NZ713912B2 - Systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer-implemented method for text inputting. The method comprises receiving a set of one or more segments (514) of interest selected immediately following the current position of a current position of an input cursor (516) in a text field (504) and performing a semantic analysis to determine a context of the one or more segments (514) of interest, the context comprising at least one of a subtext and a meaning associated with the one or more segments (514) of interest. The one or more segments (514) of interest comprise at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, and a passage. The method further includes the steps of identifying a set of candidate emoticons (506) for insertion into the text field (504) based on associations between the candidate emoticons (506) and the context; presenting the set of candidate emoticons (506) for entry selection; receiving an entry selection of one or more candidate emoticons (506) from the set of candidate emoticons; and inserting the selected one or more candidate emoticons (506) into the text field. determine a context of the one or more segments (514) of interest, the context comprising at least one of a subtext and a meaning associated with the one or more segments (514) of interest. The one or more segments (514) of interest comprise at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, and a passage. The method further includes the steps of identifying a set of candidate emoticons (506) for insertion into the text field (504) based on associations between the candidate emoticons (506) and the context; presenting the set of candidate emoticons (506) for entry selection; receiving an entry selection of one or more candidate emoticons (506) from the set of candidate emoticons; and inserting the selected one or more candidate emoticons (506) into the text field.

Description

Field of the Inventiongs] The invention(s) described herein generally relate to emoticons. More ularly, the invention(s) relate to systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons during various activities on a computing device.

Description of the Related Art Originally, emoticons were facial sions represented by characters (e. g., ASCII characters) commonly found on computer rds, such as letters, s, and symbols.

These al emoticons, once placed in an electronic message or an electronic posting by an author (e.g., electronic bulletin board), were meant to convey the author's mood or to /enhance the overall sentiment of the message or the posting. In beginning, these emoticons were limited to expressing moods, such as happiness, anger, s, and indifference. Gradually, however, the use of these character—based emoticons characters (hereafter, “character emoticons”) expanded to ing meanings and messages.

Eventually, emoticons expanded further in type, availability, and usage. Today, emoticons include character emoticons and emoticons represented by graphical images (hereafter, “graphical emoticons”). With the availability of graphical emoticons, a user can depict a greater number of moods, meanings and messages not once possible with character emoticons alone. Both character and graphical emoticons are now available for use through a variety of digital devices (e. g., mobile telecommunication devices, and tablets), and are used in a variety of computing ties, especially with respect to the Internet. For example, cal emoticons are commonly available for use when drafting personal emails, when posting es on the Internet (e.g., on social networking site or a web forum), and when messaging between mobile s. Generally, as a user performs a computing activity applicable to emoticons, the user may access ons through a menu or library from which they can browse and select emoticons for use in the computing activity.

Unfortunately, with the emergence of graphical ons, the number of emoticons a user can choose from has grown vastly. There are graphical emoticons available for almost every subject matter imaginable. Due to the ion in number, usage, availability, and variety of emoticons, it can be quite time consuming, and sometimes overwhelming, for users to browse through and select appropriate emoticons for a given context when participating in emoticon-applicable computing activities.

Summag; of Embodiments Various embodiments sed herein provide systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons for segments of texts. Some systems and methods may be ed during a user activity on a computing device including, without tion, instant messaging, participating in online chat rooms, drafting e—mails, posting web blogs, or posting to web forums.

An exemplary method comprises receiving a set of segments from a text field, analyzing the set of segments to determine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments, and identifying a set of candidate emoticons where each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate ons has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. The method may further comprise presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection at a current position of an input cursor, receiving an entry selection for a set of selected ons from the set of ate emoticons, and inserting the set of selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor. The set of segments may comprise one or more segments of interest selected ve to a current position of an input cursor in the text field, the set of candidate emoticons may comprise one or more candidate emoticons, and the set of selected emoticons may comprise one or more selected emoticons. Depending on the embodiment, analyzing the set of ts may comprise semantic analysis of the set of segments.

For some embodiments, each ation may comprise a statistical usage of the candidate emoticon with at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. Additionally, for some embodiments, the method may further comprise ng the statistical usage of the candidate emoticons based on the entry ion for the set of selected emoticons. Depending on the embodiment, the statistical usage may be based on usage by a single user or by a plurality of users.

Presenting the set of emoticons for entry ion may involve displaying the emoticon, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor. ting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection may se displaying the set of candidate emoticons, for entry selection, on a physical input device or a virtual input device (e.g., on— screen keyboard, or a projected keyboard), wherein the physical input device and the yed input interface are configured to execute the entry selection. Depending on the embodiment, the virtual input device may be displayed by a display device that is also displaying the text field. Additionally, the virtual input device may be displayed in close ity to the text field.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise identifying the set of segments using syntactical is. Each segment of interest may comprise at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, or a passage that es or s a current on of an input cursor.

In particular embodiments, identifying the set of candidate emoticons may be further based on at least a user preference, user-related information, or recipient-related information.

The user-related information may include a user interest, a user ethnicity, a user religion, a user geographic location, a user age, a user relational status, and a user occupation. The recipient- related information may include a recipient's relation to a user, a recipient interest, a recipient ethnicity, a recipient religion, a recipient geographic location, a recipient age, a recipient relational status, and a ent tion.

An exemplary system comprises a processor, a y module, an input module, segment analysis/module, an on search module, an emoticon suggestion module, and an emoticon selection module. The display module may be configured to display a text field and one or more ts entered into the text field.

The input module may be configured to e t input from a user and to enter the segment input into the text field at an input cursor. The segment analysis module may be configured to receive a set of segments from the text field, wherein the set of segments comprises one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of the input cursor in the text field. The segment is module may be further configured to use the processor to analyze the set of segments to determine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments. The emoticon search module may be configured to identify a set of candidate emoticons, wherein each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target g, and wherein the set of candidate emoticons comprises one or more candidate emoticons. The emoticon suggestion module may be configured to t the set of candidate emoticons through the display module for entry selection at the current position of the input cursor. The emoticon selection module may be configured to receive from the input module an entry selection for a set of ed emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons, wherein the set of selected emoticons comprises one or more selected emoticons. The emoticon selection module may be further configured to insert the set of selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor.

In some embodiments, the system r comprises an emoticon datastore comprising one or more emoticons e of entry into the text field, and wherein the emoticon search module is further configured to identify a set of candidate emoticons on the emoticon datastore.

In various embodiments, each association may comprise a statistical usage of the candidate emoticon with at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning, and the emoticon selection module may be further configured to update the statistical usage of the candidate emoticons based on the entry selection for the set of selected emoticons.

