Method and system for managing unread electronic messages

• US 20050188320A1
• Filed: 02/24/2004
• Published: 08/25/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Bocking, Andrew D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,255,835 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04895 Guidance during keyboard input operation, e.g. prompting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

The presence of new unread electronic messages received, that is, messages received since unread messages were last reviewed, is provided by indicia presented to the user. These indicia can take various forms, such as by bolding, flashing, changing the size or color of a count of unread messages, and/or the unread message icon. Alternatively, a separate indication, such as a second count representing the number of new unread electronic messages received, or some other symbol, such as an explanation point, can be displayed.

Claims

1. A method of managing unread electronic messages comprising the steps of:

providing an indication of the presence of unread electronic messages received;

enabling scanning of the unread electronic messages received without reading; and

generating an indication that new electronic messages have been received since the unread electronic messages received were last scanned.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of providing an indication of the presence of unread electronic messages received comprises providing a visual display indicating the presence of unread electronic messages received.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the step of generating an indication that new electronic messages have been received comprises altering the visual display.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the visual display indicating the presence of unread electronic messages received comprises providing an icon indicating the presence of unread electronic messages received and altering the visual display comprises altering the icon to indicate the presence of new electronic messages received.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein altering the icon comprises at least one selected from the group comprising:

flashing, bolding, changing the size, and changing the color of the icon.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein altering the visual display comprises adding indicia of new unread electronic messages received.

7. The method of claim 3, wherein providing the visual display indicating the presence of unread electronic messages received comprises providing a visual indication of a count of unread electronic messages received.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein altering the visual display comprises at least one selected from a group comprising:

bolding, flashing, changing the size, and changing the color of the count of unread electronic messages received.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the step of providing a visual display further comprises providing an unread mail icon indicating the presence of unread electronic messages along with the visual indication of the count of unread electronic messages, and altering the display to indicate the presence of new unread electronic messages received comprises altering at least one of the unread mail icon and the count.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein altering the display comprises adding to the visual display a second count of the new unread electronic messages received since the last scan.

11. A system for managing electronic messages received, comprising:

a display;

a message list of electronic messages received with identification of those that are unread;

input means for selectively displaying the message list on the display for scanning for unread messages received; and

indicator means on the display indicating the presence of new unread electronic messages received since the message list was last displayed.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the indicator means comprises a count of unread electronic messages displayed on the display in addition to the indication of the presence of new unread electronic messages received.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the indicator means indicating the presence of new unread electronic messages received comprises an alteration to the count of unread electronic messages received.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the indicator means providing an alteration to the count comprises indicator means comprises at least one of:

bolding the count, flashing the count, changing the size of the count and changing the color of the count.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the indicator means indicating the presence of new unread electronic messages received comprises additional indicia on the display.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein the indicator means further comprises a message icon on the display adjacent the count of unread electronic messages received and the indication of the presence of new unread electronic messages received since the message list was last displayed comprises means altering the message icon.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the means providing alteration to the message icon comprises at least one of:

bolding the icon, flashing the icon, changing the size of the icon and changing the color of the icon.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the indicating means indicating the presence of new unread electronic messages received comprises a second count, which is a count of the new unread electronic messages received.