U.S. patent application number 13/299203 was filed with the patent office on 2012-11-15 for multi-screen email client.
This patent application is currently assigned to IMERJ LLC. Invention is credited to Alexander de Paz, Martin Gimpl, Stanley Kurdziel, Paul Reeves, Rodney Schrock, Sanjiv Sirpal, Salvador Soto, Aaron VonderHaar, Paul Webber.
Application Number | 20120290946 13/299203 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 46084658 |
Filed Date | 2012-11-15 |
United States Patent
Application |
20120290946 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Schrock; Rodney ; et
al. |
November 15, 2012 |
MULTI-SCREEN EMAIL CLIENT
Abstract
An email client having multiple screens that may be displayed in
different corresponding ones of a plurality of different display
portions of a handheld electronic device. The screens of the email
client may be related by way of a dependency relationship and/or
may provide for control between the various screens. In one
embodiment, the email client includes a folder management screen, a
message listing screen, a message detail screen, and an attachment
screen. Additionally, the email client may be responsive to
received gesture inputs to navigate with respect to the screens
and/or perform actions with respect to one or more elements (e.g.,
messages) of the various screens.
Inventors: |
Schrock; Rodney; (San Diego,
CA) ; Sirpal; Sanjiv; (Oakville, CA) ; de Paz;
Alexander; (Burlington, CA) ; VonderHaar; Aaron;
(San Diego, CA) ; Gimpl; Martin; (Toronto, CA)
; Soto; Salvador; (Toronto, CA) ; Kurdziel;
Stanley; (San Diego, CA) ; Webber; Paul; (San
Diego, CA) ; Reeves; Paul; (Oakville, CA) |
Assignee: |
IMERJ LLC
Broomfield
CO
|
Family ID: |
46084658 |
Appl. No.: |
13/299203 |
Filed: |
November 17, 2011 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
61458150 |
Nov 17, 2010 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
715/752 ;
709/206; 709/217; 715/761 |
Current CPC
Class: |
G06F 3/04847 20130101;
H04L 51/38 20130101; G09G 2340/0464 20130101; G06F 3/04886
20130101; G06F 3/017 20130101; H04M 1/72583 20130101; G06F 3/0488
20130101; G06F 1/1647 20130101; G06F 3/04845 20130101; G06F 3/0482
20130101; G06F 3/04842 20130101; H04L 51/08 20130101; G09G 2354/00
20130101; G06F 2203/04803 20130101; G06F 3/04883 20130101; G06F
3/1423 20130101; G09G 5/38 20130101; G09G 2340/145 20130101; G09G
5/14 20130101; G06Q 10/107 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
715/752 ;
715/761; 709/217; 709/206 |
International
Class: |
G06F 3/01 20060101
G06F003/01; G06F 15/16 20060101 G06F015/16 |
Claims
1. A multi-screen email client executable on a handheld electronic
device having at least a first display portion and a second display
portion, the email client comprising: a first user interface screen
portion displayable on the first display portion; and a second user
interface screen portion displayable on the second display portion;
wherein the first user interface screen portion and the second user
interface screen portion are related by way of a dependency
relationship therebetween and are operable to provide functionality
related to the email client.
2. The email client according to claim 1, wherein the first display
portion and the second display portion are distinct display devices
of the handheld device.
3. The email client according to claim 1, wherein one of the first
and second user interface screen portions is operable to at least
partially control the execution of another of the first and second
user interface screen portions.
4. The email client according to claim 3, wherein one of the first
and second user interface screen portions includes an input screen
operable to receive inputs from a user for control of another of
the first and second user interface screen portions.
5. The email client according to claim 4, wherein the input screen
is a keyboard screen.
6. The email client according to claim 1, wherein the first and
second user interface screen portions include different respective
ones of a folder management screen, a message listing screen, a
message detail screen, and an attachment screen.
7. The email client according to claim 6, wherein the folder
management screen, the message listing screen, the message detail
screen, or the attachment screen define a hierarchical application
sequence.
8. The email client according to claim 7, wherein the hierarchical
application sequence is navigable by a user to display at least a
different one of the screens of the hierarchical application
sequence on at least one of the first or second display portions in
response to a user input.
9. The email client according to claim 8, wherein the first user
interface screen portion includes an indicator regarding a portion
of the first user interface screen portion to which the second user
interface screen portion corresponds.
10. The email client according to claim 1, wherein at least one of
the first and second user interface screen portions is a message
listing screen, and wherein a plurality of messages appearing in
the message listing screen are sortable by at least one of a
sender, a subject matter, or a time of receipt.
11. The email client according to claim 1, wherein at least one of
the first and second user interface screen portions is a message
listing screen, and wherein a plurality of messages appearing in
the message listing screen are selectable in order to perform an
action on the selected messages collectively.
12. The email client according to claim 1, wherein at least one of
the first and second user interface screen portions is a message
detail screen, and wherein an element of the message detail screen
is responsive to a user input to initiate an action with respect to
the element, and wherein the action is indicated by way of a change
in appearance of the element of the message detail screen.
13. The email client according to claim 12, wherein the element is
an attachment bar and the action includes downloading an attached
file corresponding to the attachment bar, wherein the appearance of
the attachment bar corresponds to a status of the downloading of
the attached file.
14. The email client according to claim 1, wherein at least one of
the first and second user interface screen portions is a message
detail screen, and wherein the message detail screen is selectively
modifiable to invert the color of text and a background of a
message displayed in the message detail screen.
15. The email client according to claim 1, wherein at least one of
the first and second user interface screen portions is a message
detail screen, and wherein the message detail screen is selectively
viewable in a full screen mode such that at least one element of
the message detail screen is removed when displayed in the full
screen mode.
16. The email client according to claim 1, wherein an indication is
presentable to user upon loss of connectivity with an email server
with which an email account is associated.
17. A method of operation of a multi-screen email client, the
method comprising: executing the multi-screen email client on a
handheld electronic device having at least a first display portion
and a second display portion; displaying a first user interface
screen portion on the first display portion and a second user
interface screen on the second display portion, wherein the first
user interface screen portion and the second user interface screen
portion are related by way of a dependency relationship
therebetween; receiving inputs from a user with respect to the
first user interface screen portion on the first display portion
and with respect to the second user interface screen portion on the
second display portion; and controlling the execution of the email
client in response to the receiving.
18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first display
portion and the second display portion are distinct display devices
of the handheld device.
19. The method according to claim 18, further comprising affecting
the execution of one of the first and second user interface screen
portions in response to receiving inputs from a user with respect
to another of the first and second user interface portions.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein one of the first and
second user interface screen portions includes an input screen
operable to receive inputs from a user for affecting at least a
portion of another of the first and second user interface screen
portions.
21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the input screen is a
keyboard screen.
22. The method according to claim 17, wherein the first and second
user interface screen portion are different respective ones of a
folder management screen, a message listing screen, a message
detail screen, or an attachment screen.
23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the folder management
screen, the message listing screen, the message detail screen, and
the attachment screen define a hierarchical application
sequence.
24. The method according to claim 23, further comprising navigating
the hierarchical application sequence to display at least a
different one of the screens of the hierarchical screen progression
on at least one of the first or second display portions in response
to the receiving of a user input.
25. The method according to claim 24, further comprising indicating
to a user a portion of the first user interface screen portion to
which the second user interface screen portion corresponds.
26. The method according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the
first and second user interface screen portions is the message
listing screen, and wherein a plurality of messages appearing in
the message listing screen are sortable by at least one of a
sender, a subject matter, or a time of receipt.
27. The method according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the
first and second user interface screen portions is the message
detail screen, the method further comprising initiating an action
with respect to an element of the message detail screen in response
to the receiving a user input and changing the appearance of the
element of the message detail screen in response to the
initiating.
28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the element is an
attachment bar and the action includes downloading an attached file
corresponding to the attachment bar, and wherein the appearance of
the attachment bar corresponds to a status of the downloading of
the attached file.
29. The method according to claim 17, further comprising receiving
a gesture input from the user and, in response to receiving the
gesture input, performing an action with respect to a message.
30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the gesture input
includes a long press gesture received with respect to a message
displayed in at least one of a message listing screen or a message
details screen, and wherein the action includes displaying a
contextual menu related to the message.
31. The method according to claim 29, wherein the gesture input
includes a swipe gesture received with respect to a message
displayed in at least one of a message listing screen or a message
detail screen, and wherein the action includes moving the message
to a location in the email client different than the current
location of the message.
32. The method according to claim 31, wherein the moving includes
movement of the message to a destination folder.
33. The method according to claim 32, wherein the destination
folder is at least partially determined by the nature of the
gesture input received.
34. A handheld electronic device operable to execute a multi-screen
email client, the device comprising: a plurality of user interface
screen portions, wherein the plurality of user interface screen
portion include at least one of a message listing screen or a
message detail screen; a plurality of display portions operable to
display different respective ones of the plurality of user
interface screens of the multi-screen email client thereon; and at
least one input device operable to receive a gesture input from a
user, wherein the plurality of user interface screen portions are
responsive to received gesture inputs at the at least one input
device to control the operation of the email client; wherein upon
receipt of a gesture from the user at the input device, the email
client is operable to perform an action with respect to a message
displayed in the message listing screen or the message detail
screen to modify the message.
35. The device according to claim 34, wherein the gesture includes
a long press gesture received with respect to a message displayed
in at least one of the message listing screen or the message detail
screen, and wherein the action includes display of a contextual
menu related to the message.
36. The device according to claim 34, wherein the gesture includes
a swipe gesture received with respect to a message displayed in at
least one of the message listing screen or the message detail
screen, and wherein the action includes moving the message in the
message listing screen or the message details screen within the
email client.
37. The device according to claim 36, wherein the moving includes
movement of the message to a destination folder.
38. The device according to claim 37, wherein the destination
folder is at least partially determined by the nature of the
gesture input received.
39. The device according to claim 37, wherein the gesture input
comprise a drag-and-drop gesture to move a message from a source
folder to a destination folder.
40. A handheld electronic device, comprising: a memory operable to
store a plurality of programs and a plurality of files, wherein at
least a portion of the files are executable by one or more of the
plurality of programs; a processor operable to run the plurality of
programs to execute the at least a portion of the files; at least
one file in a non-executable file format not executable or capable
of being opened by any of the plurality of programs; and a file
transfer module operable to transmit and receive the at least one
non-executable file.
41. The device according to claim 40, wherein at least one of the
plurality of programs includes an email client operable to transmit
email messages from and receive email messages at the device.
42. The device according to claim 41, wherein at least one of the
email messages includes a file attachment, and wherein the attached
file is the at least one non-executable file.
