NZ713913B2

NZ713913B2 - Systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons

Info

Publication number: NZ713913B2
Application number: NZ713913A
Authority: NZ
Inventors: Gabriel Leydon
Original assignee: Mz Ip Holdings Llc
Priority date: 2011-12-19
Filing date: 2012-12-19
Publication date: 2016-07-01

Abstract

Disclosed is a method for text inputting. The method comprises receiving a set of segments (514) from a text field (504) and analysing the set of segments (514) to determine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments (514). The set of segments (514) comprises one or more segments (514) of interest selected relative to a current position of an input cursor (516) in the text field (504). The method further includes identifying a set of candidate emoticons (506), presenting the set of candidate emoticons (506) for entry selection at the current position of the input cursor (516) in a priority order based on a respective strength of the association between each emoticon in the set and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. Each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons (506) has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning, and the set of candidate emoticons (506) comprises one or more candidate emoticons (506). When an entry selection for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons (506) is received the set of selected emoticons is inserted into the text field (504) at the current position of the input cursor (516). 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 (516) in the text field (504). rises one or more segments (514) of interest selected relative to a current position of an input cursor (516) in the text field (504). The method further includes identifying a set of candidate emoticons (506), presenting the set of candidate emoticons (506) for entry selection at the current position of the input cursor (516) in a priority order based on a respective strength of the association between each emoticon in the set and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning. Each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons (506) has an association between the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning, and the set of candidate emoticons (506) comprises one or more candidate emoticons (506). When an entry selection for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons (506) is received the set of selected emoticons is inserted into the text field (504) at the current position of the input cursor (516). 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 (516) in the text field (504).

Description

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

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

These original emoticons, once placed in an electronic message or an electronic posting by an author (e.g., onic bulletin board), were meant to convey the 's mood or to convey/enhance the l sentiment of the message or the g. In beginning, these emoticons were limited to expressing moods, such as happiness, anger, sadness, and indifference. Gradually, however, the use of these character—based emoticons ters (hereafter, “character emoticons”) expanded to conveying 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 r number of moods, meanings and messages not once possible with ter emoticons alone. Both character and graphical emoticons are now available for use through a y of digital devices (e. g., mobile telecommunication devices, and s), and are used in a variety of computing activities, especially with t to the Internet. For example, graphical ons are commonly available for use when drafting personal emails, when posting messages on the Internet (e.g., on social networking site or a web forum), and when messaging between mobile devices. Generally, as a user performs a computing activity applicable to emoticons, the user may access emoticons through a menu or library from which they can browse and select emoticons for use in the computing activity.

Unfortunately, with the emergence of cal emoticons, 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 expansion in , 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 s embodiments discussed herein provide systems and methods for identifying and suggesting emoticons for segments of texts. Some systems and s may be utilized during a user activity on a computing device including, without limitation, instant ing, ipating 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 ts 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 emoticons 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 emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons, and inserting the set of selected emoticons into the text ﬁeld at the current position of the input . The set of segments may comprise one or more segments of interest ed relative to a current position of an input cursor in the text ﬁeld, the set of ate emoticons may comprise one or more candidate emoticons, and the set of selected emoticons may comprise one or more selected ons. ing on the embodiment, analyzing the set of ts may comprise semantic analysis of the set of segments.

For some embodiments, each association 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 updating the statistical usage of the candidate emoticons based on the entry selection for the set of ed 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 selection may involve displaying the emoticon, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor. Presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection may comprise 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. ing 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 proximity to the text ﬁeld.

In some embodiments, the method may further comprise identifying the set of segments using syntactical analysis. 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 follows a current position of an input cursor.

In particular embodiments, identifying the set of ate 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 e a recipient's relation to a user, a recipient interest, a recipient ethnicity, a recipient on, a recipient geographic location, a recipient age, a recipient relational status, and a recipient occupation.

An exemplary system comprises a processor, a display module, an input module, segment is/module, an emoticon 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 segments entered into the text ﬁeld.

