METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR MANAGING TO DO ITEMS OR NOTES OR ELECTRONIC MESSAGES

• US 20080034315A1
• Filed: 06/10/2007
• Published: 02/07/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Hearst, David Paul, Eguiluz, Hernan Rodrigo, Forstall, Scott, Langoulant, Brendan, Christie, Gregory, Lemay, Stephen
• Granted Patent: US 8,219,920 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/780
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/109 Time management, e.g. calendars, reminders, meetings or time accounting

Abstract

Methods and systems for managing To do items and/or notes and/or emails (or other electronic messages) are described. On exemplary method includes receiving an input to create a To do item based on a portion of an email record, such as a received email, and creating, in response to the input, the To do item. Another exemplary method includes storing a note having a To do item in the note, the note being stored as an entry in a note database which is separate from a To do database and storing the To do item in the To do database and receiving an input within either a note view or a To do view to edit the To do item and causing the note to be edited and causing the To do item to be edited in response to the input.

Claims

1. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a first input to create a To do item based on a portion of an email record; and

creating, in response to the first input, the To do item, without creating a note.

2. A medium as in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

creating, automatically, a note containing the To do item.

3. A medium as in claim 1, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second input to create a note containing the To do item; and

creating, in response to the second input, the note containing the To do item.

4. A medium as in claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the note in a note database.

5. A medium as in claim 4, wherein the note stored includes a note subject field displayed as a first line of the note within a note view, the note subject field not displayed in a view embedded within an email window.

6. A medium as in claim 3, wherein the second input to create the note is an input of text that is stored in the note created.

7. A medium as in claim 3, wherein the second input to create the note is a selection, with a single button activation, of a displayed command interface for creating a note and wherein the displayed command interface is displayed concurrently with a display of the To do item and portion of the email record.

8. A medium as in claim 7, wherein the single button activation comprises one of (1) pressing a mouse'"'"'s button or (2) pressing a key on a device with keys, or (3) touching the displayed command as displayed on a display device or (4) a spoken command which is designed to select the displayed command and wherein the To do is displayed in a view embedded within an email window which includes the displayed command interface and wherein a user can select the displayed command interface, while in the email window which displays emails, without having to switch to a window showing To do items or note items.

9. A medium as in claim 3, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying the display of the To do item in an embedded view within an email window to signify the existence of the note.

10. A medium as in claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the To do item and a text input as the contents of the note in the embedded view within the email window.

11. A medium as in claim 9, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the To do item in a note template having horizontal lines resembling a paper page in the embedded view within the email window.

12. A medium as in claim 1, wherein the To do item comprises at least one of (1) a due date;

or (2) a specification of an action or action item or action required;

or (3) a priority;

or (4) a settable alarm;

or (5) an identification of a particular selectable calendar within a set of a user'"'"'s calendars or (6) a completed status indicator.

13. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a first input to create a To do item based on a portion of an email record; and

creating, in response to the first input, the To do item, without creating a note.

14. A medium as in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

creating, automatically, a note containing the To do item.

15. A method as in claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a second input to create a note containing the To do item; and

creating, in response to the second input, the note containing the To do item.

16. A method as in claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the note in a note database.

17. A medium as in claim 16, wherein the note stored includes a note subject field displayed as a first line of the note within a note view.

18. A method as in claim 15, wherein the second input to create the note is an input of text that is stored in the note created.

19. A method as in claim 15, wherein the second input to create the note is a selection, with a single button activation, of a displayed command interface for creating a note and wherein the displayed command interface is displayed concurrently with a display of the To do item and portion of the email record.

20. A method as in claim 19, wherein the single button activation comprises one of (1) pressing a mouse'"'"'s button or (2) pressing a key on a device with keys, or (3) touching the displayed command as displayed on a display device or (4) a spoken command which is designed to select the displayed command and wherein the To do is displayed in a view embedded within an email window which includes the displayed command interface and wherein a user can select the displayed command interface, while in the email window which displays emails, without having to switch to a window showing To do items or note items.

