Patent ID: 7404152

Claim:
A method of displaying messages on a display of a handheld device, the display including a scrollable viewport for displaying the messages, each message having an associated date, a group of messages associated with a same associated date comprising a first associated message and other associated messages, the viewport being divided into a plurality of fields arranged in a vertical list including a topmost field and a second field, the second field being immediately below the topmost field in the vertical list, the method comprising the steps of: identifying one of said other associated messages for display in the second field; displaying a date separator item in said topmost field, wherein said date separator item is based upon said same associated date of said one of said other associated messages; receiving a scroll command; determining whether a next date separator item appears in any fields of the viewport other than said topmost field after scrolling is applied, and if so, displaying said one of said other associated messages in said topmost field in place of said date separator item, and if not, determining a date associated with a next message for display in the second field and displaying a new date separator item in said topmost field, wherein said new date separator item is based upon said date associated with said next message.