Patent ID: 8661359

Claim:
A process for organizing message threads, the process utilizing a device which has at least one display, and at least one logical processor in operable communication with at least one memory, the process comprising the steps of: acquiring in the memory a set of contacts of a focal user, each contact having a calculated relevance value indicating relevance of the contact to the focal user; obtaining in the memory a set of messages, each message having a source contact and a content; by operation of the processor, configuring the display with a visual representation including: a focal user representation visually representing the focal user; multiple contact representations visually representing respective contacts, the contact representations displaying respective relevance distances corresponding to relevance values between the contacts and the focal user; and multiple text regions representing contents of respective messages whose source contacts are among the contacts visually represented by the contact representations; the visual representation also characterized in at least five of the following ways: (a) contact representations are positioned for display at respective relevance distances from the focal user graphic representation using a logarithmic distance scale; (b) contact representations visually indicate respective contact-to-focal-user relevance values by the relative size of contact representations; (c) a contact relevance threshold slider controls which contacts appear; (d) a message pertinence threshold slider controls which messages appear; (e) comics-style message call-out balloons extend from at least two of the contacts; (f) contact representations are positioned for display at respective distances from the focal user graphic representation using a formula of the form (MaxRelevance−ContactRelevance)*ScaleFactor+Offset, where relevance values range between zero and MaxRelevance, ScaleFactor is a scalar, and Offset is measured in pixels; (g) contact representations are positioned for display in zones depicting geographic terrain; (h) contact representations are positioned for display in zones depicting an urban landscape; or (i) contact graphic representations are positioned for display at respective relevance distances from other contact graphic representations, including a contact X, a contact Y, and a contact Z, wherein contact X is more relevant to contact Y than X is relevant to contact Z, and wherein the contact X graphic representation is therefore displayed closer to the contact Y graphic representation than it is to the contact Z graphic representation.