USER INTERFACE AND METHOD FOR VIEWING SHORT MESSAGES ON A WIRELESS DEVICE

• US 20090132932A1
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Maguire, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 7,827,497 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2101/65 Telephone numbers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• 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: H04M 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]

Abstract

A method is performed by an electronic communication device. The method includes storing electronic messages, and storing criteria for determining whether a stored message is related to a current message. A current electronic message is displayed to a user of the communication device, including the current message'"'"'s outside address and message body. The relevance of each of the stored messages to the current message is assessed based on the previously-stored criteria. Those messages that meet the criteria are selected and displayed along with the current message.

Claims

1. A method, performed by an electronic communication device, comprising:

storing electronic messages;

storing criteria for determining whether a stored message is related to a current message;

displaying a current electronic message, including the current message'"'"'s outside address and message body, to a user of the communication device;

assessing the relevance of each of the stored messages to the current message based on the previously-stored criteria, and selecting those messages that meet the criteria; and

displaying the selected electronic messages along with the current message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the current message is a message currently being accessed by the user.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the current message is a message recently received by the device.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the current message is a new message being composed by the user.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the criteria requires the outside address of the assessed message to match the outside address of the current message.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the outside address of the current message includes a telephone number.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the assessed and selected messages is a message received by the device, for which the outside address is the address of the message'"'"'s sender.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the assessed and selected messages is a message sent by the device, for which the outside address is the address of the message'"'"'s recipient.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the criteria requires the assessed message to be within a pre-selected number of the most recently stored messages.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein at least is one of the assessed and selected messages was stored after transmission of the current message.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the criteria is based on chronological proximity of a respective stored message to the current message.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the chronological proximity is based on the length of time between storing of the current message and storing of the respective assessed message.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein at least one of the assessed and selected messages has a time stamp later than a time stamp of the current message.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the chronological proximity is based on number of stored messages time-stamped between the current message and the respective assessed message.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein the chronological proximity is based on the difference in chronological ranking between the respective assessed message and the current message, said chronological ranking defining the chronological order in which messages are stored.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the current and selected messages share a common outside address, and the outside address is displayed only once on the device'"'"'s screen when displaying the current and selected messages.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of displaying the selected messages includes displaying each selected message'"'"'s outside address and message body.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the communication device is a wireless communication device.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the assessed and current messages are SMS messages.

20. A wireless communication device comprising:

means for storing electronic messages;

means for storing criteria for determining whether a message is related to a current message;

means for displaying a current electronic message, including the current message'"'"'s outside address and message body, to a user of the communication device;

means for assessing the relevance of each of the stored messages to the current message based on the previously-stored criteria and selecting those messages that meet the criteria; and

means for displaying the selected electronic messages along with the current message.