Method and apparatus for managing message history data for a mobile communication device

• US 8,700,074 B2
• Filed: 06/28/2011
• Issued: 04/15/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kang, Ji Eun
• Primary Examiner(s): PHUONG, DAI
• Application Number:
  US13/171,231
• Publication Number:
  US 20110256851A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,022 Days
• Field of Search: 4554121-4142, 455/415, 455/466, 455566-567
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/7243 with interactive means for internal management of messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing history data of messages received from and transmitted to other users by a user of a mobile communication device is provided. Message history data is extracted from received and transmitted messages and stored such that a user of the mobile communication device may easily input a conditional request to the device and view message history data associated with a specific other user or message history data identified by conditional data input to the device.

Claims

1. A method of displaying information related to messages communicated in a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

displaying a list of a plurality of message history data, each message history data in the list identified by a corresponding identifier of a specific communication target that communicated with the mobile communication device;

receiving input for selecting a specific message history data from the list; and

displaying information associated with the selected specific message history data in response to the input, the information displayed in a first portion of a display screen of the mobile communication device, in relation to a second portion of the display screen, while the identifier of the specific communication target is displayed in the second portion of the display screen,

wherein the displayed information comprises;

at least one message that was received from the specific communication target;

time information associated with the received at least one message;

at least one message that was transmitted to the specific communication target;

time information associated with the transmitted at least one message;

status information indicating whether each of the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message is a received message or a transmitted message; and

content information for the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deleting the received or transmitted at least one message from the information associated with the selected specific message history data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the received or transmitted at least one message is selectively deleted from the information associated with the selected specific message history data.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the specific communication target comprises a name or a nickname associated with the specific communication target.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message are sorted in chronological order when the information associated with the selected specific message history data is displayed.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the second portion of the display screen is exclusive of the first portion of the display screen.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the text message comprises a short message service (SMS) message and a multimedia message service (MMS) message.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the specific message history data comprises a plurality of messages communicated between the mobile communication device and the specific communication target.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein at least two of the plurality of messages are displayed concurrently on the display screen.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein each of the plurality of messages displayed on the display screen is associated with corresponding time information, status information, and content information.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding identifier of the specific communication target comprises at least a user name of the specific communication target.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the corresponding identifier of the specific communication target comprises at least a phone number of the specific communication target.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving conditional data identifying at least one desired message history data; and

displaying a list of the at least one desired message history data identified based on the received conditional data.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the content information comprises at least partial content of the received or transmitted at least one message.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of message history data is a list comprising at least one message communicated by the mobile communication device.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the identifier of the specific communication target comprises a phone number associated with the specific communication target.

17. A method of displaying information related to messages communicated in a mobile communication device, the method comprising:

displaying, on a first portion of a display screen of the mobile communication device, a list of messages communicated between the mobile communication device and a specific communication target; and

displaying, on a second portion of the display screen, identifying information about the specific communication target while the list of messages is displayed on the first portion, the identifying information comprising at least a name, a phone number, or a nickname of the specific communication target,

wherein the displayed list of messages comprises;

at least one message received from the specific communication target;

time information associated with the received at least one message;

at least one message transmitted to the specific communication target;

time information associated with the transmitted at least one message;

status information indicating whether each of the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message was received or transmitted by the mobile communication device; and

content information for the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the time information, the status information, and the content information are arranged according to a preset pattern in the list of messages such that at least the time information is aligned on a same axis on the display screen when more than one time information is present in the list of messages.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

displaying a list of at least one communication target including the specific communication target; and

receiving input for selecting the specific communication target from the list of at least one communication target,

wherein the list of messages is displayed in response to the input.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the content information includes at least partial content of the received or transmitted at least one message.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising:

receiving input for selecting the received or transmitted at least one message from the list of messages.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

displaying entire content of the received or transmitted at least one message in response to the input.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

displaying content of a file attached to the received or transmitted at least one message in response to the input.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the messages comprise a short message service (SMS) message and a multimedia message service (MMS) message.

25. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving input for specifying a specific period of time such that only messages received or transmitted during the specific period are included in the list of messages.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein all messages in the list of messages have been received from the specific communication target or transmitted to the specific communication target.

