. 
     
     
         53 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to shorten a polling interval of the given electronic mailbox based upon recent activity of the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         54 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to operate using at least one of a POP, IMAP and a webmail protocol. 
     
     
         55 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein the plurality of protocol specific connectors comprises a POP connector for accessing POP mailboxes, an IMAP connector for accessing IMAP mailboxes, and a connector for accessing electronic mail from an Exchange server. 
     
     
         56 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to retrieve a webpage that contains a list of most recent electronic messages retrieved from the given electronic mailbox. 
     
     
         57 . The communications system according to  claim 51  wherein said mobile office platform is configured to issue a command for a unique identifier listing (UIDL) to determine the UID's of electronic messages.