System and method for organizing messages

• US 9,654,426 B2
• Filed: 10/17/2013
• Issued: 05/16/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Dropbox, Inc.
• Inventors: Flory, Steven, Underwood, IV, George Milton, Armistead, Elizabeth, Beausoleil, Sean, Luna, Eleanor, Cannon, Scott, Cue, Adam, Edwards, Darian
• Primary Examiner(s): Bhargava, Anil
• Assistant Examiner(s): PAN, PHOEBE X
• Application Number:
  US14/056,838
• Publication Number:
  US 20140143683A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,307 Days
• Field of Search: 715752
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/017 Gesture based interaction, e.g. based on a set of recognized hand gestures interaction based on gestures traced on a digitiser G06F3/04883
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04883 for inputting data by handwriting, e.g. gesture or text
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04886 by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus
• 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 51/214 using selective forwarding
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/42 Mailbox-related aspects, e.g. synchronisation of mailboxes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication

Abstract

A system and method for sorting messages within an interface including providing a navigational menu with at least three menu options of at least three message collections, the menu options ordered according to an ordered horizontal virtual arrangement of a set of message collections; upon receiving user selection of one of the menu options, activating the message collection corresponding to the user selected menu option, which comprises—displaying the message collection of the selected menu option and virtually positioning the remaining set of message collections off screen; within the active message collection of the set of message collections, detecting a gesture swipe in a horizontal direction; selecting a sorting option corresponding to a message collection virtually positioned in the horizontal direction relative to the active message collection; and transferring the message to the message collection of the selected sorting option.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

storing, by a computing device, an ordered arrangement of message collections on a computing device, the ordered arrangement of message collections including at least a first collection, a second collection, and a third collection;

selecting, by the computing device, an active collection from the ordered arrangement of message collections, where one or more other message collections in the ordered arrangement of message collections are inactive collections;

displaying, on a display of the computing device, the active collection while the inactive collections are not displayed on the display, wherein the at least first, second and third collections having locations assigned thereto such that each of the at least first, second and third collections is located along a first axis of the display in a fixed order, and wherein each of the at least first, second and third collections is selected to be the active collection and displayed by moving the active collection along the first axis;

detecting a swipe gesture applied to a representation of a first message item of the active collection, the swipe gesture being along the first axis and within a screen area occupied by the representation of the first message item; and

executing an action on the first message item in response to the detected swipe gesture, wherein executing the action includes;

in the event that the first collection is the active collection, the second collection is one of the inactive collections being located in a first direction from the first collection along the first axis, and the swipe gesture is in the first direction and has a first distance traveled that is less than a threshold distance, transferring the first message item to the second collection;

in the event that the first collection is the active collection, the second and third collections being both inactive collections, the third collection is located in the first direction further away from the first collection along the first axis than the second collection, and the swipe gesture is in the first direction and has a second distance traveled that is greater than the threshold distance, transferring the first message item to the third collection; and

in the event that the third collection is the active collection, the second collection is one of the inactive collections being located in a second direction, opposite the first direction, from the third collection along the first axis, and the swipe gesture is in the second direction and has a second distance traveled that is less than the threshold distance, transferring the first message item to the second collection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein executing the action further includes:

in the event that the third collection is the active collection, and the first collection is a inactive collection being located in the second direction further away from the third collection along the first axis than the second collection, and the swipe gesture is in the second direction and has the second distance traveled that is greater than the threshold distance, transferring the first message item to the first collection.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting a user input selecting one of the menu options; and

displaying the collection corresponding to the selected menu option as the active collection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the active collection is scrollable along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the message items in the at least three collections include email messages.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least three collections include:

an inbox collection that includes new email messages;

a deferred collection that includes email messages pending satisfaction of a specified condition; and

an archive collection that includes email messages being archived.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least three collections further include:

a list collection that includes email messages assigned to the list by a user; and

a trash collection that includes email messages awaiting deletion.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the collections are assigned locations along the first axis such that the inbox is adjacent to the deferred collection and the archive collection.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the active collection is scrollable along a second axis orthogonal to the first axis.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the active collection is displayed on a touchscreen and detecting the swipe gesture includes detecting a touch gesture contacting the displayed first message item.