43. A method of operation of a handheld electronic device, the
method comprising: storing a plurality of programs in a memory of
the handheld electronic device; executing one or more of the
plurality of programs on a microprocessor in operative
communication with the memory; receiving a non-executable file at
the handheld electronic device, wherein the non-executable file is
in a file format that is not associated with any of the plurality
of programs; storing the file in the memory of the handheld
device.
44. The method according to claim 43, wherein at least one of the
plurality of programs includes an email client operable to transmit
email messages from and receive email messages at the device.
45. The method according to claim 44, wherein at least one of the
email messages includes a file attachment, and wherein the attached
file is the non-executable file.
Description
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent
Application No. 61/458,150 filed Nov. 17, 2010 entitled "DUAL
SCREEN EMAIL CLIENT", the entirety of which is incorporated by
reference herein.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As the computing and communication functions of handheld
computing devices become more powerful, the user interface and
display elements of such devices have evolved by attempting to
adapt user interface regimes developed for personal computers for
use with handheld computing devices. However, the attempt to adapt
prior user interface regimes has been met with various hurdles.
[0003] For instance, many current handheld computing devices make
use of a physical keypad for user interface. Many different
implementations of physical keypads exist that vary in orientation
and relationship to the device screen. However, in every case the
physical keypads take up a certain percentage of the physical space
of the device and increase the weight of the device. In addition to
the disadvantages of size and weight, physical keypads are not
configurable in the same manner as a touch screen based user
interface. While certain limited forms of physical keypads
currently have, on the keys themselves, configurable displays, such
as eInk or OLED surfaces, to allow for reconfiguration of the keys,
even in these cases, the physical layout of keys is not modifiable.
Rather, only the values associated with the physical keys on the
keypad may be changed.
[0004] Other methods may provide increased user configurability of
physical keypads. These methods may include stickers and/or labels
that can be added to keys to reference modified functions or
plastic overlays on top of the keypad denoting different functional
suites. For instance, the ZBoard keyboard, meant for laptop or
desktop computer use, incorporates a dual layered physical keyboard
which separates the keys and their layout from the connections
which send signals to the machine. As such, different physical
keyboard inserts for different applications can be inserted into a
holder allowing full configurability such that the orientation and
layout of the keys in addition to their denotation of function is
configurable. This model could be extended to handheld computing
devices; however, the rate at which such a modular keypad can
change functions is much slower and more labor intensive than with
a touch screen user interface. Furthermore, for each potential
functional suite, an additional physical key layout must be carried
by the user, greatly increasing the overall physical size and
weight of such implementations. One advantage of a physical keypad
for handheld computing devices is that the user input space is
extended beyond the user display space such that none of the keys
themselves, the housing of the keys, a user's fingers, or a
pointing device obscure any screen space during user interface
activities.
[0005] A substantial number of handheld computing devices make use
of a small touch screen display to deliver display information to
the user and to receive inputs from the user interface commands. In
this case, while the configurability of the device may be greatly
increased and a wide variety of user interface options may be
available to the user, this flexibility comes at a price. Namely,
such arrangements require shared screen space between the display
and the user interface. While this issue is shared with other types
of touch screen display/user interface technology, the relatively
small form factor of handheld computing devices results in a
tension between the displayed graphics and area provided for
receiving inputs. For instance, the small display further
constrains the display space, which may increase the difficulty of
interpreting actions or results while a keypad or other user
interface scheme is laid overtop or to the side of the applications
in use such that the application is squeezed into an even smaller
portion of the display. Thus a single display touch screen
solution, which solves the problem of flexibility of the user
interface may create an even more substantial set of problems of
obfuscation of the display, visual clutter, and an overall conflict
of action and attention between the user interface and the
display.
[0006] Single display touch screen devices thus benefit from user
interface flexibility, but are crippled by their limited screen
space such that when users are entering information into the device
through the display, the ability to interpret information in the
display can be severely hampered. This problem is exacerbated in
several key situations when complex interaction between display and
interface is required, such as when manipulating layers on maps,
playing a game, or modifying data received from a scientific
application, etc. This conflict between user interface and screen
space severely limits the degree to which the touch based user
interface may be used in an intuitive manner.
SUMMARY
[0007] A first aspect includes a multi-screen email client
executable on a handheld electronic device having at least a first
display portion and a second display portion. The email client
includes a first user interface screen portion displayable on the
first display portion and a second user interface screen portion
displayable on the second display portion. The first user interface
screen portion and the second user interface screen portion are
related by way of a dependency relationship therebetween and are
operable to provide functionality related to the email client.
[0008] A number of feature refinements and additional features are
applicable to the first aspect. These feature refinements and
additional features may be used individually or in any combination.
As such, each of the following features that will be discussed may
be, but are not required to be, used with any other feature or
combination of features of the first aspect.
[0009] For example, the first display portion and the second
display portion may be distinct display devices of the handheld
device.
[0010] In one embodiment, one of the first and second user
interface screen portions may be operable to at least partially
control the execution of another of the first and second user
interface screen portions. For example, one of the first and second
user interface screen portions may include an input screen that is
operable to receive inputs from a user for control of another of
the first and second user interface screen portions. The input
screen may be a keyboard screen.
[0011] In one embodiment, the first and second user interface
screen portions may include different respective ones of a folder
management screen, a message listing screen, a message detail
screen, and an attachment screen. The folder management screen, the
message listing screen, the message detail screen, or the
attachment screen may define a hierarchical application sequence.
Accordingly, the hierarchical application sequence may be navigable
by a user to display at least a different one of the screens of the
hierarchical application sequence on at least one of the first or
second display portions in response to a user input. Additionally,
the first user interface screen portion may include an indicator
regarding a portion of the first user interface screen portion to
which the second user interface screen portion corresponds.
[0012] In one embodiment, at least one of the first and second user
interface screen portions may be a message listing screen, and a
plurality of messages appearing in the message listing screen may
be sortable by at least one of a sender, a subject matter, or a
time of receipt. In another embodiment, at least one of the first
and second user interface screen portions may be a message listing
screen, and a plurality of messages appearing in the message
listing screen may be selectable in order to perform an action on
the selected messages collectively. In still another embodiment, at
least one of the first and second user interface screen portions
may be a message detail screen, and an element of the message
detail screen may be responsive to a user input to initiate an
action with respect to the element. The action may be indicated by
way of a change in appearance of the element of the message detail
screen. For example, the element may be an attachment bar and the
action may include downloading an attached file corresponding to
the attachment bar such that the appearance of the attachment bar
may correspond to a status of the downloading of the attached file.
In yet another embodiment, at least one of the first and second
user interface screen portions may be a message detail screen, and
the message detail screen may be selectively modifiable to invert
the color of text and a background of a message displayed in the
message detail screen. Further still, at least one of the first and
second user interface screen portions may be a message detail
screen, and the message detail screen may be selectively viewable
in a full screen mode such that at least one element of the message
detail screen is removed when displayed in the full screen
mode.
[0013] In another embodiment, an indication may be presentable to
user upon loss of connectivity with an email server with which an
email account is associated.
[0014] A second aspect includes a method of operation of a
multi-screen email client. The method includes executing the
multi-screen email client on a handheld electronic device having at
least a first display portion and a second display portion and
displaying a first user interface screen portion on the first
display portion and a second user interface screen on the second
display portion. The first user interface screen portion and the
second user interface screen portion are related by way of a
dependency relationship therebetween. The method further includes
receiving inputs from a user with respect to the first user
interface screen portion on the first display portion and with
respect to the second user interface screen portion on the second
display portion and controlling the execution of the email client
in response to the receiving.
[0015] A number of feature refinements and additional features are
applicable to the second aspect. These feature refinements and
additional features may be used individually or in any combination.
As such, each of the following features that will be discussed may
be, but are not required to be, used with any other feature or
combination of features of the second aspect.
[0016] For example, in one embodiment, the first display portion
and the second display portion may be distinct display devices of
the handheld device.
[0017] In one embodiment, the method may further include affecting
the execution of one of the first and second user interface screen
portions in response to receiving inputs from a user with respect
to another of the first and second user interface portions. One of
the first and second user interface screen portions may includes an
input screen operable to receive inputs from a user for affecting
at least a portion of another of the first and second user
interface screen portions. For example, the input screen may be a
keyboard screen.
[0018] In various embodiments, the first and second user interface
screen portion may be different respective ones of a folder
management screen, a message listing screen, a message detail
screen, or an attachment screen. The folder management screen, the
message listing screen, the message detail screen, and the
attachment screen may define a hierarchical application sequence.
The method may further include navigating the hierarchical
application sequence to display at least a different one of the
screens of the hierarchical screen progression on at least one of
the first or second display portions in response to the receiving
of a user input. The method may also include indicating to a user a
portion of the first user interface screen portion to which the
second user interface screen portion corresponds.
[0019] In one embodiment, at least one of the first and second user
interface screen portions may be the message listing screen, and a
plurality of messages appearing in the message listing screen may
be sortable by at least one of a sender, a subject matter, or a
time of receipt. In another embodiment, at least one of the first
and second user interface screen portions may be the message detail
screen, and the method may further include initiating an action
with respect to an element of the message detail screen in response
to the receiving a user input and changing the appearance of the
element of the message detail screen in response to the initiating.
For example, the element may be an attachment bar and the action
includes downloading an attached file corresponding to the
attachment bar, and the appearance of the attachment bar may
correspond to a status of the downloading of the attached file.
[0020] The method may further include receiving a gesture input
from the user and, in response to receiving the gesture input,
performing an action with respect to a message. The gesture input
may include a long press gesture received with respect to a message
displayed in at least one of a message listing screen or a message
details screen, and the action may includes displaying a contextual
menu related to the message. The gesture input may include a swipe
gesture received with respect to a message displayed in at least
one of a message listing screen or a message detail screen, and the
action may include moving the message to a location in the email
client different than the current location of the message. For
example, the moving may include movement of the message to a
destination folder. The destination folder may be at least
partially determined by the nature of the gesture input
received.
[0021] A third aspect includes a handheld electronic device
operable to execute a multi-screen email client. The device
includes a plurality of user interface screen portions, wherein the
plurality of user interface screen portion include at least one of
a message listing screen or a message detail screen and a plurality
of display portions operable to display different respective ones
of the plurality of user interface screens of the multi-screen
email client thereon. The device also includes at least one input
device operable to receive a gesture input from a user, wherein the
plurality of user interface screen portions are responsive to
received gesture inputs at the at least one input device to control
the operation of the email client. Accordingly, upon receipt of a
gesture from the user at the input device, the email client is
operable to perform an action with respect to a message displayed
in the message listing screen or the message detail screen to
modify the message.