In some embodiments, presenting the set of emoticons through the display module for entry selection may comprise displaying the on, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor. The input module may comprise a physical input device or a l input device, wherein the al input device and the virtual input ace are configured to e the entry selection.

Other features and aspects of some embodiments will become apparent from the following detailed ption, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the features in accordance with various embodiments.

Brief Description of the Drawings Various embodiments are described in detail with reference to the following .

The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict some example embodiments. These drawings are ed to facilitate the ’s understanding of the various embodiments and shall not be considered limiting of the breadth, scope, or applicability of ments. depicts an example of an environment in which various embodiments may be utilized. is a block diagram of an exemplary on suggestion system in accordance with some embodiments. is a flow chart of an exemplary method for identifying and suggesting an emoticon in accordance with some embodiments. is a block diagram of an exemplary emoticon suggesting system using a client- server architecture in accordance with some ments. depicts a user interface of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. depicts a user-interface of a messaging ation, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. is a block diagram of an exemplary digital device.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments A number of embodiments described herein relate to systems and methods that identify and suggest emoticons during a variety of activities on a computing device involving typing characters into a text field. s systems and methods may identify the emoticon by analyzing a context of segments present in the text field and identifying one or more candidate emoticons available for entry into the text field based on that context. Subsequently, the user may select one or more emoticons from the candidate emoticons and the selected emoticons may be entered into the text field. Optionally, the user could choose to ignore the on suggestion(s) entirely, and continue with their activities on the computing device. As used in this description, a “segment” may comprise one or more characters that represent a word, a phrase, a sentence fragment, a sentence, or a passage.

Depending on the embodiment, analysis of the context of segments present in the text field may involve determining a subtext or a meaning relating to those segments, which may require semantic analysis of those segments. Also, as described , the association between a ular candidate emoticon and a particular subtext or meaning may be based on (past) tical usage of the particular candidate emoticon with the particular subtext or meaning. In various embodiments, such emoticon usage may be based on a user’s personal usage of the particular emoticon with the particular subtext or g (e. g., user’s selection of suggested emoticons in the particular subtext or meaning), or may be based on a community’s usage of the particular emoticon with the particular subtext or meaning (e. g., observed usage of certain emoticons in postings on a social network by a community of users). s an example of an environment 100 in which various ments may be utilized. The nment 100 comprises a tablet computing device 104, a local emoticon datastore 102 coupled to the tablet computing device 104, a smartphone computing device 108, a local emoticon datastore 106 coupled to the smartphone computing device 108, a desktop computing device 112, a local on datastore 114 coupled to the desktop computing device 112, an on suggestion server 116, and a local emoticon datastore 118 coupled to the emoticon suggestion server 116. The environment 100 further comprises a communication network 110 over which the tablet computing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, the desktop computing device 112, and the on suggestion server 116 communicate.

The tablet computing device 104, the hone computing device 108, the desktop computing device 112, and the emoticon tion server 116 are examples of digital devices having a processor and memory. Other exemplary digital devices with which various embodiments may be utilized include laptops, netbooks, notebooks, media s, music devices personal digital assistants (PDAs), or the like. Exemplary digital devices are further described in In accordance with some embodiments, the tablet computing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, and the desktop computing device 112 may be ary l devices that utilize systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons for entry. For instance, such computing devices may utilize certain embodiments to identify and suggest emoticons when a user is using an instant ing application on such computing devices, or when the user is g a message on a website forum through such computing devices. Those of ry skill in the art will appreciate that other digital devices could be utilized in conjunction with various embodiments described herein.

In some ments, the emoticon suggestion server 116 may facilitate the identification and suggestion of an emoticon for a user at a digital device. As later described herein, the emoticon suggestion server 116 may determine the context of a segment, may identify one or more candidate emoticons based on a determined context, may suggest one or more candidate emoticons to a l device, or may m some combination f. For various embodiments, the emoticon suggestion server 116 may be a service operating on a server that hosts an et service, where the emoticon suggestion server 116 provides emoticon suggestion functionality to the Internet service. For instance, the emoticon suggestion server 116 may be a service operating on a web server that is hosting a website (e. g., a website forum or a social networking website) that is being serviced by the emoticon suggestion server 116 (i.e., that is being provided emoticon suggestions by the emoticon tion server 116).

Depending on the embodiment, various operations and components for identifying and suggesting an emoticon may be isolated to the digital device that utilizes the emoticon suggestions, or may be distributed on varying levels amongst two or more digital devices. For example, a system or method for identifying, suggesting, and ng an emoticon when ng an e—mail on the hone ing device 108 may be entirely embedded in an e— mail application that is stored and operated on the smartphone computing device 108. In an alternative example, while using the tablet computing device 104 to prepare a message post for a website forum, a system or method for fying, suggesting, and entering an emoticon may e the tablet computing device 104 to determine the context of the message as currently prepared, utilize the emoticon suggestion server 116 to fy one or more candidate emoticons for use in the message as currently prepared, and then utilize the tablet computing device 104 to present the candidate emoticons as suggested emoticons.

The emoticon suggestion server 116 may utilize the remote on datastore 118 during the fication and suggestion of emoticons to digital devices. For certain embodiments, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a library of emoticons available for suggestion by the emoticon suggestion server 116, and associations between emoticons in the y and contexts (e.g., subtexts and meanings). For example, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a library of “happy face” emoticons, and associations between the “happy face” emoticons and a happy context. In another example, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a library of “San Francisco” emoticons, and ations between the “San Francisco” emoticons and contexts that explicitly or implicitly refers to the city of San Francisco. For some embodiments, the remote emoticon ore 1 18 may comprise two or more associations between a given emoticon and a given context (e.g., subtext or g). For example, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a library of “frowning face” emoticons, associations between the “frowning face” emoticons and a sad context, and associations between the “frowning face” ons and a displeased context.

Those d in the art would appreciate that a variety of emoticon libraries and a variety of association between emoticons and contexts can be stored on the remote emoticon ore 118.

Depending on the embodiment, the library of emoticons may comprise emoticons that are accessible by any user or accessible by a limited group of users restricted access (e. g., based on a premium, or only accessible to certain groups), user-customized or user-uploaded emoticons, or emoticons that are user tes. In addition to character and graphical emoticons that convey a mood or emotion from an author, emoticons used in various embodiments may include those that relate to interests, hobbies, geographic ons, events, holidays, s, weather, and the like. Emoticons stored on the emoticon suggestion datastore 118 may include character emoticons, graphical ons, graphically ed emoticons, and emoticons accompanied by sound. For some embodiments, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may further comprise user preferences, user information or recipient information, which may be utilized the embodiments when identifying emoticons suitable for suggestion. For example, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may store a user preference that causes an embodiment to suggest user-defined or user-uploaded emoticons before ting emoticons generally available to any user. In another e, the remote on ore 1 18 may store a user preference that causes an embodiment to automatically insert the first on suggested to the user by the embodiment, or to automatically insert the suggested emoticon having the highest usage in a given context.

