Patent ID: 6981223

Claim:
A messaging-enabled digital device comprising: a messaging facility; a user input facility; and a graphical user interface comprising: a plurality of graphical indexing elements respectively representing a plurality of messaging sessions being handled by the messaging facility, one of the graphical indexing elements being selected in response to the user input facility and the messaging session represented by the selected graphical indexing element being engaged; a message history window pane displaying information from the engaged messaging session; and a composition window pane displaying information for the engaged messaging session; wherein a first one of the graphical indexing elements other than the selected graphical indexing element represents a non-engaged messaging session having no unread messages; wherein a second one of the graphical indexing elements other than the selected graphical indexing element represents a non-engaged messaging session having at least one unread message; wherein the message history window pane and the selected graphical indexing element are displace with a first characteristic to indicate the engaged messaging session; wherein the first graphical indexing element is displayed with a second characteristic different than the first characteristic; wherein the second graphical indexing element is displayed with a third characteristic different than the first and second characteristics; and wherein a third one of the graphical indexing elements other than the selected graphical indexing element represents a non-engaged messaging session having at least one unread and recently received message, the third graphical indexing element being displayed with a fourth characteristic different than the first, second and third characteristics.