Method for presenting an attachment within an email message

1. A method for presenting an attachment associated with an email message on a portable electronic device having a processor, a memory, a display, and an input device, the method comprising:

receiving at the processor from the input device an instruction to open the email message;

determining, at the processor, whether the attachment has been previously viewed at the portable electronic device:

when the attachment is determined to have been previously viewed:

determining whether the attachment is renderable as an image at the display by checking for renderable Document Object Model (DOM) identifiers inside a server descriptor associated with the attachment;

when the attachment is determined to be renderable as an image at the display: retrieving image data corresponding to the attachment from the memory; and, presenting a message body of the email message on the display, and presenting the image data as a thumbnail image in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to be renderable as an image at the display: then presenting the message body on the display, and presenting a name of the attachment in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to have been previously viewed:

presenting the message body on the display, and presenting the name of the attachment in the message body.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image data comprises an image encapsulated in Universal Content Stream (UCS) data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein a size of the thumbnail image is 25% of a size of the image.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the image data has a file format selected from the group consisting of: Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), bitmap (BMP) and Tagged Image. File Format (TIFF).

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the thumbnail image covers between 15 and 40 percent of the display.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the instruction to open the email message is received at the processor via execution of a messaging application; the method further comprising:

prior to the determining whether the attachment has been previously viewed

at the portable electronic device, executing the messaging application to notify an attachment viewer application of the attachment;

after retrieving the image data and prior to presenting the message body, executing the attachment viewer application to insert the thumbnail image into an attachment portion of the message body;

wherein presenting the message body is performed by the processor via execution of the messaging application.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

when the attachment is determined to have been previously viewed on the display, presenting at least one of the name of the attachment and a size of the attachment in the message body in association with the thumbnail image.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining whether the attachment is renderable as an image at the display further comprises determining whether the attachment is renderable in a format compatible with an attachment viewer application.

9. A portable electronic device, comprising: a memory;

a display;

an input device; and

a processor interconnected with the memory, the display and the input device, the processor configured to:

receive from the input device an instruction to open an email message having an attachment;

determine whether the attachment has been previously viewed at the portable electronic device;

when the attachment is determined to have been previously viewed:

determine whether the attachment is renderable as an image at the display by checking for renderable Document Object Model (DOM) identifiers inside a server descriptor associated with the attachment;

when the attachment is determined to be renderable as an image at the display: retrieve image data corresponding to the attachment from the memory; and, control the display to present a message body of the email message, and to present the image data as a thumbnail image in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to be renderable as an image at the display; then present the message body on the display, and present a name of the attachment in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to have been previously viewed:

control the display to present the message body, and to present the name of the attachment in the message body.

10. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the image data comprises an image encapsulated in Universal Content Stream (UCS) data.

11. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , wherein a size of the thumbnail image is 25% of a size of the image.

12. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the image data has a file format selected from the group consisting of: Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Graphics Interchange Format (GIF), Portable Network Graphics (PNG), bitmap (BMP) and Tagged Image File Format (TIFF).

13. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the thumbnail image covers between 15 and 40 percent of the display.

14. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , the processor configured to receive the instruction to open the email message via execution of a messaging application; the processor further configured to;

prior to the determining whether the attachment has been previously viewed

at the portable electronic device, execute the messaging application to notify an attachment viewer application of the attachment;

after retrieving the image data and prior to controlling the display, execute the attachment viewer application to insert the thumbnail image into an attachment portion of the message body;

control the display to present the message body via execution of the messaging application.

15. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , the processor further configured to:

when the attachment is determined to have been previously viewed on the display, present at least one of the name of the attachment and a size of the attachment in the message body in association with the thumbnail image.

16. The portable electronic device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the attachment is renderable as an image at the display by further determining whether the attachment is renderable in a format compatible with an attachment viewer application.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program, wherein execution of the computer program is for presenting an attachment associated with an email message on a portable electronic device having a processor, a memory, a display, and an input device, by:

receiving at the processor from the input device an instruction to open the email message;

determining, at the processor, whether the attachment has been previously viewed at the portable electronic device;

when the attachment is determined to have been previously viewed:

determining whether the attachment is renderable as an image at the display by checking for renderable Document Object Model (DOM) identifiers inside a server descriptor associated with the attachment;

when the attachment is determined to be renderable as an image at the display: retrieving image data corresponding to the attachment from the memory; and, presenting a message body of the email message on the display, and presenting the image data as a thumbnail image in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to be renderable as an image at the display; then presenting the message body on the display, and presenting a name of the attachment in the message body;

when the attachment is determined not to have been previously viewed:

presenting the message body on the display, and presenting the name of the attachment in the message body.