Management and display of grouped messages on a communication device

Abstract

A system and method for managing a plurality of messages stored at a mobile communication device, groups messages based on a common subject line or another quasi-unique identifier, and displays message group entries representing distinct message groups in a user interface. The message group entries may be displayed in association with an icon representing multiple message states associated with individual messages comprised within that message group. The multiple message states may include all messages being read, all messages being unread, a most recently received message being unread while others are read, and a most recently received message being read while order messages are unread.

1 . A communication device configured to display messages, the communication device comprising:
 at least one transceiver in communication with a processor, the at least one transceiver being configured to receive and transmit messages;   a memory;   a display; and   a conversations manager module configured to:
 determine a message group identifier for each one of a plurality of messages, the message group identifier being derived from at least an account identifier for an account associated with said message and a message subject value for said message; 
 store in the memory said message group identifier in association with its corresponding message; and 
 display, using the display, a listing of message group items, each message group item representing at least one message associated with a particular message group identifier. 
   
     
     
         2 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one transceiver is configured to receive and transmit messages using a plurality of transports. 
     
     
         3 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the plurality of messages comprises messages associated with a plurality of messaging accounts. 
     
     
         4 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the conversations manager module is further configured to determine the message subject value as either a value derived from at least a portion of subject line content of the message, or a predefined value if the message comprises no subject line content. 
     
     
         5 . The communication device of  claim 4 , wherein the message subject value comprises one of:
 a hash of at least a portion of the subject line content of the message; or   a value derived from the portion of the subject line content excluding any prefixes or tokens.   
     
     
         6 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the conversations manager module is further configured to derive the account identifier from an address associated with the account. 
     
     
         7 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the wherein conversations manager module is further configured to carry out said determining and storing as each message is stored at the communication device. 
     
     
         8 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the listing is ordered in one of chronological, reverse chronological, priority, or alphabetical order. 
     
     
         9 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein each message group item represents at least a subset of a plurality of messages associated with the same particular message group identifier. 
     
     
         10 . The communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the conversations manager module is further configured to, for at least one further message without subject line content, associate a message group identifier comprising a predefined value, and store said message group identifier in association with said further message in the memory. 
     
     
         11 . A method for displaying a listing of messages stored at a communication device, the method comprising:
 determining a message group identifier for each one of a plurality of messages, the message group identifier being derived from at least an account identifier for an account associated with said message and a message subject value for said message;   storing said message group identifier in association with its corresponding message; and   displaying a listing of message group items, each message group item representing at least one message associated with a particular message group identifier.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of messages comprises messages received or transmitted using a plurality of transports. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the plurality of messages comprises messages associated with a plurality of messaging accounts. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the message subject value comprises either a value derived from at least a portion of subject line content of the message, or a predefined value if the message comprises no subject line content. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the message subject value comprises one of:
 a hash of at least a portion of the subject line content of the message; or   a value derived from the portion of the subject line content excluding any prefixes or tokens.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the account identifier is derived from an address associated with the account. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein said determining and storing is carried out as each message is stored at the communication device. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the listing is ordered in one of chronological, reverse chronological, priority, or alphabetical order. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein each message group item represents at least a subset of a plurality of messages associated with the same particular message group identifier. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 11 , further comprising, for at least one further message without subject line content, associating a message group identifier comprising a predefined value, and storing said message group identifier in association with said further message. 
     
     
         21 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising code executable by a communication device to carry out the method of:
 determining a message group identifier for each one of a plurality of messages, the message group identifier being derived from at least an account identifier for an account associated with said message and a message subject value for said message;   storing said message group identifier in association with its corresponding message; and   displaying a listing of message group items, each message group item representing at least one message associated with a particular message group identifier.   
     
     
         22 . A method for grouping messages received at a communication device, the method comprising:
 receiving, while content protection is enabled at the communication device, at least one message;   obtaining header data from the at least one message as it is received at the communication device;   storing the received at least one message in encrypted form at the communication device;   generating a message group identifier using the header data for each said message;   queuing each said message group identifier; and   when content protection is disabled, for each message associated with a queued message group identifier, determining a further message group identifier for from at least an account identifier for an account associated with said message and a message subject value for said message, and storing said further message group identifier in association with said message.   
     
     
         23 . A communication device configured to group received messages, the device comprising:
 at least one transceiver configured to receive and transmit messages in communication with a processor;   a memory;   a display; and   a transmission service module configured to:
 receive, while content protection is enabled at the communication device, at least one message; 
 obtain header data from the at least one message as it is received at the communication device and to provide said header data to a conversations manager module at the communication device; and 
 store the received at least one message in encrypted form in the memory; 
   the conversations manager module being configured to:
 generate a message group identifier using the header data for each said message; 
 queue each said message group identifier; and 
 when content protection is disabled, for each message associated with a queued message group identifier, determine a further message group identifier for from at least an account identifier for an account associated with said message and a message subject value for said message, and store said further message group identifier in association with said message in the memory. 
   
     
     
         24 . A communication device, comprising:
 a display for displaying user interface comprising a listing of message group items, each said message group item representing a set of messages stored at the communication device and being associated with a corresponding message group identifier, each said message group item further being denoted by an icon representative of a plurality of states associated with the set of messages represented by said message group item,   the plurality of states comprising one of:
 all but a most recently received message comprised in the set of messages being marked read on the communications device; and 
 the most recently received message comprised in the set of messages being marked read while at least one message comprised in the set of messages and received prior to said most recently received message is not marked read.