Portable electronic device with conversation management for incoming instant messages

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9954996-B2
Application number	US-16390808-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 27, 2008
Priority date	Jun 28, 2007
Publication date	Apr 24, 2018
Grant date	Apr 24, 2018

Abstract

A portable electronic device with a touch screen display displays an incoming message from a party to a user of the device while the device is locked. The device responds to detecting a user request to view the incoming message by immediately displaying a set of messages between the user and the party in a chronological order. While the device is unlocked, if an incoming message is longer than a predefined length the device displays a portion of the incoming message, a view icon, and a long-message indicia. Alternately, if the incoming message is equal to or less than the predefined length, the device displays the entire incoming message and a reply icon. In response to user selection of either the view icon or the reply icon, the device immediately displays a set of messages between the user of the device and the party in a chronological order.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display:
displaying an incoming message from a party to a user of the portable electronic device on the touch screen display while the portable electronic device is locked, the incoming message including at least a portion of text in the incoming message;
while the portable electronic device remains locked, detecting a user request to unlock the portable electronic device; and
in response to detecting the user request to unlock the portable electronic device,
unlocking the portable electronic device; and
in accordance with a determination that the user request to unlock the portable electronic device meets a predetermined condition, immediately displaying a set of messages between the user of the portable electronic device and the party in a chronological order, wherein the displayed set of messages includes the incoming message.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein displaying the incoming message further includes:
displaying a portion of the incoming message on the touch screen display while the portable electronic device is locked and a long-message indicia if the incoming message is longer than a predefined length; and
displaying the incoming message in its entirety on the touch screen display while the portable electronic device is locked if the incoming message is equal to or less than the predefined length.

3. The method of claim 1 , further including:
in accordance with a determination that no user request to unlock the portable electronic device is detected within a predetermined period of time, ceasing to display the incoming message on the touch screen display after the predetermined period of time.

4. The method of claim 3 , further including:
after ceasing to display the incoming message, displaying a message alert on the touch screen display, wherein the message alert includes an identifier of the party and a time indicator for the incoming message.

5. The method of claim 3 , further including:
after ceasing to display the incoming message,
in response to detecting a user selection of an instant messaging icon, displaying a list of instant messaging conversations wherein the list includes an unread message indicia adjacent to the conversation between the user of the portable electronic device and the party.

6. The method of claim 3 , further including:
in accordance with a determination that no user request to unlock the portable electronic device is detected within the predetermined period of time, marking a conversation that includes the incoming message as containing at least one unread message.

7. The method of claim 1 , further including:
while the portable electronic device is locked, changing an unlock icon to a view-message icon when displaying the incoming message.

8. The method of claim 7 , further including:
in accordance with a determination that no user selection of the view-message icon is detected within a predetermined period of time,
ceasing to display the incoming message on the touch screen display; and
changing the view icon back to the unlock icon.

9. The method of claim 7 , further including:
in accordance with a determination that user selection of the view-message icon is detected within a predetermined period of time,
unlocking the portable electronic device; and
immediately displaying the set of messages between the user of the portable electronic device and the party in a chronological order, wherein the displayed set of messages includes the incoming message.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the incoming message is a Short Messaging Service (SMS), Multimedia Messaging Service, or Enhanced Messaging Service (EMS) message.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user request to unlock the portable electronic device meets the predetermined condition when the user request to unlock is detected while the portable electronic device displays the incoming message.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the user request to unlock the portable electronic device meets the predetermined condition when the user request to unlock is detected while the portable electronic device displays a view-message icon, and the user request to unlock is a gesture on the view-message icon.

13. A method, comprising: at a portable electronic device with a touch screen display: while the portable electronic device is unlocked, receiving an incoming message from a party to a user of the portable electronic device; determining whether the incoming message is longer than, equal to, or less than a predefined length; in response to receiving the incoming message: in accordance with a determination that the incoming message is longer than the predefined length, concurrently displaying: a portion of the incoming message from the party to the user of the portable electronic device, a view icon, and a long-message indicia on the touch screen; in accordance with a determination that the incoming message is equal to or less than the predefined length, concurrently displaying: the incoming message from the party to the user of the portable electronic device and, a reply icon on the touch screen display; and in response to detecting user selection of either the view icon or the reply icon, immediately displaying a soft keyboard, a text box, and a send icon on the touch screen display, in addition to displaying the incoming message.

14. The method of claim 13 , further including:
displaying the incoming message or a portion thereof, and either the view icon or the reply icon on the touch screen display for a predetermined period of time; and
in accordance with a determination that no user selection of the view icon or the reply icon is detected within the predetermined period of time, ceasing to display the incoming message or a portion thereof, and either the view icon and the reply icon on the touch screen display after the predetermined period of time.

15. The method of claim 14 , further including:
after ceasing to display the incoming message or portion thereof, and either the view icon and the reply icon,
in response to detecting user selection of an instant messaging icon, displaying a list of instant messaging conversations, wherein the list includes an unread message indicia adjacent to the conversation between the user of the portable electronic device and the party.

16. The method of claim 14 , further including:
in accordance with a determination that no user selection of any of the view icon or the reply icon is detected within the predetermined period of time,
marking a conversation that includes the incoming message as containing at least one unread message.

17. The method of claim 13 , further including:
displaying the incoming message, and either of the view icon and the reply icon on the touch screen display for a predetermined period of time; and
in response to detecting user input representing a close command within a predetermined period of time, ceasing to display the incoming message or portion thereof, and either the view icon or the reply icon on the touch screen display.

18. The method of claim 17 , further including:
after ceasing to display the incoming message or portion thereof, and either the view icon and the reply icon,
in response to detecting a user selection of an instant messaging icon,
displaying a list of conversations, wherein:
the list includes an unread message indicia adjacent to the conversation between the user of the portable electronic device and the party if the user in

Assignees

• Christie Greg
• Van Os Marcel
• Lemay Stephen O
• Doll Evan Russell
• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Christie Greg
• Van Os Marcel
• Lemay Stephen O
• Doll Evan Russell

Classifications

• H04M1/72552 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04M1/67

  by electronic means · CPC title

• H04M2250/60

  logging of communication history, e.g. outgoing or incoming calls, missed calls, messages or URLs · CPC title

• H04M2250/22

  including a touch pad, a touch sensor or a touch detector · CPC title

• G06Q10/107 Primary

  Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing] · CPC title