The input module may be conﬁgured to receive segment 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 ses one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of the input cursor in the text ﬁeld. The segment analysis module may be further conﬁgured to use the processor to e 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, n each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons has an association n 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 tion module may be conﬁgured to present the set of candidate emoticons h the display module for entry ion at the current position of the input cursor. The on ion module may be conﬁgured to receive from the input module an entry selection for a set of selected 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 red 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 capable of entry into the text ﬁeld, and wherein the on search module is further conﬁgured to identify a set of candidate emoticons on the emoticon datastore.

In various embodiments, each association may se 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 r conﬁgured to update the statistical usage of the candidate emoticons based on the entry selection for the set of selected emoticons.

In some ments, presenting the set of ons through the display module for entry selection may comprise displaying the emoticon, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor. The input module may comprise a physical input device or a virtual input device, wherein the physical input device and the virtual input interface are conﬁgured to execute the entry selection.

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

Brief ption of the Drawings Various embodiments are described in detail with nce to the following ﬁgures.

The drawings are provided for purposes of illustration only and merely depict some example embodiments. These drawings are provided to facilitate the reader’s understanding of the various embodiments and shall not be considered limiting of the h, scope, or applicability of embodiments. depicts an example of an nment in which various embodiments may be utilized. is a block diagram of an exemplary emoticon 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 ary emoticon suggesting system using a client- server architecture in accordance with some embodiments. depicts a user interface of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an ment. s a user-interface of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. is a block diagram of an exemplary digital device.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments A number of ments described herein relate to systems and methods that identify and suggest ons during a variety of activities on a computing device involving typing characters into a text ﬁeld. Various systems and methods may identify the emoticon by analyzing a t of segments present in the text ﬁeld and identifying one or more ate ons 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 emoticon suggestion(s) entirely, and continue with their activities on the computing . 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 e.

Depending on the embodiment, analysis of the context of segments present in the text ﬁeld may involve determining a subtext or a g relating to those segments, which may e semantic analysis of those segments. Also, as described herein, the association between a particular candidate emoticon and a particular subtext or meaning may be based on (past) statistical 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 meaning (e. g., user’s selection of suggested ons 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., ed usage of certain emoticons in postings on a social network by a community of users). depicts an example of an environment 100 in which various embodiments may be utilized. The environment 100 comprises a tablet computing device 104, a local emoticon datastore 102 coupled to the tablet ing device 104, a hone computing device 108, a local emoticon datastore 106 coupled to the smartphone computing device 108, a desktop ing device 112, a local emoticon datastore 114 coupled to the desktop ing device 112, an emoticon 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 ing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, the desktop computing device 112, and the emoticon suggestion server 116 communicate.

The tablet computing device 104, the smartphone computing device 108, the desktop computing device 112, and the emoticon suggestion server 116 are examples of digital devices having a processor and memory. Other exemplary l devices with which various embodiments may be utilized include laptops, netbooks, oks, media devices, music s personal l assistants (PDAs), or the like. Exemplary digital s 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 exemplary digital devices that utilize systems and methods for identifying and ting 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 posting a message on a website forum through such computing devices. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other digital devices could be utilized in conjunction with various embodiments described herein.

In some embodiments, 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 on suggestion server 116 may determine the t of a segment, may identify one or more candidate emoticons based on a determined context, may suggest one or more candidate emoticons to a digital , or may perform some combination thereof. For s embodiments, the emoticon suggestion server 116 may be a service operating on a server that hosts an Internet 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 e 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 on suggestion server 116 (i.e., that is being ed emoticon suggestions by the emoticon suggestion server 116).

Depending on the ment, various operations and components for identifying and suggesting an emoticon may be isolated to the digital device that es 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 entering an emoticon when drafting an e—mail on the smartphone computing device 108 may be entirely embedded in an e— mail application that is stored and operated on the smartphone computing device 108. In an ative 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 utilize the tablet computing device 104 to determine the context of the message as currently prepared, utilize the emoticon suggestion server 116 to identify 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 emoticon datastore 118 during the identiﬁcation and suggestion of emoticons to digital s. For certain embodiments, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a y of emoticons available for suggestion by the emoticon suggestion server 116, and ations between emoticons in the library 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 t. In another example, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may comprise a library of “San Francisco” ons, and associations n the “San Francisco” emoticons and contexts that explicitly or implicitly refers to the city of San Francisco. For some embodiments, the remote emoticon datastore 1 18 may comprise two or more associations between a given emoticon and a given t (e.g., subtext or meaning). 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” emoticons and a displeased t.

