Proxy Transport Server Optimized Email Routing

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional email routing through proxy transport servers often results in inefficient and unreliable email transmission due to limited time for selecting optimal target servers, leading to delayed delivery and vulnerability to network outages, as the selected servers may be far from the destination mailbox server.

Innovation Solution

A system that optimally selects a store-and-forward (SAF) transport server by identifying available SAF servers, organizing them into groups, and selecting the optimal server within the same group as the recipient mailbox server, thereby minimizing unnecessary hops and connection timeouts.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If conventional email routing through proxy transport servers is used, then email messages can be transmitted through multiple servers to destination mailbox servers, but the limited time for selecting target servers results in inefficient transmission and unreliable routing

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveemail transmission reliabilityVSAvoidtime for selecting target server

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSLoss of time

Solution Approach 1:

The system pre-establishes server group mappings before email transmission is needed. The proxy transport server maintains a pre-configured knowledge base of which SAF transport servers belong to which server groups and which mailbox servers are in those groups. This preliminary organization eliminates the need for time-consuming server selection during actual email routing, allowing the system to quickly identify an appropriate target server within the limited connection time.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system segments the network infrastructure into organized server groups, where each group contains SAF transport servers and associated mailbox servers. This segmentation creates a structured hierarchy that enables the proxy transport server to efficiently navigate to the appropriate group and select a suitable target server, rather than searching through all available servers indiscriminately.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

2Productivity

If target servers are selected within limited time, then connection timeout is avoided, but the selected servers may be far from destination mailbox server resulting in inefficient transmission

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveemail transmission efficiencyVSAvoidserver selection process

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSEase of operation

Solution Approach 1:

Server group memberships and relationships are pre-determined and stored in the proxy transport server's configuration before transmission occurs. This preliminary setup allows the server selection process to be simple and fast during actual operation, while still achieving optimal routing efficiency by selecting servers from the correct groups.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system ensures that each server group contains SAF transport servers that are locally optimized for serving specific mailbox servers. By organizing servers into geographically or functionally logical groups, the system guarantees that selected target servers are appropriately positioned relative to their destination mailbox servers, improving transmission efficiency without complicating the selection process.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

3Reliability

If proxy transport servers maintain open connections during filtering and load balancing, then comprehensive email processing is achieved, but transmission time is extended beyond acceptable limits

Engineering Contradiction:

Improveemail filtering and processingVSAvoidconnection duration

Core Design Contradiction:

ReliabilityVSDuration of action of moving object

Solution Approach 1:

The proxy transport server performs filtering and load balancing operations using pre-established server group information before the external mail transfer agent's connection times out. The pre-organized server group data enables rapid decision-making about which SAF transport server to use, allowing comprehensive processing to be completed within the limited connection window.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The system prioritizes and accelerates the server selection process by using pre-configured server group mappings. This allows the proxy transport server to quickly identify and forward the email to the appropriate SAF transport server, completing the essential routing decision before the connection times out, while still maintaining open connections for necessary filtering operations.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #21Skipping (Rushing through)

Data Source

PatentUS9253127B2Optimized routing for proxy use

Publication Date: 2016.02.02 MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING LLC

AI summary

A system is provided for applying optimized selection to route an email message over a network to a recipient mailbox. An email message may be enabled to be transmitted through a plurality of servers to a destination recipient mailbox server. An external message transfer agent may receive the email message using Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) and may transmit the received email message to a proxy transport server. The proxy transport server may apply a selection for an optimal store-and-forward (SAF) transport server to which to route the email message. The selection may provide for identifying available SAF transport servers, organizing the SAF transport servers into server groups, and selecting the optimal SAF transport server belonging to a server group where a recipient mailbox server is located. The proxy transport server may transmit the email message to the SAF transport server for delivering the message to the recipient mailbox.