Method and apparatus for managing message in electronic device

1. A method for managing messages in an electronic device, the method comprising:

providing a user interface for displaying any of a plurality of chat windows, wherein the plurality of chat windows includes first and second chat windows selectable for display in the user interface and wherein the first chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a first interlocutor and the second chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a second interlocutor, wherein the first interlocutor and the second interlocutor are different from a user of the electronic device;

receiving a first message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window;

transmitting a second message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window;

in response to selecting the first chat window among the plurality of chat windows, displaying, on a touch screen of the electronic device, the first chat window comprising the first and second messages in a chronological order;

in response to detecting a first touch input for selecting one of the first and second messages included in the display of the first chat window, displaying an icon for indicating the selected one of the first and second messages as a marked message;

in response to detecting a second touch input, displaying a list of marked messages of the plurality of chat windows, the marked messages including the marked message of the first chat window and a second marked message of the second chat window;

in response to detecting a third touch input for selecting a marked message included in the list of the marked messages, switching from displaying the list of the marked messages to displaying one of the first chat window or the second chat window corresponding to the selected marked message such that a message corresponding to the selected marked message is automatically positioned within a viewing area of the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window;

deleting the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window wherein the deleting does not delete the message corresponding to the selected marked message, which was included in the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window; and

based on the deleting, displaying the message corresponding to the selected marked message while preventing switching to the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching from displaying the list of the marked messages to displaying one of the first chat window or the second chat window comprises displaying both the marked message included in the list of the marked messages and adjacent messages of the marked message included in the list of the marked messages in the viewing area of the displayed one of the first chat window and or the second chat window.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one marked message included in the list of the marked messages is displayed in a chronological order.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying the list of the marked messages comprises displaying marked messages associated with at least one interlocutor.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the displaying the list of the marked messages comprises displaying the marked messages based on the at least one interlocutor.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the displaying the list of the marked messages comprises:

in response to detecting the second touch input, displaying a list of interlocutors including at least two interlocutors connected to the first chat window if the first chat window includes at least one message associated with the at least two interlocutors; and

displaying at least one marked message associated with an interlocutor if the interlocutor is selected from the list of the interlocutors.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the marked messages comprise at least one of a text message, voice data, or image data.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the displaying the icon for indicating the selected one of the first and second messages as the marked message comprises:

mapping the selected marked message to metadata of the selected marked message; and

storing the selected marked message mapped to the metadata of the selected marked message.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the metadata comprises at least one of a name of at least one interlocutor, a marked message associated with the at least one interlocutor and a number of marked messages associated with the at least one interlocutor, or data and time information corresponding to the marked message.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first message comprising at least one interlocutor and the second message are displayed in the viewing area of the first chat window.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of chat windows comprises at least one of a social network service (SNS) application, an email service application, a one-to-one and group chatting messenger service application or a message service application for exchanging text and multimedia messages.

12. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch screen;

a processor operatively coupled to the touch screen; and

a memory operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:

provide a user interface for displaying any of a plurality of chat windows, wherein the plurality of chat windows includes first and second chat windows selectable for display in the user interface and wherein the first chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a first interlocutor and the second chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a second interlocutor, wherein the first interlocutor and the second interlocutor are different from a user of the electronic device,

receive a first message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window,

transmit a second message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window,

in response to selecting the first chat window among the plurality of chat windows, display, on the touch screen of the electronic device, the first chat window comprising the first and second messages in a chronological order,

display, in response to detecting a first touch input for selecting one of the first and second messages included in the first chat window, an icon for indicating the selected one of the first and second messages as a marked message,

display, in response to detecting a second touch input, a list of marked messages of the plurality of chat windows, the marked messages including the marked message of the first chat window and a second marked message of the second chat window,

in response to detecting a third touch input for selecting a marked message included in the list of the marked messages, switch from displaying the list of the marked messages to displaying one of the first chat window or the second chat window corresponding to the selected marked message such that a message corresponding to the selected marked message is automatically positioned within a viewing area of the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window,

delete the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window wherein the deleting does not delete the message corresponding to the selected marked message, which was included in the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window, and

based on the deleting, display the message corresponding to the selected marked message while preventing switching to the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window.

13. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to display both the marked message included in the list of the marked messages and adjacent messages of the marked message included in the list of the marked messages in the viewing area of the displayed one of the first chat window or the second chat window.

14. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to display at least one marked message included in the list of the marked messages in a chronological order.

15. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to display marked messages associated with at least one interlocutor.

16. The electronic device of claim 15 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to display the marked messages associated with the at least one interlocutor based on the at least one interlocutor.

17. The electronic device of claim 16 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to:

in response to detecting the second touch input, display a list of interlocutors including at least two interlocutors connected to the first chat window if the first chat window includes at least one message associated with the at least two interlocutors; and

display at least one marked message associated with an interlocutor if the interlocutor is selected from the list of the interlocutors.

18. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the marked messages comprise at least one of a text message, voice data, or image data.

19. The electronic device of claim 12 , wherein the instructions further cause the electronic device to:

map the selected marked message to metadata of the selected marked message; and

store the selected marked message mapped to the metadata of the selected marked message.

20. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch screen;

a processor operatively coupled to the touch screen; and

a memory operatively coupled to the processor, wherein the memory stores instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:

provide a user interface for displaying any of a plurality of chat windows, wherein the plurality of chat windows includes first and second chat windows selectable for display in the user interface and wherein the first chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a first interlocutor and the second chat window is associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a second interlocutor, wherein the first interlocutor and the second interlocutor are different from a user of the electronic device,

receive a first message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window,

transmit a second message corresponding to the one or more messages associated with the first chat window,

in response to selecting the first chat window among the plurality of chat windows, display, on the touch screen of the electronic device, the first chat window comprising the first and second messages in a chronological order,

display, in response to detecting a first touch input for selecting at least one of the first and second messages included in the display of the first chat window, an icon for indicating the selected at least one of the first and second messages as a marked message,

display, in response to detecting a second touch input, a list of marked messages of the plurality of chat windows, the marked messages including the marked message of the first chat window and a second marked message of the second chat window,

in response to detecting a third touch input for selecting a marked message included in the list of the marked messages, switch from displaying the list of the marked messages to displaying one of the first chat window and the second chat window corresponding to the selected marked message such that a message corresponding to the selected marked message is automatically positioned within a viewing area of the displayed one of the first chat window and the second chat window,

delete the displayed one of the first chat window and the second chat window wherein the deleting does not delete the message corresponding to the selected marked message, which was included in the displayed one of the first chat window and the second chat window, and

based on the deleting, display the message corresponding to the selected marked message while preventing switching to the displayed one of the first chat window and the second chat window.

21. An electronic device, comprising:

a touch screen;

a processor operatively coupled to the touch screen; and

a memory operatively coupled to the processor, the memory storing one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions which, when executed by the electronic device, cause the electronic device to:

display, in response to a first touch input, a first screen including a list of marked messages including at least a first marked message of a first chat window associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a first interlocutor and a second marked message of a second chat window associated with one or more messages transmitted to or received from at least a second interlocutor, wherein the first interlocutor and the second interlocutor are different from a user of the electronic device, each of the marked messages being a message previously selected via a user input as a marked message among messages transmitted to or received from a plurality of entities in a plurality of chat windows including the first and second chat windows, each of the marked messages having been marked with an icon via the user input,

in response to a second touch input for selecting one of the marked messages included in the list displayed in the first screen, display a second screen including the selected one of the marked messages and at least one message transmitted to or received from an entity corresponding to the selected one of the marked messages, wherein the second screen comprises a chat window including the selected one of the marked messages and messages transmitted to or received from the entity corresponding to the selected one of the marked messages, and

delete the chat window comprised in the second screen wherein the deleting does not delete the selected one of the marked messages, and

based on the deleting, display the selected one of the marked messages while preventing switching to the chat window including the selected one of the marked messages and the messages transmitted to or received from the entity corresponding to the selected one of the marked messages.