Presenting E-mail on a touch device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9245259-B2
Application number	US-201213647224-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 8, 2012
Priority date	Jan 14, 2011
Publication date	Jan 26, 2016
Grant date	Jan 26, 2016

Abstract

Messages are presented so as to make effective use of the display area to convey information to the user. For example, message content of primary interest to the user (e.g., new content) can be distinguished from secondary content (e.g., content quoted from a previous message), and the message can be initially displayed with the secondary content hidden using an expandable visual indicator that the user can expand to reveal the secondary content. Different elements within a message, such as textual content and graphical content elements, can be scaled independently using magnification factors optimized for each element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for presenting a message to a user, the method comprising:
receiving, at an electronic device, a first user input selecting a message to view, the selected message including a primary content portion and a secondary content portion;
in response to the first user input, displaying, on a display of the electronic device, an initial representation of the selected message that includes the primary content portion and an expandable visual element indicating that the selected message includes a secondary content portion, the expandable visual element being located within the representation at a position corresponding to a position of the secondary content portion relative to the primary content portion within the message;
receiving, at the electronic device, a second user input indicating that the expandable visual element should be expanded, wherein the second user input progresses over a period of time; and
while detecting the second user input, gradually expanding, by the electronic device, the expandable visual element to reveal the secondary content portion in accordance with the progression of the second user input over the period of time.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the expandable visual element includes a rendering of an accordion-like fold.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein:
the selected message is a reply e-mail message replying to a prior e-mail message;
the primary content portion contains content that is original in the reply e-mail message; and
the secondary content portion contains content that was included in the prior e-mail message.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein:
the reply e-mail message includes a plurality of primary content portions interleaved with a plurality of secondary content portions;
the expandable visual element is displayed to represent only a first one of the secondary content portions; and
subsequent secondary content portions are displayed in the initial representation.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the second user input includes a dragging gesture performed on a touch-sensitive input surface of the electronic device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second input includes movement of a single contact on a touch-sensitive input surface at a location that corresponds to the selected message.

7. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
detecting an end of the second input; and
in response to detecting an end of the second input:
in accordance with a determination that expansion criteria have been met, revealing the secondary content portion; and
in accordance with a determination that expansion criteria have not been met, ceasing to display the partially expanded secondary content portion.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the expansion criteria include an amount of movement of the contact.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein ceasing to display the partially expanded secondary content portion includes, collapsing the partially expanded secondary content portion.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein expanding the secondary content portion includes displaying an animation of at least a part of the secondary content portion lifting up in z-space.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the primary content portion and the secondary content portion are displayed in a body of the electronic message that is displayed concurrently with a header of the electronic message.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second input includes movement of a single contact on a touch-sensitive input surface at a location that corresponds to the selected message while the selected message is scrolled to the beginning of the selected message, the method further comprising:
while the selected message is not scrolled to the beginning of the selected message:
receiving, at the electronic device, a third user input that includes movement of a single contact on the touch-sensitive input surface at a second location that corresponds to the selected message; and
in response to the third user input, scrolling, by the electronic device, the selected message.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second user input includes a dragging gesture, and wherein the gradually expanding includes gradually expanding the expandable visual element in coordination with the dragging gesture from an initial state toward a fully expanded state.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising:
determining that the dragging gesture is released before the expandable visual element reaches the fully expanded state; and
in accordance with the determination that the dragging gesture is released before the expandable visual element reaches the fully expanded state, returning, by the electronic device, the expandable visual element to the initial state.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium encoded with program instructions that, when executed by a processor cause the processor to execute a method comprising:
analyzing a message to distinguish a primary content portion and a secondary content portion;
displaying a representation of the message that includes the primary content portion and an expandable visual element indicating that the selected message includes a secondary content portion, the expandable visual element being located within the representation at a position corresponding to a position of the secondary content portion relative to the primary content portion within the message;
receiving a first user input indicating that the expandable visual element should be expanded , wherein the first user input progresses over a period of time; and
while detecting the first user input, gradually expanding the expandable visual element to reveal the secondary content portion in accordance with the progression of the second user input over the period of time.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein analyzing the message includes:
detecting a tag indicating that a portion of the message contains quoted content; and
identifying the quoted content as the secondary content portion.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 wherein displaying the message includes disregarding one or more trailing blank lines within the quoted content.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 wherein analyzing the message includes identifying a plurality of primary content portions interleaved with a plurality of secondary content portions and wherein the displayed representation of the message includes a plurality of expandable visual elements, each one of the expandable visual elements corresponding to one of the plurality of secondary content portions.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein in response to the first user input, all of the expandable visual elements are expanded.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 wherein expanding the expandable visual element includes:
determining, based on the first user input, that only a first one of the plurality of expandable visual indicators should be expanded; and
expanding the first one of the plurality of expandable visual elements.

21. An electronic device comprising:
a touchscreen display; and
a processor coupled to the touchscreen display and configured to:
receive, via the touchscreen display, a first user input selecting a message to view, the selected message including a primary content portion and a secondary content

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Bovet Simon I
• Baray Cristobal
• Lemay Stephen O

Classifications

• G06F2203/04803

  Split screen, i.e. subdividing the display area or the window area into separate subareas · CPC title

• G06F8/34

  Graphical or visual programming · CPC title

• H04L51/02

  using automatic reactions or user delegation, e.g. automatic replies or chatbot-generated messages · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• G06F3/0488 Primary

  using a touch-screen or digitiser, e.g. input of commands through traced gestures · CPC title