Navigating messages within a thread

• US 9,542,667 B2
• Filed: 01/13/2006
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/09/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Inventors: Fernandes, Bertille N., Taboada, Roberto C., Jones, Brian M., Yap, Joe K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sough, H S
• Assistant Examiner(s): JORDAN, KIMBERLY L
• Application Number:
  US11/332,822
• Publication Number:
  US 20070061738A1
• Time in Patent Office: 4,015 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]

Abstract

A user may easily read, browse, and jump through the messages contained within a thread. Different portions of the message may be highlighted such that they are easily identifiable. The user may easily navigate through the thread by selecting a user interface element, such as an arrow button, to move to the next or previous message within the thread. The order of the thread may also be reversed such that the user may view the thread from the first message to the last message, or view the thread from the last message to the first message. The messages within the thread may be marked, such as by using XML tags, in order to facilitate the identification of the sections of the messages within the thread.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method executing on a processor for navigating messages within a thread, comprising:

accessing the thread;

determining a location for each message header within the thread;

modifying an appearance of each message within the thread based at least in part on each message header;

rendering the thread to include a view of more than one message within the thread; and

determining when a cursor is hovering over a specified portion of a message header of one of the messages within the thread; and

in response to determining that the cursor is hovering over the specified portion of the message header of one of the messages within the thread, displaying a navigational control for navigating between the messages within the thread.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein modifying the appearance of each message within the thread comprises performing at least one of:

changing a shading of each message header;

applying a gradient shading to each message header;

changing a color of each message header;

collapsing at least a portion of the message header;

expanding at least the portion of the message header;

including an identifier within each message header; and

including a selectable user interface element within at least one of the message headers that when selected performs a navigational function relating to the messages within the thread.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein determining the location for each message header within the thread comprises applying heuristics to the thread to identify locations of the message headers.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein determining the location for each message header within the thread comprises locating at least one of:

a From field;

a To field;

a Subject field; and

a Message field.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising tagging the thread using a markup language;

wherein tagging the thread comprises tagging at least one element that is associated with each message.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the element is at least one of:

a message header element;

a message element;

a from element;

a sent element;

a to element;

a cc element;

a bcc element;

a subject element; and

a value element.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the tagging is temporarily associated with the thread.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the markup language is an XML markup.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining when the cursor is hovering over one of the messages comprises determining that that the cursor is hovering over a message header element.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising reversing an order of the messages within the thread.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the specified portion is a shaded area of the message header.

12. A computer-readable storage device having computer-executable instructions that when executed by a processor perform actions for navigating messages within a thread, comprising:

accessing the thread;

parsing the thread to identify each message header;

tagging each message header according to a schema;

modifying an appearance of each message header;

rendering the thread to include a first view of content in a first email message within the thread, wherein content in a second email message is viewable by scrolling through the first email message;

determining when a cursor is hovering over a specified portion of a message header of a message within the thread, wherein the specified portion is a shaded area of the message header;

in response to determining that the cursor is hovering over the shaded area of the message header of the message within the thread, displaying a navigational control for navigating between each of the messages within the thread; and

in response to detecting a user interaction with the navigational control, rendering a second view of content in the second email message within the thread.

13. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein the schema is an XML schema.

14. The computer-readable storage device of claim 13, wherein parsing the thread to identify each message header comprises locating at least one of:

a From field;

a To field;

a Subject field; and

a Message field.

15. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein tagging each message header according to the schema comprises tagging:

a from field;

a sent field;

a to field;

a cc field;

a bcc field; and

a subject field.

16. The computer-readable storage device of claim 12, wherein displaying the navigational control comprises modifying the rendering of the thread when the navigational control is selected.

17. The computer-readable storage device of claim 16, wherein the navigational control performs at least one of:

moving to a next message;

moving to a previous message;

moving to a top of the thread;

moving to a bottom of the thread; and

reversing the thread.

18. A system for navigating messages within a thread, the system comprising:

at least one processor; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor, the memory comprising computer executable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor, the instructions operable to;

access an email thread associated with a plurality of email messages;

determine when a cursor is hovering over a specified portion of a message header of one of the plurality of email messages within the thread;

in response to determining that the cursor is hovering over the specified portion of the message header of one of the plurality of email messages within the thread, display a navigational control for navigating between the plurality of email messages within the thread;

render a first view of content in a first email message within the email thread, wherein content in a second email message is viewable by scrolling through the first email message; and

in response to detecting a user interaction with the navigational control, render a second view of content in the second email message within the email thread.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the render of the second view of content in the second email message within the email thread comprises navigating to a header of the second email message.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the render of the second view of content in the second email message within the email thread comprises an arrow that navigates to each of the plurality of email messages within the thread.