[0022] A number of feature refinements and additional features are
applicable to the third aspect. These feature refinements and
additional features may be used individually or in any combination.
As such, each of the following features that will be discussed may
be, but are not required to be, used with any other feature or
combination of features of the third aspect.
[0023] For example, the gesture may include a long press gesture
received with respect to a message displayed in at least one of the
message listing screen or the message detail screen, and the action
may include display of a contextual menu related to the message.
Additionally or alternatively, the gesture may include a swipe
gesture received with respect to a message displayed in at least
one of the message listing screen or the message detail screen, and
the action may include moving the message in the message listing
screen or the message details screen within the email client. The
moving may include movement of the message to a destination folder.
For example, the destination folder may be at least partially
determined by the nature of the gesture input received. In another
embodiment, the gesture input may comprise a drag-and-drop gesture
to move a message from a source folder to a destination folder.
[0024] A fourth aspect includes a handheld electronic device that
includes a memory operable to store a plurality of programs and a
plurality of files. At least a portion of the files are executable
by one or more of the plurality of programs. The device further
includes a processor operable to run the plurality of programs to
execute the at least a portion of the files. The device includes at
least one file in a non-executable file format not executable or
capable of being opened by any of the plurality of programs.
Furthermore, the device includes a file transfer module operable to
transmit and receive the at least one non-executable file.
[0025] A number of feature refinements and additional features are
applicable to the fourth aspect. These feature refinements and
additional features may be used individually or in any combination.
As such, each of the following features that will be discussed may
be, but are not required to be, used with any other feature or
combination of features of the fourth aspect.
[0026] For example, in one embodiment, at least one of the
plurality of programs may include an email client operable to
transmit email messages from and receive email messages at the
device. Accordingly, at least one of the email messages may include
a file attachment, and the attached file may be the at least one
non-executable file.
[0027] A fifth aspect includes a method of operation of a handheld
electronic device. The method includes storing a plurality of
programs in a memory of the handheld electronic device and
executing one or more of the plurality of programs on a
microprocessor in operative communication with the memory. The
method further includes receiving a non-executable file at the
handheld electronic device, wherein the non-executable file is in a
file format that is not associated with any of the plurality of
programs. Furthermore, the method includes storing the file in the
memory of the handheld device.
[0028] A number of feature refinements and additional features are
applicable to the fifth aspect. These feature refinements and
additional features may be used individually or in any combination.
As such, each of the following features that will be discussed may
be, but are not required to be, used with any other feature or
combination of features of the fifth aspect.
[0029] For example, in one embodiment, at least one of the
plurality of programs may include an email client operable to
transmit email messages from and receive email messages at the
device. Accordingly, at least one of the email messages may
includes a file attachment, and wherein the attached file is the
non-executable file.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0030] FIG. 1 is a schematic view of an embodiment of a handheld
computing device.
[0031] FIGS. 2A-D are graphical representations of an embodiment of
a handheld computing device in various instances of operation.
[0032] FIGS. 3A-K are graphical representations of an embodiment of
a handheld computing device provided in different positions,
orientations, and instances of operation.
[0033] FIG. 4 includes graphical representations of various gesture
inputs for controlling a handheld computing device.
[0034] FIG. 5 is a graphical representation of the logical
positions of screens executing on displays of an embodiment of a
handheld computing device.
[0035] FIGS. 6A and 6B are schematic views of embodiments of a
handheld computing device provided with touch sensitive
devices.
[0036] FIG. 7 is a graphical representation of an embodiment of a
gesture input.
[0037] FIG. 8 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a folder
management screen.
[0038] FIGS. 9-11 are screen shots of embodiments of screens for
editing a folder listing.
[0039] FIG. 12 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
listing screen.
[0040] FIGS. 13 and 14 are screen shots of embodiments for sorting
a message listing on the message listing screen shown in FIG.
11.
[0041] FIG. 15 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
listing screen showing a position indicator.
[0042] FIG. 16 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
listing screen for editing the messages in the message listing.
[0043] FIG. 17 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
detail screen.
[0044] FIG. 18 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
detail screen executing in full screen mode.
[0045] FIG. 19 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
detail screen for a message including attachments.
[0046] FIG. 20 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a menu relating
to a message displayable in response to a gesture input.
[0047] FIGS. 21 and 22 are screen shots including a representation
of the response of an embodiment of an email client to a gesture
input received for controlling the operation of an e-mail
client.
[0048] FIGS. 23 and 24 depict an embodiment of a dual screen
display executing an email client in dual screen mode on a handheld
electronic device.
[0049] FIG. 25 is a representation of a change in the display of
the screens of an email client in response to a user input.
[0050] FIG. 26 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a folder
management screen executing in dual screen mode.
[0051] FIG. 27 is a screen shot of an embodiment of a message
detail screen executing in full screen mode with respect to a
plurality of displays.
[0052] FIG. 28 is a screen shot of an embodiment of an email
composition screen executing in dual screen mode.
[0053] FIG. 29 is a screen shot of an embodiment of an email client
executing in dual screen mode with nonsymmetrical sized screen
portions.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0054] The present disclosure is generally related to an email
client executable on a handheld electronic device that includes a
plurality of display portions. Accordingly, a plurality of screens
of the email client may be simultaneously displayed in the various
display portions of the handheld electronic device. Additionally,
gesture inputs for interaction with the email client may be
received. The interface and controls of the email client may be
particularly suited for control of devices that have one or more
displays capable of displaying graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on
a handheld portable electronic device. The following disclosure
may, in various embodiments, be applied to other computing devices
capable of displaying and responding to a GUI (e.g., laptop
computers, tablet computers, desktop computers, touch screen
monitors, etc.) and is not intended to be limited to handheld
computing devices unless otherwise explicitly specified.
[0055] FIG. 1 depicts an embodiment of a handheld computing device
100. The handheld computing device 100 may include a first display
102 and a second display 104. Additionally, while two displays
(102, 104) may be shown and described below with regard to the
functionality of various embodiments of handheld computing devices,
a handheld computing device may be provided that includes more than
two displays. In any regard, the first display 102 and the second
display 104 may be independently controllable. The displays may be
operative to display a displayed image or "screen". As used herein,
the term "display" refers to device hardware, whereas "screen"
refers to the displayed image produced on the display. In this
regard, a display is a physical hardware device that is operable to
render a screen. A screen may encompass a majority of the display.
For instance, a screen may occupy substantially all of the display
area except for areas dedicated to other functions (e.g., menu
bars, status bars, an annunciator bar etc.) A screen may be
associated with an application, an operating system, or other
software program executing on the handheld computing device 100.
For instance, application screens or desktop screens may be
displayed. An application may have various kinds of screens that
are capable of being manipulated as will be described further
below. In an embodiment, each display may have a resolution of 480
pixels by 800 pixels, although higher and lower resolution displays
may also be provided.
[0056] In some instances, a screen may include interactive features
(e.g., buttons, text fields, toggle fields, etc.) capable of
manipulation by way of a user input. The user input may be received
by various input devices (e.g., a physical keyboard, a roller ball,
directional keys, a touch sensitive device, etc.). In some
instances, a screen may simply include graphics and have no ability
to receive an input by a user. In other instances, graphics
features and input features may both be provided by a screen. As
such, the one or more displays of a handheld computing device, the
screens displayed on the one or more displays, and various user
input devices may comprise a GUI that allows a user to exploit
functionality of the handheld computing device.
[0057] The handheld computing device 100 may be configurable
between a first position and a second position. In the first
position, a single display (e.g., the first display 102 or the
second display 104) may be visible from the perspective of a user.
Both displays 102, 104 may be exposed on an exterior of the
handheld device 100 when in the first position, but the displays
102, 104 may be arranged in a non-adjacent manner such that both
displays 102, 104 are not concurrently visible from the perspective
of a user (e.g., one display may be visible from the front of the
device 100 and the other display may be visible from the back of
the device 100).
[0058] The handheld computing device 100 may also be provided in
the second position such that the displays 102, 104 may be
concurrently viewable from the perspective of a user (e.g., the
displays 102, 104 may be positioned adjacent to one another). The
displays 102, 104 may be displayed in the second position such that
the displays 102, 104 are arranged end-to-end or side-by-side.
Additionally, the displays 102, 104 may be arranged in a portrait
orientation or a landscape orientation with respect to a user. As
will be discussed further below, a portrait orientation describes
an arrangement of the handheld computing device, wherein the longer
dimension of the display of the handheld computing device is
vertically oriented (e.g., with respect to gravity or the
perspective of a user). A landscape orientation describes an
arrangement wherein the shorter dimension of the display of the
handheld computing device is vertically oriented (e.g., with
respect to gravity or the perspective of a user). Furthermore, the
longer dimension and shorter dimension may refer to each display
individually or the combined viewing area of the one or more
displays of the device. Thus, when the individual displays are
arranged in a portrait orientation, the overall display area (i.e.,
the collective display area of the individual displays) may be
arranged in a landscape orientation, and vice versa. Additionally,
the displays and screens may be in different respective
orientations. For instance, when the displays are in a landscape
orientation, one or more screens may be rendered in a portrait
orientation on the displays or vice versa.
[0059] The handheld computing device 100 may be manipulated between
the first position (i.e., a single display visible from a user's
perspective) and the second position (i.e., at least two displays
concurrently visible from the user's perspective) in a variety of
manners. For instance, the device 100 may include a slider
mechanism such that the first and second displays 102, 104 are
disposable adjacent to one another in a parallel fashion in a
second position and slideable to the first position where only a
single display is viewable and the other display is obscured by the
viewable display.
[0060] Alternatively, the device 100 may be arranged in a clam
shell type arrangement wherein a hinge is provided between the
first display 102 and the second display 104 such that the displays
102, 104 are concurrently visible by a user when in the second
position (i.e., an open position). The displays 102, 104 may be
provided on an interior clam shell portion or an exterior clam
shell portion of the device 100. In this regard, both displays 102,
104 may be visible from the front and the back of the device,
respectively, when the device is in the first position (i.e., the
closed position). When the device 100 is in the open position, the
displays 102, 104 may be provided adjacent and parallel to one
another. Alternative arrangements of the handheld computing device
100 are contemplated wherein different arrangements and/or relative
locations of the displays may be provided when in the first and
second position.
[0061] In addition, the first display 102 and the second display
104 may be provided as entirely separate devices. In this regard, a
user may manipulate the displays 102, 104 such that they may be
positioned adjacent to one another (e.g., side-by-side or
end-to-end). The displays 102, 104 may be in operative
communication when adjacently positioned such that the displays
102, 104 may operate in the manner provided in greater detail below
when adjacently positioned (e.g., via physical contacts, wireless
communications, etc.). A retention member (not shown) may be
provided to retain the separate displays 102, 104 in an adjacent
position. For instance, the retention member may include
coordinating magnets, mechanical clips or fasteners, elastic
members, etc.
