Method, system and apparatus for automatically unsuppressing threads

1. A device comprising:

a processor, a display device, a memory storing a messaging application and a ranking engine, and a communication interface, the processor configured to:

provide, at the display device, a thread of messages at an inbox of the messaging application;

after providing, at the display device, the thread of messages, generate a suppressed thread of messages from the thread of messages by: removing the thread of messages from the inbox at the display device such that none of the messages in the thread of messages are provided at the inbox at the display device, while simultaneously storing the suppressed thread in the memory;

process the ranking engine to: rank contacts in a contact list with a ranking level in a non-binary ranking scale based on ranking criteria;

receive, using the communication interface, a new message associated with the suppressed thread; and,

automatically unsuppress the suppressed thread when one or more of:

the new message is from a contact in the contact list and the ranking level of the contact is greater than a threshold ranking level; and,

the contact that has the ranking level that is greater than the threshold ranking level has been added as a recipient of the new message as compared to at least a last message in the suppressed thread,

wherein to automatically unsuppress the suppressed thread, all the messages in the thread, including previous messages and the new message, are again provided at the inbox of the messaging application at the display device, the previous messages being automatically restored at the inbox.

2. The device of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to process the ranking engine to flag contacts in the contact list when the contacts meet ranking criteria.

3. The device of claim 2 , wherein the ranking criteria is based on one or more of an organizational chart, previous threads, and a time between receiving a message from a given contact and transmission of a responding message.

4. The device of claim 1 , wherein unsuppressed threads are stored in a first folder and the suppressed thread is stored in a second folder, the processor is further configured to automatically unsuppress the suppressed thread by automatically moving the suppressed thread to the first folder from the second folder.

5. The device of claim 4 , wherein the first folder is stored at the memory and the second folder is stored at the memory.

6. The device of claim 1 , wherein the new message is automatically visually flagged when provided at the display device after unsuppressing the suppressed thread, the previous messages being visually unflagged as compared to the new message.

7. The device of claim 1 , further comprising an input device, and wherein the processor is further configured to, prior to receiving the new message, generate the suppressed thread in response to input data received at the input device.

8. The device of claim 1 , wherein the ranking engine ranks contacts in the contact list by flagging the contacts as important based on ranking criteria, and the messaging application determines that the contact from whom the new message is received is flagged by analyzing the contact list.

9. A method comprising:

at device comprising: a processor, a display device, a memory storing a messaging application and a ranking engine, and a communication interface, providing, at the display device, a thread of messages at an inbox of the messaging application;

after providing, at the display device, the thread of messages, generate, at the processor, a suppressed thread of messages from the thread of messages by: removing the thread of messages from the inbox at the display device such that none of the messages in the thread of messages are provided at the inbox at the display device, while simultaneously storing the suppressed thread in the memory

processing, at the processor, the ranking engine to: rank contacts in a contact list with a ranking level in a non-binary ranking scale based on ranking criteria;

receiving, using the communication interface of device, a new message associated with the suppressed thread; and,

automatically unsupressing the suppressed thread, using the processor, when one or more of:

the new message is from a contact in the contact list and the ranking level of the contact is greater than a threshold ranking level; and,

the contact that has the ranking level that is greater than the threshold ranking level has been added as a recipient of the new message as compared to at least a last message in the suppressed thread,

wherein to automatically unsuppress the suppressed thread, all the messages in the thread, including previous messages and the new message, are again provided at the inbox of the messaging application at the display device, the previous messages being automatically restored at the inbox.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising processing, at the processor, the ranking engine to flag contacts in the contact list when the contacts meet ranking criteria.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the ranking criteria is based on one or more of an organizational chart, previous threads, and a time between receiving a message from a given contact and transmission of a responding message.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein unsuppressed threads are stored in a first folder and the suppressed thread is stored in a second folder, the method further comprising automatically unsuppressing the suppressed thread by automatically moving the suppressed thread to the first folder from the second folder.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the new message is automatically visually flagged when provided at the display device after unsuppressing the suppressed thread, the previous messages being visually unflagged as compared to the new message.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising, prior to receiving the new message, suppressing the suppressed thread in response to input data received at an input device of the device.

15. The method of claim 9 , further comprising: ranking, using the ranking engine, contacts in the contact list by flagging the contacts as important based on ranking criteria; and, determining, at the messaging application, that the contact from whom the new message is received is flagged by analyzing the contact list.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program, wherein execution of the computer program is for:

at device comprising: a processor, a display device, a memory storing a messaging application and a ranking engine, and a communication interface, providing, at the display device, a thread of messages at an inbox of the messaging application;

after providing, at the display device, the thread of messages, generate, at the processor, a suppressed thread of messages from the thread of messages by: removing the thread of messages from the inbox at the display device such that none of the messages in the thread of messages are provided at the inbox at the display device, while simultaneously storing the suppressed thread in the memory

processing, at the processor, the ranking engine to: rank contacts in a contact list with a ranking level in a non-binary ranking scale based on ranking criteria;

receiving, using the communication interface of device, a new message associated with the suppressed thread; and,

automatically unsupressing the suppressed thread, using the processor, when one or more of:

the new message is from a contact in the contact list and the ranking level of the contact is greater than a threshold ranking level; and,

the contact that has the ranking level that is greater than the threshold ranking level has been added as a recipient of the new message as compared to at least a last message in the suppressed thread,

wherein to automatically unsuppress the suppressed thread, all the messages in the thread, including previous messages and the new message, are again provided at the inbox of the messaging application at the display device, the previous messages being automatically restored at the inbox.