In some embodiments, the tablet computing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, and the desktop computing device 112 may each be coupled to a separate, local emoticon datastore capable of g user-customized emoticons, a user's favorite or preferred emoticons, associations between emoticons stored on the local emoticon and contexts (e. g., subtext or meaning), user preferences with respect to identifying and suggestion emoticons, elated information, or recipient—related information. For instance, the tablet computing device 104 may be coupled to the local emoticon datastore 102, the smartphone computing device 108 may be coupled to the local emoticon datastore 106 coupled, and the desktop computing device 112 may be coupled to the local emoticon datastore 114.

Additionally, each of the local emoticon datastores 102, 106, and 114 may be utilized by their respective computing device to locally cache previously suggested emoticons or suggested emoticons previously selected by a user. In doing so, some embodiments can repeatedly suggest the same emoticons for a commonly occurring contexts while ng the number of times the emoticon tions server 116 is queried for the suggested emoticons.

For some embodiments, the emoticons cached in the local emoticon datastores 102, 106, and 114 may have an expiration time, after which the cached emoticons are invalidated or purged.

Once an on item in the cache has expired, some embodiments resume ng the emoticon suggestion server 116 for suggested emoticons. is a block diagram of an exemplary on suggestion system 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The emoticon suggestion system 200 may comprise a display module 202, an input module 204, a segment analysis module 206, an on search module 208, an emoticon suggestion module 210, an emoticon selection module 212, and an emoticon datastore 214. In some ments, the emoticon suggestion system 200 may further comprise memory and at least one processor, which facilitate operation of various modules contained in the emoticon suggestion system 200.

The display module 202 may display an input field, such as a text field or a text box, into which a user can input one or more segments, character emoticons, or graphical emoticons using the input module 204. Typically, as segments and emoticons are entered into the input field they appear in the input field. As noted herein, a nt” may comprise one or more characters that represent a word, a , a sentence fragment, a sentence, or a passage. As part of the input field, the display module 202 may display an input cursor, which indicates where a user‘s character inputs will be next entered or where an emoticon may be next entered.

As noted herein, various embodiments may suggest emoticons based on the current position of the input cursor within the input field, the present segment content of the input, user-related ation, recipient—related ation, user preferences, or some combination f. Generally, once one or more candidate emoticons have been identified for suggestion to the user (e.g., based on the segment content of the input field), the candidate emoticons may be suggested to the user via the display module 202. Specifically, the display module 202 may, for the user’s ion, display the ate emoticons at or near the current on of the input cursor in the input field. Depending on the embodiment, the display module 202 may display the candidate emoticons at or near the input field Via a callout box.

For some embodiments, the display module 202 may form part of a digital device (e.g., video display, or Video projector) that may be responsible for ying all cal output from the digital device. In some embodiments, the display module 202 may display the input field as part of a graphical user interface (GUI). For instance, the input field may be a graphical component of an application operating on a l device (e.g., e—mail client, or an instant messaging application), or may be a graphical representation of a document viewable or editable through an application operating on the digital device (e. g., a text field of a web page shown through a web browser, or a document shown through a word processor). Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the input field may vary in type and size from ment to embodiment.

The input module 204 may receive character input from a user and enter such character input into the input field as received. As character input is entered into the input field, the display module 202 may update the input field with the character input. Additionally, the input module 204 may further receive entry selections for emoticons suggested, in accordance with various embodiments. lly, upon selection, the selected emoticons may be inserted at the current position of the input cursor in the input field. Depending on the embodiment, the input module may comprise a physical input device that is externally coupled to a digital device or that is physical embedded into the digital device. Examples of physical input devices can include, without limitation, keyboards, trackpads or computer mice. In some embodiments, the input module may comprise a virtual input device, such as a laser-projected keyboard or an on-screen keyboard, which may be provided (i.e., displayed) to the user through the display module 202. In various embodiments, as virtual input devices are employed, such virtual input s may be displayed at or near the input field to which segments will be inputted.

As further described in in some embodiments, suggested emoticons may be presented to the user through the input module 204. For example, where input module 204 comprises a physical keyboard, the physical keyboard may be configured to display suggested emoticons through the physical rd. For some embodiments, the physical keyboard may display ted emoticons by way of keys or buttons that comprise ed displays (e.g., LCD buttons), or by way of a display ed on a surface of the physical keyboard (e.g., at the top of the keyboard). Depending on the embodiment, the suggested ons may be displayed h the physical keyboard in color or in grayscale. As the ted emoticons are yed through the physical keyboard, the user may select one or more of those suggested emoticons through keys or buttons of the physical keyboard.

In r example, where the input module 204 comprises an on-screen keyboard (like those found on some tablet computing device and smartphone computing devices), the the ted emoticons appearance of the een keyboard may be reconfigured to display through the on-screen rd. For some embodiments, the appearance of the on—screen keyboard may be reconfigured so that certain buttons of the on-screen keyboard are replaced with suggested emoticons buttons, or so that the on-screen keyboard is ted with additional suggested emoticon s. Once presented to through the on—screen keyboard, the suggested emoticon buttons may be used by a user to select from the one or more suggested emoticons. [0042) The segment analysis module 206 may analyze one or more segments present in the input field and determine a context for the segments analyzed. As described herein, the context determined by the segment analysis module 206 may be uently utilized when identifying candidate emoticons to be suggested to the user. In various embodiments, the segment is module 206 may analyze only segments ofinterest from the input field when ining the context of segments in the input field. [0043) In some embodiments, the segment is module 206 first identifies segments of interest in the input field, and then analyzes those segments of interest to determine a context.

Generally, the ts ofinterest are identified in relation to a current position ofan input cursor in the input field. Additionally for some embodiments, the segment is module 206 may m syntactical analysis ofthe segments currently present in the input field when identifying segments ofinterest.

Depending on the embodiment, the segment analysis module 206 may identify the segments of interest based on conditional or non-conditional rules that guide the segment of interest fication process. An exemplary rule for identifying segments of interest may include identifying the sentence fragment or sentence immediately ing the current position ofthe input cursor in the input field as a segment ofinterest. Another exemplary rule for identifying segments of interest may include identifying the sentence fragment or sentence immediately ing the current position ofthe input cursor in the input field as a segment of interest. For some embodiments, the rules may be utilized in conjunction with the syntactical analysis performed by the segment analysis module 206 to determine the segments ofinterest.

