Method for expressing emotion in a text message

Abstract

In one embodiment of the present invention, while composing a textual message, a portion of the textual message is dynamically indicated as having heightened emotional value. In one embodiment, this is indicated by depressing a key on a keyboard for a period longer than a typical debounce interval. While the key remains depressed, a plurality of text parameters for the character associated with the depressed key are accessed and one of the text parameters is chosen. Animation processing is then performed upon the textual message and the indicated portion of the textual message is visually emphasized in the animated text message.

Description

RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This Application is a Divisional of, claims the benefit of, and priority to co-pending, commonly-owned U.S. patent application with Attorney Docket No. SONY-50R4879.02, Ser. No. 10 / 266,544, filed on Oct. 7, 2002, by Ryutaro Sakai, and titled “A METHOD FOR EXPRESSING EMOTION IN A TEXT MESSAGE,” which claims priority to and benefit of USPTO provisional application No. 60 / 340,471 filed Dec. 12, 2001, entitled “DYNAMIC AND EMOTIONAL MOTION TEXT WITH VOICE RECOGNITION, PRESSURE-SENSITIVE KEYBOARD INPUT” by Ryutaro Sakai, Attorney Docket No. 50R4879, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60 / 353,863, filed Jan. 31, 2002 entitled “DYNAMIC AND EMOTIONAL MOTION TEXT WITH VOICE RECOGNITION / PRESSURE SENSITIVE KEYBOARD INPUT” by Ryutaro Sakai, Attorney Docket No. 50R4879.01, assigned to the assignee of the present invention, and claims priority to and benefit of U.S. Provisional Applicat...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]Embodiments of the present invention provide a method for expressing emotions in a computer readable text message. Furthermore, embodiments of the present invention facilitate dynamically indicating emotions while composing a text message. Therefore, a user does not, for example, have to interrupt their typing in order to indicate emphasis or emotion in their message. Additionally, embodiments of the present invention facilitate providing various degrees of emphasis in the text message to express various levels of emotional intensity.

Problems solved by technology

However, many users find it ineffective at conveying emotion and emphasis, which are important components of personal communication.

While this is adequate for conveying information, it is not as effective as human speech in conveying emphasis or emotion.

In particular, the uniform appearance cannot convey certain nuances which might be apparent in personal interactions such as irony or sarcasm which rely upon voice pitch and inflection to indicate emphasis and emotion.

However, many users find it inconvenient to interrupt their typing in order to access pull down menus and menu commands using a mouse.

Therefore, many users decline to indicate emotion or emphasis in their personal communications.

However, there are no standard definitions for emoticons and therefore, the possibility for mis-interpreting the writer's intent remains.

Furthermore, the emoticons are static characters and are still limited in indicating the intensity or magnitude of the emphasis they are meant to convey.

However, it has proven difficult to realize an acceptable level of performance in recognizing the spoken command and deriving the content of that message.

Therefore, voice to text messages are similarly ineffective in conveying emotion and emphasis to the recipient.

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