Electronic mail notification system

摘要

An e-mail notification system is provided. The e-mail notification system has a remote e-mail service system and at least one local client device. The e-mail service system is connected to the local client device via a primary communications link, and a secondary relatively low-bandwidth continuous communications link. The primary communications link is preferably bidirectional and has a relatively high bandwidth. Because such links are relatively costly, the primary communications link is not used continuously. The secondary communications link is preferably a low cost unidirectional continuous link. The e-mail service system receives e-mail messages for a user and sends e-mail notifications over the secondary communications link. The local client device generates an appropriate indicator whenever an e-mail notification is received. The local client device may automatically retrieve e-mail messages for the user from the remote e-mail service system via the primary communications link or may provide the user with the opportunity to manually obtain e-mail messages from the remote e-mail service system over the primary communications link.