METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMIC SESSION PLACEHOLDER FOR MESSAGE COLLECTION USER INTERFACE

• US 20100105360A1
• Filed: 01/12/2010
• Published: 04/29/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: WISEBOURT, Shaul, KLASSEN, Gerhard D.
• Granted Patent: US 8,116,739 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/412.100
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• 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 1/72436 for text messaging, e.g. short messaging services [SMS] or e-mails

Abstract

A method and apparatus for representing a conversation of related messages is provided. In a message collection user interface for displaying messages sent and received by a communications device, a dynamic session placeholder is used for a respective conversation of related messages. The message collection user interface is displayed including any dynamic session placeholders in the list of messages. As messages from the conversation are occasioned, the dynamic session placeholder is updated. When the message collection is displayed, it is displayed in accordance with the updated session placeholder.

Claims

1. A machine readable medium having program code executable in a computer processor for implementing a method of listing messages, the program code comprising:

code for listing messages comprising displaying a dynamic session placeholder in a message list, the dynamic session placeholder representing a conversation of messages.

2. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the method represents a conversation of related messages in a message collection user interface on a computing device, the dynamic session placeholder being defined for the conversation of related messages, the dynamic session placeholder representing as a single entry the conversation of messages constituting a common communication session, the message collection user interface being displayed comprising the dynamic session placeholder in the message list.

3. The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code for updating the dynamic session placeholder in response to an activity of the respective conversation of messages.

4. The machine readable medium of claim 1 further comprising code for updating a time stamp of the dynamic session placeholder in accordance with a last message time of the conversation of messages.

5. The machine readable medium of claim 2, wherein displaying displays the dynamic session placeholder in response to updating to change the order of the dynamic session placeholder in the conversation of messages.

6. The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code for removing the dynamic session placeholder in response to an interruption of the conversation of messages;

and wherein the displaying is responsive to the removing.

7. The machine readable medium of claim 6, further comprising code for archiving the conversation of messages in response to the interruption.

8. The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code for at least one of:

receiving and sending a message unrelated to the conversation and displaying the message list in response to the message unrelated to the conversation and the dynamic session placeholder.

9. The machine readable medium of claim 1, wherein the dynamic session placeholder comprises data representative of the conversation and an association with the messages.

10. The machine readable medium of claim 1, further comprising code for, in response to a selection of the dynamic session placeholder, invoking an application associated with a message type of the conversation of messages thereby to maintain the conversation.

11. A method of listing messages comprising displaying a dynamic session placeholder in a message list, the dynamic session placeholder representing a conversation of messages.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the method represents a conversation of related messages in a message collection user interface on a computing device, the dynamic session placeholder being defined for the conversation of related messages, the dynamic session placeholder representing as a single entry the conversation of messages constituting a common communication session, the message collection user interface being displayed comprising the dynamic session placeholder in the message list.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising updating the dynamic session placeholder in response to an activity of the respective conversation of messages.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising updating a time stamp of the dynamic session placeholder in accordance with a last message time of the conversation of messages.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the displaying displays the dynamic session placeholder in response to the updating to change the order of the dynamic session placeholder in the conversation of messages.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising removing the dynamic session placeholder in response to an interruption of the conversation of messages;

and wherein the displaying is responsive to the removing.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising archiving the conversation of messages in response to the interruption.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising at least one of:

receiving and sending a message unrelated to the conversation and displaying the message list in response to the message unrelated to the conversation and the dynamic session placeholder.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein the dynamic session placeholder comprises data representative of the conversation and an association with the messages.

20. The method of claim 11, further comprising, in response to a selection of the dynamic session placeholder, invoking an application associated with a message type of the conversation of messages thereby to maintain the conversation.

21. An apparatus for communicating messages, the apparatus comprising:

a communications subsystem for sending and receiving messages;

a display screen and one or more input devices for receiving input from a user;

a storage device for storing instructions and data; and

a processor coupled to the display screen, storage device and communications subsystem, the storage device storing instructions and data to configure the processor to;

list messages comprising displaying a dynamic session placeholder in a message list, the dynamic session placeholder representing a conversation of messages.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is configured to represent a conversation of related messages in a message collection user interface on the apparatus, the dynamic session placeholder being defined for the conversation of related messages, the dynamic session placeholder representing as a single entry the conversation of messages constituting a common communication session, the message collection user interface being displayed on the display screen comprising the dynamic session placeholder in the message list.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to update the dynamic session placeholder in response to an activity of the respective conversation of messages.

24. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to update a time stamp of the dynamic session placeholder in accordance with a last message time of the conversation of messages.

25. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the displaying displays the dynamic session placeholder in response to updating to change the order of the dynamic session placeholder in the conversation of messages.

26. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to remove the dynamic session placeholder in response to an interruption of the conversation of messages;

and wherein the displaying is responsive to the removing.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the processor is further configured to archive the conversation of messages in response to the interruption.

28. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to perform at least one of:

receiving and sending a message unrelated to the conversation and displaying the message list in response to the message unrelated to the conversation and the dynamic session placeholder.

29. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the dynamic session placeholder comprises data representative of the conversation and an association with the messages.

30. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the processor is further configured to, in response to a selection of the dynamic session placeholder, invoke an application associated with a message type of the conversation of messages thereby to maintain the conversation.