Patent ID: 8315607

Claim:
An apparatus for receiving and managing messages received at a mobile device, the apparatus comprising: a display device contained in a housing; a memory storing at least one message; and a processor coupled among the display device and the memory; wherein the processor is configured to execute various components, wherein the components comprise: a filter manager component configured to create a messaging filter, wherein the messaging filter includes one or more parameters, and wherein at least one of the one or more parameters is determined based on an address book contact associated with the mobile device; a contact monitor component configured to automatically monitor the status of address book contacts subsequent to creating the messaging filter and to update the messaging filter in response to at least one address book contact being modified; a filtering component configured to compare characteristic data associated with the stored message to the one or more parameters of the messaging filter, to determine whether the received message is a high importance message based on the comparison, and to determine whether the message is a high importance message based on the updated messaging filter; and a message tracker component configured to cause the display device to display a visual indication in response to the message being determined to be a high importance message and to remove the visual indication from the message in response to determining that the message is no longer a high importance message based on the updated messaging filter.