DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See section 10, rule 13)

A METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR TRACKING MAILS IN A DISTRIBUTED ELECTRONIC MAILING INFRASTRUCTUREWITH INCONSISTENT NETWORK CONNECTIONS

BHARAT ELECTRONICS LIMITED
WITH ADDRESS:
OUTER RING ROAD, NAGAVARA, BANGALORE- 560045,
KARNATAKA, INDIA

THE FOLLOWING SPECIFICATION PARTICULARLY DESCRIBES THE INVENTION AND THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE PERFORMED

TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to an electronic mailing system and more particularly to a method and system for tracking mails in a distributed electronic mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections.
BACKGROUND
[0002] Email systems are based on a store-and-forward model. In case of distributed mailing infrastructure, before reaching the destination mail server, email may pass through the different relay servers based on the configuration. While mail is getting traversed, there may be a chance that mail will get lost/ not delivered in between due to several reasons. A possible way of knowing message not getting delivered is by delivery status notifications. But the delivery status notification is again a mail, which can get lost in between the sender and the recipient. Hence a solution is required that provides delivery and read status, without depending on delivery status notifications.

[0003] Organizational mails have information on various topics such as project specific information, strategic plans on which immediate action need to be taken, company confidential information, etc. In a mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections, there is a fair chance that sent mail and mail receipts (delivery status notification and read receipts) delivery fails. Hence it is important to ensure mail delivery and read status in such an environment.

[0004] In a distributed mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections there is a requirement to know about end to end mail flow of the sent mail, through which mailing administrator can know about the different statistics like which mail server is handling highest number of mails, at which mail server, mail delivery is getting failed repeatedly, which mail user is sending highest number of mails etc. By using the statistics, a mail administrator can perform major changes, by which mailing system throughput can be increased.

[0005] Document, US20040059789A1 teaches about a method and system for tracking messages. The document briefs about gathering mail tracking information, calculation of end to end email flow information, generation of graphs based on the collected tracking information. The invention of the document does not mention about the read status of the email. The document describes about the tracking solution for a mailing system in a normal scenario. But the same solution will not be able to cater the problem with inconsistent network connections. However, the document does not address alternate recipient mails while calculating end to end mail flow information.

SUMMARY
[0006] An aspect of the present invention is to address at least the above-mentioned problems and/or disadvantages and to provide at least the advantages described below.

[0007] In a mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections, there is a high possibility of mail delivery failure. In order to ensure assured delivery with inconsistent network connections, alternate recipient concept and mail tracking is implemented. The present disclosure is an enhancement to the electronic mailing system deployed in a bandwidth constrained and distributed environment.

[0008] The method and system disclosed herein addresses the above recited need for tracking a mail in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network link, that is, network connection. The mail, henceforth shall be referred as email. A mail tracking system has capability of tracking alternate recipient mails and also considers correlating alternate recipient mail with the original mail, while calculation of end to end mail flow information to provide the exact delivery status information. The mail tracking system provides the complete end to end mail flow information, mail delivery and read status of the sent mails in a bandwidth constrained and distributed organizational mailing system. The mail tracking system also provides statistics and live updates of sent mails. The emails are sent from an email client application to an email server. The mailing system provides comprehensive tracking information of emails that have been sent from the email client application by the user and the mails that have been redirected to an alternate recipient by the email infrastructure when the recipient is not reachable due to low bandwidth constraints. The mail tracking system does not depend on the delivery status notifications to give the read and delivery status information.

[0009] The method and the mail tracking system for tracking an email in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network connection is disclosed. Mailing system includes multiple mail servers in different workplaces and each of the workplace includes minimum one mail server and local database. Mailing system further includes one central database.

