IP Library Granted Patent US 7,970,839
Granted Patent B2
US 7,970,839 · App. 12/147,529 · Granted Jun 28, 2011

Automatic download of images from online storage

Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,970,839
App. No.
12/147,529
Granted
Jun 28, 2011
Kind
B2
Abstract

Various technologies for automatically downloading one or more high resolution image files from online storage. In one implementation, an e-mail client desktop application (stored at a sender's computer) may receive a request from the sender to send an e-mail with one or more high resolution image files added to the e-mail. Although the high resolution image files may be uploaded to a server, the files may be added as lower resolution image files with hidden Uniform Resource Locator (URL) addresses that may indicate the location on the server of the corresponding high resolution image files. Prior to sending the e-mail, the e-mail client desktop application may concatenate each high resolution image file's URL address with an extension or tag such as “?download” so that the address may later be easily identified.

Claims (57)

1. A method for receiving an e-mail, comprising:

receiving the e-mail at an e-mail client desktop application;

determining whether two or more image files have been added to the e-mail;

displaying the e-mail with an HTML link configured to concurrently download the two or more image files;

receiving a selection to concurrently download the two or more image files; and

scanning the e-mail for two or more tags concatenated to two or more URL addresses in the e-mail that correspond to the two or more image files.

2. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

downloading the two or more image files stored at the URL addresses.

3. The method of claim 2 , downloading comprising at least one of:

storing the two or more URL addresses in memory;

extracting the two or more URL addresses from memory; and

sending a command to a URLMON component to download the two or more image files.

4. The method of claim 3 , the two or more URL addresses stored in a temporary memory of the e-mail client desktop application.

5. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

receiving a memory location in which to store the two or more image files; and

downloading the two or more image files to the memory location.

6. The method of claim 1 , comprising:

storing the two or more URL addresses in memory; and

calling an image downloader thread to start downloading the two or more image files.

7. The method of claim 6 , comprising:

extracting the two or more URL addresses from memory; and

sending a command to a URLMON component to download the two or more image files.

8. The method of claim 6 , the two or more URL addresses stored in a temporary memory of the e-mail client desktop application.

9. A computer system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory comprising program instructions executable by the processor to:

receive an e-mail at an e-mail client desktop application;

determine whether two or more image files have been added to the e-mail;

display the e-mail with an HTML link configured to concurrently download the two or more image files;

receive a selection to concurrently download the two or more image files; and

scan the e-mail for two or more tags concatenated to two or more URL addresses in the e-mail that correspond to the two or more image files.

10. The computer system of claim 9 , the memory comprising program instructions executable by the processor to:

receive a memory location in which to store the two or more image files; and

download the two or more image files to the memory location.

11. The computer system of claim 9 , the memory comprising program instructions executable by the processor to download the two or more image files stored at the URL addresses.

12. The computer system of claim 9 , the memory comprising program instructions executable by the processor to store the two or more URL addresses in a temporary memory.

13. The computer system of claim 12 , the two or more URL addresses stored in the temporary memory of the e-mail client desktop application.

14. The computer system of claim 12 , the memory comprising program instructions executable by the processor to:

extract the two or more URL addresses from the temporary memory; and

send a command to a URLMON component to download the two or more image files.

15. A computer readable device having computer-executable instructions, which when executed perform actions, comprising:

receiving an e-mail at an e-mail client desktop application;

determining whether two or more image files have been added to the e-mail;

displaying the e-mail with an HTML link configured to concurrently download the two or more image files;

receiving a selection to concurrently download the two or more image files; and

scanning the e-mail for two or more tags concatenated to two or more URL addresses in the e-mail that correspond to the two or more image files.

16. The computer readable device of claim 15 , the actions comprising:

downloading the two or more image files stored at the URL addresses.

17. The computer readable device of claim 15 , the actions comprising:

extracting the two or more URL addresses from memory; and

sending a command to a URLMON component to download the two or more image files.

18. The computer readable device of claim 15 , the two or more URL addresses stored in a temporary memory of the e-mail client desktop application.

19. The computer readable device of claim 15 , the actions comprising:

calling an image downloader thread to start downloading the two or more image files.

20. The computer readable device of claim 15 , the actions comprising:

receiving a memory location in which to store the two or more image files; and

downloading the two or more image files to the memory location adding an HTML link to the e-mail to facilitate concurrently downloading the two or more image files.

Assignments (2)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Dec 9, 2014
From: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
To: MICROSOFT TECHNOLOGY LICENSING, LLC
Reel/Frame 034564/0001 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Feb 3, 2009
From: GROSS, YUVAL; FOURNIER, KEITH; FOURNIER, TATJANA
To: MICROSOFT CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 022193/0334 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20090327431A1 · Dec 31, 2009