27. A method of displaying messages in a mobile communication terminal configured to communicate messages, the method comprising:

storing messages transmitted and received by the mobile communication terminal in association with one or more identifiers identifying corresponding one or more communication targets;

receiving an input for selecting a specific identifier from the one or more identifiers; and

displaying a list comprising at least one message associated only with the selected specific identifier on the mobile communication terminal'"'"'s display screen,

wherein the displayed list further comprises;

at least one message received from a communication target identified by the selected specific identifier;

time information associated with the received at least one message and including at least one date and at least one time when the at least one message was received;

at least partial message content for the received at least one message;

at least one message transmitted to the communication target identified by the selected specific identifier;

time information associated with the transmitted at least one message and including at least one date and at least one time when the at least one message was transmitted; and

at least partial message content for the transmitted at least one message,

wherein the displayed time information is aligned along a vertical axis on the display screen when more than one date and more than one time are displayed in the list such that the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message are displayed in chronological order according to the time information, and

wherein the list is displayed in a first portion of the display screen, in relation to a second portion of the display screen, while the specific identifier is displayed in the second portion of the display screen.

28. An apparatus for displaying information related to messages communicated by a mobile communication device, the apparatus comprising:

a display;

a memory configured to store messages transmitted and received by the mobile communication device in association with one or more identifiers identifying corresponding one or more communication targets; and

a controller configured to cause displaying of a list comprising at least one message associated only with a specific identifier on the display when the specific identifier is selected from the one or more identifiers,

wherein the displayed list further comprises;

at least one message received from a communication target identified by the selected specific identifier;

at least one message transmitted to the communication target identified by the selected specific identifier;

time information associated with the received at least one message and including at least one date and at least one time when the at least one message was received;

time information associated with the transmitted at least one message and including at least one date and at least one time when the at least one message was transmitted;

at least partial message content for the received at least one message; and

at least partial message content for the transmitted at least one message,

wherein the displayed time information is aligned along a vertical axis on the display when more than one date and more than one time are displayed in the list such that the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message are displayed in chronological order according to the time information, and

wherein the list is displayed in a first portion of the display, in relation to a second portion of the display in which the specific identifier is displayed.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the controller is further configured to:

cause displaying, on the display, a list of at least one communication target including the specific communication target,

wherein the list of messages communicated between the mobile communication device and the specific communication target is displayed in response to input for selecting the specific communication target from the list of at least one communication target.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the received or transmitted at least one message is selectively deletable from the list of messages.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the identifying information comprises a name or a nickname associated with the specific communication target.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message of the list of messages are sorted in chronological order.

33. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the second portion of the display screen is exclusive of the first portion of the display screen.

34. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the time information, the status information, and the at least partial message content are arranged according to a preset pattern in the list of messages such that at least the time information is linearly aligned on the display screen when more than one time information is present in the list of messages.

35. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the messages comprise a short message service (SMS) message and a multimedia message service (MMS) message.

36. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the identifying information comprises a phone number associated with the specific communication target.

37. An apparatus for displaying information related to messages communicated by a mobile communication device, the apparatus comprising:

a display configured to display a list of a plurality of message history data, each message history data in the list identified by a corresponding identifier of a specific communication target that communicated with the mobile communication device; and

a controller configured to cause the display to display information associated with the selected specific message history data in response to input for selecting a specific message history data from the list,

wherein the information is displayed in a first portion of a display screen of the display, in relation to a second portion of the display screen, while the identifier of the specific communication target is displayed in the second portion of the display screen, and

wherein the displayed information comprises;

at least one message that was received from the specific communication target;

time information associated with the received at least one message;

at least one message that was transmitted to the specific communication target;

time information associated with the transmitted at least one message;

status information indicating whether each of the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message is a received message or a transmitted message; and

content information for the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message,

wherein the messages comprise a short message service (SMS) message and a multimedia message service (MMS) message.

38. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the corresponding identifier of the specific communication target comprises at least a phone number of the specific communication target.

39. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the controller is further configured to delete the received or transmitted at least one message from the information associated with the selected specific message history data.

40. The apparatus of claim 39, wherein the received or transmitted at least one message is selectively deleted from the information associated with the selected specific message history data.

41. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the identifier of the specific communication target comprises a name or a nickname associated with the specific communication target.

42. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the received at least one message and the transmitted at least one message are sorted in chronological order when the information associated with the selected specific message history data is displayed.

43. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the second portion of the display screen is exclusive of the first portion of the display screen.

44. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the specific message history data comprises a plurality of messages communicated between the mobile communication device and the specific communication target.

45. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein at least two of the plurality of messages are displayed concurrently on the display screen.

46. The apparatus of claim 44, wherein each of the plurality of messages displayed on the display screen is associated with corresponding time information, status information, and content information.

47. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the corresponding identifier of the specific communication target comprises at least a user name of the specific communication target.

48. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the controller is further configured to cause the display to display a list of at least one desired message history data identified based on conditional data received, the conditional data identifying the at least one desired message history data.

49. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein the content information comprises at least partial content of the received or transmitted at least one message.

50. The apparatus of claim 37, wherein each of the plurality of message history data is a list comprising at least one message communicated by the mobile communication device.