[0010] In one aspect, the method comprises receiving the electronic mail by a source server of the source client for sending the electronic mail to the destination client (101), creating a tracking information repository by extracting tracking information from the received electronic mail (102), wherein the tracking information comprises details of sender, details about recipient, mail creation time, source server, previous hop server, and next hop server, sending the electronic mail to either destination server or to a relay server based on the mailing system infrastructure and obtaining delivery status of the sent mail (103), sending the electronic mail to an alternative recipient upon determining the delivery status of the sent electronic mail as fail and obtaining the delivery status of the sent alternate recipient mail (104), storing delivery status data into tracking information repository (105), assigning a unique identifier to the sent electronic mail and storing the tracking information data from information repository to both local database and central database (106), wherein the data is stored in the central database upon the availability of network connection, storing tracking information data in temporary table of local database (107), if connection to the central database is not available, receiving a query corresponding to the electronic mail sent (108), gathering information corresponding to the electronic mail from one of central database and local database based on the availability of the network connection (109), calculating end to end mail flow based on the gathered information corresponding to the electronic mail from the source client to the destination client (110)and displaying tracking information and the calculated end to end mail flow from the source client to the destination client (111).

[0011] Another aspect of the present invention relates to a mail tracking system for tracking an electronic mail in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network link, the system comprises: a source server of the source client receives the electronic mail and determines to either forward the mail to a next server or to deliver the mail to a destination server, wherein the source server, the next server, and the destination server are connected to each other via a network, a mail tracking agent module in the server collects tracking information data and delivery status data of the electronic mail received by the source server, and stores the tracking information data in a tracking information repository, a mail tracking collector module extracts the tracking information data from the repository and stores the extracted tracking information data in one or more databases based on availability of network, a mail tracking client module gathers the tracking information data from a database based on availability of network and calculates end to end mail flow information; and the mail tracking client module accepts one or more queries corresponding to the electronic mail and provides the tracking information data corresponding to the one or more queries of the electronic mail.

[0012] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses exemplary embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0013] The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be more apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0014] Figure 1 illustrates a method of tracking an electronic mail, that is, email, in a distributed mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connection.

[0015] Figure 2 exemplarily illustrates a basic distributed organizational mailing infrastructure.

[0016] Figure 3 is a block diagram of a distributed organizational emailing infrastructure in which the current invention is incorporated.

[0017] Figure 4 illustrates a flow diagram of operations of mail tracking agent.

[0018] Figure 5 illustrates the flow diagram of mail tracking collector operations.

[0019] Figure 6 illustrates flow diagram of mail tracking client operations.

[0020] Figure 7 illustrates flow diagram of end to end mail flow construction according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0021] Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and may have not been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figure may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. Throughout the drawings, it should be noted that like reference numbers are used to depict the same or similar elements, features, and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0022] The various embodiments of the present disclosure describe about mailing system and methods thereof. It further provides an improved mailing system and a method for use in an industrial environment.

[0023] However, the systems and methods are not limited to the specific embodiments described herein. Further, structures and devices shown in the figures are illustrative of exemplary embodiments of the presently disclosure and are meant to avoid obscuring of the presently disclosure.

[0024] It should be noted that the description merely illustrates the principles of the present invention. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements that, although not explicitly described herein, embody the principles of the present invention. Furthermore, all examples recited herein are principally intended expressly to be only for explanatory purposes to help the reader in understanding the principles of the invention and the concepts contributed by the inventor to furthering the art and are to be construed as being without limitation to such specifically recited examples and conditions. Moreover, all statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the invention, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass equivalents thereof.

[0025] The following description with reference to the accompanying drawings is provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of exemplary embodiments of the invention as defined by the claims and their equivalents. It includes various specific details to assist in that understanding but these are to be regarded as merely exemplary. Accordingly, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various changes and modifications of the embodiments described herein can be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. In addition, descriptions of well-known functions and constructions are omitted for clarity and conciseness.

[0026] The terms and words used in the following description and claims are not limited to the bibliographical meanings, but, are merely used by the inventor to enable a clear and consistent understanding of the invention. Accordingly, it should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the following description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are provided for illustration purpose only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0027] It is to be understood that the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. Thus, for example, reference to “a component surface” includes reference to one or more of such surfaces.

[0028] By the term “substantially” it is meant that the recited characteristic, parameter, or value need not be achieved exactly, but that deviations or variations, including for example, tolerances, measurement error, measurement accuracy limitations and other factors known to those of skill in the art, may occur in amounts that do not preclude the effect the characteristic is intended to provide.

