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Inside the BlackBerry Workaround

Posted by Zonk on from the what's-with-the-string-and-the-cans? dept.

pillageplunder writes "Businessweek has a pretty good FAQ-style article on the proposed workaround that RIM would implement if a judge upholds an injunction." From the article: "It would work by changing the part of the network where e-mails are stored. Right now, when someone is out of wireless coverage range and can't immediately get e-mail access, RIM's service stores incoming messages on computers at one of its two network operations centers, or NOCs. When you come back into coverage range, those e-mails are forwarded to you automatically. "

4 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Don't NOC it until you try it by digitaldc · · Score: 5, Funny

    Right now, when someone is out of wireless coverage range and can't immediately get e-mail access, RIM's service stores incoming messages on computers at one of its two network operations centers, or NOCs. When you come back into coverage range, those e-mails are forwarded to you automatically.
    Under the workaround, these waiting e-mails would be stored somewhere else -- on the servers that sit behind the firewall of a company or carrier network. A large part of the infringement of the NTP patents is based on the e-mails being stored at the NOC, analysts say.

    They could have just renamed or recreated the NOC as something else like, 'HELL' - the Humongous Email Limbo Lockup.
    This way, when NTP asks them how they did it, they can simply say 'Go to HELL.'

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  2. Re:Well If That Isn't Worthy Of A Patent... by mopslik · · Score: 5, Funny

    Since when can you patent guaranteeing delivery of a message?

    Well, RIM had sent the Patent Office a message complaining about the "obviousness" of the patent, but somehow they never received it...

  3. Text Messaging? by cloudscout · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Maybe I'm completely missing the boat here, but I recall when I got my first cellphone capable of receiving text messages 10 years ago that those messages would be queued up on the carrier's servers until I turned my phone on or was in signal range. Would that not be prior art?

  4. Good example by slackaddict · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This is a good example of why you should not put all of your eggs in one basket. The US Federal Goverment uses Blackberries and this is a response to their mandate that no matter what happens to RIM over this patent dispute, Senators still need their Blackberries to work. Given other communication forms out there, I think it would be better for companies and governments to diversify or use an open standard for communication rather than relying on a single, vulnerable source for all of their commo needs.

    --
    ConsultingFair.com