METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROCESSING MESSAGES IN A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20130130657A1
• Filed: 11/21/2012
• Published: 05/23/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/22/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: PARK, Sungho, SHIN, Youngsun, LEE, Chaekyung, HAN, Kyunghoon
• Granted Patent: US 9,026,086 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements

Abstract

A method and apparatus for processing a message in a mobile device are provided. In the method, when a message is received from a designated subscriber, a control unit of the apparatus stores the received message in a corresponding application buffer and also links the received message to a combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber. When there is a request for viewing messages received from the designated subscriber, the control unit lists received messages of all types linked to the combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber.

Claims

1. A method for processing a message in a mobile device, the method comprising:

when a message of any type is received from a designated subscriber, storing the received message in an application buffer corresponding to the type of message received;

linking the received message to a combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber; and

when there is a request for viewing messages received from the designated subscriber, displaying received messages of any type linked to the combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the received message of any type is stored in the order of its received time.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the combined message buffer stores a message title, the received time, and link information of the received message stored in the application buffer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the message type includes Short Message Service, Multimedia Messaging Service, Instant Message, e-mail, Social Network Servicefeeds, and schedule.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the displaying of the received message includes:

listing the received messages, including messages of different types, linked to the combined message buffer in the order of the received time of each message; and

when one of the listed messages is selected, displaying the selected message by retrieving the stored message from the corresponding application buffer on the basis of the link information.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering the designated subscriber by using subscriber information registered in a phonebook.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the registering of the designated subscriber includes selecting a specific subscriber as the designated subscriber.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the registering of the designated subscriber includes selecting a group of subscribers as the designated subscriber.

9. An apparatus for processing a message in a mobile device, the apparatus comprising:

a communication unit configured to receive a message of any type;

an input unit configured to create an input signal for viewing the message;

a memory unit including a combined message buffer and a plurality of application buffers, wherein each application buffer is associated with a respective message type; and

a control unit configured to, when the message is received from a designated subscriber through the communication unit, store the received message in one of the plurality of application buffers corresponding to the message type and to link the received message to the combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber, and further configured to, when there is a request for viewing messages received from the designated subscriber, display received messages of any type linked to the combined message buffer corresponding to the designated subscriber.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the control unit is further configured to store the received message of any type in the order of received time.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the control unit is further configured to store a message title, the received time, and link information of the received message in the combined message buffer.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the message type includes Short Message Service, Multimedia Messaging Service, Instant Message, e-mail, Social Network Servicefeeds, and schedule.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a display unit for displaying data under the control of the control unit.