Those skilled 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 datastore 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 cted access (e. g., based on a premium, or only accessible to certain ), user-customized or ploaded emoticons, or emoticons that are user favorites. In addition to character and graphical emoticons that convey a mood or emotion from an author, emoticons used in s embodiments may include those that relate to interests, hobbies, geographic locations, events, ys, seasons, weather, and the like. Emoticons stored on the emoticon suggestion datastore 118 may include character emoticons, graphical emoticons, graphically ed emoticons, and ons 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 e, the remote emoticon datastore 118 may store a user preference that causes an embodiment to suggest user-deﬁned or user-uploaded emoticons before suggesting emoticons generally available to any user. In another e, the remote emoticon datastore 1 18 may store a user ence 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.

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 e of storing user-customized emoticons, a user's favorite or preferred emoticons, ations between 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 recipient—related ation. 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 on datastore 114.

Additionally, each of the local emoticon datastores 102, 106, and 114 may be utilized by their respective computing device to y cache previously suggested ons or suggested emoticons previously selected by a user. In doing so, some embodiments can repeatedly suggest the same ons for a commonly occurring contexts while limiting the number of times the emoticon suggestions server 116 is d 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 emoticon item in the cache has expired, some embodiments resume querying the emoticon suggestion server 116 for suggested ons. is a block diagram of an exemplary emoticon suggestion system 200 in accordance with some embodiments. The on suggestion system 200 may comprise a display module 202, an input module 204, a segment analysis module 206, an emoticon search module 208, an emoticon tion module 210, an emoticon selection module 212, and an emoticon datastore 214. In some embodiments, the emoticon suggestion system 200 may further comprise memory and at least one processor, which facilitate operation of various modules contained in the emoticon tion system 200.

The y 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 cal emoticons using the input module 204. lly, as segments and emoticons are entered into the input ﬁeld they appear in the input ﬁeld. As noted , a “segment” may comprise one or more characters that represent a word, a phrase, a ce 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 ments may suggest emoticons based on the current position of the input cursor within the input ﬁeld, the present segment content of the input, elated information, recipient—related information, user preferences, or some combination thereof. 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 candidate emoticons at or near the current position 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 tor) that may be responsible for displaying all graphical output from the digital device. In some embodiments, the y 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 digital device (e.g., e—mail client, or an instant messaging application), or may be a graphical representation of a document le or editable through an ation 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 embodiment 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 ions for emoticons suggested, in accordance with various ments. Generally, 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 l device. es of physical input devices can include, without limitation, rds, trackpads or computer mice. In some embodiments, the input module may comprise a l 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 y module 202. In various embodiments, as virtual input devices are employed, such virtual input devices may be displayed at or near the input ﬁeld to which ts will be inputted.

As further bed 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 red to y suggested emoticons through the physical keyboard. For some embodiments, the physical keyboard may display suggested emoticons by way of keys or buttons that comprise embedded displays (e.g., LCD buttons), or by way of a display embedded on a surface of the physical keyboard (e.g., at the top of the keyboard). Depending on the embodiment, the suggested emoticons may be displayed through the physical keyboard in color or in grayscale. As the suggested ons are displayed through the physical keyboard, the user may select one or more of those suggested emoticons through keys or buttons of the al keyboard.

In another example, where the input module 204 comprises an on-screen keyboard (like those found on some tablet computing device and smartphone ing devices), the the suggested emoticons appearance of the on—screen keyboard may be reconﬁgured to display through the een keyboard. 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 een keyboard is augmented with additional suggested emoticon 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 206 may analyze one or more segments present in the input ﬁeld and ine a context for the ts analyzed. As described , the context determined by the segment analysis module 206 may be subsequently utilized when identifying candidate emoticons to be suggested to the user. In various embodiments, the t analysis module 206 may analyze only segments of interest from the input ﬁeld when determining the context of segments in the input ﬁeld.

