Email Aggregation Server Polling Scheduling
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Solution Overview
Problem
As the number of system users grows, the number of mailboxes that mail user agents (MUAs) need to poll for email messages increases, leading to potential over- or under-utilization of polling resources, making it desirable to develop efficient approaches for scheduling polling operations to maintain optimal resource usage.
Innovation Solution
An email system that includes an email aggregation server which divides polling time intervals into subintervals and schedules first and second type polls, where the second type poll is more comprehensive and distributed uniformly among subintervals, using unique identifiers to manage polling and differentiate between subscribed and unsubscribed mailboxes, and employing fallback and time staggering techniques to balance resource load.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the number of mailboxes to be polled increases to accommodate growing system users, then email coverage and user service capability are improved, but polling resource utilization becomes unbalanced with periods of over-utilization and under-utilization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the polling operation into two distinct types: standard polls and priority polls. Standard polls are distributed uniformly across time intervals to provide baseline coverage, while priority polls are triggered by specific events (new email arrivals) to ensure timely delivery. This segmentation allows the system to handle both routine and urgent polling needs efficiently, preventing resource over-utilization during peak periods while maintaining adequate coverage during low-activity periods.
2Speed
If polling operations are performed frequently to ensure timely email delivery, then email retrieval speed is improved, but server processing load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic standard polling operations that occur at predetermined time intervals, rather than continuously or on-demand for all mailboxes. This periodic approach ensures that emails are retrieved at regular intervals, providing predictable and timely delivery while distributing the processing load evenly over time. The system complements this with event-driven priority polling that activates only when new emails are detected, thus avoiding unnecessary periodic polls when no new messages are present.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs an event-driven mechanism where the email server notifies the polling system when new emails arrive. This self-service approach allows the polling operation to be triggered only when necessary (i.e., when there is actual email to retrieve), rather than performing blind polls at fixed intervals for all mailboxes. This significantly reduces server processing load by eliminating redundant polling operations while ensuring timely email delivery when messages are present.
3Ease of operation
If uniform polling intervals are used for all mailboxes, then scheduling simplicity is maintained, but resource load becomes concentrated at certain times
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different polling strategies to different mailboxes based on their specific characteristics and needs. Standard polls are applied uniformly to maintain simplicity, but priority polls are selectively applied to mailboxes that have new emails or require urgent attention. This local differentiation allows the system to concentrate resources on high-priority mailboxes at specific moments while maintaining simple uniform scheduling for the broader population, thus distributing resource load more effectively without sacrificing operational simplicity.
Data Source
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AI summary
An email system may include at least one email server having mailboxes for storing email messages therein, and a plurality of mobile wireless communications devices. The system may further include at least one email aggregation server for polling the mailboxes for email messages, and forwarding the email messages to respective mobile wireless communications devices. The at least one email aggregation server may divide each of a plurality of repeating polling time intervals into a plurality of subintervals, and schedule each mailbox for at least a first type polling over each subinterval and for a second type polling over each polling time interval. The second type polling may be more comprehensive than the first type polling. The at least one email aggregation server may distribute the second type polling of the mailboxes over each polling time interval.