Email Distribution via Personal Area Network Caching
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Solution Overview
Problem
In environments where multiple recipients access emails simultaneously, such as offices or universities, the surge in demand at the beginning of the workday leads to temporary network congestion, causing slow email downloads for all users as the local area network struggles to distribute emails simultaneously.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where a server caches multi-recipient emails on the first personal computer used to access an email account at the start of the day, which then distributes these emails over a personal area network to other recipients as they log in, reducing the burden on the local area network and speeding up the delivery process.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of time
If the server distributes emails to all recipients simultaneously over the LAN, then all recipients receive their emails at the same time, but the network experiences temporary congestion causing slow email downloads
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by identifying the first user to log in and pre-loading all multi-recipient emails into that user's personal computer before other users need them. This advance preparation eliminates the need for simultaneous distribution, allowing subsequent users to receive emails quickly from the cached copy without straining the network.
2Ease of operation
If the server distributes emails to multiple users simultaneously, then all users get their emails at once, but the surge in demand strains system resources
Solution Approach 1:
The system extracts the multi-recipient emails from the server and places them into the personal computer of the first user. This extraction removes the burden of simultaneous distribution from the server and network, allowing subsequent users to access emails locally or through a simplified distribution process that consumes fewer system resources.
3Speed
If the LAN distributes emails to all users at the same time, then simultaneous access is achieved, but download speed decreases due to network congestion
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary loading of emails into the first user's personal computer before other users connect. This advance preparation reduces the quantity of simultaneous connections needed, as subsequent users can access emails from the cached copy rather than requiring active server connections, thereby increasing download speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The personal computer of the first user acts as an intermediary, storing and redistributing emails to subsequent users. This intermediary role reduces the number of direct connections to the server, allowing faster email access for multiple users without proportionally increasing network load.
Data Source
AI summary
A system and method for improving the download time of emails in an environment in which a server distributes emails to persons working in close proximity to each other. When these persons receive multi-recipient emails intended for several or all of these persons, the server distributing the emails delivers the multi-recipient emails to the first one of the persons who logged on to read his or her emails on his or her personal computer, for distribution to the other persons over a personal area network. This reduces the download time for the persons downloading their emails at a subsequent time.