11. A method comprising:

providing a navigational menu with at least three menu options operable to select a message collection from a set of at least three message collections, the at least three message collections having a fixed ordered horizontal arrangement such that each of the message collections has a fixed location along a first axis relative to each other among the message collections, the menu options of the navigational menu being ordered according to the fixed order of the set of message collections;

upon receiving user selection of one of the menu options, displaying, on a display of a computing device, the message collection corresponding to the selected menu option as an active message collection, wherein only the active collection is displayed on the display while all of the message collections other than the active message collection are not displayed, and wherein each of the at least three collections is selected to be the active collection and displayed by moving the active collection along the first axis;

within the active message collection, detecting a swipe gesture in a horizontal direction, the swipe gesture having a distance traveled in the horizontal direction and applied to a representation of a message in the active message collection and occurring within a screen area occupied by the representation of the message;

selecting one of the message collections based on the location of the active message collection, relative to the other message collections, and the distance of the swipe gesture, wherein;

when the distance traveled of the swipe gesture is below a threshold value, a message collection having a location in the same direction of the swipe gesture that is immediately adjacent to the active message collection is selected, and

when the distance traveled of the swipe gesture is equal or above a threshold value, a message collection is selected such that its location is in the same direction of the swipe gesture, is further away from the active message collection and separated by an intermediate message collection having a location that is immediately adjacent to the active message collection, wherein the distance traveled is in a first direction or a second direction that is along the first axis; and

transferring the message from the active message collection to the selected message collection;

displaying, corresponding to a new selected menu option, a new message collection among the set of at least three message collections as a new active message collection, wherein all of the message collections other than the new active message collection are not displayed; and

transferring a second message from the new active message collection to a new selected message collection based on the location of the new active message collection relative to the other message collections, the distance, and the direction of the swipe gesture.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein selecting one of the message collections includes:

in the event that the swipe gesture is in a right horizontal direction, selecting one of the message collections having a location to the right of the active message collection; and

in the event that the swipe gesture is in a left horizontal direction, selecting one of the message collections having a location to the left of the active message collection.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein selecting one of the message collections further includes determining, based on the distance of the swipe gesture in the horizontal direction, whether the selected message collection is located adjacent to the active message collection or separated from the active message collection by one other message collection.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein detecting the swipe gesture includes tracking a gesture state and dynamically updating the selected message collection as the distance of the swipe gesture transitions from a first gesture state to a second gesture state.

15. A method comprising:

storing, by a computing device, a plurality of message collections including a first collection, a second collection, and a third collection in an ordered arrangement of message collections, wherein each message collection in the ordered arrangement of message collections has a location in a fixed order along a first axis of a display of the computing device assigned thereto such that the third collection is located further away from the first collection than the second collection is;

presenting, on a display of the computing device, the first collection of messages while hiding the second and third collections, and wherein the first collection of messages is presented on the display by moving the first collection of messages among the three collections of messages along the first axis;

while continuing to hide the second and third collections;

receiving, by the computing device, a swipe touch gesture with respect to a first message in the first collection of messages, the swipe touch gesture having a magnitude in a first direction or a second direction that is along the first axis;

selecting the hidden second collection of messages as a destination collection for the message when the magnitude of the touch gesture is less than a threshold value;

selecting the hidden third collection of messages as the destination collection when the magnitude of the touch gesture is greater than the threshold value; and

moving, by the computing device, the first message into the selected hidden destination collection;

presenting, on the display of the computing device, the second collection of messages while hiding the first and third collections by moving the display along the first axis; and

while continuing to hide the first and third collections;

moving, by a second swipe gesture, a second message from the second collection of messages into either the first or third collection based on the magnitude and the direction of the second swipe gesture.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining that the magnitude of the swipe touch gesture is greater than the threshold value when the first collection of messages are displayed on the display;

in response to determining that the magnitude of the swipe touch gesture is greater than the threshold value, presenting, on the display of the computing device, a graphical element that identifies a plurality of hidden collections of messages including the third collection of messages;

receiving, by the computing device, a user input selecting the third collection from the plurality of hidden collections;

selecting the third collection of messages as the destination collection to which to move the first message in response to receiving the user input.