Threaded presentation of electronic mail

• US 7,421,690 B2
• Filed: 06/23/2003
• Issued: 09/02/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2003
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Christie, Greg, Lemay, Stephen O, Forstall, Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Bullock, Jr.; Lewis A.
• Assistant Examiner(s): To; Jennifer N
• Application Number:
  US10/602,335
• Publication Number:
  US 20040260756A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,898 Days
• Field of Search: 709203-206, 718100-108, 715/234, 707/200
• US Class Current: 718/100
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/00 User-to-user messaging in packet-switching networks, transmitted according to store-and-forward or real-time protocols, e.g. e-mail
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads

Abstract

A threaded list of e-mail messages is provided by checking each received message against previous messages to determine whether the new message is associated with previous messages. If so, then a new thread is created. The new thread has an associated thread header, which stores metadata bout the messages in the thread. If the received message is related to messages in an existing thread, then the received message is added to that thread, and the thread header for that thread is updated to reflect data from the received message. The thread header appears with messages in a message list view of the inbox, and provides data about the thread. Messages that are not part of a thread are shown in the same view as threaded messages, without a thread header. This allows a user to view both threaded and non-threaded messages in a single view.

Claims

1. A system for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

a mailbox processor module for receiving e-mail messages including a first e-mail message and a second e-mail message;

a mailbox, communicatively coupled to the mailbox processor module, for electronically storing the received e-mail messages;

a threading engine, communicatively coupled to the mailbox processor module, for;

determining that the first received e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message, the second e-mail message received subsequent to the first e-mail message;

creating an e-mail thread if the first e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message;

associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread additionally including a thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the first or second e-mail messages; and

a display device operable to display information about one or more received e-mail messages in a user interface including displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information, the displayed thread header information being distinct from information displayed for individual e-mail messages and where the thread header information is displayed in the mailbox in place of mailbox entries for the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the threading engine additionally updates the thread header associated with the e-mail thread.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the thread header includes a subject of the e-mail thread.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the thread header includes an originator of the e-mail thread.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the thread header includes indicia of the number of messages in the e-mail thread.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein the thread header includes a time that the e-mail thread was most recently updated.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the threading engine is further configured for:

receiving a third e-mail message;

determining that the third e-mail message is related to the e-mail thread;

associating the third e-mail message with the e-mail thread; and

updating the thread header to include information derived from attributes of the third e-mail message.

8. A method for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving a first e-mail message;

receiving a second e-mail message subsequent to the first e-mail message;

determining that the first e-mail message is related to a second e-mail message;

creating an e-mail thread if the second e-mail message is related to the first e-mail message;

associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread including a persistent thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the first or second e-mail messages; and

displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information in a user interface where the thread header information is displayed in a mailbox in lieu of information for individual e-mail messages associated with the e-mail thread.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the persistent thread header includes a subject of the e-mail thread.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein the persistent thread header includes an originator of the e-mail thread.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the persistent thread header includes indicia of the number of messages in the thread.

12. The method of claim 8 wherein the persistent thread header includes a time that the e-mail thread was most recently updated.

13. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving a third e-mail message;

determining that the third e-mail message is related to the e-mail thread;

associating the third e-mail message with the e-mail thread; and

updating the thread header to include information derived from attributes of the third e-mail message.

14. The method of claim 8 wherein the displayed thread header information includes displaying a color associated with a sender of the first e-mail message.

15. The method of claim 8 wherein the displayed thread header information includes displaying a color associated with a sender of the second e-mail message.

16. The method of claim 8 wherein each sender of an e-mail has an associated priority, and the displayed thread header information is displayed in a color associated with a sender having the highest priority.

17. The method of claim 8 further comprising displaying an expansion icon associated with the thread header in the user interface.

18. The method of claim 17 further comprising:

responsive to a selection of the expansion icon, displaying information about each individual e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread in the user interface.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising highlighting for selection an oldest unread e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread.

20. The method of claim 18 wherein e-mail messages associated with the e-mail thread are displayed in a common color.

21. The method of claim 8 wherein the second e-mail message is related to the first e-mail message if it is a reply to the first e-mail message.

22. The method of claim 8 wherein the second e-mail message is a reply to the first e-mail message if a In-Reply-To field of a header of the second e-mail message identifies the first e-mail message.

