Method and system for message thread compression

1. A method for compressing electronic mail messages each having a message thread for storage in a storage device of a wireless device, the message thread having a plurality of electronic mail messages having message text sections and containing duplicate information in the form of duplicate message text sections, the method performed by a processor of the wireless device and comprising:

identifying one or more unique message text sections of each electronic mail message in the message thread;

assigning a unique respective identifier to each unique message text section;

storing one occurrence of each unique message text section in the storage device for retrieval using its unique identifier;

replacing each message text section in each of the plurality of the electronic mail messages of the thread by its identifier to thereby compress the messages by replacing the message text sections including the duplicate message text sections with the respective identifiers; and,

storing the messages in the storage device.

2. The method of claim 1 and further comprising deleting at least some identifiers and sections relating to a message when the message is deleted from the storage device.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein at least some of the message threads have at least one of the sections in common.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the assigning further comprises hashing each section to define its respective identifier.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the message text sections are sequential.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the message text sections contain one of original message text and subsequent reply message text.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein each message text section contains one of message text generated by a wireless device and message text received by the wireless device.

8. A system for compressing electronic mail messages each having a message thread for storage in a storage device of a wireless device, the message thread having a plurality of electronic mail messages having message text sections and containing duplicate information in the form of duplicate message text sections, the system comprising:

a processor coupled to the storage device and to an interface to a network and adapted for:

identifying one or more unique message text sections of each electronic mail message in the message thread;

assigning a unique respective identifier to each unique message text section;

storing one occurrence of each unique message text section in the storage device for retrieval using its unique identifier;

replacing each message text section in each of the plurality of the electronic mail messages of the thread by its identifier to thereby compress

the messages by replacing the message text sections including the duplicate message text sections with the respective identifiers; and,

storing the messages in the storage device.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor is further adapted for deleting at least some identifiers and sections relating to a message when the message is deleted from the memory.

10. The system of claim 8 wherein at least some of the message threads have at least one of the sections in common.

11. The system of claim 8 wherein the processor is further adapted for hashing each section to define its respective identifier.

12. The system of claim 8 wherein the message text sections are sequential.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the message text sections contain one of original message text and subsequent reply message text.

14. The system of claim 8 wherein each message text section contains one of message text generated by a wireless device and message text received by the wireless device.

15. A computer program product having a computer readable medium tangibly embodying computer executable code for directing a data processing system to compress electronic mail messages each having a message thread for storage in a storage device of a wireless device, the message thread having a plurality of electronic mail messages having message text sections and containing duplicate information in the form of duplicate message text sections, the method performed by a processor of the wireless device and, the computer program product comprising:

code for identifying one or more unique message text sections of each electronic mail message in the message thread;

code for assigning a unique respective identifier to each unique message text section;

code for storing one occurrence of each unique message text section in the storage device for retrieval using its unique identifier;

code for replacing each message text section in each of the plurality of the electronic mail messages of the thread by its identifier to thereby compress the messages by replacing the message text sections including the duplicate message text sections with the respective identifiers; and,

code for storing the messages in the storage device.

16. The computer program product of claim 15 and further comprising code for deleting at least some identifiers and sections relating to a message when the message is deleted from the storage device.

17. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein at least some of the message threads have at least one of the sections in common.

18. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the code for assigning further comprises code for hashing each section to define its respective identifier.

19. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein the message text sections are sequential.

20. The computer program product of claim 19 wherein the message text sections contain one of original message text and subsequent reply message text.

21. The computer program product of claim 15 wherein each message text section contains one of message text generated by a wireless device and message text received by the wireless device.