[0062] While the foregoing has referenced two displays 102 and 104,
alternate embodiments of a handheld device may include more than
two displays. In this regard, the two or more displays may behave
in a manner in accordance with the foregoing wherein only a single
display is viewable by a user in a first position and multiple
displays (i.e., more than two displays) are viewable in a second
position. Additionally, in one embodiment, the two displays 102 and
104 may comprise separate portions of a unitary display. As such,
the first display 102 may be a first portion of the unitary display
and the second display 104 may be a second portion of the unitary
display. For instance, the handheld computing device 100 (e.g.,
having a first and second display 102 and 104) may be operatively
connected to the unitary display (e.g., via a connector or a dock
portion of the unitary display) such that the first display 102 and
the second display 104 of the handheld computing device 100 are
emulated on the unitary display. As such, the unitary display may
have first and second portions corresponding to and acting in a
similar manner to the first and second display 102 and 104 of the
handheld computing device 100 described below.
[0063] The handheld computing device 100 may further include one or
more input devices that may be used to receive user inputs. These
input devices may be operative to receive gesture inputs from a
user, and, accordingly, may be referred to as gesture sensors. A
number of different types of gesture sensors may be provided. Some
examples include, but are not limited to traditional input devices
(keypads, trackballs, etc.), touch sensitive devices, optical
sensors (e.g., a camera or the like), etc. The discussion contained
herein may reference the use of touch sensitive devices to receive
gesture inputs. However, the use of touch sensitive devices is not
intended to limit the means for receiving gesture inputs to touch
sensitive devices alone and is provided for illustrative purposes
only. Accordingly, any of the foregoing means for receiving a
gesture input may be used to produce the functionality disclosed
below with regard to gesture inputs received at touch sensitive
devices.
[0064] In this regard, the handheld computing device 100 may
include at least a first touch sensor 106. Furthermore, the
handheld computing device may include a second touch sensor 108.
The first touch sensor 106 and/or the second touch sensor 108 may
be touchpad devices, touch screen devices, or other appropriate
touch sensitive devices. Examples include capacitive touch
sensitive panels, resistive touch sensitive panels, or devices
employing other touch sensitive technologies. The first touch
sensor 106 and/or second touch sensor 108 may be used in
conjunction with a portion of a user's body (e.g., finger, thumb,
hand, etc.), a stylus, or other acceptable touch sensitive
interface mechanisms known in the art. Furthermore, the first touch
sensor 106 and/or the second touch sensor 108 may be multi-touch
devices capable of sensing multiple touches simultaneously.
[0065] The first touch sensor 106 may correspond to the first
display 102 and the second touch sensor 108 may correspond to the
second display 104. In one embodiment of the handheld computing
device 100, the first display 102 and the first touch sensor 106
comprise a first touch screen display 110. In this regard, the
first touch sensor 106 may be transparent or translucent and
positioned with respect to the first display 102 such that a
corresponding touch received at the first touch sensor 106 may be
correlated to the first display 102 (e.g., to interact with a
screen rendered on the first display 102). Similarly, the second
display 104 and the second touch sensor 108 may comprise a second
touch screen display 112. In this regard, the second touch sensor
108 may be positioned with respect to the second display 104 such
that a touch received at the second touch sensor 108 may be
correlated to the second display 104 (e.g., to interact with a
screen rendered on the second display 104). Alternatively, the
first touch sensor 106 and/or the second touch sensor 108 may be
provided separately from the displays 102, 104. Furthermore, in an
alternate embodiment, only a single touch sensor may be provided
that allows for inputs to control both the first display 102 and
the second display 104. The single touch sensor may also be
provided separately or integrally with the displays.
[0066] In this regard, the first and second touch sensors 106, 108
may have the substantially same footprint on the handheld computing
device 100 as the displays 102, 104. Alternatively, the touch
sensors 106, 108 may have a footprint including less of the
entirety of the displays 102, 104. Further still, the touch sensors
106, 108 may include a footprint that extends beyond the displays
102, 104 such that at least a portion of the touch sensors 106, 108
are provided in non-overlapping relation with respect to the
displays 102, 104. As discussed further below, the touch sensors
106, 108 may alternatively be provided in complete non-overlapping
relation such that the footprint of the touch sensors 106, 108 is
completely different than the footprint of the displays 102,
104.
[0067] For example, with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B, various
potential arrangements are depicted for the first display 102, the
second display 104, and touch sensors 106', 106'', and 108''. In
FIG. 6A, the first 102 and second display 104 are arranged
side-by-side such that a crease 196 separates the displays. In this
regard, the first display 102 and second display 104 may be
arranged in a clam-shell type arrangement such that the crease 196
includes a hinge that allows for pivotal movement between the first
displays 102 and second display 104 as discussed above. A touch
sensor 106' may span the width of both the first display 102 and
the second display 104. In this regard, the touch sensor 106' may
span the crease 196 without interruption. Alternatively, as shown
in FIG. 6B, separate touch sensors 106'' and 108'' may be provided
on either side of the crease 196. In this regard, each of the touch
sensors 106'' and 108'' may span the width of each of the first
display 102 and second display 104, respectively.
[0068] In any of the arrangements shown in FIGS. 6A and 6B, the
displays (102, 104) may comprise touch screen displays that may be
used in conjunction with touch sensitive portions that are provided
separately from the touch screen displays. Thus, displays 102 and
104 may both comprise touch screen displays and be provided in
addition to touch sensitive devices 106', 106'', and 108''.
Accordingly, a combination of touch screen displays (e.g., 110,
112) and off display touch sensors (e.g., 106', 106'', 108'') may
be provided for a single device. Touch inputs may be received at
both a touch screen display (110, 112) and off display touch sensor
(106', 106'', 108''). In this regard, gestures received at an off
screen display sensor may have a different functionality than the
same gesture received at a touch screen display. Also, a touch
sensitive device may be divided into a plurality of zones. The same
gesture received in different zones may have different
functionality. For instance, a percentage (e.g., 10%, 25%, etc.) of
the touch sensitive device at the top or bottom of the display may
be defined as a separate zone than the remainder of the touch
sensitive device. Thus, a gesture received in this zone may have a
different functionality than a gesture received in the remainder of
the touch sensitive device.
[0069] Returning to FIG. 1, the handheld computing device 100 may
further include a processor 116. The processor 116 may be in
operative communication with a data bus 114. The processor 116 may
generally be operative to control the functionality of the handheld
device 100. For instance, the processor 116 may execute an
operating system and be operative to execute applications. The
processor 116 may be in communication with one or more additional
components 120-134 of the handheld computing device 100 as will be
described below. For instance, the processor 116 may be in direct
communication with one more of the additional components 120-134 or
may communicate with the one or more additional components via the
data bus 114. Furthermore, while the discussion below may describe
the additional components 120-134 being in operative communication
with the data bus 114, in other embodiments any of the additional
components 120-134 may be in direct operative communication with
any of the other additional components 120-134. Furthermore, the
processor 116 may be operative to independently control the first
display 102 and the second display 104 and may be operative to
receive input from the first touch sensor 106 and the second touch
sensor 108. The processor 116 may comprise one or more different
processors. For example, the processor 116 may comprise one or more
application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), one or more
field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), one or more general purpose
processors operative to execute machine readable code, or a
combination of the foregoing.
[0070] The handheld computing device may include a battery 118
operative to provide power to the various devices and components of
the handheld computing device 100. In this regard, the handheld
computing device 100 may be portable.
[0071] The handheld computing device 100 may further include a
memory module 120 in operative communication with the data bus 114.
The memory module 120 may be operative to store data (e.g.,
application data). For instance, the memory 120 may store machine
readable code executable by the processor 116 to execute various
functionalities of the device 100.
[0072] Additionally, a communications module 122 may be in
operative communication with one or more components via the data
bus 114. The communications module 122 may be operative to
communicate over a cellular network, a Wi-Fi connection, a
hardwired connection or other appropriate means of wired or
wireless communication. The handheld computing device 100 may also
include an antenna 126. The antenna 126 may be in operative
communication with the communications module 122 to provide
wireless capability to the communications module 122. Accordingly,
the handheld computing device 100 may have telephony capability
(i.e., the handheld computing device 100 may be a smartphone
device).
[0073] An audio module 124 may also be provided in operative
communication with the data bus 114. The audio module 124 may
include a microphone and/or speakers. In this regard, the audio
module 124 may be able to capture audio or produce sounds.
Furthermore, the device 100 may include a camera module 128. The
camera module 128 may be in operative communication with other
components of the handheld computing device 100 to facilitate the
capture and storage of images or video.
[0074] Additionally, the handheld computing device 100 may include
an I/O module 130. The I/O module 130 may provide input and output
features for the handheld computing device 100 such that the
handheld computing device 100 may be connected via a connector or
other device in order to provide syncing or other communications
between the handheld computing device 100 and another device (e.g.,
a peripheral device, another computing device etc.).
[0075] The handheld computing device 100 may further include an
accelerometer module 132. The accelerometer module 132 may be able
to monitor the orientation of the handheld computing device 100
with respect to gravity. In this regard, the accelerometer module
132 may be operable to determine whether the handheld computing
device 100 is substantially in a portrait orientation or landscape
orientation. The accelerometer module 132 may further provide other
control functionality by monitoring the orientation and/or movement
of the handheld computing device 100.
[0076] The handheld computing device 100 may also include one or
more hardware buttons 134. The hardware buttons 134 may be used to
control various features of the handheld computing device 100. The
hardware buttons 134 may have fixed functionality or may be
contextual such that the specific function of the buttons changes
during operation of the handheld computing device 100. Examples of
such hardware buttons may include, but are not limited to, volume
control, a home screen button, an end button, a send button, a menu
button, etc.
[0077] With further reference to FIGS. 2A-D, various screens of an
embodiment of a device are shown. While multiple screens may be
shown, only one or a subset of the multiple screens may be shown on
the displays of the device at any one moment. In this regard, a
screen may be described in a relative location to the displays or
other screens (e.g., to the left of a display, to the right of a
display, under another screen, above another screen, etc.). These
relationships may be logically established such that no physical
display reflects the relative position. For instance, a screen may
be moved off a display to the left. While the screen is no longer
displayed on the display, the screen may have a virtual or logical
position to the left of the display from which it was moved. This
logical position may be recognized by a user and embodied in values
describing the screen (e.g., values stored in memory correspond to
the screen). Thus, when referencing screens in relative locations
to other screens, the relationships may be embodied in logic and
not physically reflected in the display of the device.