21. A method as in claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

modifying the display of the To do item in an embedded view within an email window to signify the existence of the note.

22. A method as in claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the To do item and a text input as the contents of the note in the embedded view within the email window.

23. A method as in claim 21, wherein the method further comprises:

displaying the To do item in a note template having horizontal lines resembling a paper page in the embedded view within the email window.

24. A method as in claim 13, wherein the To do item comprises at least one of (1) a due date;

or (2) a specification of an action or action item or action required;

or (3) a priority;

or (4) a settable alarm;

or (5) an identification of a particular selectable calendar within a set of user'"'"'s calendars.

25. A data processing system comprising:

means for receiving a first input to create a To do item based on a portion of an email record;

means for creating, in response to the first input, the To do item, without creating a note.

26. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a selection of an email message from plurality of email messages presented in an email window;

receiving a selection of a command to make a To do item from the selected email messages;

storing the To do item in a To do database, separate from an email database, wherein the To do item contains a link to the selected email message.

27. A medium as in claim 26, wherein the To do item stored includes a title field to be displayed concurrently with a body portion of the email message and wherein the title field includes at least one of text from a subject field of the email message and text from a body of the email message.

28. A medium as in claim 26, further comprising:

modifying the display of the selected email message in an email window to include a user modifiable badge to signify the status of the To do item.

29. A medium as in claim 26, wherein the badge comprises a user selectable check box.

30. A medium as in claim 26, wherein the To do item is edited dynamically by the data processing system in the To do database as the badge is modified by a user and wherein the badge is edited dynamically by the data processing system in the email database as the To do item is edited by the user.

31. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a selection of an email message from plurality of email messages presented in an email window;

receiving a selection of a command to make a To do item from the selected email message;

creating the To do item and storing it in a To do database, separate from an email database, wherein the To do item contains a link to the selected email message.

32. A method as in claim 31, further comprising:

creating one To do item for each email message in the selection, where more than one email message is selected from the plurality of email messages.

33. A method as in claim 32, further comprising:

automatically creating a single note that contains each of the To Do items created.

34. A method as in claim 31, further comprising:

modifying the display of the selected email message in an email window to include a user modifiable badge to signify the status of the To do item.

35. A method as in claim 31, wherein the To do item is edited dynamically by the data processing system in the To do database as the badge is modified by a user and wherein the badge is edited dynamically by the data processing system in the email database as the To do item is edited by the user.

36. A data processing system comprising:

means for receiving a selection of an email message from plurality of email messages presented in an email window;

means for receiving a selection of a command to make a To do item from the selected email;

means for storing the To do item in a To do database, separate from an email database, wherein the To do item contains a link to the selected email message.

37. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a selection of a To do item assigned to a calendar in a first user account;

receiving a selection of a command to assign selected To do item to a second user account;

determining automatically if there is a match between a calendar existing in the second user account and the calendar in the first user account; and

creating automatically, if there is no match, a new calendar in the second user account to receive the assignment of the To do item.

38. A medium as in claim 37, further comprising assigning the selected To Do item to at least one of the new calendar and a particular calendar in the second user account determined automatically to be a match with the calendar in the first user account.

39. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a selection of a To do item assigned to a calendar in a first user account;

receiving a selection of a command to assign selected To do item to a second user account;

determining automatically if there is a match between a calendar existing in the second user account and the calendar in the first user account; and

creating automatically, if there is no match, a new calendar in the second user account to receive the assignment of the To do item.

40. A method as in claim 39, further comprising assigning the selected To Do item to at least one of the new calendar and a particular calendar in the second user account determined automatically to be a match with the calendar in the first user account.

41. A data processing system comprising:

a means to receive a selection of a To do item assigned to a calendar in a first user account;

a means to receive a selection of a command to assign selected To do item to a second user account;

a means to determine automatically if there is a match between a calendar existing in the second user account and the calendar in the first user account; and

a means to create automatically, if there is no match, a new calendar in the second user account to receive the assignment of the To do item.

42. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

encoding a database record into metadata, wherein the database record was modified on the data processing system; and

sending the metadata, as a false message, from the data processing system to a remote message server.

43. A machine readable medium of claim 42, wherein the metadata is convertible back into a database record by a client application supporting live database controls.

44. A machine readable medium of claim 42, wherein the metadata is displayable by a messaging client not supporting live database controls as a non-editable view of the database record.

45. A machine readable medium of claim 42, wherein the message server is an email server, the metadata is in MIME format, and the database record is a To do item.

46. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving a metadata file, as a false message, from a remote message server, the metadata file encoding a database record stored on the message server; and

converting, with a client application supporting live database controls, the metadata file to a database record.

47. A medium of claim 46, the method further comprising:

reconciling a database on the message server and a database local to the data processing system, after converting the metadata file back to a database record.

48. A medium of claim 47, wherein the database local to the data processing system is a local cache of the message server database and the message server is an email server.

49. A medium of claim 47, method further comprising:

creating a first snapshot difference by comparing a current snapshot of the message server database with a reference snapshot of the message server database, wherein a snapshot is a list of paired database record identifiers, each pair containing both a universally unique database record ID and a message ID for that record stored on the message server;

creating a second snapshot difference by comparing a current snapshot of the local database with a reference snapshot of the messaging serve database; and

comparing the first and second snapshot differences.

50. A medium of claim 49, the method further comprising:

determining the message server database is to be modified with the database record based on finding no difference in the first snapshot difference and a difference in the second snapshot difference; and

sending metadata, in a false message, to the remote message server, the metadata encoding the database record.

51. A machine implemented method comprising:

encoding a database record into metadata, wherein the database record was modified on the data processing system; and

sending the metadata, as a false message, from the data processing system to a remote message server.

52. A machine implemented method of claim 51, wherein the metadata is convertible back into a database record by a client application supporting live database controls.

53. A machine implemented method of claim 51, wherein the message server is an email server, the metadata is in MIME format and the database record is a To do item.

54. A machine implemented method comprising:

receiving a metadata file, as a false message, from a remote message server;

converting, with a client application supporting live database controls, the metadata file to a database record; and

modifying a local database to include the second database record.

55. A machine implemented method of claim 54, the method further comprising:

reconciling a database of the message server and a database local to the data processing system, after converting the metadata file to a database record.

56. A machine implemented method of claim 55, method further comprising:

creating a first snapshot difference by comparing a current snapshot of the message server with a reference snapshot of the message server, wherein a snapshot is a list of paired database record identifiers, each pair containing both a universally unique database record ID and a message ID for that record stored on the message server;

creating a second snapshot difference by comparing a current snapshot of the local database server with a reference snapshot of the message server; and

comparing the first and second snapshot differences.

57. A machine implemented method of claim 55, the method further comprising:

determining the message server database is to be modified with the database record based on finding no difference in the first snapshot difference and a difference in the second snapshot difference; and

sending metadata, in a false message, to the remote message server, the metadata encoding the database record.

58. A machine readable medium containing executable program instructions which cause a data processing system to perform a method comprising:

receiving an input to create a note based on a portion of an email record;

creating, in response to the input, the note.

59. A medium as in claim 58, wherein the method further comprises:

storing the note in a database; and

wherein the input is a selection, with a single button activation, of a displayed command interface for creating a note, and wherein the portion comprises text selected within the email record and wherein the displayed command interface is displayed concurrently with a display of the portion of the email record.

60. A medium as in claim 58, wherein the single button activation comprises one of (1) pressing a mouse'"'"'s button or (2) pressing a key on a device with keys, or (3) touching the displayed command as displayed on a display device or (4) a spoken command which is designed to select the displayed command and wherein the text selected is displayed in an email window which includes the displayed command interface and wherein a user can select the displayed command interface, while in the email window which displays emails, without having to switch to a window showing notes.

61. A medium as in claim 58, wherein the note is maintained in a note database as a separate item from the email record which is maintained in an email database, and wherein the note comprises a pointer to the email record.