Email Synchronization Using Selective Object Re-Download

Resolve Bottlenecks,
Find Innovative Solutions
Generate Solutions

Solution Overview

Problem

Existing email synchronization methods result in increased complexity and traffic consumption when additional information fails to download, requiring users to re-log in and re-sync emails, leading to low success rates.

Innovation Solution

The method involves sending a first request to obtain the email structure information, determining object identifiers, and sending subsequent requests for specific missing information using object identifiers, allowing selective re-download of only missing data based on user prompts.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Device complexity

If all email information is downloaded simultaneously, then the email synchronization is simple, but the traffic consumption increases and the reliability decreases when additional information fails to download

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveemail synchronization complexityVSAvoiddownload success rate
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the email download process into two distinct phases: first downloading the email body structure information, then separately downloading additional information (attachments, embedded resources) based on user selection. This segmentation allows the core email content to be obtained reliably while giving users control over optional additional content, thereby improving download success rate without significantly increasing complexity.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

2Reliability

If additional information fails to download, then the email can be re-downloaded by re-logging in, but the operation complexity and traffic consumption increase

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedownload success rateVSAvoidre-download operation complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

The patent performs preliminary action by downloading the email body structure information first, before attempting to download additional information. This preliminary structure download provides a foundation that remains valid even if additional information fails to download, eliminating the need for complete re-login and re-synchronization. Users can later selectively retrieve only the specific additional information that failed, greatly simplifying the re-download operation.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

3Reliability

If the entire email is re-downloaded when additional information fails, then the missing information is obtained, but the traffic consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvedownload completenessVSAvoidtraffic consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent extracts and separates the additional information (attachments, embedded resources) from the main email body structure. When additional information fails to download, only the specific extracted additional information items are re-downloaded rather than the entire email. This extraction approach minimizes traffic consumption by downloading only what is necessary to complete the download.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Data Source

PatentEP4191970B1E-mail synchronization method and electronic device
Publication Date: 2025.11.26 HUAWEI TECH CO LTD
  • EP4191970B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4191970B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4191970B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

Embodiments of this application provide an email synchronization method and an electronic device, and relate to the field of email technologies, to reduce complexity and traffic consumption of email synchronization. The method is applied to an electronic device installed with an email client, and the method includes: The electronic device obtains an email identifier of an email to be synchronized by the email client; sends, to a server, a first request including the email identifier, where the first request is used to request to obtain the email and structure information of a message body of the email; receives a first response from the server and extracts the email and the structure information from the first response; determines object identifiers of objects in the message body based on the structure information; sends a second request to the server if information of a first object in the message body fails to be downloaded, where the second request includes the email identifier and an object identifier of the first object; and receives a second response from the server and extracts the information of the first object from the second response.