[0078] FIGS. 2A-D may display a number of different screens that
may be displayed at various instances of operation of a handheld
device and are not intended to be presented in any particular order
or arrangement. Single screen applications and multi-screen
applications may be provided. A single screen application describes
an application that is capable of producing a screen that may
occupy only a single display at a time. A multi-screen application
describes an application that is capable of producing one or more
screens that may simultaneously occupy multiple displays.
Additionally, a multi-screen application may occupy a single
display. In this regard, a multi-screen application may have a
single screen mode and a multi-screen mode.
[0079] A desktop sequence 136 is displayed in FIG. 2A. The desktop
sequence 136 may include a number of individual desktop screens
138a-138f. Thus, each desktop screen 138 may occupy substantially
the entirety of a single display (e.g., the first display 102 or
second display 104 of FIG. 1). The desktop screens 138a-138f may be
in a predetermined order such that the desktop screens 138a-138f
appear consecutively and the order in which the desktop screens
appear may not be reordered. However, the desktop screens 138a-138f
may be sequentially navigated (e.g., in response to a user input).
That is, one or more of the desktop screens 138a-138f may be
sequentially displayed on a handheld device as controlled by a user
input.
[0080] Additionally, FIG. 2B displays a hierarchal application
sequence 140 of a multi-screen application. The hierarchal
application sequence 140 may include a root screen 142, one or more
node screens 144, and a leaf screen 146. The root screen 142 may be
a top level view of the hierarchical application sequence 140 such
that there is no parent screen corresponding to the root screen
142. The root screen 142 may be a parent to a node screen 144. One
or more node screens 144 may be provided that are related as
parent/children. A node screen may also serve as a parent to a leaf
screen 146. By leaf screen 146, it is meant that the leaf screen
146 has no corresponding node screen for which the leaf screen 146
is a parent. As such, the leaf screen does not have any children
node screens 144. FIG. 2C depicts various single screen
applications 148a, 148b, and 148c arranged sequentially. Each of
these single screen applications may correspond to a different
executing application. For instance, in FIG. 2C Application 4,
Application 5, and Application 6 may be executing on the device and
correspond to each single screen 148a, 148b, and 148c,
respectively.
[0081] FIG. 2D also includes an empty view 166. The empty view 166
may be used during transitions of a screen (e.g., movement of
screen between a first display and a second display). It is not
necessary that the empty view 166 be interpretable by the user as
an effective GUI screen. The empty view 166 merely communicates to
the user that an action regarding the screen (e.g., the movement of
the screen with respect to one or more displays) is occurring. An
application displaying an empty view 166 need not be able to rest,
wait, process or interpret input. The empty view 166 may display a
screen, or a representation thereof, as it is being moved in
proportion to the amount of the screen that has been moved from a
first display to a second display as will be discussed in greater
detail below. In this regard, the empty view 166 may be used to
relate information regarding the position of a screen during a
transition of the screen (e.g., in response to gesture). While
shown in FIG. 2D as a grayed screen, an empty view 166 is only
intended to refer to a screen not capable of receiving an input
(e.g., a screen in transition). In this regard, the display of an
empty view 166 may include an animation or the like showing the
response of a screen as it is being moved or changed (e.g.,
modified into or out of a landscape mode).
[0082] FIGS. 3A-K depict various arrangements and statuses of
displays 102, 104 of a device that are possible in various
embodiments of a handheld computing device according to the present
disclosure. For instance, when in the first (e.g., closed)
position, a closed front display 168 may be visible as shown in
FIG. 3A. The closed front display 168 may correspond with the first
display 102 or the second display 104. The closed front 168 as
displayed may be occupied by a desktop screen D1 138 as shown in
FIG. 3A. Alternatively, an application with a single screen or a
multi-screen application in single screen mode may be displayed in
the closed front 168. A closed back display 170 may be viewable
from an opposite side of the display when the device is in a closed
position, as shown in FIG. 3B. The closed back 170 may display a
different desktop screen or application screen than the closed
front 168 or may simply display an empty view 166 (e.g., displaying
an icon or other graphic) and lack functionality as an
interface.
[0083] FIG. 3C depicts a closed device in a landscape orientation
172a. In one embodiment, a landscape mode (i.e., wherein the
display is adjusted to display a screen 148 in a landscape
orientation) may not be enabled as shown in FIG. 3C. Alternatively,
the landscape mode may be enabled such that the screen 148 is
modified when the device is sensed in a landscape orientation 172b,
such that the screen 148 is rendered in a landscape orientation as
shown at FIG. 3D.
[0084] The device may further be provided in a second (e.g., open)
position 174 as shown in FIG. 3E. In the open position 174, at
least two displays 102, 104 are arranged such that the two displays
102, 104 are both visible from the vantage point of a user. The two
displays 102, 104 may be arranged in a side-by-side fashion when in
the open position 174. Thus, each of the two displays 102, 104 may
display separate screens. For instance, the displays 102, 104 may
each display a separate desktop screen 138a, 138b, respectively.
While the individual displays 102 and 104 are in a portrait
orientation as shown in FIG. 3E, it may be appreciated that the
full display area (comprising both the first display 102 and the
second display 104) may be arranged in a landscape orientation.
Thus, whether the device as depicted in FIG. 3E is in a landscape
or portrait orientation may depend on whether the displays are
being used individually or collectively. If used collectively as a
unitary display, the device may be in a landscape orientation,
whereas if the displays are used separately, the orientation shown
in FIG. 3E may be referred to as a portrait orientation.
[0085] Additionally, when the device is in an open position 174 as
shown in FIG. 3F, a similar dependency with regard to the use of
the screens as a unitary display or separate displays may also
affect whether the device is in a portrait orientation or landscape
orientation. As can be appreciated, each individual screen is in a
landscape orientation, such that if the displays are used
separately, the device may be in a landscape orientation. If used
as a unitary display, the device may be in a portrait orientation.
In any regard, as shown in FIG. 3F, a single screen 148 may occupy
a first display 102 and the second display 104 may display a
desktop screen 138. The single screen 148 may be displayed in a
landscape or portrait mode. Alternatively, a device in an open
orientation 172 may display a multi-screen GUI 156 that may occupy
both displays 102, 104 in a portrait orientation as shown in FIG.
3G such that the individual displays are in a landscape
orientation.
[0086] FIGS. 3I-K depict the potential arrangements of the screens
of a multi-screen application 152. The multi-screen application 152
may, in one mode, occupy a single display 102 when the device is in
a closed position 168 as shown in FIG. 31. That is, the
multi-screen application 152 may be in a single screen mode.
Alternatively, when the device is in an open position as shown in
FIG. 3J, the multi-screen application 152 may still occupy a single
display 102 in single screen mode. Furthermore, the multi-screen
application 152 may be expanded to occupy both displays 102, 104
when the device is in the open position as shown in FIG. 3K. In
this regard, the multi-screen application 152 may also execute in a
multi-screen mode. Various options may be provided for expanding
the multi-screen application 152 from a single screen mode to a
multi-screen mode.
[0087] For example, the multi-screen application 152 may be
maximized from a single screen mode displayed in a single display
to two screens displayed in two displays such that a parent screen
is displayed in the first display and a node screen (e.g., a child
screen) is expanded into the second display. In this regard, each
of the screens displayed in the first and second display may be
independent screens that comprise part of a hierarchical
application sequence (e.g., as shown in FIG. 2B). Alternatively,
the single screen mode of the multi-screen application may simply
be scaled such that the contents of the single screen are scaled to
occupy both displays. Thus, the same content displayed in the
single screen is scaled to occupy multiple displays, but no
additional viewing area or graphics are presented. Further still,
the maximization of the multi-screen application from a single
screen mode to a multi-screen mode may result in the expansion of
the viewable area of the application. For example, if a
multi-screen application is displayed in single screen mode, upon
maximization into multi-screen mode, the viewable area of the
multi-screen application may be expanded while the scale of the
graphics displayed remains the same. In this regard, the viewable
area of the multi-screen application may be expanded into the
second display while the scaling remains constant upon
expansion.
[0088] In this regard, an application may have configurable
functionality regarding the nature and behavior of the screens of
the application. For instance, an application may be configurable
to be a single screen application or a multi-screen application.
Furthermore, a multi-screen application may be configurable as to
the nature of the expansion of the multi-screen application between
a single screen mode and a multi-screen mode. These configuration
values may be default values that may be changed or may be
permanent values for various applications. These configuration
values may be communicated to the device (e.g., the processor 116)
to dictate the behavior of the application when executing on the
device.
[0089] FIG. 4 depicts various graphical representations of gesture
inputs that may be recognized by a handheld computing device. Such
gestures may be received at one or more touch sensitive portions of
the device. In this regard, various input mechanisms may be used in
order to generate the gestures shown in FIG. 4. For example, a
stylus, a user's finger(s), or other devices may be used to
activate the touch sensitive device in order to receive the
gestures. The use of a gesture may describe the use of a truncated
input that results in functionality without the full range of
motion necessary to conventionally carry out the same
functionality. For instance, movement of screens between displays
may be carried out by selecting and moving the screen between
displays such that the full extent of the motion between displays
is received as an input. However, such an implementation may be
difficult to accomplish in that the first and second displays may
comprise separate display portions without continuity therebetween.
As such, a gesture may truncate the full motion of movement or
provide an alternative input to accomplish the same functionality.
Thus, movement spanning the first and second display may be
truncated so that the gesture may be received at a single touch
sensitive device. The use of gesture inputs is particularly suited
to handheld computing devices in that the full action of an input
may be difficult to execute given the limited input and display
space commonly provided on a handheld computing device.
[0090] With reference to FIG. 4, a circle 190 may represent a touch
received at a touch sensitive device. The circle 190 may include a
border 192, the thickness of which may indicate the length of time
the touch is held stationary at the touch sensitive device. In this
regard, a tap 186 has a thinner border 192 than the border 192' for
a long press 188. The long press 188 may involve a touch that
remains stationary on the touch sensitive display for longer than
that of a tap 186. As such, different gestures may be registered
depending upon the length of time that the touch remains stationary
prior to movement.
[0091] A drag 176 involves a touch (represented by circle 190) with
movement 194 in a direction. The drag 176 may involve an initiating
touch that remains stationary on the touch sensitive device for a
certain amount of time represented by the border 192. In contrast,
a flick 178 may involve a touch with a shorter dwell time prior to
movement than the drag as indicated by the thinner border 192'' of
the flick 178. Thus, again different gestures may be produced by
differing dwell times of a touch prior to movement. The flick 178
may also include movement 194. The direction of movement 194 of the
drag and flick 178 may be referred to as the direction of the drag
or direction of the flick. Thus, a drag to the right may describe a
drag 176 with movement 194 to the right.
