Transparent Archived Email Access via Information Management System
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current email systems make accessing archived emails cumbersome and time-consuming, requiring users to explicitly know if an email is archived and how to restore it, disrupting productivity in corporate settings.
Innovation Solution
Implementing an information management system that allows seamless access to archived emails through customizable operational rules, enabling users to perform actions like viewing, replying, or moving archived emails without knowing their archived status, using existing email clients and servers without modifying client applications or communication protocols.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If archived emails are stored in backup formats on secondary storage devices, then data protection and storage capacity are improved, but user access to archived emails becomes cumbersome and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an information management system comprising a storage manager, data agents, and media agents as intermediaries between users and archived emails. The storage manager coordinates access requests, data agents retrieve archived emails from secondary storage, and media agents manage the actual data transfer, making archived email access transparent to users while maintaining data protection
Solution Approach 2:
The system divides the email storage and access functionality into separate components: primary storage for active emails, secondary storage for archived emails, and an information management system that segments the coordination tasks among storage manager, data agents, and media agents. This segmentation allows archived emails to be stored separately for protection while enabling on-demand access without affecting primary email operations
2Quantity of substance
If archived emails are stored in backup formats, then storage cost efficiency is improved, but access time and productivity are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-processing and indexing archived email data when it is first stored in backup formats on secondary storage devices. The storage manager and data agents prepare the archived emails in advance by organizing them in retrievable formats and creating access indices, so that when users need to access archived emails, the retrieval process is significantly faster despite the backup storage format
3Reliability
If users must explicitly know how to restore archived emails, then data security control is improved, but ease of operation and productivity are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The information management system provides self-service functionality where users can access archived emails through standard email client interfaces without needing to understand the underlying archiving or restoration processes. The storage manager, data agents, and media agents automatically handle the retrieval and presentation of archived emails, allowing users to simply view, reply to, or move archived emails as if they were in their primary inbox
Data Source
AI summary
A system for providing user access to electronic mail includes an email client and an email server. The email client receives and communicates a user interaction with an email message The email server that receives the communication, determines whether the email message stored in a live database or in a backup storage. Upon determination that the email message is stored in a backup storage, the email server performs a message exchange with a backup storage system to perform the user-requested action.