Where more than one segment of interest is identified, the segment analysis module 206 may analyze the t ofeach ofthe segments of interest, or may analyze the context of all but the least important segments ofinterest (e.g., based on a weight system, where certain segments ofinterest are ofhigher ance than others). In addition, one or more rules may determine which ofthe segments of interests should be analyzed when two or more segments ofinterest are identified. [0046) The segment analysis module 206 may determine two or more ts from the segments of interest. In such cases, the emoticon suggestion system 200 may search for candidate emoticons associated with all ofthe determined contexts, or may only search for candidate emoticons that match one or more of the most important contexts (e.g., determined based on rules).

To determine a context of one or more ts of st, the segment analysis module 206 may semantically analyze the segments of interest present in the input field.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that the semantic analysis of segments may be performed in accordance with one or more techniques known in the art. When analyzing the context of one or more segments of interest, the segment is module 206 may determine a subtext or a meaning for the segments of interest. Based on the subtext or meaning identified for the segments of interest, the emoticon suggestion system 200 may identify one or more candidate emoticons for suggestion. The subtext of a segment of the interest may fy a mood or an emotion for that t of st. Example subtexts for segments of interest may include, without limitation, ess, sadness, indifference, anger, resentment, contrition, or excitement. The meaning for segments of the st may identify an explicit meaning for segments of interest. For example, where a segment of st recites “I just got a new job!,” the segment analysis module 206 may identify the meaning for the segment of interest as “new job.” It should be noted that for some ments, the segment analysis module 206 may identify and e segments of interest in at or near real—time as the user adds characters or emoticons to or removes characters or emoticons from the input field using the input module 204.

The emoticon search module 208 may search for one or more candidate emoticons based on an identified context (e.g., subtext or meaning) of a segment of interest. In some embodiments, the emoticon search module 208 may search the emoticon datastore 214 for emoticons associated with the one or more contexts identified by the emoticon suggestion system 200. As described herein, the emoticon datastore 214 may comprise emoticon available for entry into the input field, and associations between an emoticon and one or more contexts.

As noted herein, the association between a given emoticon and a given contexts may comprise statistical usage of the given emoticon with that given context. The th of the association n the given emoticon and the given context may be based on such statistical usage. Additionally, the statistical usage may be based on the user's own usage of the given emoticon with the given content, or may be based on usage of the given emoticon with the given content by a community of users (e.g., usage of a given emoticon in a given context on a social networking website).

Generally, the more usage of a given emoticon with a given context, the stronger the association n that given emoticon and that given context. For some embodiments, the strength of the association n an emoticon and a context may indicate the confidence in suggesting the emoticon for that context. The strength of the ation may also be used to prioritize and present the one or more candidate emoticons from the highest strength to the lowest strength.

In some embodiments, the search for one or more candidate emoticons by the emoticon search engine module 208 may consider the th of the association n the emoticon and the context. For example, the emoticon search engine module 208 may only identify an emoticon as a candidate emoticon if the strength of the association between the emoticon and the target context meets or exceeds a predetermined threshold. Additionally, the emoticon search engine module 208 may only identify an emoticon as a candidate emoticon when the strength of the association between the emoticon and the target context meets or exceeds a threshold relative to other, potential ate emoticons.

As noted herein, in various embodiments, the on search module 208 may further narrow the search for candidate emoticons by utilizing user preferences, user-related information, recipient-related ation, or some combination thereof. es of user preferences may include, without limitation, a preference to suggest ustomized emoticons before other types of emoticons, and a preference to ignore certain categories of emoticons (e.g., suggest only emoticons that are age riate with respect to the user).

Example of recipient-related information may include, without limitation, a user interest, a user ethnicity, a user religion, a user geographic location, a user age, a user onal status, and a user occupation. e of user—related information may include, without tion, a recipient's relation to a user, a recipient interest, a recipient ethnicity, a recipient religion, a recipient geographic location, a recipient age, a recipient relational status, and a recipient occupation. In certain embodiments, when searching for one or more candidate emoticons, the emoticon search module 208 may r consider the input fields limitations in receiving character or cal emoticons and search for candidate emoticons accordingly.

The emoticon tion module 210 may receive the one or more candidate emoticons located based on an identified context of a segment of interest, and present the one or more candidate emoticons to the user for selection. As noted herein, in some embodiments, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may use the display module 202 to display for entry selection the one or more candidate emoticons at or near the current position of the input cursor in the input field. As also noted herein, in various embodiments, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may use the input module 202 to display for entry selection the one or more candidate ons through a physical input device or a l input device.

The emoticon selection module 212 may receive from the user an entry selection for one or more candidate emoticons suggested to the user. In particular embodiments, the emoticon selection module 212 may receive the entry selection for the one or more candidate ons through the input module 204, and the emoticon selection module 212 may enter the one or more selected emoticons into the input field. As noted herein, the emoticon selection module 212 may enter the one or more selected ons at the current position of the input cursor. For some embodiments, the emoticon selection module 212 may enter the one or more selected emoticons into the input field by replacing segments or segments of interest within the input field with the one or more selected emoticons. Additionally, some embodiments may enable the user to set the emoticon selection module 212 (e.g., using a user preference) such that the module 212 auto-selects suggested emoticons based on certain guidelines. For instance, the user may configure the emoticon ion module 212 such that the first ted emoticon is ed when an emoticon suggestion is made.

In some embodiments, where associations between emoticons and contexts comprise statistical usage of such emoticons with such contexts, the on selection module 212 may update the statistical usage information based on the entry selection ed from the user. In particular, the emoticon selection module 212 may receive the entry selection of one or more ate ons for a given context, and update the statistical usage information stored between the selected ate emoticons and their respective contexts of usage. Depending on the embodiment, the emoticon selection module 212 may update the statistical usage information on the emoticon ore 214.

The emoticon datastore 214 may comprise a library of emoticons available for suggestion by the emoticon suggestion system 200, and associations between emoticons in the library and contexts (e.g., subtexts and meanings). The emoticon search module 208 may access the on datastore 214 when searching for one or more candidate emoticons that are associated with one or more particular contexts. As noted herein, for some embodiments, the emoticon datastore 214 may comprise two or more associations between a given emoticon and a given context (e.g., subtext or meaning). Additionally, the ation n a given on and a given context may comprise statistical usage of the given emoticon with the given context. Such tical usage may reflect the strength of the association between the emoticon and the context.

Emoticons stored on the emoticon ore 214 may include character emoticons, graphical emoticons, cally animated emoticons, and emoticons accompanied by sound.

