Method and system for display of electronic mail
First Claim
1. A method for providing a display of an electronic mail collection, comprising:
- forming at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation from the electronic mail collection, the electronic mail collection having at least one electronic mail message, wherein each type of electronic mail abbreviation specifies a manner in which electronic mail messages in the electronic mail collection can be abbreviated;
placing the at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation in a collection viewing cascade, wherein the collection viewing cascade includes a plurality of viewing levels for presenting abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages in the electronic mail collection, wherein each viewing level in the collection viewing cascade offers a different degree of detail for presenting the abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages, and wherein the abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages are abbreviated in accordance with the at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation placed in the collection viewing cascade;
receiving a selected viewing level for viewing; and
displaying the collection viewing cascade at the selected viewing level.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The invention provides a sequence of increasingly detailed presentation levels to assist a user in deciding whether a thread is of interest. If so, the text of the threaded messages is presented at a level of detail corresponding to the user'"'"'s level of indicated interest. In particular, the invention provides a method comprising creating a message collection viewing cascade including a plurality of viewing levels for presenting one or more message threads and abbreviated forms of one or more messages, abbreviating at least one of the messages using one of a plurality of abbreviation techniques, and formatting each abbreviated message to be displayed at one of the plurality of viewing levels in the message collection viewing cascade. Each abbreviation technique specifies a manner in which the messages can be abbreviated, and each viewing level in the collection viewing cascade offers a different degree of detail for presenting the abbreviated forms of the messages.
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Citations
30 Claims
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1. A method for providing a display of an electronic mail collection, comprising:
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forming at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation from the electronic mail collection, the electronic mail collection having at least one electronic mail message, wherein each type of electronic mail abbreviation specifies a manner in which electronic mail messages in the electronic mail collection can be abbreviated; placing the at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation in a collection viewing cascade, wherein the collection viewing cascade includes a plurality of viewing levels for presenting abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages in the electronic mail collection, wherein each viewing level in the collection viewing cascade offers a different degree of detail for presenting the abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages, and wherein the abbreviated forms of the electronic mail messages are abbreviated in accordance with the at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation placed in the collection viewing cascade; receiving a selected viewing level for viewing; and displaying the collection viewing cascade at the selected viewing level. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method comprising:
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creating a message collection viewing cascade including a plurality of viewing levels for presenting at least one of one or more message threads and abbreviated forms of one or more messages which are associated with one or more message threads, wherein each viewing level in the collection viewing cascade offers a different de ee of detail for presenting the abbreviated forms of the one or more messages; abbreviating at least one of the messages associated with one of the message threads using one of a plurality of abbreviation techniques, wherein each abbreviation technique specifies a manner in which the messages can be abbreviated; and formatting each abbreviated message to be displayed at one of the plurality of viewing levels in the message collection viewing cascade. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A method comprising:
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creating a plurality of message threads; sorting the message threads based upon a number of messages in each message thread; and formatting the sorted message threads to be displayed at one or more of a plurality of viewing levels in a collection viewing cascade, wherein each viewing level in the collection viewing cascade offers a different degree of detail for presenting abbreviated forms of the message threads, wherein the abbreviated forms of the message threads are abbreviated in accordance with at least one type of electronic mail message abbreviation that specifies a maimer in which electronic mail messages in the electronic mail collection can be abbreviated. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification