Differentiating a portion of a text message shown in a listing on a handheld communication device using an icon
View Patent ↗A handheld wireless communication device includes features to send and receive text messages. The handheld wireless communication device is further equipped with a microprocessor configured to run software programs on the device such as text message management program. The text message management program displays a listing of a plurality of received text messages on a display screen and differentiates at least a portion of the display-listed plurality of received text messages using an icon associated with at least one text message and wherein said icon corresponds to a domain address of the associated text message.
1. A communications device including a screen, the communications device comprising:
a processor in data communication with the screen, the processor configured to:
display a message having at least one field;
obtain an identifying icon associated with a domain identified with at least one address; and
display the identifying icon in the field.
2. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the message is one of a SMS message, an MMS, and email message.
3. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the message is an incoming message.
4. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the message is outgoing message.
5. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the identifying icon is displayed in a row containing identification information related to the domain.
6. The communications device as recited in claim 5 , wherein the identification information comprises at least one of a sender name, recipient name, subject, receipt time and date, sent time and date, and message status.
7. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , wherein the address recipient follows an “@” symbol.
8. The communications device as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a key field disposed proximate the screen, the key field comprising a plurality of keys of which a portion are alphanumeric, the alphanumeric keys comprising a plurality of alphabetic keys, each alphabetic key having at least one letter associated therewith, the alphabetic keys being arranged in one of a QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY and Dvorak arrangement.
9. The communications device as recited in claim 8 , wherein the letters are associated with the alphabetic keys, one letter per key.
10. The communications device as recited in claim 8 , wherein at least one alphabetic key is associated with a plurality of letters.
11. A method of displaying messages on a communications device, the method comprising:
executing a message management program on a processor housed within the communications device;
displaying, on a display coupled to the processor, a message having at least one field;
obtaining an identifying icon associated with a domain identified with at least one address; and
displaying, on the display, the identifying icon in the at least one field.
12. The method as recited in claim 11 , further comprising displaying the icon in a row of message identification information related to the message.
13. The method as recited in claim 12 , wherein message identification information comprises at least one of a: name of a sender, name of a recipient, subject, date received, date sent, time received, time sent and status of the message.
14. The method as recited in 11 , wherein the identifying icon includes an image identifying an organization with which the domain is associated.
15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the address is preceded by an “@” symbol.
16. A non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when loaded into a communications device, are executable to:
send messages to at least one recipient;
display an outgoing message having a “TO” field;
obtain an identifying icon associated with a domain identified with the at least one recipient; and
display an outgoing message and the identifying icon associated with the at least one recipient in the “TO” field.
17. The non-transitory memory as recited in claim 16 , storing instructions that are executable to display the identifying icon associated with the at least one recipient in a row of message identification information related to the particular email message.
18. A non-transitory memory storing instructions that, when loaded into a communications device, are executable to:
display a message having at least one field;
obtain an identifying icon associated with a domain identified with at least one address; and
display the identifying icon the field.
19. The non-transitory memory as recited in claim 18 , wherein the message is one of a SMS message, an MMS, and email message.
20. The non-transitory memory as recited in claim 18 , wherein the message is an incoming message.