For some embodiments, the emoticon datastore 214 may further comprise user preferences, user information or recipient ation, which may be utilized the embodiments when identifying emoticons suitable for suggestion. For example, the emoticon datastore 214 may store a user preference that causes an embodiment to suggest user—defined or user-uploaded emoticons before ting ons generally available to any user. In another example, the emoticon ore 214 may store a user preference that causes an embodiment to automatically insert the first emoticon suggested to the user by the embodiment, or to automatically insert the suggested emoticon having the highest usage in a given context.

Those skilled in the art would appreciate that a variety of emoticon libraries and a variety of association between emoticons and ts may be stored on the emoticon datastore 214.

It will be appreciated that a “module” may comprise software, hardware, firmware, and/or circuitry. In one example one or more software programs comprising instructions capable of being executable by a sor may m one or more of the functions of the modules described herein. In another example, circuitry may m the same or similar functions. Alternative embodiments may comprise more, less, or functionally equivalent modules and still be within the scope of present embodiments. For example, the functions of the various modules may be combined or divided differently. For example, the functions of various modules may be distributed amongst one or more modules residing at an emoticon suggestion server and one or more modules reside at an emoticon suggestion client. is a flow chart of an exemplary method 300 for identifying and suggesting an emoticon in accordance with some embodiments. In step 302, the segment analysis module 206 may receive one or more segments from an input field, which may be displayed h the display module 202. As noted herein, upon receiving the one or more segments, the segment analysis module 206 may fy ts of interest for t analysis purposes.

In step 304, the segment analysis module 206 may analyze the one or more segments to determine one or more target subtexts or one or more target meanings of the segments. The target subtexts and the target meanings of the segments provide for one or more contexts associated with the segments. Depending on the embodiment, the segment analysis module 206 may analyze only those segments which have been identified as segments of interest by the segment analysis module 206.

In step 306, the emoticon search module 208 may identify one or more candidate emoticons having an association with the one or more target contexts or one or more target meanings, which may have been ined by the t analysis module 206. In some embodiments, the emoticon search module 208 may identify one or more candidate emoticons in the on datastore 214 which have an association with the target subtexts or the target meanings. As noted herein, the strength of each association may be based on statistical usage of a given on with a given context, and such the strength may be taken into consideration as the emoticon search module 208 identifies one or more candidate emoticons.

In step 308, the on suggestion module 210 may present the one or more candidate emoticons to a user for entry selection at a current position of an input cursor in an input field. As described herein, the input field and the input cursor therein may be displayed to the user through the display module 202. For some embodiments, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may present the one or more candidate emoticons to the user for entry selection using display module 202, and may display the candidate emoticons at or near the current position of the input cursor in the input field. Additionally, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may present the one or more candidate ons to the user for entry selection h one or more input devices of the input module 204. For example, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may present the one or more candidate emoticons to the user through a physical input device, such as a physical keyboard having a display, or through a l input device, such as an on-screen keyboard.

In step 310, the emoticon selection module 212 may receive an entry selection from the user for one or more select emoticons from the one or more candidate emoticons. For some embodiments, the on selection module 212 may e the entry selection from the input module 204. Additionally, upon receiving the entry ion, the emoticon selection module 212 may update the statistical usage information on the emoticon datastore 214 for the one or more ate emoticons based on the entry selection, thereby strengthen or weakening the association between the candidate emoticons and particular contexts.

In step 312, based on the entry selection, the emoticon selection module 212 may insert the one or more candidate emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor received by the emoticon selection module 212. As noted , in some ments, entry of the candidate emoticons into the input field may involve replacing one or more segments in the input field with the selected emoticons. is a block diagram of an exemplary emoticon suggesting system 400 using a —server architecture in accordance with some embodiments. The emoticon suggesting system 400 may comprise an emoticon suggestion client 402 and an emoticon suggestion server 420. In some embodiments, the emoticon suggestion client 402 may be similar to the digital device described in or to the computing devices described in (i.e., tablet computing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, and the desktop computing device 112), and the emoticon tion server 420 may be similar to the l device described in or to the emoticon suggestion server 116 described in The emoticon suggestion client 402 and the emoticon suggestion server 420 may communicate with one another over a communication network 418.

The emoticon suggestion client 402 may comprise a display module 404, an input module 406, a segment analysis module 408, an emoticon search module 410, a local emoticon datastore 412, an emoticon suggestion module 414, and an emoticon selection module 416.

The emoticon suggestion server 420 may comprise an emoticon search engine 422, and a remote emoticon datastore 424.

At the on tion client 402, the display module 404 may display an input field into which a user can input one or more ts, character emoticons, or graphical ons using the input module 406. Typically, as segments and emoticons are entered into the input field they appear in the input field. With the input field, the display module 404 may display an input cursor in the input field, where the input cursor indicates where a user's character inputs will be next entered or where an emoticon may be next entered.

Various embodiments may suggest emoticons based a number of factors including, for example, the current position of the input cursor within the input field, the t segment content of the input, elated information, recipient—related information, user preferences, or some combination thereof. The candidate emoticons, once identified, may be suggested to the user via the display module 404. Specifically, the y module 404 may, for the user's selection, y the candidate emoticons at or near the current position of the input cursor in the input field. Depending on the embodiment, the display module 404 may display the candidate ons at or near the input field via a callout box.

Through the display module 404, a digital device, may display all graphical output from the digital device. In some embodiments, the y module 404 may display the input field as part of a graphical user interface (GUI). ing on the ment, the input field may be a graphical component of an application operating on a digital device, or may be a graphical representation of a document viewable or editable through an application operating on the digital device. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that the input field may vary in type and size from embodiment to embodiment.

The input module 406 may receive character input from a user and enter such character input into the input field as received. As character input is entered into the input field, the y module 404 may update the input field with the character input. Additionally, the input module 406 may further receive entry selections for emoticons suggested in accordance with various embodiments. Generally, upon ion, the selected emoticons may be inserted at the current position of the input cursor in the input field. As noted herein, the input module may comprise a physical input device that is externally coupled to a digital device or that is physical embedded into the digital , or a virtual input device, such as an on-screen keyboard, which may be provided to the user through the display module 404. In various embodiments, as virtual input devices are ed, such virtual input devices may be yed at or near the input field to which segments will be inputted.

For some embodiments, suggested emoticons may be ted to the user through the input module 406. For example, where input module 406 comprises a physical keyboard, the physical keyboard may be configured to display suggested emoticons through the physical keyboard. For some embodiments, the physical keyboard may display ted emoticons by of a way of keys or buttons that comprise embedded displays (e.g., LCD buttons), or by way display ed on a surface of the physical keyboard (e.g., at the top of the keyboard). The suggested emoticons may be displayed through the al keyboard in color or in grayscale.

