Local Email Archive Store Pre-caching for Fast Retrieval

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing email archive systems face challenges in providing a seamless user experience due to slow retrieval times of archived emails, limited support for email features, and inefficiencies in local storage management, leading to decreased performance and accessibility.

Innovation Solution

Implementing a local email archive store on the user's client computer that intercepts requests for archived emails, allows display of archived content in a preview pane, and enables users to manage the size and retention of the local archive store, thereby reducing reliance on remote servers and enhancing accessibility and performance.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If emails are archived to a remote server to reduce storage requirements, then storage efficiency is improved, but retrieval time increases and accessibility deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage requirementsVSAvoidretrieval time

Core Design Contradiction:

Quantity of substanceVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements pre-caching of archived email content to a local archive store before it is actually needed. When an email is archived to the remote server, its content is simultaneously cached locally in advance, so that when the user requests the archived email, the content is already available locally, eliminating retrieval delay while maintaining storage efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

2Device complexity

If archived email content is stored remotely to optimize central storage, then storage management is simplified, but user accessibility and feature support deteriorate

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvestorage managementVSAvoiduser accessibility

Core Design Contradiction:

Device complexityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a local archive store on the user's client computer that stores cached copies of archived email content. This local cache provides fast, offline access to archived emails and enables full email features (reading, searching, managing) to work seamlessly with archived content, while the remote server continues to handle centralized storage management for space efficiency.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Speed

If a local archive store is implemented to improve retrieval speed, then accessibility is improved, but storage space consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveretrieval speedVSAvoidstorage space

Core Design Contradiction:

SpeedVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements a local archive store that caches archived email content partially - specifically, it caches the content of emails that have been archived to the remote server. The cache size is managed to balance between providing fast local access and consuming reasonable local storage space, rather than caching all possible archived content indefinitely.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentUS8930464B1Email content pre-caching to a local archive store

Publication Date: 2015.01.06 EMC IP HLDG CO LLC

AI summary

An email archive system and associated techniques are described. Archived emails may be stored locally on a user's client computer in a local archive store. The email archive system and associated techniques may interact with an email message system and an email client application.