In some embodiments, the segment analysis module 206 ﬁrst identiﬁes segments of interest in the input ﬁeld, and then analyzes those segments of interest to determine a context.

Generally, the segments of interest are identiﬁed in relation to a current position of an input cursor in the input ﬁeld. Additionally for some embodiments, the segment analysis module 206 may perform syntactical analysis of the segments currently present in the input ﬁeld when identifying segments of interest.

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 identiﬁcation process. An ary rule for identifying segments of interest include fying the sentence fragment or ce immediately preceding the current position of the input cursor in the input ﬁeld as a segment of st. Another exemplary rule for identifying ts of interest may include identifying the sentence fragment or ce immediately ing the current position of the 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 t analysis module 206 to determine the segments of interest.

Where more than one segment of interest is identiﬁed, the segment analysis module 206 may analyze the context of each of the segments of interest, or may analyze the context of all but the least ant segments of interest (e. g., based on a weight , where certain segments of interest are of higher importance than others). In addition, one or more rules may determine which of the segments of interests should be analyzed when two or more segments of interest are ﬁed.

The segment analysis module 206 may determine two or more contexts from the segments of interest. In such cases, the emoticon suggestion system 200 may search for candidate emoticons associated with all of the 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 t of one or more ts of interest, the segment analysis module 206 may ically analyze the segments of interest t 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 identify a mood or an emotion for that t of st. Example subtexts for segments of interest may e, without limitation, happiness, sadness, indifference, anger, resentment, contrition, or excitement. The meaning for segments of the interest may identify an explicit meaning for segments of interest. For example, where a segment of interest 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 embodiments, the segment analysis module 206 may identify and analyze segments of interest in at or near ime as the user adds characters or emoticons to or removes ters or emoticons from the input ﬁeld using the input module 204.

The emoticon search module 208 may search for one or more candidate ons based on an identiﬁed context (e.g., subtext or meaning) of a segment of interest. In some embodiments, the on 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 on datastore 214 may comprise on 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 strength of the association between 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 between that given emoticon and that given context. For some embodiments, the strength of the association between an emoticon and a context may indicate the conﬁdence in ting the emoticon for that context. The strength of the association 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 strength of the association between the emoticon and the t. 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 ate emoticon when the strength of the association between the emoticon and the target context meets or exceeds a old relative to other, potential candidate emoticons.

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

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

The emoticon suggestion 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 ons to the user for selection. As noted , 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 tion 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 virtual input device.

The emoticon selection module 212 may e 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 emoticons 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 emoticons 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. onally, some embodiments may enable the user to set the emoticon selection module 212 (e.g., using a user preference) such that the module 212 elects suggested emoticons based on certain ines. For instance, the user may conﬁgure the emoticon selection module 212 such that the ﬁrst suggested emoticon is ed when an emoticon suggestion is made.

In some embodiments, where ations between emoticons and contexts se statistical usage of such ons with such contexts, the emoticon selection module 212 may update the statistical usage information based on the entry selection received from the user. In particular, the emoticon selection module 212 may e 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 selection module 212 may update the tical usage information on the emoticon datastore 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 emoticon 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 n a given emoticon and a given t (e.g., subtext or meaning). Additionally, the association between a given emoticon and a given context may comprise statistical usage of the given on with the given context. Such statistical usage may reﬂect the strength of the association between the on and the context. ons stored on the emoticon ore 214 may e character emoticons, graphical emoticons, graphically animated emoticons, and emoticons accompanied by sound.

For some embodiments, the emoticon datastore 214 may further comprise user preferences, user information or recipient information, which may be utilized the embodiments when identifying ons 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 suggesting emoticons 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 ted 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 contexts may be stored on the emoticon ore 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 ctions capable of being executable by a processor may perform one or more of the functions of the s described herein. In another example, circuitry may perform 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 s may be combined or divided ently. For example, the functions of various modules may be distributed amongst one or more s 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 t 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 t analysis module 206 may fy segments of interest for context 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 ts 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 determined by the segment analysis module 206. In some embodiments, the emoticon search module 208 may identify one or more candidate emoticons in the emoticon 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 emoticon 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 emoticon suggestion module 210 may t the one or more ate emoticons to a user for entry ion 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 h 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 emoticons to the user for entry selection through one or more input devices of the input module 204. For example, the emoticon suggestion module 210 may t the one or more candidate emoticons to the user through a al input device, such as a physical keyboard having a display, or h 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 ons. For some embodiments, the emoticon selection module 212 may receive the entry selection from the input module 204. Additionally, upon ing the entry selection, the emoticon selection module 212 may update the statistical usage information on the emoticon datastore 214 for the one or more candidate emoticons based on the entry selection, thereby strengthen or weakening the association n the candidate emoticons and ular ts.