As the suggested emoticons are displayed through the physical keyboard, the user may select one or more of those suggested emoticons through keys or buttons of the physical keyboard.

In some embodiments, where the input module 406 comprises an on—screen keyboard, the appearance of the een keyboard may be reconfigured to display the suggested emoticons through the on-screen keyboard. For example, the appearance of the on-screen keyboard may be reconfigured so that certain buttons of the on-screen keyboard are replaced with suggested emoticons buttons, or so that the on~screen keyboard is augmented with onal suggested on buttons. Once presented to through the on—screen keyboard, the suggested emoticon buttons may be used by a user to select from the one or more suggested emoticons.

The segment analysis module 408 may analyze one or more segments present in the input field and determine a t for the segments analyzed. As described herein, the context determined by the segment analysis module 408 may be subsequently utilized when identifying candidate ons to be suggested to the user. In various embodiments, the t analysis module 408 may first identify segments of interest in the input field and then only analyze those segments of interest when determining the context of segments in the input field.

In some ments, the t analysis module 408 may perform syntactical analysis of the segments currently present in the input field when fying ts of interest. Additionally, the segment analysis module 408 may identify the segments of interest based on conditional or non-conditional rules that guide the segment of interest identification process.

To determine a context of one or more segments of st, the segment analysis module 408 may semantically e the segments of interest present in the input field. When analyzing the context of one or more segments of interest, the segment analysis module 408 The subtext of a segment of may determine a subtext or a meaning of the segments of interest. the interest may identify a mood or an emotion for that segment of interest. Based on the t or meaning identified for the ts of interest, the emoticon suggestion system 400 may identify one or more candidate emoticons for suggestion.

It should be noted that for some embodiments, the segment analysis module 408 may identify and analyze segments of interest in at or near real-time as the user adds characters or emoticons to or s characters or emoticons from the input field using the input module 408.

The emoticon search module 410 may search for one or more ate emoticons based on an identified context (e.g., subtext or meaning) of a segment of interest. In some embodiments, the emoticon search module 410 may access the local emoticon datastore 412 when searching for one or more candidate emoticons that are associated with one or more particular contexts. ing on the embodiment, the local emoticon datastore 412 may store user— customized emoticons, a user's favorite or preferred emoticons, associations n emoticons stored on the local emoticon and contexts (e. g., subtext or meaning), user preferences with respect to identifying and suggestion emoticons, user—related information, or ent—related information. Additionally, local emoticon ore 412 may be utilized to locally cache previously suggested emoticons or suggested emoticons previously selected by the user.

In some embodiments, the emoticon search module 410 may utilize the emoticon suggestion server 420 to search for and e candidate emoticons to the emoticon suggestion client 402. For example, the emoticon suggestion server 420 may search for candidate emoticons on the remote emoticon ore 424 and provide resulting candidate emoticons to the emoticon search module 410 on the emoticon suggestion client 402. The emoticon suggestion server 420 may use the emoticon search engine 422 to search for candidate emoticons on the remote emoticon datastore 424, to retrieve candidate emoticons from the remote emoticon datastore 424, and to provide the candidate emoticons to the emoticon search module 410.

The remote emoticon datastore 424 may comprise a library of ons available for tion to the emoticon suggestion client 402. The remote emoticon datastore 424 may further comprise associations between emoticons in the library and contexts. For certain embodiments, the associations comprise statistical usage of the given emoticon of the emoticons in the library with the context. Generally, such statistical usage may reflect the strength of the association between the emoticon and the t.

As noted herein, emoticons stored on the remote emoticon datastore 424 may include character emoticons, graphical emoticons, graphically animated emoticons, and emoticons accompanied by sound. For some embodiments, the remote emoticon datastore 424 may further comprise user preferences, user information or recipient information, which may be utilized the embodiments when identifying emoticons suitable for suggestion. Those skilled in the art would iate that a variety of emoticon libraries and a variety of association between emoticons and contexts can be stored on the remote emoticon datastore 424.

The emoticon suggestion module 414 may e the one or more candidate emoticons located based on an identified context of a segment of st, and present the one or more candidate emoticons to the user for selection. As noted herein, in some embodiments, the emoticon tion module 414 may use the display module 414 to y for entry selection the one or more candidate emoticons at or near the current position of the input cursor in the input field. As also noted herein, in various embodiments, the emoticon suggestion module 414 may use the input module 406 to display for entry selection the one or more candidate emoticons h a physical input device or a virtual input device.

The emoticon selection module 416 may receive from the user an entry selection for one or more candidate ons suggested to the user. In particular ments, the emoticon selection module 416 may receive the entry selection for the one or more candidate emoticons through the input module 404, and the emoticon selection module 416 may enter the one or more selected emoticons into the input field. The emoticon ion module 416 may enter the one or more selected emoticons at the current position of the input cursor.

Additionally, the emoticon selection module 416 may enter the one or more selected emoticons into the input field by replacing segments or ts of interest within the input field with the one or more selected emoticons. Some embodiments may enable the user to set the on selection module 416 (e.g., using a user preference) such that the module 416 auto—selects suggested emoticons based on certain guidelines. For instance, the user may configure the emoticon selection module 416 such that the first suggested on is ed when an emoticon suggestion is made.

In some embodiments, where associations between emoticons and contexts comprise statistical usage of such emoticons with such contexts, the emoticon selection module 416 may update the statistical usage information based on the entry ion ed from the user. In particular, the emoticon selection module 416 may receive the entry selection of one or more candidate emoticons for a given context, and update the statistical usage information stored between the selected candidate emoticons and their respective contexts of usage.

Depending on the embodiment, the emoticon ion module 416 may update the statistical usage information on the local emoticon datastore 412 or on the remote emoticon datastore 424. For example, if the one or more candidate emoticons selected through the emoticon selection module 416 were provided from the emoticon suggestion server 420, the statistical usage information for those candidate emoticons will be updated on the remote emoticon ore 424. In another example, if the one or more ate emoticons selected through the emoticon selection module 416 were provided from the local emoticon datastore 412, the statistical usage information for those candidate emoticons will be updated on the locate emoticon datastore 412. depicts a user-interface 500 of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. In some embodiments, a user may utilize the user interface 500 to e and review messages received from other users over online chat, and to compose and transmit messages to other users over online chat. The messaging ation may a client on an instant messaging system, where the messaging application is operating on a digital device local to the user, such a smartphone computing device or a laptop. The instant messaging system may operate on another digital device such as a server, where the messaging application interfaces with the instant messaging system. ing on the embodiment, the messaging ation may operate on a l device as a standalone application, or as an applet, plug—in, or script operating through a web r.