[0092] In an embodiment, a swipe gesture having movement (e.g., a
flick or drag gesture as described above) may be limited to
movement in a single direction along a first axis. Thus, while
movement in a direction different than along the first axis may be
disregarded so long as contact with the touch sensitive device is
unbroken. In this regard, once a gesture is initiated, movement in
a direction not along an axis along which initial movement is
registered may be disregarded or only the vector component of
movement along the axis may be registered.
[0093] While the directional swipe gestures (e.g., the drag 176 and
flick 178) shown in FIG. 4 include only horizontal motion after the
initial touch, this may not be actual movement of the touch during
the gesture. For instance, once the drag is initiated in the
horizontal direction, movement in a direction other than in the
horizontal direction may not result in movement of the screen to be
moved in the direction different and the horizontal direction. For
instance, with further reference to FIG. 7, the drag 176 from left
to right may be initiated with initial movement 204 from left to
right along an initiated direction 210. Subsequently, while
maintaining contact with the touch sensitive device, the user may
input an off direction movement 206 in a direction different than
the initiated direction 210. In this regard, the off direction
movement 206 may not result in any movement of a screen between two
displays. Furthermore, the user may input partially off direction
movement 208, where only a vector portion of the movement is in the
direction of the initiated direction 210. In this regard, only the
portion of the partially off direction movement 208 may result in
movement of a screen between displays. In short, the movement of
application screens between the first display 102 and the second
display 104 may be constrained along a single axis along which the
displays are arranged.
[0094] As referenced above, screens may be logically associated
with a display and be logically arranged with respect to one
another even though not all screens are physically rendered on a
display. With additional reference to FIG. 5, this concept is
further graphically represented. In FIG. 5, a first display 102
actively displays a first application screen (screen A 512).
Additionally, a first application stack 510 is depicted. An
application stack may be operative to maintain logical associations
of a screen with a respective display. In addition, an application
stack may logically maintain the relative positions of screens with
respect to one another (i.e., the order of the screens in the
application stack). In this regard, a screen may be logically
disposed in an application stack associated with a display even
though the screen may not be physically rendered on the display. A
display controller or other control device (e.g., a processor,
memory, or an operative combination thereof) may be operative to
maintain the logical associations of screens. This may involve
storing the logical association of the screen with a display and/or
other screens in memory. As such, the logical associations of the
screen with a display and with other screens may be logically
maintained and/or changed even though the screen is not actively
displayed.
[0095] For example, the first application stack 510 is comprised of
screen A 512, screen B 514, and screen C 516 which are all
logically associated with the first display 102. As shown, only
screen A 512 from the application stack 510 is physically
displayed. Screen B 514 and screen C 516 may belong to the first
application stack 510 associated with the first display 102 and be
logically positioned behind screen A 510 in the manner shown in
FIG. 5. As such, screen B 514 and screen C 516 may be logically
positioned behind screen A 512 such that screen B 514 and screen C
516 are not actively rendered on the first display 102. While each
application belonging to the first application stack 510 is
logically associated with the first display, applications that are
not currently rendered in the display may suspend or close when not
actively displayed. Alternatively, applications may continue to
execute in the background, even though not displayed. Regardless,
the non-displayed applications may continue to reside in the
application stack 510 until otherwise closed or ended by a
user.
[0096] A second application stack 520 may also be provided to
maintain the logical associations of screens with respect to a
second display 104. The second application stack 520 is comprised
of screen X 522, screen Y 524, and screen Z 526 and may behave in a
manner similar to the first application stack 510 described above.
Each of screen A 512, screen B 514, screen C 516, screen X 522,
screen Y 524, and screen Z 526 may correspond to individual
applications. As shown, screen X 522 is currently displayed. While
screen Y 524 and screen Z 526 are logically associated with the
second display 104 and are logically positioned behind screen X 522
as shown in FIG. 5. Thus, while each application in the second
application stack 520 is disposed in the second display 104, only
one application may be actively rendered on the display.
[0097] The arrangement (i.e., logical associations) of the screens
with respect to the displays and within the application stacks 510,
520 may be arrived at by various methods including manipulation of
screens via drag gestures, opening a new application on top of an
existing screen rendered on a display, or other means of
manipulation whereby screens are moved between the first display
102 and the second display 104.
[0098] The general behavior described above regarding the control
and positioning of a plurality of screens on a plurality of display
devices of a handheld electronic device may be applied, in one
particular embodiment, to an email client that is executable on a
handheld electronic device. An email client may describe a program
executable on a device that is operative to send and/or receive
email messages. In connection with the transmission and receipt of
email messages, the email client may include screens, for example,
for displaying messages that are received and screens in which
email messages may be generated.
[0099] In light of the difficulties in presenting information and
receiving inputs from a user when using a single touch screen
display on a handheld electronic device, the presentation of the
multi-screen email client described herein may present additional
display space in which information may be displayed or from which
user inputs may be received. As such, at least some of the issues
described above such as screen obfuscation and limited display
space may be addressed by displaying different screen portions of
the email client in different display portions of a handheld
electronic device (e.g., the handheld computing device 100
described with respect to FIG. 1). For instance, the different
screens of the email client displayed in different ones of the
display portions may be related by way of a dependency relationship
therebetween. For example, as described above, with respect to FIG.
2B, the email client may include root, parent, child, and leaf
screens that are navigable by a user. For example, as will be
discussed in greater detail below, selection of an element (e.g., a
folder) in one screen (e.g., a folder management screen) may result
in the display of the contents of that element in a child screen
(e.g., a message listing screen). Thus, selection of various
elements within the screens may be used to navigate a hierarchical
application sequence defined by the email client. As the screens
are displayable in distinct display portions, related screens
(i.e., parent and child screens) may be simultaneously presented to
a user. This may assist the user in maintaining location awareness
in the hierarchical application sequence. That is, rather than
displaying a screen without context, the parent screen to which a
child screen pertains may be maintained in another of the display
portions of the device, thus providing context to the screen.
[0100] The email client may be operable to communicate with one or
more servers to communicate data to or from the device. For
example, the email client may be operative to communicate with a
server using a number of protocols such as, for example, IMAP,
POP3, Microsoft Exchange, or other appropriate type of email
protocol. In this regard, the client may be configurable to
communicate with one or more email servers to send or receive email
messages associated with one or more email accounts. In particular,
the email client may be configured to communicate with one or more
servers to send and receive messages corresponding to a plurality
of different email accounts. The various email accounts for which
the email client may be configured may send and receive messages
using the same or different protocols.
[0101] An email account may include a plurality of folders and
subfolders into which email messages may be stored. Accordingly,
the email client may be able to perform operations with respect to
the folders and subfolders associated with an email account. For
example, a folder management screen 310 is depicted in FIG. 8 that
presents to a user a folder list 312 associated with an email
account including a number folders and subfolders for navigation by
a user. The folder management screen 310 may also include a
plurality of action buttons 314. In this regard, the email client
may be operative to modify the folders and subfolders associated
with the email account. For instance, folders or subfolders may be
added, deleted, or edited using the email client.
[0102] As depicted in FIG. 8, the action buttons 314 include an add
button 316 for adding a folder or subfolder, a delete button 318
for deleting a folder or subfolder, and a rename button 320 for
renaming a folder or subfolder. As depicted in FIG. 8, the folders
or subfolders may be selected in the folder list 312 of the folder
management screen 310. Once selected, a selection indicator 324 may
be shown adjacent to the selected folder 326. Other indications of
a selected folder may be provided such as, for instance,
highlighting a selected folder 326 in the folder listing 312 as
shown. In any regard, the selected folder 326 may be the target of
the action initiated by way of the action buttons 314.
[0103] For example, in FIG. 8, the "EXPENSES" folder has been
selected. Upon selection of the add button 316, an add folder
screen 328 may be depicted as shown in FIG. 9. Because the
"EXPENSES" folder was selected, a subfolder may be added to the
"EXPENSES" folder as can be appreciated in the add folder screen
328. An input field 330 is presented into which a user may enter a
folder name for the new folder or subfolder (e.g., using the
keyboard 496 displayed on the add folder screen 328). Upon
selection of the add button 332, the folder may be created having a
name as entered in the input field 330. A user may cancel the
addition of a new folder by selection of the cancel button 334.
[0104] With additional reference to FIG. 10, a folder deletion
screen 336 is shown that may be displayed upon selection of the
delete button 318 shown in FIG. 8. Upon selection of the delete
button 318 shown in FIG. 8, the folder deletion screen 336 may be
presented to confirm the deletion of the selected folder 326 and
all of its contents. If a user desires to complete the deletion of
the selected folder 326, the confirm delete button 338 may be
selected, or alternatively, the cancel button 340 may be selected
to cancel the delete operation.
[0105] With additional reference to FIG. 11, a folder renaming
screen 342 is depicted. In this regard, when the rename button 320
is selected as shown in FIG. 8, the rename folder screen 342 may be
presented to allow a user to rename the selected folder 326. The
rename folder screen 342 may include an indication 344 of the
folder to be renamed (i.e., the selected folder 326), an input
field 346 for accepting a user input of a new folder name (e.g.,
from the keyboard 496 displayed on the rename folder screen 342), a
rename button 348 for confirming the input folder name, and a
cancel button 350 for cancelling the rename operation. In this
regard, the folders associated with an email account may be edited
directly on the device executing the email client.
[0106] With additional reference to FIG. 12, a message listing
screen 352 is depicted. The message listing screen 352 may present
to a user a message list 354 of the messages contained within one
or more folders 312 of an email account. As referenced above, the
email client may be operable to receive email messages for a
plurality of different email accounts. Accordingly, as shown in
FIG. 12, a combined inbox message listing may be depicted. The
combined inbox message listing may include the contents of a
plurality of inboxes from more than one email accounts for which
the email client is configured. In this regard, a folder
identification field 356 may be shown near the top of the message
listing screen 352. The folder identification field 356 in FIG. 12
depicts that the combined inbox contents are being shown in the
message list 354 depicted in FIG. 12. It will be understood that
any particular folder or subfolder may be selected such that the
contents of the selected folder are displayed in the list 354 and
the name of the selected folder may be listed in the folder
identification field 356.
[0107] As can also be appreciated in FIG. 12, the messages 358
contained within a selected folder may be displayed in the message
list 354. The message list 354 may include information for each
message 358 such as, for example, the sender of the message 360,
the subject line 362 of the message, and a preview 364 of the
message body. Furthermore, a status field 366 may be provided to
indicate whether the message is new, contains an attachment, and/or
display a time the message 358 was received.
