Displaying Conversation Views in a Conversation-Based Email System

• US 20100281397A1
• Filed: 07/12/2010
• Published: 11/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Bay-Wei W. Chang, Jing Yee Lim, Paul T. Buchheit, Sanjeev Singh
• Inventors: Singh, Sanjeev, Chang, Bay-Wei W., Lim, Jing Yee, Buchheit, Paul T.
• Granted Patent: US 8,560,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24 Querying
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/248 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

A method and system of processing messages is described that includes receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, wherein each message has a unique message identifier. Each of the received messages is associated with a respective conversation to which it belongs. Each conversation includes a respective conversation identifier and a set of one or more messages which share a common set of characteristics that meet certain predefined criteria. A list of conversations to which the various messages belong is displayed in an order determined in accordance with other predefined criteria, such as ordering the conversations by the last date a message was received in a particular conversation. Each conversation is represented as a single item in the list. Other information displayed relating to the conversation includes labels, senders, date/time values, recipients, number of message in a conversation, and whether or not the conversation contains any unread messages.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of processing messages, comprising:

at a client computer;

receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associating each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation;

associating with each conversation a set of senders of messages included in the conversation; and

displaying a list of conversations comprising a set of rows, each conversation in the list of conversations being represented as a single row in the set of rows and including a sender list; and

wherein the sender list of at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations identifies two or more distinct senders of messages in the respective conversation.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying a list of conversations includes highlighting a sender'"'"'s name in the sender list when a message sent by the sender has not been read by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, the at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations includes a message sent by a first sender and one or more messages sent by a second sender, the displaying includes displaying in a first distinct format an identifier of the first sender in the sender list when the message sent by the first sender has not been viewed or marked as read by the user, and displaying in second distinct format an identifier of the second sender in the sender list when all the messages sent by the second sender have been viewed or marked as read by the user.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each sender in a respective conversation has a sender identification assigned a priority, for determining which sender identifiers to include in the sender list, wherein the priority is determined in accordance with date/time information and status information associated with messages in the conversation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein when the user is a sender of a respective message of the plurality of messages, the displaying includes displaying a unique character string or icon to identify that the user is the sender.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the unique character string is a self-referencing identifier in a particular language.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a conversation topic and a date/time value for the conversation represented by the row.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the conversation topic of a row in the set of rows includes a conversation name and a snippet of the conversation associated with the row.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the date/time value in a row of the set of rows comprises a date/time value associated with a most recent message of the conversation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a message number indicator that indicates a number of messages in the conversation.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one row in the set of rows includes a recipient indicator that indicates whether the user is a primary recipient or secondary recipient of any message in the conversation.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein each conversation in the list of conversations includes at least one message marked with a particular label.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one row in the list of conversations further includes at least one user-defined label associated with the corresponding conversation.

14. A computer-implemented method of processing messages, performed on a server system having one or more processors and memory storing one or more programs for execution by the one or more processors to perform the method, comprising:

receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associating each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation;

associating with each conversation a set of senders of messages included in the conversation; and

providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations comprising a set of rows, each conversation in the list of conversations being represented as a single row in the set of rows and including a sender list; and

wherein the sender list of at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations identifies two or more distinct senders of messages in the respective conversation.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations includes providing presentation information for highlighting a sender'"'"'s name in the sender list when a message sent by the sender has not been read by the user.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein, the at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations includes a message sent by a first sender and one or more messages sent by a second sender, the wherein the providing presentation information for displaying includes providing presentation information for displaying in a first distinct format an identifier of the first sender in the sender list when the message sent by the first sender has not been viewed or marked as read by the user, and providing presentation information for displaying in second distinct format an identifier of the second sender in the sender list when all the messages sent by the second sender have been viewed or marked as read by the user.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein each sender in a respective conversation has a sender identification assigned a priority, for determining which sender identifiers to include in the sender list, wherein the priority is determined in accordance with date/time information and status information associated with messages in the conversation.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein when the user is a sender of a respective message of the plurality of messages, the providing presentation information for displaying includes providing presentation information for displaying a unique character string or icon is displayed to identify that the user is the sender.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the unique character string is a self-referencing identifier in a particular language.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a conversation topic and a date/time value for the conversation represented by the row.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the conversation topic of a row in the set of rows includes a conversation name and a snippet of the conversation associated with the row.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the date/time value in a row of the set of rows comprises a date/time value associated with a most recent message of the conversation.