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 herein, in some embodiments, entry of the candidate emoticons into the input ﬁeld may involve ing one or more segments in the input ﬁeld with the selected ons. is a block diagram of an exemplary emoticon suggesting system 400 using a client—server ecture in accordance with some ments. The on 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 r 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 suggestion server 420 may be similar to the digital 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 emoticon suggestion client 402, the display module 404 may y an input ﬁeld into which a user can input one or more segments, character emoticons, or cal emoticons 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 ter 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 present segment content of the input, user—related 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 display module 404 may, for the user's selection, display the candidate emoticons at or near the current on of the input cursor in the input ﬁeld. Depending on the embodiment, the display module 404 may y the candidate ons at or near the input ﬁeld via a callout box. h the display module 404, a l device, may display all graphical output from the digital device. In some embodiments, the display module 404 may display the input ﬁeld as part of a graphical user interface (GUI). ing on the embodiment, 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 d 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 ions for emoticons suggested in accordance with various embodiments. Generally, upon selection, 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 device, or a virtual input device, such as an een keyboard, which may be provided to the user through the display module 404. In various embodiments, as virtual input devices are employed, such virtual input devices may be displayed at or near the input ﬁeld to which ts will be inputted.

For some embodiments, ted 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 ments, the physical rd may display suggested emoticons by of a way of keys or buttons that comprise embedded displays (e.g., LCD buttons), or by way display embedded on a surface of the physical keyboard (e.g., at the top of the keyboard). The suggested emoticons may be displayed through the physical 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 al keyboard.

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

The segment analysis module 408 may analyze one or more ts present in the input ﬁeld and determine a context for the ts analyzed. As described herein, the context ined by the t analysis module 408 may be subsequently utilized when identifying candidate emoticons to be suggested to the user. In various embodiments, the segment 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 embodiments, the segment analysis module 408 may perform syntactical analysis of the segments currently present in the input ﬁeld when identifying segments of interest. Additionally, the t 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 interest, the segment analysis module 408 may semantically analyze the segments of st 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 st. the interest may identify a mood or an emotion for that segment of interest. Based on the subtext or meaning identiﬁed for the segments 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 ters or emoticons to or removes characters or emoticons from the input ﬁeld using the input module 408.

The emoticon search module 410 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 410 may access the local emoticon datastore 412 when searching for one or more candidate ons that are ated with one or more particular contexts.

Depending on the embodiment, the local emoticon datastore 412 may store user— customized emoticons, a user's te or preferred emoticons, associations between emoticons stored on the local emoticon and contexts (e. g., subtext or g), user preferences with respect to identifying and suggestion emoticons, elated information, or recipient—related information. Additionally, local emoticon datastore 412 may be utilized to locally cache usly 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 provide candidate emoticons to the emoticon suggestion client 402. For e, the emoticon tion server 420 may search for candidate emoticons on the remote on datastore 424 and provide resulting candidate emoticons to the on search module 410 on the emoticon suggestion client 402. The on 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 emoticons available for suggestion to the emoticon suggestion client 402. The remote emoticon ore 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. lly, such statistical usage may reﬂect the strength of the association between the emoticon and the context.

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 ore 424 may further comprise user preferences, user information or recipient information, which may be utilized the ments when identifying emoticons suitable for suggestion. Those skilled in the art would appreciate that a variety of emoticon libraries and a variety of ation between emoticons and ts can be stored on the remote emoticon datastore 424.