[0029] FIGS. 1 through 7, discussed below, and the various embodiments used to describe the principles of the present disclosure in this patent document are by way of illustration only and should not be construed in any way that would limit the scope of the disclosure. Those skilled in the art will understand that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in any suitably arranged communications system. The terms used to describe various embodiments are exemplary. It should be understood that these are provided to merely aid the understanding of the description, and that their use and definitions, in no way limit the scope of the invention. Terms first, second, and the like are used to differentiate between objects having the same terminology and are in no way intended to represent a chronological order, unless where explicitly stated otherwise. A set is defined as a non-empty set including at least one element.

[0030] Those skilled in this technology can make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention shall be defined and protected by the following claims and their equivalents.

[0031] FIGS. 1-7are merely representational and are not drawn to scale. Certain portions thereof may be exaggerated, while others may be minimized. FIGS. 1-7 illustrate various embodiments of the invention that can be understood and appropriately carried out by those of ordinary skill in the art.

[0032] The foregoing and other features of embodiments will become more apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing. In a drawing, like reference numerals refer to like elements.

[0033] In the foregoing detailed description of embodiments of the invention, various features are grouped together in a single embodiment for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments of the invention require more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than all features of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus, the following claims are hereby incorporated into the detailed description of embodiments of the invention, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment.

[0034] It will be readily apparent in different embodiments that the various methods, algorithms, and computer programs disclosed herein are implemented on non-transitory computer readable storage media appropriately programmed for computing devices. The non-transitory computer readable storage media participate in providing data, for example, instructions that are read by a computer, a processor or a similar device. In different embodiments, the “non-transitory computer readable storage media” also refer to a single medium or multiple media, for example, a centralized database, a distributed database, and/or associated caches and servers that store one or more sets of instructions that are read by a computer, a processor or a similar device. The “non-transitory computer readable storage media” also refer to any medium capable of storing or encoding a set of instructions for execution by a computer, a processor or a similar device and that causes a computer, a processor or a similar device to perform any one or more of the methods disclosed herein. Common forms of the non-transitory computer readable storage media comprise, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, magnetic tape, a laser disc, a Blu-ray Disc® of the Blu-ray Disc Association, any magnetic medium, a compact disc-read only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disc (DVD), any optical medium, a flash memory card, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, a random access memory (RAM), a programmable read only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), a flash memory, any other memory chip or cartridge, or any other medium from which a computer can read.

[0035] Where databases are described such as local database, central database, it will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to those described may be employed, and (ii) other memory structures besides databases may be employed. Any illustrations or descriptions of any sample databases disclosed herein are illustrative arrangements for stored representations of information. In an embodiment, any number of other arrangements are employed besides those suggested by tables illustrated in the drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustrated entries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content of the entries can be different from those disclosed herein. In another embodiment, despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats including relational databases, object-based models, and/or distributed databases are used to store and manipulate the data types disclosed herein. Object methods or behaviours of a database can be used to implement various processes such as those disclosed herein. In another embodiment, the databases are, in a known manner, stored locally or remotely from a device that accesses data in such a database. In embodiments where there are multiple databases in the mail tracking system, the databases are integrated to communicate with each other for enabling simultaneous updates of data linked across the databases, when there are any updates to the data in one of the databases.

[0036] The method and the mail tracking system disclosed herein can be configured to work in a network environment comprising one or more computers that are in communication with one or more devices via a network. In an embodiment, the computers communicate with the devices directly or indirectly, via a wired medium or a wireless medium such as the Internet, a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN) or the Ethernet, a token ring, or via any appropriate communications mediums or combination of communications mediums. Each of the devices comprises processors, examples of which are disclosed above, that are adapted to communicate with the computers. In an embodiment, each of the computers is equipped with a network communication device, for example, a network interface card, a modem, or other network connection device suitable for connecting to a network. Each of the computers and the devices executes an operating system, examples of which are disclosed above. While the operating system may differ depending on the type of computer, the operating system provides the appropriate communications protocols to establish communication links with the network. Any number and type of machines may be in communication with the computers.

