Communications tunneling

Claim 1

Method for communicating a first message in a first format through a network transport requiring messages in a second format, comprising the steps of: at the application level of a sending node, generating said first message in said first format, said first format selectively comprising complex data; maintaining a directory of e-mail addresses including tunneling attributes configuring selective destination client and system E-mail addresses for tunneling, said attributes specifying the transport formats for destination addresses capable of accepting tunneled messages; responsive to an application request to send said first message to a first destination client: searching said directory of e-mail addresses for a first tunneling attribute including a first transport format for said first destination client; and responsive to said first tunneling attribute, encapsulating said first message without conversion within a second message of said first transport format; communicating said second message to said first destination client at a receiving node; and at said receiving node, de-encapsulating said second message to recover therefrom said first message.

Claim 3

A method for communicating messages in a plurality of predetermined transport formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising the steps of in the application level of a sending node: a) in a system directory, configuring destination recipient(s) to receive messages in a particular transport and format, including identifying selected recipients as tunnel-to-recipients; b) identifying for a data message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node to a recipient node, the transport and format from said system directory; and c) for messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, encapsulating said data message as a tunneled message within the data segment of an encapsulated message including a control segment and a data segment, and including an object descriptor control block identifying this encapsulated message as a tunneled message; transferring said encapsulated message to a recipient node; and in the application level of said recipient node: e) determining if said encapsulated message is addressed to a recipient on this node; f) responsive to said encapsulated message addressed to this node, determining from said descriptor control block that said encapsulated message contains a tunneled message; g) de-encapsulating said encapsulated message to recover therefrom said tunneled message; and h) delivering said tunneled message to the recipient in-box.

Claim 4

A method for communicating messages in a plurality of predetermined transport formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising the steps of in the application level of a sending node: a) in a system directory, configuring destination recipient(s) to receive messages in a particular transport and format, including identifying selected recipients as tunnel-to-recipients; b) identifying for a data message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node to a recipient node, the transport and format from said system directory; and c) for messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, encapsulating said data message as a tunneled message within the data segment of an encapsulated message including a control segment and a data segment, and including an object descriptor control block identifying this encapsulated message as a tunneled message; transferring said encapsulated message to a recipient node; and in the application level of said recipient node: e) determining if said encapsulated message is addressed to a recipient on this node; f) responsive to said encapsulated message addressed to this node, determining from said descriptor control block that said encapsulated message contains a tunneled message; g) de-encapsulating said encapsulated message to recover therefrom said tunneled message; and h) delivering said tunneled message to the recipient in-box.

Claim 5

A method for communicating messages in one or more predetermined formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising the steps of at the application level of a sending node: a) in a system directory, configuring destination recipient(s) to receive messages in a particular transport and format (ie, SMTP, SNADS or tunneled SNADS), including identifying selected recipients as tunnel-to-recipients; b) identifying for a message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node to a recipient node, the transport and format from said system directory; and c) for MIME ASCII messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, encapsulating the MIME message to create a SNADS message of an ODF type to include a control segment and a data segment, with the MIME message in part of the data segment, and an object descriptor control block identifying this SNADS message as a MIME message and including that descriptor block in both said data segment and said control segment; transferring said SNADS message to a recipient node; and at the application level of said recipient node: e) determining if said SNADS message is addressed to a recipient on this node; f) responsive to a SNADS message addressed to this node and responsive to said object descriptor control block, detecting said SNADS message as containing a tunneled message including an ASCII MIME note in ODF format; g) de-encapsulating said SNADS message to recover therefrom said MIME ASCII message; and h) delivering said MIME ASCII message to the recipient in-box; thereby (a) maintaining message fidelity by not converting a MIME message from ASCII to EBCDIC and back to ASCII, or breaking said message into several separate notes or files which must be encoded and decoded, and (b) not requiring that the network handle SMTP as a messaging transport.

Claim 6

A method for communicating messages in one or more predetermined formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising the steps of at the application level of a sending node: a) in a system directory, configuring destination recipient(s) to receive messages in a particular transport and format (ie, SMTP, SNADS or tunneled SNADS), including identifying selected recipients as tunnel-to-recipients; b) identifying for a message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node to a recipient node, the transport and format from said system directory; and c) for MIME ASCII messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, encapsulating the MIME message to create a SNADS message of an ODF type to include a control segment and a data segment, with the MIME message in part of the data segment, and an object descriptor control block identifying this SNADS message as a MIME message and including that descriptor block in both said data segment and said control segment; transferring said SNADS message to a recipient node; and at the application level of said recipient node: e) determining if said SNADS message is addressed to a recipient on this node; f) responsive to a SNADS message addressed to this node and responsive to said object descriptor control block, detecting said SNADS message as containing a tunneled message including an ASCII MIME note in ODF format; g) de-encapsulating said SNADS message to recover therefrom said MIME ASCII message; and h) delivering said MIME ASCII message to the recipient in-box; thereby (a) maintaining message fidelity by not converting a MIME message from ASCII to EBCDIC and back to ASCII, or breaking said message into several separate notes or files which must be encoded and decoded, and (b) not requiring that the network handle SMTP as a messaging transport.

Claim 10

A system for communicating messages in a plurality of predetermined formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising: a system directory, including for each of a plurality of configured destination recipients a message tunnel-to attribute configuring selective destination client addresses for tunneling; an application level, said application level including: means accessing said system directory for identifying the message tunnel-to attribute for the recipient node for a first message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node; and for messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, means for encapsulating said first message as a tunneled message within the data segment of an encapsulated message including a control segment and a data segment, and including an object descriptor control block identifying this encapsulated message as a tunneled message.

Claim 11

A system for communicating messages in a plurality of predetermined formats, including SNADS and tunneled SNADS formats, comprising: a system directory, including for each of a plurality of configured destination recipients a message tunnel-to attribute configuring selective destination client addresses for tunneling; an application level, said application level including: means accessing said system directory for identifying the message tunnel-to attribute for the recipient node for a first message selectively including complex data to be transmitted from this sending node; and for messages to a tunnel-to-recipient, means for encapsulating said first message as a tunneled message within the data segment of an encapsulated message including a control segment and a data segment, and including an object descriptor control block identifying this encapsulated message as a tunneled message.