Portable terminal

• US 8,069,189 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2006
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Lenovo Innovations Ltd Hong Kong (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Asada, Maiko
• Primary Examiner(s): AL HASHEMI, SANA A
• Application Number:
  US11/581,586
• Publication Number:
  US 20070097429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,869 Days
• Field of Search: 707/707, 707/711, 707/716, 707/726, 707/732, 707/781, 707/805
• US Class Current: 707/805
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/48 Message addressing, e.g. address format or anonymous messages, aliases
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/2748 by matching character strings
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails

Abstract

A portable terminal, which has mail function, allows a user to input a destination address of mail by selecting the address from the address list with easy operation by displaying all of information for input operation of the destination address with other information for mail creation such as subject and message of the mail.

Claims

1. A portable terminal including a function for transmitting a mail, said portable terminal comprising:

display means;

storage means for storing an address list including a plurality of mail addresses;

inputting means for receiving key operations by a user of the portable terminal for searching and entering a destination mail address; and

control means for searching the destination mail address from the address list in response to the key operations through the inputting means, and for controlling the display means to display information for preparing a mail on a display screen, the information including a mail message, a subject of the mail message, and the destination mail address,

wherein the control means controls the display means so that the destination mail address is searched on the display screen, on which the mail message and the subject of the mail message are being displayed,

wherein the control means searches the destination mail address having a character or a character string inputted from the inputting means when searching the destination mail address,

wherein the storage means stores an address list set including a plurality of address lists and names of the address lists, and

wherein the address list set includes at least one of an address book, an address list extracted from a sent mail history, an address list extracted from a received mail history, and a list of a group address for sending a single mail to a plurality of destination mail addresses.

3. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control means selects each of destination mail addresses in the address list sequentially and cyclically in a predetermined order in response to the key operations through the inputting means, and

wherein a candidate of the destination mail address is displayed in a destination mail address field in the display screen, and the candidate is replaced by a next candidate in response to the key operations.

4. The portable terminal according to claim 1,

wherein the inputting means receives the key operations through the inputting means to select one of the address lists from the address list set stored in the storage means, searches the destination mail address from the selected address list in response to the key operations through the inputting means, and controls the display means to display the name of the selected address list on the display screen in which the mail message and the subject of the mail message are displayed.

5. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays the address list, the mail message, and the subject of the mail message on said display screen.

6. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display means does not display another screen that displays the address list before displaying said display screen.

7. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the display means displays a plurality of operation screens, said display screen being one of said plurality of operation screens.

8. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control means searches the destination mail address from addresses each having a character or a character string, which partially matches with the character or the character string inputted from the inputting means.

9. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control means searches the destination mail address from addresses each corresponding to an appellation or a registered name, which has a character or a character string partially matching with the character or the character string inputted from the inputting means.

10. The portable terminal according to claim 1, wherein the control means determines a selection of the destination address from one of the address book, the address list extracted from the sent mail history, and the address list extracted from the received mail history.

17. The portable terminal according to claim 4, wherein the control means selects each of the address lists sequentially and cyclically in a predetermined order from the address list set stored in the storage means in response to the key operations.

18. The portable terminal according to claim 7, wherein the plurality of operation screens displays at least an address list of the received mail history, an address list of the sent mail history, and the list of the group address for sending the single mail.

19. The portable terminal according to claim 7, wherein in said searching and said entering the destination mail address, an operation screen from the plurality of operation screens is selected in response to the key operations.

2. A portable terminal including a function for transmitting a mail, said portable terminal comprising:

a display unit;

a storage device for storing an address list including a plurality of mail addresses;

an inputting unit for receiving key operations by a user of the portable terminal for searching and entering a destination mail address; and

a controller for searching the destination mail address from the address list in response to the key operations through the inputting unit, and for controlling the display unit to display information for preparing a mail on a display screen, the information including a mail message, a subject of the mail message, and the destination mail address,

wherein the controller controls the display unit so that the destination mail address is searched on the display screen on which the mail message and the subject of the mail message are being displayed,

wherein the controller searches the destination mail address having a character or a character string inputted from the inputting unit when searching the destination mail address,

wherein the storage device stores an address list set including a plurality of address lists and names of the address lists, and

wherein the address list set includes at least one of an address book, an address list extracted from a sent mail history, an address list extracted from a received mail history, and a list of a group address for sending a single mail to a plurality of destination mail addresses.

11. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the controller selects each of destination mail addresses in the address list sequentially and cyclically in a predetermined order in response key operations through the inputting unit, and

wherein a candidate of the destination mail address is displayed in a destination mail address field in the display screen, and the candidate is replaced by a next candidate in response to the key operations.

12. The portable terminal according to claim 2,

wherein the inputting unit receives the key operations through the inputting unit to select one of the address lists from the address list set stored in the storage device searches the destination mail address from the selected address list in response to the key operations through the inputting unit, and controls the display unit to display the name of the selected address list on the display screen in which the mail message and the subject of the mail message are displayed.

13. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the display unit displays at list the address list, the mail message, and the subject of the mail message on said display screen.

14. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the display unit does not display an other screen that displays the address list before displaying said display screen.

15. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the display unit displays a plurality of operation screens, said display screen being one of said plurality of operation screens.

16. The portable terminal according to claim 2, wherein the controller determines a selection of the destination address from one of the address book, the address list extracted from the sent mail history, and the address list extracted from the received mail history.

20. The portable terminal according to claim 12, wherein the controller selects each of the address lists sequentially and cyclically in a predetermined order from the address list set stored in the storage device in response to the key operations.

21. The portable terminal according to claim 15, wherein the plurality of operation screens displays at least an address list of the received mail history, an address list of the sent mail history, and the list of the group address for sending the single mail.

22. The portable terminal according to claim 15, wherein in said searching and said entering the destination mail address, an operation screen from the plurality of operation screens is selected in response to the key operations.