US Patent 7167731 Emoticon input method and apparatus

An apparatus, such as a communication device, is provided with emoticon input logic associated with an input key to improve the ease-of-use of the apparatus for entering emoticons, e.g. into a text message, while the apparatus is operating e.g. in a text mode. Responsive to a selection of the associated input key, one or more emoticons are displayed for selection. A user may “scroll” through the one or more displayed emoticons to “select” an emoticon. In one embodiment, current focus is place on one of the displayed emoticons, and the emoticon with the current focus is automatically selected upon elapse of a predetermined amount of time after the current focus was placed.