23. The method of claim 8 wherein the second e-mail message is related to the first e-mail message if it includes a forward of the first e-mail message.

24. The method of claim 8 wherein the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message are stored in different folders of a user'"'"'s mailbox.

25. The method of claim 24 wherein at least one of the e-mail messages is stored in the user'"'"'s sent items folder.

26. The method of claim 24 wherein at least one of the e-mail messages is stored in the user'"'"'s personal items folder.

27. A computer program product for threading e-mail messages, the program product stored on a computer readable storage medium and adapted to perform the operations of:

receiving a first e-mail message;

receiving a second e-mail message subsequent to the first e-mail message;

determining that the first e-mail message is related to a second e-mail message;

creating an e-mail thread if the second e-mail message is related to the first e-mail message;

associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread including a thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the e-mail messages; and

displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information in a user interface where the information from the at least one unthreaded e-mail message and the thread header information is displayed in a mailbox, the displayed thread header information being distinct from information displayed for individual e-mail messages and where the thread header information is displayed in place of the information for each e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread.

28. The computer program product of claim 27, further adapted for:

receiving a third e-mail message;

determining that the third e-mail message is related to the e-mail thread;

associating the third e-mail message with the e-mail thread; and

updating the thread header to include information derived from attributes of the third e-mail message.

29. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the thread header includes a subject of the e-mail thread.

30. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the thread header includes an originator of the e-mail thread.

31. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the thread header includes indicia of the number of messages in e-mail thread.

32. The computer program product of claim 27 wherein the thread header includes a time that the e-mail thread was most recently updated.

33. A system for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving means, for receiving a first e-mail and a second e-mail message;

determining means, communicatively coupled to the receiving means, for determining that the first e-mail message is related to a second e-mail message, the second e-mail message received subsequent to the first e-mail message;

creating means, communicatively coupled to the determining means, for creating an e-mail thread if the first e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message; and

associating means, communicatively coupled to the creating means, for associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread additionally including a thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the e-mail messages; and

a display device operable to display information about one or more received e-mail messages in a user interface including displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information as entries in a mailbox and where the thread header information is displayed in place of mailbox entries for each e-mail message associated with the e-mail thread.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein:

the receiving means are further configured to receive a third e-mail message;

the determining means are further configured to determine that the third e-mail message is related to the e-mail thread; and

the associating means are further configured to associate the third e-mail message with the e-mail thread and to update the persistent thread header to include information derived from the attributes of the third e-mail message.

35. A method for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving a first e-mail message;

receiving a second e-mail message that is related to the first e-mail message; and

threading the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the threading including;

creating an e-mail thread having a thread header, the thread header having e-mail thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the first or second e-mail messages; and

displaying information from one or more unthreaded e-mail messages and the thread header as respective entries in a mailbox.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising:

receiving a third e-mail message related to either the first e-mail message or the second e-mail message; and

updating the thread including updating the displayed thread header.

37. A method for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving a first e-mail message;

receiving a second e-mail message related to the first e-mail message; and

threading the first e-mail and the second e-mail, the threading including displaying a display item indicating a nature of the relationship between the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message and where the display item is displayed in a mailbox in place of mailbox entries for the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, where information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message is displayed in the mailbox.

38. A method for threading e-mail messages, comprising:

receiving a first e-mail message;

receiving a second e-mail message subsequent to the first e-mail message;

determining that the first e-mail message is related to a second e-mail message, where determining if the first e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message includes;

identifying whether a subject field of the first e-mail message and the subject field of the second e-mail message include common data, and

if the subject field includes common data, determining whether the second e-mail message includes a message identifier included in the first e-mail message;

creating an e-mail thread if the second e-mail message is related to the first e-mail message;

associating the e-mail thread with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message, the e-mail thread including a thread header, the thread header having thread information derived from attributes of at least one of the first or second e-mail messages; and

displaying information from at least one unthreaded e-mail message and thread header information in a user interface.

39. The method of claim 38, where determining whether the subject field includes common data includes disregarding subject prefixes.

40. A method comprising:

receiving a first e-mail message and a second e-mail message;

determining that the first e-mail message is related to the second e-mail message;

creating an e-mail thread associated with the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message;

displaying information from one or more unthreaded e-mail messages and a thread header as respective entries in a mailbox, the thread header being displayed in place of entries in the mailbox for the first e-mail message and the second e-mail message.