[0037] The method and the mail tracking system disclosed herein are not limited to a particular computer system platform, processor, operating system, or network. In an embodiment, one or more aspects of the method and the mail tracking system disclosed herein are distributed among one or more computer systems, for example, servers configured to provide one or more services to one or more client computers, or to perform a complete task in a distributed system. For example, one or more aspects of the method and the mail tracking system disclosed herein are performed on a client-server system that comprises components distributed among one or more server systems that perform multiple functions. These components comprise, for example, executable, intermediate, or interpreted code, which communicate over a network using a communication protocol. The method and the mail tracking system disclosed herein are not limited to be executable on any particular system or group of systems, and are not limited to any particular distributed architecture, network, or communication protocol.

[0038] FIG. 1 exemplarily illustrates a method for tracking an email in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network connection. The method comprising receiving the electronic mail by a source server of the source client for sending the electronic mail to the destination client 101, creating a tracking information repository by extracting tracking information from the received electronic mail 102, wherein the tracking information comprises details of sender, details about recipient, mail creation time, source server, previous hop server, and next hop server, sending the electronic mail to either destination server or to a relay server based on the mailing system infrastructure and obtaining delivery status of the sent mail 103, sending the electronic mail to an alternative recipient upon determining the delivery status of the sent electronic mail as fail and obtaining the delivery status of the sent alternate recipient mail 104, storing delivery status data into tracking information repository 105.

[0039] Assigning a unique identifier to the sent electronic mail and storing the tracking information data from information repository to both local database and central database 106, wherein the data is stored in the central database upon the availability of network connection, storing tracking information data in temporary table of local database 107, if connection to the central database is not available.

[0040] The data is stored in the central database upon the availability of network connection and in the local database irrespective of the availability of the network connection to access the central database. The tracking information data and the delivery status data are stored in the central database upon the availability of network connection. If the network connection is not available for storing the tracking information data in the central database, then the data is stored in a temporary table of local database. The temporary table comprises the tracking information data to be stored in the central database upon non-availability of the network connection. If delivery status of storing the tracking information data in the local database is successful, then the tracking information repository is deleted. Receiving 108 one or more queries corresponding to the email sent and gathering 109 information corresponding to the email from either the central database or the local database based on the availability of the network connection. To allow a user to input a query, the user has to provide login information. The login information is verified, the system authenticates and authorizes the user for accessing information pertaining to the emails.

[0041] Calculating 110 end to end mail flow based on the gathered information corresponding to the email from the source client to the destination client. The step of calculating end to end mail flow comprises calculating unique id of the email for which the end to end mail flow requires to be constructed, accessing tracking information about the source server of the source client from the central database, accessing the alternate recipient tracking information if the email has been sent to the alternate recipient, determining the next server for forwarding the email from the source server tracking information, wherein the next server is considered as a source server, and forwarding the email to the determined next server until the next server is the destination server of the destination client. Displaying 111 tracking information and the calculated end to end mail flow from the source client to the destination client. The step of displaying tracking information comprises accessing tracking information from the central database, accessing tracking information from the local database for providing atleast minimal tracking information upon non-availability of the network connection, and displaying tracking information along with the calculated end to end mail flow information, read and delivery status.

[0042] FIG.2 exemplarily illustrates a basic distributed organizational mailing infrastructure. An organization may comprise one or more workplaces. Mail clients 202, 203, 204 are connected to mail servers 205, 206, 207 respectively. All the mail servers 205, 206, 207 are connected with each other via a network 201. If a first user from workplace 1 prefers to send mail to Workplace 3, the user of workplace 1 composes and sends the mail using the mail client 202. The mail client 202 sends the mail to the mail server 205. The mail server 205 decides to forward or deliver the email based on the destination. Since mail has to be delivered to a user present in workplace 3, the email shall be sent to a workplace 3 mail server 207 directly or through relay servers based on configuration.

[0043] FIG3illustrates a block diagram of a distributed organizational mailing infrastructure or system. The FIG. 2exemplarily illustrates a mailing system comprising 3 workplaces and each workplace comprises atleast one mail server. All the mail servers 301, 304, 307 connected with each other via a network 310. In an embodiment the mail tracking agent module is co-located with mail server in each of the workplaces. Each of the mail tracking agent module has one corresponding mail tracking collector module, that is workplace 1 comprises a mail tracking collector module 302, workplace 2 comprises a mail tracking collector module 305, workplace 3 comprises a mail tracking collector module 308 that collects tracking information from the mail tracking agent and updates the both local database 303 of workplace 1, local database 306 of workplace 2, and local database 309 of workplace 3 and central database 300.