The user interface 500 of the messaging application may comprise a conversation pane 502, a message input field 504, and a send button 514. For some embodiments, the conversation pane 502 may se messages submitted to the online chat. As such, the sation pane 502 may e messages submitted to the online chat from others, and messages submitted by the user through the user interface 500. The user may submit messages to the online chat using the message input field 504. In particular, the user may enter a 514 when the user desires message into the message input field 504 and press the send button to submit the message to the online chat.

The message input field 504 may comprise and may be configured to receive a field 504 message prepared by the user for submission. to the online chat. The message input emoticons may e one or more ts from the user, or may receive one or more entered in accordance with some embodiments. The e input field 504 may further comprise an input cursor 516.

As the user prepares a message in the message input field 504, various embodiments 516. For example, may suggest emoticons for entry at the current position of the input cursor as the user writes “It was so much fun” in the message input field 504, the embodiment may suggest a “smiley face” cal emoticon 510 for entry into the input field 504 based on the ment’s analysis of the segment of interest 512, which recites “so much fun.” The embodiment may suggest the “smiley face” graphical emoticon 510 based on an ation between the “smiley face” graphical emoticon 510 and the context of the segment of interest 512. Once the user selects the “smiley face” graphical emoticon 510, the embodiment may enter the “smiley face” graphical emoticon 510 into the message input field 504. se, as the user writes “Thanks again for showing me around your city” in the of graphical emoticons 506 message input field 504, the embodiment may suggest a plurality based on the context analysis of the segment of interest 514. As noted herein, the embodiment the graphical emoticons 506 may present the suggested, graphical emoticons 506 by displaying in a t box 508 positioned at or near the current position of the input cursor 516. Based on analysis of the segment of interest 514, which recites “your city,” the embodiment may suggest the graphical emoticons 506, which relate to cities. depicts a user-interface 600 of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an ment. Like in a user may utilize the user ace 600 to receive and review messages received from other users over online chat, and to compose and transmit es to other users over online chat The messaging application may a client on an instant messaging system, where the messaging application is operating on a digital device local to the user, such a smartphone computing device or a laptop. The instant messaging system may e on another l device such as a server, where the messaging application aces with the instant messaging system. Depending on the embodiment, the messaging ation may operate on a digital device as a standalone application, or as an applet, plug—in, or script ing through a web browser.

The user interface 600 of the messaging application may comprise a conversation and a send button 616. For pane 602, a message input field 604, an on-screen keyboard 606, online some embodiments, the sation pane 602 may comprise messages submitted to the chat, including messages submitted by the user through the user interface 600. The user may submit messages to the online chat using the message input field 604. Specifically, the user the on-screen keyboard 606, and may enter a message into the message input field 604 using submit the message to the online chat. may press the send button 616 when the user desires to The e input field 604 may comprise and may be configured to receive a chat. The message input field 604 message prepared by the user for submission to the online the on—screen keyboard 606, or may may receive one or more ts from the user through receive one or more emoticons as selected h the on-screen keyboard 606. The message input field 604 may further comprise an input cursor 610.

The on—screen keyboard 606 may se a QWERTY keyboard, a button 624 to hide the een keyboard 606 from view (e.g., when not in use), and an emoticon menu 622.

Through the emoticon menu 622, the user may select one or more emoticons for entry into the 610. The emoticon menu message input field 604 at the current position of the input cursor 622 may comprise emoticons from a default emoticon library, or a selection of emoticons suggested by the embodiment. A left select button 618 and a right select button 620 may allow the user to scroll and browse through the emoticons available for entry selection through the on menu 622.

As the user es a message in the message input field 604, various embodiments of the input cursor 610. For instance, may suggest emoticons for entry at the current position field 604, the as the user writes “I never would have thought the football” in the message input embodiment may suggest a “football” graphical on 614 for entry into the input field 604 based on the embodiment's analysis of the segment of interest 612, which recites “football.” The embodiment may suggest the “football” graphical emoticon 614 based on an association between the “football” graphical emoticon 614 and the context of the segment of st 612.

Once the user selects the “football” graphical emoticon 614, the embodiment may enter the “football” graphical emoticon 614 into the message input field 604.

Similarly, as the user writes “The 50-yard field goal” in the message input field 604, the embodiment may suggest a plurality of “field goal” cal emoticons based on the context is of the segment of interest 608. In particular, the embodiment may present the “field goal” cal emoticons for entry selection by ying the graphical emoticons in the emoticon menu 622, which may be displayed as part of the on—screen keyboard 606. is a block diagram of an exemplary digital device 700. The digital device 700 comprises a processor 702, a memory system 704, a storage system 706, a communication network interface 708, an I/O ace 710, and a display interface 712 communicatively coupled to a bus 714. The processor 702 is configured to execute executable instructions (e.g., programs). In some embodiments, the processor 702 ses circuitry or any processor e of processing the executable instructions.

The memory system 704 is any memory configured to store data. Some examples of the memory system 704 are e devices, such as RAM or ROM. The memory system 704 can comprise the ram cache. In various embodiments, data is stored within the memory system 704. The data within the memory system 704 may be cleared or ultimately transferred to the e system 706.

The storage system 706 is any non—transitory storage configured to retrieve and store data. Some examples of the storage system 706 are flash drives, hard drives, l drives, and/or magnetic tape. In some embodiments, the digital device 700 includes a memory system 704 in the form of RAM and a storage system 706 in the form of flash data. Both the memory which may store system 704 and the storage system 706 comprise computer readable media instructions or programs that are executable by a computer processor including the processor 702.

The communication network interface (com. network interface) 708 can be d network to a network (e.g., communication network 110) via the link 716. The communication interface 708 may support ication over an Ethernet connection, a serial connection, a parallel connection, or an ATA connection, for example. The communication network interface 708 may also support wireless communication (e.g., 802.1 1 alb/gz'n, WiMax). It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the communication network ace 708 can support many wired and wireless standards.

The optional input/output (I/O) interface 710 is any device that receives input from the user and output data. The optional display interface 712 is any device that is configured to output graphics and data to a display. In one example, the display interface 712 is a graphics adapter. It will be appreciated that not all digital devices 700 comprise either the I/O interface 710 or the display interface 712.

It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the hardware elements of the digital device 700 are not limited to those ed in A digital device 700 may comprise more or less hardware ts than those depicted. Further, hardware elements may share functionality and still be within various embodiments described herein. In one example, encoding and/or decoding may be performed by the processor 702 and/or a co- sor d on a GPU (Le., Nvidia).

