Systems and Methods for Identifying and Suggesting Emoticons

Abstract

Various embodiments provide a method that 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 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 cursor.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION(S)[0001]The invention(s) described herein generally relate to emoticons. More particularly, 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[0002]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., electronic bulletin board), were meant to convey the author's mood or to convey / enhance the overall sentiment of the message or the posting. 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 characters (hereafter, “character emoticons”) expanded to conveying meanings and messages.[0003]Eventually,...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The patent describes a system and method for identifying and suggesting emoticons in text conversations. This can be used in various applications such as instant messaging, online chats, and blogging. The system analyzes segments of text to determine their meaning and suggests relevant emoticons for use in the text. The system can also update statistical usage of emoticons based on user preferences or other information. The technical effect of this invention is to improve the efficiency and accuracy of emoticon suggestion in text conversations.

Problems solved by technology

In beginning, these emoticons were limited to expressing moods, such as happiness, anger, sadness, and indifference.

Unfortunately, with the emergence of graphical emoticons, the number of emoticons a user can choose from has grown vastly.

Due to the expansion 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.

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