[0044] The mailing infrastructure or mail tracking system comprises multiple mail servers, wherein the servers are source server followed by a next server that can be one or more relay servers or a destination server. The source server is a server whose corresponding client is a sender of an email and the destination server is the recipient of the mail. The mailing infrastructure may comprise one or more relay servers between the source server and the destination server. Each mail server, that is, the source server, one or more relay servers, and destination server, includes a mail tracking agent module. The source server of the source client receives the email and determines to either forward the email to a next server or to deliver the email to a destination server, wherein the source server, the next server, and the destination server are connected to each other via a network. The mail tracking agent module collects the tracking information such as mail header information, mail delivery status information and mail delivery path information for all the emails that have been transferred through the respective mail server. The mail tracking agent module also creates a tracking information repository for storing the tracking information. In a distributed mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections, the email delivery may fail often. In case of failure, the mail server sends the email to an alternate recipient for supporting assured delivery feature. The mail tracking agent module further collects tracking information about the email for which the email delivery failed and to which alternate recipient the email has been sent. The mail tracking agent module collects tracking information data and delivery status data along with the alternate recipient details of all the emails sent by the mail servers. The mail tracking system provides comprehensive tracking information of emails that have been sent from the email source client application by the user and the emails that have been redirected to the alternate recipient by the email infrastructure when the recipient, that is, the user at the destination client, is not reachable due to low bandwidth constraints. A complete email flow information of the alternate recipient mail is collected by the mail tracking agent module.

[0045] The tracking information comprises sender information, recipient information, mail creation time, source mail tracking agent (MTA), previous hop MTA of a server previous to a current server, next hop MTA of a server next to the current server, email status, if email delivery fails then the tracking information shall comprise information about if the delivery has been attempted to an alternate recipient or not, if attempted, the tracking information shall comprise the alternate recipient mail id etc. The mail tracking system does not depend on delivery status notifications to provide the read and delivery status information.

[0046] The mailing system further comprises a mail tracking collector module that is outside of the mail server, the database at a workplace level called as the local database and at a central location called the central database to cater inconsistent network problem. The mail tracking agent module permits the mail tracking collector module to access the tracking information repository upon storing the delivery status data in the tracking information repository. The mail tracking collector module collects or extracts the tracking information from the tracking information repository created by the mail tracking agent module. The mail tracking collector module runs a check periodically or at regular intervals for updating or storing the tracking information into a database. There shall be a corresponding mail tracking collector module with each of the mail tracking agent module. The mail tracking agent module updates or sends the tracking information data to the tracking information repository and the respective mail tracking collector module stores the information into one or more databases, that is the local database and the central database. The tracking information data and delivery status data is stored in the local database and also stored in the central database based on the availability of network. The tracking information data and delivery status data cannot be stored in the central database in an offline mode. The mail tracking collector module stores the tracking information data and the delivery status data in the temporary table upon the non-availability of network connection to access the central database. The mail tracking collector module deletes the tracking information repository upon storing the tracking information data and delivery status data in atleast one of the local database and the central database.

[0047] The mail tracking collector module stores the tracking information data into the database instead of mail tracking agent directly storing tracking information into the database. The mail tracking collector module reduces the overhead of the mail tracking agent of storing the mail tracking information in the database thereby avoiding delays in processing of the emails.

[0048] The mail tracking collector module updates the local database and the central database with the tracking information about all the messages or mails that has passed through that workplace mail server. The mail tracking collector module stores the tracking information data and delivery status data present in the tracking information repository in the local database irrespective of the availability of the network connection. The local database can be used to track mails within the particular workplace, whenever connection to the central database is not present. The central database comprises tracking information of all mails from each of the mail servers that mail has been passed through. The local database provides minimal tracking information during the non-availability of the network connection to access the central database.