23. The method of claim 14, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a message number indicator that indicates a number of messages in the conversation.

24. The method of claim 14, wherein at least one row in the set of rows includes a recipient indicator that indicates whether the user is a primary recipient or secondary recipient of any message in the conversation.

25. The method of claim 14, wherein each conversation in the list of conversations includes at least one message marked with a particular label.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein at least one row in the list of conversations further includes at least one user-defined label associated with the corresponding conversation.

27. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing one or more programs for execution by one or more processors of a computer system, the one or more programs in the computer readable storage medium comprising instructions for:

receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associating each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation;

associating with each conversation a set of senders of messages included in the conversation; and

providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations comprising a set of rows, each conversation in the list of conversations being represented as a single row in the set of rows and including a sender list; and

wherein the sender list of at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations identifies two or more distinct senders of messages in the respective conversation.

28. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein the instructions for providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations include instructions for providing presentation information for highlighting a sender'"'"'s name in the sender list when a message sent by the sender has not been read by the user.

29. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein, the at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations includes a message sent by a first sender and one or more messages sent by a second sender, the wherein the instructions for providing presentation information for displaying include instructions for providing presentation information for displaying in a first distinct format an identifier of the first sender in the sender list when the message sent by the first sender has not been viewed or marked as read by the user, and providing presentation information for displaying in second distinct format an identifier of the second sender in the sender list when all the messages sent by the second sender have been viewed or marked as read by the user.

30. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein each sender in a respective conversation has a sender identification assigned a priority, for determining which sender identifiers to include in the sender list, wherein the priority is determined in accordance with date/time information and status information associated with messages in the conversation.

31. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a message number indicator that indicates a number of messages in the conversation.

32. The computer readable storage medium of claim 27, wherein at least one row in the set of rows includes a recipient indicator that indicates whether the user is a primary recipient or secondary recipient of any message in the conversation.

33. A server system, for processing messages, comprising:

one or more processing units for executing programs;

memory storing one or more programs be executed by the one or more processing units;

the one or more programs comprising instructions for;

receiving a plurality of messages directed to a user, each message having a unique message identifier;

associating each of the plurality of messages with a respective conversation;

associating with each conversation a set of senders of messages included in the conversation; and

providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations comprising a set of rows, each conversation in the list of conversations being represented as a single row in the set of rows and including a sender list; and

wherein the sender list of at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations identifies two or more distinct senders of messages in the respective conversation.

34. The server system of claim 33, wherein the instructions for providing presentation information for displaying a list of conversations include instructions for providing presentation information for highlighting a sender'"'"'s name in the sender list when a message sent by the sender has not been read by the user.

35. The server system of claim 33, wherein, the at least one respective conversation in the list of conversations includes a message sent by a first sender and one or more messages sent by a second sender, the wherein the instructions for providing presentation information for displaying include instructions for providing presentation information for displaying in a first distinct format an identifier of the first sender in the sender list when the message sent by the first sender has not been viewed or marked as read by the user, and providing presentation information for displaying in second distinct format an identifier of the second sender in the sender list when all the messages sent by the second sender have been viewed or marked as read by the user.

36. The server system of claim 33, wherein each sender in a respective conversation has a sender identification assigned a priority, for determining which sender identifiers to include in the sender list, wherein the priority is determined in accordance with date/time information and status information associated with messages in the conversation.

37. The server system of claim 33, wherein each row in the set of rows includes a message number indicator that indicates a number of messages in the conversation.

38. The server system of claim 33, wherein at least one row in the set of rows includes a recipient indicator that indicates whether the user is a primary recipient or secondary recipient of any message in the conversation.