KR20050019175A - Emoticon Transmission by SMS - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for transmitting and receiving emoticons using the SMS(Short Message Service) is provided so that a terminal, in which a routine to display an emoticon as a combination of ASCII characters doesn't exist, can normally display a text-type emoticon on the screen. CONSTITUTION: A user selects an SMS origination mode, inputs a desired destination phone number, and makes out a short message(S400-S420). At this moment, the user inputs an emoticon if necessary. Then the user sends the short message containing the text-type emoticon to the destination phone number(S430). Receiving the short message(S440), the receiving-side mobile terminal converts the received text-type emoticon into a graphic emoticon if the receiving side mobile terminal has a routine to modify text-type emoticons into graphic emoticons(S450). Then the receiving side mobile terminal displays the short message together with the converted emoticon. However, in case that such a routine doesn't exist, the receiving-side mobile terminal displays the text-type emoticon as it is(S460).

Description

Emoticon transmission and reception method using short message service {Emoticon Transmission by SMS}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly, to an emoticon (pictogram) transmission and reception using SMS (Short Message Service).

An emoticon is a short list of letters or symbols that mimic facial expressions or emotions or express feelings to supplement the text when sending e-mails, chats, or messages.

The mobile communication terminal may perform various additional functions such as a short message function in addition to a simple phone call function. Here, the short message service refers to a two-way text service that can send and receive short messages regardless of whether a mobile communication terminal has a call. That is, the user of the mobile communication service sends a short sentence of about 100 bytes to the other mobile phone terminal, and the receiver (that is, the user of the other mobile communication terminal) can receive a message through a public telephone network, a data communication network, or the Internet. have.

The short message service function can be used to send a message regardless of the call status of the other party's terminal, and to send a message when the voice call is difficult in a situation where the recipient is in a difficult situation (for example, when a voice call is impossible in a conference room). In terms of transmission, the call cost is relatively low compared to voice calls. In addition, through a short message, you can use services such as news information, weather information, sports information, exchange rate information, traffic information, games, e-mail transmissions, bulletin boards, fan clubs, and the like.

 Because of these advantages, many users are using short message service instead of voice telephony. In particular, the use of short text messages is very high among teenagers, and a business strategy that targets text transmission between friends and lovers is unlimited and 400 free transmission services have been created.

In addition, modern people who consider personality importantly began to send their own unique characters or symbols to others, and in accordance with the psychology of these users, the function of sending emoticons (pictograms) to express their personalities in the characters. A mobile phone with a has been proposed.

 In some conventional mobile communication terminals, emoticons in a graphic form are expressed by assigning a separate code according to a manufacturing company of each terminal company. Therefore, when the user of the mobile communication service transmits a graphic emoticon to a receiver having a terminal that does not have information regarding a separate code, the terminal of the receiver cannot display a graphic emoticon on the screen. There was a problem in that the display was abnormally modified. That is, even if the user inserts a graphic emoticon into a character and transmits it, if there is no routine to convert the emoticon on the screen of the other party, the other party cannot see the graphic emoticon or is different from the sender's intention. There was a problem of seeing deformed characters.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a routine for displaying and changing emoticons using a combination of ASCII characters (that is, text emoticons) supported by all products when a wireless mobile service subscriber uses a short message service. Even if the terminal does not provide a way to display a text emoticon on the screen normally. In addition, in a terminal in which a routine for changing is present, a method of changing an emoticon in a text form and displaying a graphic emoticon on a screen is provided.

In order to achieve the above object, a method for transmitting a short message service of a mobile communication terminal according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention includes: an origination mode selection step; Inputting the recipient number and the caller's telephone number; Writing a new sentence; Inputting emoticons in the form of graphics and text; 5 steps of transmitting to the receiver terminal. In addition, as a display method of an emoticon when received, there is a routine for converting a combination of ASCII characters into a graphic emoticon. There are two kinds of display methods in the conventional terminal which do not exist.

Hereinafter, a transmission step and a display method of a mobile communication terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a block diagram showing an internal configuration of a mobile communication terminal to which the present invention is applied.

The mobile communication terminal 100 includes a transmitter 110 including a modulator and a transmission amplifier, a reception amplifier, and a demodulator to transmit and receive signals to and from a mobile communication system including a base station, a mobile switching center, and a short message center. It includes a receiver 120 that includes.

The display unit 150 may be formed of a liquid crystal display (LCD), and outputs various display data and text messages generated by the mobile communication terminal. The key input unit 140 may include a keypad or the like, and includes a plurality of numeric / character input keys, a function key for interfacing with a user, a key for a call, and the like.

The controller 130 includes a digital signal processor (DSP), a microprocessor, and other circuits. The controller 130 controls the transmitter 110 and the receiver 120 so that a user of the mobile communication terminal may use the speaker 170 and the microphone 180. Allows you to make voice calls with other users. In addition, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the control unit 130 has a routine that can convert the emoticon of the text form consisting of a combination of ASCII characters into a graphic emoticon.

The storage unit 160 includes a read only memory (ROM) and a voice memory for storing a plurality of programs and data, and stores a plurality of emoticons (pictograms) to facilitate selection of emoticons.