[0049] The mail tacking system further comprises the mail tracking client module that provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to the mail users for tracking the mails. The mail tracking client module contacts the central database to get complete tracking information, that is, tracking information data of the mail at each mail server hop and the delivery status data. The mail tracking client module contacts the local database to obtain tracking information data and delivery status data, if connection to the central database is not available due to inconsistent network links or non-availability of network connection. The mail tracking client module accepts one or more queries corresponding to the email and provides the tracking information data and the delivery status data corresponding to the one or more queries of the email. Before accepting the query from the user, the mail tracking client module requests for login credentials from the user. Upon receiving the login credentials, the mail tracking client authenticates and authorizes the user for accessing the mail tracking information. The authentication and authorization of the user is a pre-requisite for receiving one or more queries. The mail tracking client module accepts search criteria Information provided by the user. The mail tracking client module gathers the tracking information data and delivery status data and calculates end to end mail flow information. The mail tracking client module displays the tracking information data and delivery status data and the calculated end to end mail flow information as disclosed in the detailed description of FIG. 1 and FIGS 6-7. The mailing tracking system provides the complete end to end email flow information, mail delivery and read status of the sent emails in a bandwidth constrained and distributed organizational mailing system.

[0050] FIG. 4 illustrates a flow diagram of operations of mail tracking agent. The flow diagram illustrates operations of mail tracking agent that co locates with the mail server in the particular workplace. In step 401, a mail user composes an email from a source client. The composed mail reaches the source server of the source client in the corresponding workplace in step 402. In step 403, the mail tracking agent module in the mail server of the corresponding workplace collects the tracking information of the email. In step 404, the mail tracking agent creates a tracking information repository with the collected tracking information. The tracking information repository can be accessed only by the mail tracking agent module and a mail tracking collector module. In step 405, the mail tracking collector module obtains the delivery status information upon an attempt of delivering the email.

[0051] In step 406, the delivery status is determined. If the delivery status is found to be successful, then the mail tracking agent module updates the tracking information repository with the mail delivery status as shown in 408. If mail gets delivered successfully, the tracking agent permits the mail tracking collector module to read the tracking information repository as shown in step 413. However, if the email is not delivered successfully wherein the email either has been deferred or bounced etc., the mail tracking agent module updates the tracking information repository with the failed delivery status and the mail tracking collector module is permitted to access the tracking information repository as shown in step 407. In the case where the delivery status is a fail, the mail server attempts to send the email to an alternate recipient. If the email has been sent to the alternate recipient, the mail tracking agent module updates the details of the alternate recipient in the tracking information repository as shown in step 409 and the mail tracking agent module gives access permission to mail tracking collector module for reading the file and updating the status of the email in the databases, where the databases are the local database and the central database. In steps 412 and 411, the mail tracking collector module updates the repository with the delivery status of the alternate recipient emails.

[0052] FIG.5 illustrates the flow diagram of mail tracking collector module operations. The mail tracking collector module runs a check periodically. The mail tracking collector module reads the tracking information repository created by the mail tracking agent module. The mail tracking collector module stores the read information of tracking information repository into the local database of the workplace and the central database. If network connection to the central database is not present, then the tracking collector module stores the information in the local database and then stores the information in the temporary table and upon detecting the availability of network connection to the central database, the tracking collector module updates the information in the central database. In step 501, the mail tracking collector module periodically reads the tracking information repository created by the mail tracking agent module. In step 502, the mail tracking collector module checks for the permission to access the tracking information repository. If mail tracking collector module has permission to access the tracking information repository, then the tracking collector module reads the tracking information repository and stores the tracking information in the local database and the central database as shown in step 503.

[0053] If mail tracking collector module does not have the permission to access the tracking information repository, then mail tracking collector module checks whether the local database comprises the tracking information in the temporary table, that has to be updated in the central database. If local database has tracking information in the temporary table, the mail tracking collector module updates the central database with the contents of the table. However, if connection to the central database is not available, then the mail tracking collector module maintains the tracking information in the local database. If mail tracking collector module has access permission to the tracking information repository, then the mail tracking collector module stores the data, that is, tracking information and delivery status data, in the tracking information repository into the local database and the central database. After updating the data into the local database, if network connection to the central database is not present, the mail tracking collector module stores the information into the temporary table of organizational databases as shown in step 506. After updating the database about the delivery status being successful or unsuccessful or bounced, the mail tracking collector module deletes the tracking information repository as shown in step 507.

