Multi-account messaging management

• US 8,949,956 B1
• Filed: 07/28/2009
• Issued: 02/03/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Phillips, Derek J., Hsieh, Jen Chen-Chuan, Thomas, Neil Richard, Baldwin, Peter G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shiferaw, Eleni
• Assistant Examiner(s): Callahan, Paul
• Application Number:
  US12/510,953
• Time in Patent Office: 2,016 Days
• Field of Search: 726/6, 726/28, 713/153, 715/752, 715/743, 709/206, 709/217
• US Class Current: 726/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes

Abstract

A system and a computer-implemented methods for email management are disclosed. The method includes storing messages for electronic mail accounts provided by remote electronic mail server systems. The method further includes determining that the remote electronic mail server systems each have a different hostname than the others of the remote electronic mail server systems. The method further includes displaying messages from a first one of the electronic mail accounts and displaying a hostname of a first remote electronic mail server system providing the first one of the electronic mail accounts. The method further includes receiving a request to view messages from a second one of the electronic mail accounts. The method further includes displaying messages from the second one of the electronic mail accounts and displaying a hostname of a second remote electronic mail server system providing the second one of the electronic mail accounts.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

storing, at a client computing device, messages for a plurality of electronic mail accounts provided by a plurality of electronic mail server systems that are remote from the client computing device;

displaying, within an instantiation of an electronic mail application, messages from a first electronic mail account of the plurality of electronic mail accounts without concurrently displaying messages from one or more other electronic mail accounts of the plurality of electronic mail accounts, wherein particular ones of the displayed messages include displayed text that has been provided by corresponding senders of the particular ones of the displayed messages;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account without concurrently displaying the messages from the one or more other electronic mail accounts, user input to display a menu;

responsive to receiving the user input to display the menu, concurrently displaying (i) the messages from the first electronic mail account, and (ii) the menu, with one or more user-selectable options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts being included in the menu, wherein the display of the menu overlaps a display of at least one message of the messages from the first electronic mail account;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is concurrently displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account and the menu, user selection from the menu of an option that identifies a second electronic mail account from among the one or more options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts, wherein the second electronic mail account is different from the first electronic mail account;

responsive to receiving the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, displaying, in the instantiation of the electronic mail application, messages from the second electronic mail account without concurrently displaying messages from the first electronic mail account;

determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at a same electronic mail server system; and

in response to determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at the same electronic mail server system, displaying a portion of an account identifier for the first electronic mail account by displaying an account name portion for the first electronic mail account without displaying a hostname for the first electronic mail account.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising automatically accessing authentication information for the second electronic mail account, in response to the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, and providing the authentication information to one of the plurality of electronic mail server systems.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, before receiving the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, automatically accessing authentication information for the second electronic mail account, providing the authentication information to one of the plurality of electronic mail server systems, and automatically accessing additional messages from the second electronic mail account while the messages from the second electronic mail account are not presently displayed on the client computing device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising while displaying the messages from the second electronic mail account, storing data for a subset of the messages from the first electronic mail account in a volatile memory on the client computing device.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the second electronic mail account, accessing additional messages from the first electronic mail account and updating the volatile memory with the additional messages from the first electronic mail account.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the display of the menu that overlaps the display of the at least one message further includes a display of a user-selectable option to add another electronic mail account;

and

further comprising receiving, by the client communication device, user selection of the option to add the another electronic mail account, and in response displaying a user interface for inputting electronic mail account authentication information.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the electronic mail account authentication information includes a username and a password.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the display of the menu that overlaps the display of the at least one message is a pop up menu.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein concurrently displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account and the menu includes displaying, in the menu, two or more user-selectable options that identify two or more of the plurality of electronic mail accounts.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the display of the menu overlaps a display of an identifier of a sender of a particular message and a display of a subject of the particular message.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the display of the menu further includes a display of a user-selectable option to sign out from the first electronic mail account.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the display of the menu presents, in association with a user-selectable option for a particular electronic mail account of the one or more user-selectable options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts, a number that represents a number of unread or new messages for the particular electronic mail account.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the client computing device, a search term while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account without concurrently displaying the messages from the one or more other electronic mail accounts;

searching each of the one or more other electronic mail accounts using the received search term; and

displaying, by the client computing device and in the display of the menu, an indication of a number of matches to the search query for each of the one or more other electronic mail accounts.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the portion of the account identifier for the first electronic mail account is presented in a title bar of the instantiation of the electronic mail application.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations that include:

storing, at a client computing device, messages for a plurality of electronic mail accounts provided by a plurality of electronic mail server systems that are remote from the client computing device;

displaying, within an instantiation of an electronic mail application, messages from a first electronic mail account of the plurality of electronic mail accounts without concurrently displaying messages from one or more other electronic mail accounts of the plurality of electronic mail accounts, wherein particular ones of the displayed messages include displayed text that has been provided by corresponding senders of the particular ones of the displayed messages;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account without concurrently displaying the messages from the one or more other electronic mail accounts, user input to display a menu;

responsive to receiving the user input to display the menu, concurrently displaying (i) the messages from the first electronic mail account, and (ii) the menu, with one or more user-selectable options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts being included in the menu, wherein the display of the menu overlaps a display of at least one message of the messages from the first electronic mail account;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is concurrently displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account and the menu, user selection from the menu of an option that identifies a second electronic mail account from among the one or more options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts, wherein the second electronic mail account is different from the first electronic mail account;

responsive to receiving the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, displaying, in the instantiation of the electronic mail application, messages from the second electronic mail account without concurrently displaying messages from the first electronic mail account;

determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at different electronic mail server systems; and

in response to determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at the same electronic mail server system, displaying a portion of an account identifier for the first electronic mail account by displaying an account name portion for the first electronic mail account without displaying a hostname for the first electronic mail account.

16. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

storing, at a client computing device, messages for a plurality of electronic mail accounts provided by a plurality of electronic mail server systems that are remote from the client computing device;

displaying, within an instantiation of an electronic mail application, messages from a first electronic mail account of the plurality of electronic mail accounts without concurrently displaying messages from one or more other electronic mail accounts of the plurality of electronic mail accounts, wherein particular ones of the displayed messages include displayed text that has been provided by corresponding senders of the particular ones of the displayed messages;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account without concurrently displaying the messages from the one or more other electronic mail accounts, user input to display a menu;

responsive to receiving the user input to display the menu, concurrently displaying (i) the messages from the first electronic mail account, and (ii) the menu, with one or more user-selectable options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts being included in the menu, wherein the display of the menu overlaps a display of at least one message of the messages from the first electronic mail account;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is concurrently displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account and the menu, user selection from the menu of an option that identifies a second electronic mail account from among the one or more options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts, wherein the second electronic mail account is different from the first electronic mail account;

responsive to receiving the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, displaying, in the instantiation of the electronic mail application, messages from the second electronic mail account without concurrently displaying messages from the first electronic mail account;

determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at a same electronic mail server system; and

in response to determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at different electronic mail server systems, displaying a portion of an account identifier for the first electronic mail account by displaying a hostname of the first electronic mail account without displaying an account name of the first electronic mail account.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the portion of the account identifier from the first electronic mail account is presented in a title bar of the instantiation of the electronic mail application.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable medium including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause performance of operations that include:

storing, at a client computing device, messages for a plurality of electronic mail accounts provided by a plurality of electronic mail server systems that are remote from the client computing device;

displaying, within an instantiation of an electronic mail application, messages from a first electronic mail account of the plurality of electronic mail accounts without concurrently displaying messages from one or more other electronic mail accounts of the plurality of electronic mail accounts, wherein particular ones of the displayed messages include displayed text that has been provided by corresponding senders of the particular ones of the displayed messages;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account without concurrently displaying the messages from the one or more other electronic mail accounts, user input to display a menu;

responsive to receiving the user input to display the menu, concurrently displaying (i) the messages from the first electronic mail account, and (ii) the menu, with one or more user-selectable options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts being included in the menu, wherein the display of the menu overlaps a display of at least one message of the messages from the first electronic mail account;

receiving, by the client computing device while the client computing device is concurrently displaying the messages from the first electronic mail account and the menu, user selection from the menu of an option that identifies a second electronic mail account from among the one or more options that identify the one or more other electronic mail accounts, wherein the second electronic mail account is different from the first electronic mail account;

responsive to receiving the user selection of the option that identifies the second electronic mail account, displaying, in the instantiation of the electronic mail application, messages from the second electronic mail account without concurrently displaying messages from the first electronic mail account;

determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at a same electronic mail server system; and

in response to determining that each of the plurality of electronic mail accounts are hosted at different electronic mail server systems, displaying a portion of an account identifier for the first electronic mail account by displaying a hostname of the first electronic mail account without displaying an account name of the first electronic mail account.