Wireless Email Attachment Search via Chunked Cache Indicators
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for wireless communication devices do not effectively enable searching for email messages based on their attachments, limiting user capabilities in managing and retrieving email content.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that allow wireless communication devices to maintain indicators for each email attachment, enabling users to search and identify messages based on whether the attachment content has been partially or fully presented, by utilizing an attachment cache to store and manage chunks of attachments, and displaying a representation of identified messages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If attachments are pushed to the device automatically, then the user can access attachment content immediately, but the device storage space is consumed and bandwidth is used without user control
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment is divided into multiple chunks that are stored separately in the attachment cache. This allows the system to store only portions of attachments that have been requested, rather than storing complete attachments automatically, thus reducing storage space consumption while maintaining access capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system pre-loads attachment chunks into the attachment cache when they are requested, so that when the user needs to search for or access the attachment later, the data is already available locally. This eliminates the need for re-downloading and improves access speed.
2Quantity of substance
If attachments are not pushed automatically, then storage space is saved, but the user cannot search for messages based on attachment content
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of storing the actual attachment content completely, the system creates a search index that copies and stores metadata about the attachment content (such as file type, size, and content characteristics) in the attachment cache. This allows the system to search for attachments based on their content characteristics without storing the full attachment data, thus maintaining search capability while saving storage space.
3Loss of energy
If attachments are downloaded in chunks, then bandwidth usage is optimized, but the search function cannot identify which chunks have been viewed
Solution Approach 1:
The system maintains an indicator for each attachment that tracks whether the attachment content has been presented to the user. This feedback mechanism allows the search function to identify which attachments have been viewed and which have not, enabling the system to optimize bandwidth usage by only downloading chunks that the user has not yet viewed while maintaining accurate viewing status information.
4Productivity
If the attachment cache stores all chunks, then search speed is improved, but the device memory is filled up
Solution Approach 1:
The attachment cache is designed to store only the necessary chunks of attachments that have been requested or are needed for search operations, rather than storing all possible attachment data. This local quality approach ensures that memory is used efficiently to store only the most relevant data for current user needs, balancing search speed with memory capacity constraints.
Data Source
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AI summary
A set of email messages is received at a wireless communication device. Each of the email messages has at least one attachment. For each attachment, an indicator of whether any content of the attachment has been presented at the wireless communication device (e.g. displayed on a display or played on a speaker) is maintained. A subset of the set of email messages is identified and displayed on the basis of the indicators and a user-specified parameter, which may be specified via a graphical user interface. One value of the parameter may cause only email messages having at least one attachment whose content has been at least partially presented at the wireless communication device to be identified. Another value may cause only email messages having at least one attachment but having no attachment whose content has been presented in whole or in part at the device to be identified.