In the present invention, an emoticon (pictogram) refers to a text emoticon and a graphic emoticon composed of a combination of a plurality of ASCII characters or Korean characters in order to display a user's emotion as a character.

Here, ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange) character means the most common type of character for text files on a computer or the Internet. In other words, alphabets, numbers and special characters are represented by 7-bit binary numbers (strings consisting of seven zeros or ones) and are defined by a total of 128 characters. 2 is a view to help understand ASCII characters.

3 is a view showing a comparison of the appearance of a text emoticon (pictogram) corresponding to a graphic emoticon according to the present invention. In the present invention, when the emoticon in the form of a text is input when the emoticon is transmitted, the emoticon in the form of a graphic is displayed on the receiver's terminal. As illustrated in FIG. It is displayed on the terminal.

 4 is a flowchart illustrating a text message transmission operation using a text emoticon in a mobile communication terminal according to the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an operation screen of FIG. 4. A detailed description with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5 is as follows.

Figure 4 (a) is a flow diagram of the message transmission of the mobile communication terminal seen from the sender side. 5 (a) shows the sender's mobile communication terminal A. FIG.

The user selects entry of the short message transmission mode by operating a key of the mobile communication terminal in order to use the short text message service (SMS) (step S400). When the calling mode is selected, the screen of the calling mode is selected in the caller's terminal A as shown in FIG. 5 (S510). In this state, when the user inputs the telephone number of the person to be received (steps S410 and S520), a screen such as S530 of FIG. 5 is displayed. At this time, if you select "2. Write Letter" and press the key (or OK key) provided in advance, a new screen will appear (S540), and if you select "1. Write new sentence", you can enter a sentence The screen is displayed (S550). At this time, the screen (S550) is generally set to the Korean input mode initially, it is possible to convert the alphabet / number / symbol according to the user's preference. When the new sentence writing mode is switched, a text message to be transmitted is input (steps S420 and S560). If an emoticon is to be inserted, text emoticons are directly input (steps S420 and S560). The order of steps S410 and S420 may vary depending on the terminal manufacturer. The new SMS manipulated in this way is transmitted to the number of the recipient to be previously designated in step S410 (S520) (step S430).

4 (b) is a flowchart of message transmission of a mobile communication terminal viewed from the receiver side. 5 (b) is divided into a terminal B and a terminal C as a mobile communication terminal of a receiver. Here, the terminal B is a terminal having a routine for converting a text emoticon into a graphic emoticon, and the terminal C is a terminal without a routine for converting a text emoticon into a graphic emoticon.

When a message is received from the sender (step S440), the receiver knows that the message has been received from the sender through a warning sound or a signal from the mobile communication terminal. If there is a routine for changing the text emoticon into a graphic emoticon in the receiver's terminal when checking the message (terminal B), the emoticon corresponding to the ASCII character sent by the sender is shown in FIG. 3. And display together with the short message of the receiver (steps S450 and S570). If the changeable routine does not exist in the receiver's terminal (terminal C), a text emoticon composed of a combination of ASCII characters is displayed on the receiver's screen as it is (steps S460 and S580).

6 is a flowchart illustrating a text message service for transmitting a text message service using a graphic emoticon provided in advance in a terminal, and FIG. 7 is an operation screen of FIG. 6. 6 and 7 will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 6A is a flowchart illustrating a transmission of a mobile communication terminal viewed from the sender side, and FIG. 7A is a sender's mobile communication terminal A '.

The process of step S630 (S750) in step S610 (S710) is the same as the process from step S410 (S510) to step S430 (S550).

After selecting to enter the SMS content input mode (step S640), a key (for example, a symbol key) provided in the mobile communication terminal is pressed to select an emoticon input mode (S760). There are various graphic emoticons in the input mode of emoticons. For example, in the Symbols menu, there are groups of different symbols: general symbols (for example, symbols like!, @, #, $,%), Or picture symbols ( Symbol, or an em symbol ( Symbols) and emoticons, etc. (S760).

When the user selects the "4. emoticon" from the symbol menu (S760) and then presses a confirmation button provided in advance, a screen for selecting various emoticons is displayed (S770).

In the emoticon mode, there is a higher group such as an emoticon about a person, an emoticon about an animal, and an emoticon about a plant. Here, assuming that "1. person" is selected, a screen displaying an emotion is provided (S780). There are several subgroups for the person who is the upper group. That is, the person who is the upper group is provided with subgroups such as joy, sadness, surprise, and bad mood expressing emotions (S780), and if it is assumed that "1.pleasure" is selected, a screen such as screen (S790) is displayed. do. In this way, among the emoticons (people, animals, plants, etc.) of the group provided by the mobile communication terminal, a favorite emoticon in the form of a graphic is searched for, extracted, and displayed together with the message to be transmitted (S795).

At this time, when the user selects the desired emoticon in the form of a graphic, as shown in the table shown in FIG. . In other words, if a graphic emoticon is selected, the emoticon is displayed on the screen as a text emoticon. For example, a graphic emoticon for fun If is selected, [:)], which is an ASCII string having the same emotion display, is displayed on the screen (S795).