The emoticon suggestion module 414 may receive the one or more candidate emoticons located based on an ﬁed 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 tion module 414 may use the display module 414 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 , in various embodiments, the emoticon suggestion module 414 may use the input module 406 to display for entry ion 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 ate emoticons ted to the user. In particular embodiments, 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 selection 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 ing segments or segments of interest within the input ﬁeld with the one or more selected emoticons. Some embodiments may enable the user to set the emoticon selection module 416 (e.g., using a user preference) such that the module 416 auto—selects suggested emoticons based on n guidelines. For instance, the user may conﬁgure the emoticon selection module 416 such that the ﬁrst suggested emoticon is selected when an emoticon suggestion is made.

In some embodiments, where associations between ons 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 selection received 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 selection module 416 may update the statistical usage information on the local emoticon ore 412 or on the remote emoticon ore 424. For example, if the one or more candidate emoticons selected through the emoticon selection module 416 were provided from the emoticon tion server 420, the statistical usage information for those candidate emoticons will be updated on the remote emoticon datastore 424. In another example, if the one or more candidate emoticons selected h the emoticon selection module 416 were provided from the local emoticon datastore 412, the statistical usage information for those candidate ons will be updated on the locate emoticon ore 412. depicts a user-interface 500 of a ing application, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. In some embodiments, a user may utilize the user interface 500 to receive and review messages received from other users over online chat, and to compose and transmit messages 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 t messaging system may operate on r digital device such as a server, where the messaging application interfaces with the instant messaging . Depending on the embodiment, the messaging application 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 ace 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 comprise messages submitted to the online chat. As such, the conversation pane 502 may e messages ted 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 e into the e input ﬁeld 504 and press the send button to submit the e to the online chat.

The e input ﬁeld 504 may comprise and may be conﬁgured to e a ﬁeld 504 message prepared by the user for submission. to the online chat. The message input may receive one or more segments from the user, or may receive one or more entered in accordance with some embodiments. The message 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 on 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 embodiment’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 association between the “smiley face” cal 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 y face” graphical emoticon 510 into the message input ﬁeld 504.

Likewise, 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 callout box 508 positioned at or near the current position of the input cursor 516. Based on analysis of the segment of interest 514, which s “your city,” the embodiment may suggest the graphical emoticons 506, which relate to cities. depicts a nterface 600 of a messaging application, where the messaging application utilizes an embodiment. Like in a user may utilize the user interface 600 to receive and review messages received from other users over online chat, and to compose and transmit messages 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 operate on another digital device such as a server, where the messaging ation aces with the instant messaging system. Depending on the embodiment, the ing application may operate on a digital device as a standalone application, or as an applet, plug—in, or script operating through a web browser.

The user ace 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 conversation 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. cally, the user the on-screen rd 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 message 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 segments from the user h receive one or more emoticons as selected through the on-screen keyboard 606. The e input ﬁeld 604 may further comprise an input cursor 610.

The on—screen rd 606 may se a QWERTY keyboard, a button 624 to hide the on-screen 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 ons 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 ble for entry selection through the emoticon menu 622.

As the user prepares a message in the e input ﬁeld 604, various embodiments of the input cursor 610. For instance, may suggest emoticons for entry at the current on ﬁeld 604, the as the user writes “I never would have thought the football” in the message input ment may suggest a “football” graphical emoticon 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 interest 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 ity of “ﬁeld goal” graphical emoticons based on the context is of the segment of interest 608. In particular, the embodiment may t the “ﬁeld goal” cal emoticons for entry selection by displaying 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 interface 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 comprises circuitry or any sor capable of processing the executable instructions.

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

The storage system 706 is any non—transitory storage conﬁgured to retrieve and store data. Some es of the storage system 706 are ﬂash , hard drives, optical 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 ctions or programs that are executable by a computer processor including the processor 702.

The communication network interface (com. network interface) 708 can be coupled network to a k (e.g., communication network 110) via the link 716. The communication ace 708 may support communication over an Ethernet tion, 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 interface 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 y. In one example, the display interface 712 is a graphics adapter. It will be iated 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 depicted in A digital device 700 may comprise more or less hardware elements 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- processor located on a GPU (Le., Nvidia).

