Patent ID: 7814159

Claim:
A graphical user interface on an electronic device for displaying chat messages in a chat session, comprising: a first column; a second column, spaced from the first column; and one or more graphical objects displayed within the first column, wherein: a plurality of chat messages are received by the electronic device; the plurality of chat messages are displayed in the first column; timestamps for a subset of the plurality of chat messages are displayed in the second column; two or more time gaps are determined for the plurality of chat messages, each time gap corresponding to a difference between the timestamps of a respective pair of consecutive chat messages in the chat session; a context-dependent time gap threshold, determined by the electronic device for a context comprising the plurality of chat messages displayed in the first column, wherein the context-dependent time gap threshold is calculated by the electronic device in accordance with the respective timestamp differences for the two or more time gaps; at least one of the one or more graphical objects is displayed between a respective pair of consecutive chat messages in the chat session that have a timestamp difference greater than a predefined amount and greater than the context-dependent time gap threshold.