[0054] In step 504, while updating the local database, the mail tracking collector module checks if the temporary table comprises data. If temporary table comprises data, then the mail tracking collector module attempts to store the data present in the temporary table in the central database as shown in step 505. If connection to the central database is not successful, then the tracking collector module maintains the tracking information in the local database, until it stores the data successfully into the central database. The mail client sends read status details to the mail tracking collector module. The mail tracking collector module stores the same details in the local database and the central database.

[0055] FIG.6 illustrates flow diagram of mail tracking client operations. The mail tracking client module collects the tracking information from the databases and displays the same to a user. The mail tracking client module displays the delivery status of the email, end to end email flow information and statistics information etc. The users and administrators may have access to the mail tracking client module. In step 601, the mail tracking client module provides a login option to the user. Upon receiving login details, the mail tracking client authenticates and authorizes the user as shown in step 602. If the user login is successful, the mail tracking client module provides search criteria to the user as shown in step 603. In step 604, the mail tracking client module attempts to connect to the central database to obtain the tracking information. In step 605 if a network connection to the central database is not present, the mail tracking client module connects to the local database. However, the local database comprises minimal information. If mail tracking client module connects to the central database, the tracking information is obtained from the central database as shown in step 606.

[0056] In step 607, the mail tracking client module provides tracking information to the user. The mail tracking client module provides end to end email flow information to the user for each of the email. The end to end email flow information comprises sender details and recipient details, mail header details, time stamp at which mail has been created, list of mail servers that email has been passed through, time stamps at which mail has crossed and entered each email server, whether mail has been sent to any alternate recipient, if the email has been sent to the alternate recipient, through what all mail servers the email has reached the destination.

[0057] FIG. 7 illustrates flow diagram of end to end mail flow construction. The mail tracking collector module stores the tracking information of each sent mail into the database. Before storing the tracking information into the database, the mail tracking collector module calculates a unique id for each of the email in order to distinguish the email among all the entries. The unique id, in an embodiment, can be a combination of sender name and timestamp at which mail has been sent. The tracking information from the central database is required to calculate end to end mail flow. In step 701, the mail tracking client module calculates the unique id of the email, for which end to end mail flow needs to be calculated. In step 702, the mail tracking client module extracts the source mail server tracking information from the central database. After detecting the availability of the tracking information, the mail tracking client module obtains the delivery status at the mail server of the email and also determines whether the email has been sent to the alternate recipient or not as shown in step 703. If the email has been sent to the alternate recipient, the mail tracking client module extracts the alternate recipient details of the person to which the email has been sent.

[0058] In step 704, the mail tracking client module obtains alternate recipient details and calculates the unique identifier since the alternate recipient is a new mail. Upon obtaining the alternate recipient details, the mail tracking client module obtains the next hop details, the mail server to which the email has been sent as shown in step 705. In step 706, the mail tracking client determines, whether the next hop mail server is a destination mail server or a relay server. If next hop mail server is a destination server, the mail tracking client module calculates the end to end mail flow as shown in step 707 and displays to the user. If the next server is not the destination server and is the relay server, then a next hop shall be made to make next hop mail server, which is the relay server, as a source mail server and the steps 702 to 706shall be repeated until flow reaches the destination server of the destination client. The mail tracking system identifies delivery status and end to end mail flow information without depending on delivery and read receipts. For any of the sent mails, the mail tracking system provides complete flow of the email. For any email, if the delivery fails, the mail tracking system displays at which mail server the delivery failed and the mail tracking system is capable of tracking mails that have been sent to the alternate recipient. The gathered tracking information can be used to generate reports on mail users and mail servers. With the mail tracking information, mailing architecture can be improved for better throughput, status of the sent mail can be identified and end to end mail flow information can be calculated that is crucial in the mailing infrastructure with inconsistent network connections.

[0059] The foregoing description of the invention has been set merely to illustrate the invention and is not intended to be limiting. Since modifications of the disclosed embodiments incorporating the substance of the invention may occur to person skilled in the art, the invention should be construed to include everything within the scope of the invention.

