Patent ID: 7996476

Claim:
A method for suppressing a notification of the receipt of one or more electronic messages, the method comprising: providing a user interface through which a user can specify a time period during which notification of the receipt of an electronic message should be suppressed; receiving data by way of the user interface defining the duration of a time period during which notification of the receipt of an electronic message should be suppressed; receiving a request from the user to suppress notification of the receipt of electronic messages during the time period; in response to the request, suppressing notification that an electronic message has been received during the duration of the time period; receiving data from the user defining one or more types of electronic message or which a notification of receipt should be provided during the time period; in response to receiving an electronic message during the time period, determining whether the received electronic message is in one of the types of electronic messages for which a notification of receipts should be provided during the time period; and providing a notification of the receipt of the received electronic message in response to determining that the received message is in one of the types of electronic messages for which a notification of receipt should be provided during the time period.