[0108] Furthermore, the messages 358 may be sorted in a plurality
of ways in the message list 354. For example, as shown in FIG. 12,
the "ALL" sort button 368 is selected. Accordingly, all messages
may be sorted by time of arrival. With further reference to FIG.
13, the "SENDER" sort button 370 may be selected such that the
messages 358 are sorted by the sender 360 of the message. In this
regard, it will be appreciated that the messages 358 in the message
list 354 are listed with respect to the particular sender 360 of
each message 358. In this regard, category headings 372 may be
provided such that the category heading 372 displays a name of the
sender 360 and messages 358 received from the sender 360
corresponding to the category heading 372 are listed below the
category heading 372. With further reference to FIG. 14, the
"SUBJECT" sort button 374 may be selected such that the messages
358 are sorted by the content of the subject lines 362 of the
messages 358. In this regard, messages 358 having common subject
lines 362 are displayed categorically with the respective subject
line 362 being displayed in a category heading 372.
[0109] Regardless of the manner in which the messages are
categorized, the list 354 of messages may be scrolled through to
display different portions of the message list 354. For example,
with respect to FIG. 15, the messages are shown sorted by subject
line 362. Upon scrolling through the list 354 of the messages 358,
the category headings 372 containing the various subject matter
lines 362 may be used by a user to determine what portion of the
list 354 is displayed. To assist in this regard, a position
indicator 376 may be displayed to indicate the current position of
the display of the list 354 of email messages 358. For example, as
shown in FIG. 15 a position indicator 376 including the text "HO"
is depicted corresponding to the subject line 362 "How about those
computers?" In this regard, when navigating through the message
list 354, and especially when navigating quickly, the position
indicator 376 may be used by a user to determine what portion of
the message list 354 is currently displayed.
[0110] As depicted in FIGS. 12-15, the message listing screen 354
may include a number of action buttons 378. For example, a compose
button 380, a refresh button 382, and an edit button 384 may be
presented in the message listing screen 352. Upon selection of the
compose button 380, an email composition screen 386 (an example of
which is shown in FIG. 28) may appear that allows the user to
compose an email message to be sent. The refresh button 382 may be
used to refresh the message list 354 such that, for example, any
email messages 358 residing on the email server are retrieved and
any messages 358 in an outbox of the email client are sent.
Additionally, an edit button 384 may be presented that allows the
user to edit the messages in the message listing screen.
[0111] For example, with respect to FIG. 16, the edit button has
been selected and, in response, each message 358 in the message
listing 354 is modified to include a selection box 388. The
selection box 388 may be used to select one or more messages 358
within the message list 354. Upon selection of the selected
messages (e.g., denoted by a selection indicator 390 in the
selection box 388), subsequent selection of one of the action
buttons 392 that appear upon selection of the edit button 384 may
result in an action corresponding to one of the action buttons 392
being taken with respect to all of the selected messages 358.
[0112] For example, shown in FIG. 16, three of the messages 358 in
the message list 354 have been selected. A number of action buttons
392 are presented including a delete button 394, a print button
396, a move button 398, a mark as read button 400, a forward button
402, a select all button 404, and a deselect all button 406. Upon
selection of one of these action buttons 392, the corresponding
action may be performed on all the selected messages. For example,
the selected messages 358 may be deleted, printed, moved, marked as
read, forwarded, etc. By moved, it is meant that the messages 358
may be moved to another folder or subfolder within the email
client. When marked as read, an email message 358 may be shown as
being read without the message 358 having to be opened.
Furthermore, a message 358 may be forwarded by selecting the
forward button. Upon selection of the forward button, an email
composition screen 386 (an example of which is shown in FIG. 28)
may be displayed that includes the message to be forwarded such
that the user may enter recipients of the forwarded message(s). The
select all button 404 and deselect all button 406 may be used to
select all of the message 358 in the message list 354 or deselect
all the messages 358 in the message listing 354. An exit button 408
may be used to exit the edit mode of the message listing screen 352
as shown in FIG. 16 and return the message listing screen to the
standard mode shown in FIGS. 12-15.
[0113] With further reference to FIG. 17, a message detail screen
410 is depicted. The message detail screen 410 may be shown, for
example, in response to selection of one of the messages 358 from
the message listing screen 352. The detail message screen 410 may
include information regarding the sender 360 of the message 358, a
time 412 corresponding to when the message 358 was received, a
listing 414 of to whom the message 358 was sent, a subject line 362
of the message 358, and the message body 416. The message body 416
may be, for example, in html format, in plain text format, or in
rich text format and may include attached files 418 (e.g., document
files, image files, video files, etc.). The attached file 418 may
be displayed in line with the text of the message body 416 or may
be shown in an attachment bar 420. The attachment bar 420 may be
employed by a user to control the download, saving, and/or opening
of the attached file 418 displayed in the attachment bar 420 as
will be discussed in greater detail below with respect to FIG.
19.
[0114] Furthermore, the message detail screen 410 may include a
number of message detail action buttons 422. For example, selecting
a reply button 424 may result in a reply message being presented in
an email composition screen 386 (an example of which is shown in
FIG. 28) that allows the user to enter a reply message to be sent
to the sender of the message 358 displayed in the message detail
screen 410. Additionally, a white/black button 426 may allow the
display of the message 358 to be modified such that the colors of
the text and the background of the message are inverted. That is,
instead of a white background with black text as depicted in FIG.
17, a black background with white text may be depicted. The
white/black button 426 may be used to toggle between the use of a
black background and white background to display the message 358.
The use of the white/black button 426 may be particularly
advantageous to extend the battery life of the device executing the
email client because for many displays (e.g., LCD displays)
displaying the color black requires less energy than a displaying
the color white. As the background of a message 358 may occupy more
space on the display than the text of the message 358, the use of a
black background may require less power from a battery, thus
extending the life of the battery. Furthermore, a delete button 428
is provided that, when selected, deletes the message 358
displayed.
[0115] Also, in the action buttons 422 of the message detail screen
410, a full screen button 430 may be presented that may allow the
message 358 to be read in full screen mode 410' as shown in FIG.
18. That is, upon selection of the full screen button 430, the
message 358 may be displayed in full screen mode 410'. The full
screen mode 410' may include the information depicted in the
message detail screen (e.g., the sender 360 of the message 358, an
indication 412 of when the message 358 was received, a listing 414
of to whom the message 358 was sent, a subject line 362 of the
message 358, and the message body 416) but may remove at least some
of the elements of the message detail screen 410 such as a title
bar 432, an annunciator bar 434, and/or action buttons 422
displayed in the normal mode of the message detail screen 410
(e.g., as depicted in FIG. 17). In the full screen mode 410' of the
message detail screen 410, a number of phantom buttons (e.g., top
button 436, bottom button 438, and exit button 440) may be
provided. The phantom buttons may appear only when a user enters an
input adjacent where the buttons are located (e.g., the user taps
or hovers near one of the buttons). That is, the phantom buttons
436, 438, and 440 may have an "auto hide" feature, such that when
not in use the phantom buttons are not displayed. Selection of the
top button 436 may result in navigation to the top of the message
358, selection of the bottom button 438 may result in the
navigation to the bottom of the message 358, and the exit button
440 may result in the exiting of the full screen mode 410' of the
message detail screen 410 (e.g., returning to the message detail
screen 410 in normal mode as depicted in FIG. 17).
[0116] With further reference to FIG. 19, the behavior of
attachment bars 420 in various instances of operation of the email
client is depicted. A first attachment bar 420A corresponds to
first attached file 418A named "attachment 1.fte". Upon selection
of the first attachment bar 420A, the first attached file 418A may
begin to download. Upon selection of the first attachment bar 420A,
in addition to initiating the download of the first attached file
418A, the first attachment bar 420A may undergo some action to
indicate the input has been received. For example, the attachment
bar 420A may be depicted as rotating, changing color, or otherwise
becoming animated. Additionally, for example, upon selection of an
attachment bar 420, the attachment bar 420 may be displayed as
shown in a second attachment bar 420B corresponding to the second
attached file 418B named "attachment 2.fte". In the second
attachment bar 420B, a status bar 442 may be provided to indicate
the status of the download of the second attached file 418B. Once
the download of the second attached file 418B has been completed,
the attachment bar 420B may be modified to appear as shown with
respect to a third attachment bar 420C corresponding to a third
attached file 418C named "attachment 3.fte". That is, the third
attachment bar 420C depicts the status of an attachment bar 420
once a file 418 associated therewith has been downloaded. Selection
of the save button 444 of the third attachment bar 420C may result
in saving the third attached file 418C to the device upon which the
email client is executing. In contrast, selection of the name 446
of the attached file 418C (e.g., or any space to the opposite side
of a divider 448 provided on the third attachment bar 420C) may
result in opening the third attached file 418C without saving the
third attached file 418C to non-volatile memory of the device upon
which the email client is executing.
[0117] It may be that, in one embodiment, the file attached to the
email may be in a non-executable file format. That is, the handheld
device may not include a program capable of opening or executing
the file that is attached. However, the email client may still be
operable to save the file into non-volatile memory of the device,
regardless of whether the file can be opened or executed by any
program stored on the device. Furthermore, the device may be
operable to communicate the file in non-executable file format to
another device (e.g., as an attachment to an outgoing email, via
the I/O module 130, wirelessly, or by some other means). In this
regard, the handheld device may act as a courier or data repository
of the file in non-executable form so that the file may be
transported using the handheld device even though there is no
program resident on the handheld device that is capable of opening
or executing the file.
[0118] As described above, it may be advantageous to provide
gesture inputs for manipulation of applications, particularly in a
context of a handheld device with limited screen space. In this
regard, the email client described herein may also be operative to
respond to gesture inputs from a user to facilitate functionality
of the email client. For example, as shown in FIG. 20, a contextual
menu 450 associated with a particular message 358 may be display
upon receipt of a gesture input. The gesture input may be directed
at a target message. In this regard, a message 358 displayed in the
message listing screen 352 of FIGS. 12-16 or in the message detail
screen 410 of FIGS. 17-19 may be the target of a gesture input by a
user. For example, a contextual menu 450 regarding the message 358
may be displayed in response to receipt of the gesture input. In
one particular embodiment, the gesture may be a long press 188 (as
shown in FIG. 4) directed at the message 358 in either the message
detail screen 410 or the message listing screen 352. The contextual
menu 450 may provide a plurality of options that may be performed
with respect to the selected message 358 such as, for example,
operations corresponding to an open button 452, a delete button
454, a reply button 456, a reply to all button 458, a forward
button 460, a mark as unread button 462, a move button 464, or a
print button 466 provided in the contextual menu 450.
[0119] Furthermore, a gesture input may, for example, be associated
with any one or more of the particular actions corresponding to the
buttons contained within the contextual menu 450 shown in FIG. 20.