The above-described ons and components can be comprised of instructions that are stored on a storage medium such as a computer readable . The instructions can be retrieved and executed 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 instructions are operational when executed by the Those processor to direct the processor to operate in accordance with some embodiments. skilled in the art are familiar with instructions, sor(s), and storage .

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 r scope of the present invention(s). ore, these and other variations upon the ary embodiments are intended to be covered by the present invention(s).

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising: identifying a set of segments from a text field, wherein the set of segments comprises one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of an input cursor in the text field based on application of one or more segment fication rules; analyzing the set of segments to determine at least one of a target t or a target meaning ated with the set of segments; identifying a set of candidate emoticons, wherein each candidate emoticon in the set of candidate emoticons has an association n the candidate emoticon and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning, and wherein the set of candidate emoticons comprises one or more candidate emoticons; presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection at the current position of the input cursor in a priority order based on a respective strength of the association between each emoticon in the set and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning; receiving an entry ion for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate emoticons, wherein the set of selected emoticons comprises one or more selected emoticons; and inserting the set of selected ons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor; 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.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each association comprises a tical usage of the candidate emoticon with at least one of the target subtext or the target g.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the statistical usage is based on usage by a single user or by a plurality of users.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising updating the tical usage of the candidate ons based on the entry selection for the set of selected emoticons.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein analyzing the set of segments comprises semantic analysis of the set of segments.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the set of emoticons for entry selection comprises displaying the emoticon, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein presenting the set of candidate emoticons for entry selection comprises displaying the set of candidate emoticons, for entry selection, on a physical input device or a virtual input device, wherein the physical input device and the yed input interface are configured to execute the entry ion.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the virtual input device is yed in close proximity to the text field.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein each segment of interest comprises at least one of a word, a sentence fragment, a ce, a phrase, or a passage that precedes or follows the current position of the input cursor.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying the set of candidate emoticons is further based on at least a user preference, a user-related ation, or a recipient-related information.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the user-related information includes a user interest, a user ethnicity, a user religion, a user geographic location, a user age, a user relational status, and a user occupation.

12. The method of claim 10, n the recipient-related information es a recipient's relation to a user, a ent interest, a recipient ethnicity, a ent religion, a recipient geographic location, a recipient age, a recipient relational status, and a recipient occupation.

13. A system, comprising: a processor; a display module configured to y a text field and one or more segments entered into the text field; an input module configured to receive segment input from a user and to enter the segment input into the text field at an input cursor; a segment analysis module configured to: identify a set of segments from the text field, wherein the set of segments ses one or more segments of interest selected relative to a current position of the input cursor in the text field based on application of one or more segment identification rules, and use the processor to analyze the set of segments to ine at least one of a target subtext or a target meaning associated with the set of segments; an emoticon search module 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 meaning, and wherein the set of ate emoticons comprises one or more candidate emoticons; an emoticon suggestion module configured to t the set of candidate emoticons in a priority order based on a tive strength of the association between each emoticon in the set and at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning h the display module for entry selection at the t position of the input cursor; and an emoticon selection module configured to: receive from the input module an entry selection for a set of selected emoticons from the set of candidate ons, wherein the set of selected emoticons comprises one or more selected ons, and insert the set of selected emoticons into the text field at the current position of the input cursor; wherein the ation 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.

14. The system of claim 13, further comprising an emoticon datastore comprising one or more emoticons capable of entry into the text field, and wherein the emoticon search module is r configured to identify the set of candidate emoticons on the emoticon datastore.

15. The system of claim 13, wherein each association comprises a statistical usage of the candidate emoticon with at least one of the target subtext or the target meaning.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the statistical usage is based on usage by a single user or by a plurality of users.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the emoticon selection module is r configured to update the statistical usage of the candidate emoticons based on the entry selection for the set of selected emoticons.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein analyzing the set of segments comprises ic analysis of the set of segments.

19. The system of claim 13, n ting the set of emoticons through the y module for entry selection comprises displaying the emoticon, for entry selection, at or near the current position of the input cursor.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein presenting the set of candidate emoticons through the display module for entry selection comprises displaying the set of candidate ons, for entry selection, through the input module.