[0060] It is understood that the above description is intended to be illustrative, and not restrictive. It is intended to cover all alternatives, modifications and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. Many other embodiments will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reviewing the above description. The scope of the invention should, therefore, be determined with reference to the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. In the appended claims, the terms “including” and “in which” are used as the plain-English equivalents of the respective terms “comprising” and “wherein,” respectively.
,CLAIMS:We claim:
1. A method for tracking an electronic mail in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network link (100), the method comprising:
receiving the electronic mail by a source server of the source client for sending the electronic mail to the destination client (101);
creating a tracking information repository by extracting tracking information from the received electronic mail (102), wherein the tracking information comprises details of sender, details about recipient, mail creation time, source server, previous hop server, and next hop server;
sending the electronic mail to either destination server or to a relay server based on the mailing system infrastructure and obtaining delivery status of the sent mail (103);
sending the electronic mail to an alternative recipient upon determining the delivery status of the sent electronic mail as fail and obtaining the delivery status of the sent alternate recipient mail (104);
storing delivery status data into tracking information repository (105);
assigning a unique identifier to the sent electronic mail and storing the tracking information data from information repository to both local database and central database (106), wherein the data is stored in the central database upon the availability of network connection;
storing tracking information data in temporary table of local database (107), if connection to the central database is not available;
receiving a query corresponding to the electronic mail sent (108);
gathering information corresponding to the electronic mail from one of central database and local database based on the availability of the network connection (109);
calculating end to end mail flow based on the gathered information corresponding to the electronic mail from the source client to the destination client (110); and
displaying tracking information and the calculated end to end mail flow from the source client to the destination client (111).
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the tracking information further comprises mail header information, mail delivery status information and mail delivery path information for all the mails that have been transferred through the respective mail server, read status, alternate recipient information, and mail routing details.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein if delivery status of storing the tracking information data in the local database is successful, the tracking information repository is deleted.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of calculating end to end mail flow comprising:
calculating unique id of the electronic mail for which the end to end mail flow requires to be constructed;
accessing tracking information about the source server of the source client from the central database;
accessing the alternate recipient tracking information if the electronic mail has been sent to the alternate recipient;
determining the next server for forwarding the email from the source server tracking information, wherein the next server is considered as a source server; and
forwarding the electronic mail to the determined next server until the next server is the destination server of the destination client.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of displaying tracking information comprises:
accessing tracking information from the central database;
accessing tracking information from the local database for providing atleast minimal tracking information upon non-availability of the network connection to the central database; and
displaying tracking information along with the calculated end to end mail flow information, read and delivery status.
6. A mail tracking system for tracking an electronic mail in a distributed mailing infrastructure from a source client to a destination client with inconsistent network link, the system comprises:
a source server of the source client receives the electronic mail and determines to either forward the mail to a next server or to deliver the mail to a destination server, wherein the source server, the next server, and the destination server are connected to each other via a network;
a mail tracking agent module in the server collects tracking information data and delivery status data of the electronic mail received by the source server, and stores the tracking information data in a tracking information repository;
a mail tracking collector module extracts the tracking information data from the repository and stores the extracted tracking information data in one or more databases based on availability of network;
a mail tracking client module gathers the tracking information data from a database based on availability of network and calculates end to end mail flow information; and
the mail tracking client module accepts one or more queries corresponding to the electronic mail and provides the tracking information data corresponding to the one or more queries of the electronic mail.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail tracking agent module is co-located with each of the mail servers in a mailing infrastructure.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail tracking agent has the corresponding mail tracking collector module for storing the tracking information data from tracking information repository to database.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail tracking agent module collects tracking information data along with alternate recipient details of all the electronic mails sent by the mail servers.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail tracking agent module permits the mail tracking collector module to access the repository upon storing the delivery status data in the tracking information repository.

11. The system of claim 6, wherein the local database provides minimal tracking information during the non-availability of the network connection to access the central database.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein storing of tracking information data from the repository to local database and central database by the mail tracking collector eliminates delay caused upon the usage of the mail tracking agent for storing tracking information into the databases directly.

13. The system of claim 6, wherein the mail tracking collector module deletes the repository upon storing the tracking information data and delivery status data in atleast one of the local database and the central database.

Dated this 30th day of March, 2019

FOR BHARAT ELECTRONICS LIMITED
(By their Agent)

D. MANOJ KUMAR (IN/PA-2110)
KRISHNA & SAURASTRI ASSOCIATES LLP