The above-described functions and ents can be comprised of instructions that are stored on a storage medium such as a computer readable medium. The instructions can be retrieved and ed by a processor. Some examples of instructions are software, program code, and firmware. Some examples of storage medium are memory devices, tape, disks, integrated circuits, and servers. The ctions are operational when executed by the Those processor to direct the processor to operate in ance with some embodiments. skilled in the art are familiar with instructions, processor(s), and storage medium.

Various embodiments are described herein as examples. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made and other embodiments can be used without departing from the broader scope of the t invention(s). Therefore, these and other variations upon the ary embodiments are intended to be covered by the present invention(s).

Claims (30)

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: identifying one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of an input cursor in a text field based on application of one or more segment identification rules, the one or more segments of interest comprising at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, and a passage; performing a ic analysis to determine a context of the one or more segments of interest, the context comprising at least one of a subtext and a g associated with the one or more ts of interest; identifying a set of candidate emoticons for insertion into the text field based on associations between the candidate emoticons and the t; presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry ion; receiving an entry selection of one or more candidate emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons; and inserting the selected one or more candidate emoticons into the text field; wherein the application of the one or more segment identification rules identifies the t of interest as ately following the current position of the input cursor in the text field.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the context comprises the subtext, and the subtext comprises at least one of a mood and an emotion for the one or more segments of st.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the associations are based on statistical usage of the candidate emoticons in the context.

4. The method of claim 3, n the statistical usage is based on past usage of the candidate emoticons by at least one of an individual user and a community of users.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising updating the statistical usage according to the entry selection of the one or more candidate emoticons.

6. The method of claim 1, n identifying the set of ate emoticons comprises: determining a strength of an association between an emoticon and the t, based on tical usage of the candidate emoticon in the context; and adding the emoticon to the set of candidate emoticons when the strength of the association exceeds a threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons comprises accessing at least one data store selected from the group consisting of a local data store, a remote data store, and combinations thereof.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising storing, in the at least one data store, at least one of previously suggested emoticons and emoticons previously selected by a user.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the at least one data store stores information selected from the group consisting of user-customized ons, a user's favorite emoticons, a user's preferred emoticons, associations between emoticons and contexts, user preferences with respect to identifying and suggesting emoticons, user-related ation, and recipient-related information.

10. The method of claim 1, n the set of candidate emoticons comprises at least one emoticon selected from the group consisting of a character emoticon, a graphical emoticon, a graphically animated emoticon, and an emoticon accompanied by sound.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons comprises ing at least one of a user preference, user-related information, and recipient-related information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the set of candidate emoticons comprises at least one of (i) displaying the set of candidate ons at the input cursor and (ii) ying the set of candidate emoticons in an on-screen keyboard.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting the selected one or more candidate emoticons into the text field comprises replacing at least one segment with the selected one or more candidate emoticons.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein inserting the ed one or more emoticons into the text field comprises inserting the selected one or more emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor.

15. A system comprising: a non-transitory computer le medium having ctions stored thereon; and at least one processor configured to execute the instructions to perform operations comprising: fying one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of an input cursor in a text field based on application of one or more t identification rules, the one or more segments of interest comprising at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, and a passage; performing a semantic analysis to determine a context of the one or more segments of interest, the context comprising at least one of a subtext and a meaning associated with the one or more segments of interest; identifying a set of candidate emoticons for insertion into the text field based on associations between the candidate emoticons and the context; presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection; receiving an entry ion of one or more candidate emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons; and inserting the selected one or more candidate emoticons into the text field; n the application of the one or more segment identification rules identifies the segment of interest as ately following the t on of the input cursor in the text field.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the context comprises the subtext, and the subtext comprises at least one of a mood and an n for the one or more segments of interest.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the associations are based on statistical usage of the candidate emoticons in the t.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the statistical usage is based on past usage of the candidate emoticons by at least one of an individual user and a community of users.

19. The system of claim 17, the ions further comprising updating the statistical usage according to the entry selection of the one or more candidate emoticons.

20. The system of claim 15, n identifying the set of candidate emoticons ses: determining a strength of an ation n an emoticon and the context, based on statistical usage of the candidate emoticon in the context; and adding the emoticon to the set of candidate emoticons when the strength of the association exceeds a threshold.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons comprises accessing at least one data store ed from the group consisting of a local data store, a remote data store, and combinations thereof.

22. The system of claim 21, the operations further comprising storing, in the at least one data store, at least one of previously suggested emoticons and emoticons previously ed by a user.

23. The system of claim 21, wherein the at least one data store stores information selected from the group consisting of user-customized emoticons, a user's favorite emoticons, a user's preferred emoticons, associations between emoticons and contexts, user preferences with respect to identifying and suggesting emoticons, user-related information, and recipient-related information.

24. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of ate emoticons comprises at least one emoticon selected from the group consisting of a character emoticon, a graphical on, a graphically animated emoticon, and an emoticon accompanied by sound.

25. The system of claim 15, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons comprises utilizing at least one of a user preference, user-related information, and recipient-related information.

26. The system of claim 15, n presenting the set of candidate emoticons comprises at least one of (i) displaying the set of candidate emoticons at the input cursor and (ii) displaying the set of candidate emoticons in an een keyboard.

27. The system of claim 15, wherein ing the selected one or more candidate emoticons into the text field comprises replacing at least one segment with the selected one or more candidate emoticons.

28. The system of claim 15, n inserting the selected one or more emoticons into the text field comprises inserting the selected one or more emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor.

29. A computer program product stored in one or more non-transitory e devices for controlling a processing mode of a data processing tus, the computer program product being executable by the data processing apparatus to cause the data processing apparatus to perform operations comprising: identifying one or more segments of interest selected ve to a current position of an input cursor in a text field based on application of one or more t identification rules, the one or more segments of interest comprising at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a sentence, a phrase, and a passage; performing a semantic analysis to determine a context of the one or more segments of interest, the t comprising at least one of a subtext and a meaning associated with the one or more segments of interest; identifying a set of candidate emoticons for ion into the text field based on associations between the candidate emoticons and the context; presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry ion; receiving an entry selection of one or more ate emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons; and inserting the ed one or more candidate emoticons into the text field; wherein the application of the one or more segment identification rules identifies the segment of interest as immediately following the current position of the input cursor in the text field.

30. The computer program product of claim 29, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons comprises: determining a strength of an association between an emoticon and the context, based on statistical usage of the candidate emoticon in the context; and adding the on to the set of candidate emoticons when the strength of the association exceeds a threshold.