As shown in FIG. 21, a swipe gesture 468 (e.g., a drag gesture 176
or a flick gesture 178 described with respect to FIG. 4) may be
received with respect to a message 358. The swipe gesture 468 may
be associated with a move command, wherein a message 358 that is a
target of the swipe gesture 468 may be moved into one of a
destination folder or subfolder of the email account in response to
receipt of the swipe gesture 468. Upon receipt of the gesture 468,
a move screen 470 (shown in FIG. 21) may be depicted wherein a user
may select a folder (e.g., a destination folder) from a folder
listing 472 into which the message 358 is to be moved. Furthermore,
shown in FIG. 22, a selection box 474 option may be provided on a
move screen 470 such that upon selection of the selection box 474,
the selected folder may be set as the default folder into which a
message 358 is been moved upon receipt of swipe gesture 468.
Different gestures (e.g., a drag 176 versus a flick 178, or
movement of the gesture to the right versus movement of the gesture
to the left, etc.) may result in different actions being taken with
respect to the gesture (e.g., movement into different ones of the
folders).
[0120] As described above, a hand held electronic device may be
provided with a plurality of display devices or display device with
a plurality of display portions (e.g., as described in relation to
FIG. 1 above). In this regard, the email client described herein
may be provided such that it is operative to present different
screen portions in a plurality of corresponding display portions.
For example, a dual screen handheld device 100 as described above
may be provided that is operative to display a plurality of screens
in corresponding display portions 102 and 104 of the device 100. As
such, the email client may present features particularly directed
to the use of the plurality of displays 102 and 104 in presenting a
plurality of email client screens therein. While the following will
describe a handheld device having two displays 102 and 104 for
displaying screen portions therein, it will be understood that
additional display portions (e.g., subsets of a larger display
device) or additional physical displays may be provided such that
the email client may execute to display corresponding screens in
the provided display portions.
[0121] Furthermore, the various screens of the email client that
are displayed in different display portions may be related (e.g.,
by way of a hierarchical application sequence) and/or one of the
screens may be operative to control at least a portion of another
of the screens. For example, it may be that the folder management
screen 310, message listing screen 352, and message detail screen
410 comprise a hierarchal application sequence as described above
with respect to FIG. 2C. That is, the message listing screen 352
may be a child of the folder management screen 310, and the message
detail screen 410 may be a child of the message listing screen 352,
etc. In this regard, navigation of the email client through the
various screens may be dependent upon the hierarchical arrangement
of the various screens.
[0122] With particular reference to FIG. 23, the email client is
shown executing on a device 100 such that a folder management
screen 310 is displayed in a first display 102 and a message
listing screen 352 is displayed in a second display 104. The
properties and/or characteristics of the respective screens
described previously with respect to the folder management screen
310, message listing screen 352, and message detail screen 410 may
be equally applicable in the context of the dual screen display of
the email client as described herein. It will be appreciated that
the action buttons 314, 378, 392, and 422 of the respective screens
of the email client discussed above may have similar functionality
in the context of a dual screen email client described herein. The
email client may be changed between a single screen mode, wherein a
single of the screens is displayed in a single display portion of
the device and a multi-screen mode, wherein a plurality of screens
are displayed in different respective display portions.
[0123] The content of the message listing screen 352 may at least
be partially dictated by the folder management screen 310. For
example, the contents of the selected folder in the folder
management screen 310 may be displayed in the message listing
screen 352. Accordingly, selection of a different folder or
subfolder from the folder management screen 310 may result in the
display of the different folder or subfolder's contents in the
message listing screen 352. Thus, the message listing screen 352
may be related as a child screen of the folder management screen
and be at least partially controlled by way of selection of
different folders or subfolders of the folder management screen
310. In this regard, the folder management screen 310 may have a
dependency indicator 494 that indicates to a user the relationship
between the screens. For instance, as depicted in FIG. 23, the
dependency indicator 494 (e.g., an arrow as shown, shading of the
selected folder, or other indication presentable to a user)
indicates to the user that the contents of the selected folder
"COMBINED INBOX" is displayed in the message listing screen 352.
Upon selection of a different one of the folders listed in the
folder management screen 310, the dependency indicator 494 may
correspondingly be changed to indicate the folder or subfolder to
which the message listing screen 352 would then correspond.
[0124] With additional reference to FIG. 24, another instance of
the email client is depicted wherein a message listing screen 352
is displayed in a first display 102 and a message detail screen 410
is displayed in second display 104. For example, selection of a
particular message 378 in the message listing screen 352 in the
second display 104 shown in FIG. 23 may result in a change of the
display states of the first display 102 and the second display 104
such that message listing screen 352 is displayed in the first
display 102 and a message detail screen 410 corresponding to the
selected message 378 is displayed in a second display 104 as shown
in FIG. 24. As shown in FIG. 24, a dependency indicator 494 is
shown in relation to the selected message 378 to indicate the
contents of the message detail screen 410 corresponds to the
selected message 378. Upon selection of a different one of the
messages in the message listing screen 352, the dependency
indicator 494 may be correspondingly changed.
[0125] The concept of navigation of a hierarchical application
sequence is further depicted in FIG. 25. In the left portion of
FIG. 25, the message listing screen 352 is depicted in the first
display 102 and the message detail screen 410 is depicted in the
second display 104. An attached file 418 included in the email
message 378 shown in the message detail screen 352 may be selected
when the email client is displayed as shown in the left portion of
FIG. 25. Upon selection of the attached file 418, the displays 102
and 104 may change such that the message detail screen 410 is
depicted in the first display 102 and an attachment screen 480 is
displayed in the second display 104 that displays and/or executes
the attached file 418. Additionally, a dependency indicator 494 is
shown with respect to the third attachment bar 420C to indicate the
attachment displayed in the attachment screen 480 corresponds to
the third attachment bar 420C. Thus, the various levels of the
hierarchical application may be navigated such that subsequent
levels of the application screens are displayed upon navigation
into lower levels of application.
[0126] Navigational function buttons 482 may be provided (e.g.,
back buttons 482A, next 482B, previous 482C buttons, or the like)
to help navigate the various level of the hierarchical screens of
the email client. Accordingly, the next and previous message 352 in
a message list 354 may be displayed upon selection of the next
button 482A and previous buttons 482B, respectively. Furthermore,
the back button 482C may be selected to move up one level in the
hierarchical application sequence (e.g., such that the parent and
grandparent screen of the screen on which the back button 482C is
selected are displayed in the first and second displays 102 and
104). For example, if the back button 482C was selected in FIG. 24,
the state of the displays may be changed as shown in FIG. 23 to
display the folder management screen 310 (i.e., the grandparent
screen of the message detail screen 410) and the message listing
screen 352 (i.e., the parent screen of the message detail screen
410).
[0127] Furthermore, gesture inputs may be received to assist in
navigating the various levels of screens of the email client. For
example, receipt of a drag gesture 176 or a flick gesture 178 (as
shown in FIG. 4) may result in movement of the screens displayed.
The gesture inputs may be received at the display or, for example,
at an off-screen gesture receipt area such as those shown in FIGS.
6A and 6B (e.g., touch sensors 106' and 106'').
[0128] Furthermore, messages may be "dragged and dropped" to
different locations within the email client. For instance, a
message displayed in a message listing screen 352 as shown in FIG.
23 may be selected by initiation of a drag gesture 176 at the
message. The message may then be dragged (i.e., by maintaining
contact with the input device) to the folder management screen 310
such that the message is moved to a destination folder where the
drag gesture terminates. This drag and drop functionality may be
performed within a single display (i.e., where the gesture input is
contained within a single display) or may span display devices
(i.e., correspond with a gesture originating in a first display and
terminating in a second display). The drag and drop gesture may be
used to move messages, folders, attachments, or other elements
without limitation.
[0129] As shown in FIG. 26, one or more of the screens displayable
by the email client (e.g., in the case depicted in FIG. 26, the
folder management screen 310) may be displayed such that a first
portion of the screen 310A occupies the first display 102 and a
second portion of the screen 310B occupies the second display 104.
Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 26, a folder management screen 310
spans the first display 102 and the second display 104. In this
regard, the folder management screen 310 may be presented in a
portrait orientation even though the individual display portions
are oriented in a landscape orientation. Furthermore, with
additional reference to FIG. 27, the displays 102 and 104 of a
handheld device 100 may also be utilized to display a full screen
mode 410' of a message detail screen 410 in a similar manner as was
described above. In this regard, as depicted FIG. 27, the first
display maybe include a first portion 410A' of the full screen view
of a message 358 and the second display 104 may display a second
portion 410B' of a full screen view of the message 358. Phantom
buttons 484 as described above may also be used in the dual display
full screen depiction of a message 358 as shown in FIG. 27.
[0130] Furthermore, as depicted in FIG. 28, an email composition
screen 386 may be displayed wherein an email message may be
generated. For example, the email composition screen 386 may occupy
the first display 102 of a handheld device 100. The second display
104 may be dedicated to an input portion 486 such as a keyboard 496
or other input screen used to generate an email message using the
email composition screen 386 displayed in the first display
102.
[0131] Furthermore, it may be advantageous to display differently
sized portions of the respective screens described herein. With
further reference to FIG. 29, the message listing screen 352 may be
presented with a first width 488 smaller than a second width 490 of
the message detail view 410 as shown in FIG. 29. That is, a first
display portion 492 in which the message listing screen 352 may be
smaller than a second display portion 494 in which the message
detail screen 410 is displayed. This may correspond to a dual
screen device 100 having a first display 102 and a second display
104 as described above, or may correspond to a single display that
is divided into the plurality of display portions (e.g., first
portion 492 and second portion 494) in which the screens may be
displayed.
[0132] Additionally, any of the foregoing screens described in
relation to the email client may include an indication regarding
loss of communication with one or more of the email servers with
which the email client is configured to communicate. This may
inform a user regarding the loss of connection such that, for
example, remedial action may be taken. For instance, it is
sometimes the case where a password associated with an email
account must be periodically changed. Thus, upon requiring a change
in password, the email server may become unresponsive when
attempting to access the server with an outdated password. In this
instance, upon notification to the user that the connection with
the email server has been lost, the user may investigate as to the
root of the cause.
[0133] While the invention has been illustrated and described in
detail in the drawings and foregoing description, such illustration
and description is to be considered as exemplary and not
restrictive in character. For example, certain embodiments
described hereinabove may be combinable with other described
embodiments and/or arranged in other ways (e.g., process elements
may be performed in other sequences). Accordingly, it should be
understood that only the preferred embodiment and variants thereof
have been shown and described and that all changes and
modifications that come within the spirit of the invention are
desired to be protected.
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