As such, when the user uses a graphic emoticon, the user automatically sets the text emoticon to display the text emoticon, thereby converting the text emoticon into a graphic emoticon in a terminal having a change routine when the message is received. In addition to facilitating the display, it is possible to display only the emoticon in the form of text even in a terminal without a change routine. In addition, when a user selects an emoticon, the user can easily select an emoticon by viewing an emoticon in a graphic form instead of an emoticon in a text form.

Displaying pleasure After selecting (S790), if it is confirmed that there is no error in the message to be sent, press the confirmation (or save) button of the terminal provided in advance to transmit to the terminal B 'and the terminal C' of the other party's mobile communication terminal (step S650). ).

7B illustrates a mobile communication terminal B 'and a mobile communication terminal C' viewed from the receiver side.

The received message transmitted in this way is received by the terminal B 'and the terminal C' of the receiver, respectively (step S660).

As mentioned previously in FIG. 4 (b), in FIG. 7 (b), the terminal B 'is a terminal having a change routine convertible to a graphic emoticon, and the terminal C' does not have such a change routine. It is a terminal.

In the terminal B 'in which the change routine exists, the text emoticon is converted into a graphic emoticon and displayed (S796, S670). In addition, the terminal C 'without the change routine is displayed on the screen only with a combination of ASCII characters (S797 and S680).

As described above, the present invention provides a mobile terminal with emoticons that can be converted into a graphic emoticon, which is made of a combination of ASCII strings, so that the user can easily use a short text message service according to his feelings. Select it so that you can enter it.

In addition, when a message is transmitted between terminals by the same manufacturer or between terminals in which a routine for changing a text emoticon into a graphic emoticon exists, the text emoticon is converted into a graphic emoticon. Even if the terminal does not support the change routine, it displays on the screen only with the combination of ASCII characters supported by all products. Therefore, when the emoticon in the form of a graphic is transmitted to the counterpart, the counterpart may not see the emoticon or may be deformed into a strange character due to a terminal that does not have a change routine.

In addition, when the other party already knows the text emoticon corresponding to the graphic emoticon, the text character is input as it is without the hassle of entering the emoticon input mode every time the emoticon is included in the text message and transmitted. By enabling emoticons in the form of graphics, consumers can use the short message service function more quickly and conveniently.

 In the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit of the present invention.

The present invention operating as described in detail above, by using the SMS system provided in the mobile communication terminal by adding an emoticon function in the form of a graphic that enables the expression of various emotions to the existing emoticons (pictograms), In addition to producing a product that satisfies the needs, it facilitates the use of SMS. In addition, by supporting emoticons as ASCII characters, it is possible to display emoticons using only ASCII combinations even on terminals that do not support graphic emoticons, and to secure the problem that the emoticons are deformed when the message is sent to the receiver. The same emotional effect as that of the emoticon was made. In addition, when sending a message, it is possible to send the emoticon in the form of a graphic only by combining ASCII characters to facilitate the user's convenience.

1 is a block diagram of an apparatus for transmitting a short message service of a mobile communication terminal.

2 is a diagram relating to ASCII character display.

3 is a view of an emoticon (pictogram) corresponding to ASCII characters.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a text message transmission operation using a combination of ASCII characters in a mobile communication terminal, (a) is a flowchart of a transmission operation viewed from the sender's side, and (b) is a flowchart of a transmission operation viewed from the receiver's side.

5 is a view for explaining the operation screen of FIG. (a) is a mobile terminal A viewed from the sender's side, and (b) is a terminal B and a terminal C from the receiver's side.

6 is an operation flowchart in text message transmission using an emoticon, (a) is a flowchart of a transmission operation viewed from the sender's side, and (b) is a flowchart of a transmission operation viewed from the receiver's side.

7 is a view for explaining the operation screen of FIG. (a) is a mobile communication terminal A 'viewed from the sender's side, and (b) is a terminal B' and a terminal C 'viewed from the receiver's side.

Claims (5)

A first step of displaying a message when a user enters a short message input mode and inputs a message; A second step of converting the emoticon input by the user into a text emoticon among the messages input by the user when the user requests to send the short message; A third step of transmitting the converted message to a receiver designated by a user; Short message transmission and reception method in a mobile communication terminal having a. The method of claim 1, A fourth step of converting and displaying a text emoticon into a graphic emoticon when a short message including a text emoticon is received; Short message transmission and reception method in a mobile communication terminal, characterized in that it further comprises. The method of claim 1, wherein the first step When the user selects the emoticon input function in the short message input mode, steps 1-1 of displaying emoticons in a graphic form that can be input; If the user selects one of the displayed emoticons step 1-2 to insert the emoticon in the message being input, Short message transmission and reception method in a mobile communication terminal comprising a. The method of claim 3, wherein the first step Displaying a list of types of emoticons when the user selects an emoticon input function in the short message input mode; Selecting one from the list of types of emoticons to display an emoticon corresponding to the selected type; Short message transmission and reception method in a mobile communication terminal comprising a. The method of claim 4, wherein And a type list of the emoticons is a list classified by emotions indicated by the emoticons.