EP2443813A1

EP2443813A1 - Emotional speech bubbles

Info

Publication number: EP2443813A1
Application number: EP10725660A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Peter Respondek; Dirk Schrod; Tobias Zelmer; Hans Finckh
Original assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
Current assignee: Deutsche Telekom AG
Priority date: 2009-06-15
Filing date: 2010-06-07
Publication date: 2012-04-25
Also published as: WO2010145957A1; DE102009025306A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for the visual illustration of information, particularly a text message, on the display screen (3) of a terminal device (1), wherein a sender generates the message, which is then electronically transmitted via a telecommunication system to the terminal device (1) of a recipient. At least part of the transmitted and illustrated message is surrounded by a likewise illustrated border (4), wherein the design of the border (4) can be determined by the sender, directly and/or indirectly.

Description

Emotional speech bubbles

The present invention relates to a method for the visual presentation of information, in particular a text message, on the screen of a terminal, wherein a sender generates the information and electronically transmitted via a telecommunication system to the terminal of an addressee, wherein at least a part of the transmitted to the addressee and on the terminal device shown information is surrounded by a border also shown. The present invention also relates to a terminal, in particular for carrying out a method, wherein the terminal has input means, such as a keyboard, for inputting text messages.

Modern terminals, such as mobile phones or portable computers, offer a variety of ways to exchange information, in particular in the form of text messages between a sender and an addressee via a telecommunications network, such as a telephone network and / or the Internet. For example, services such as e-mail, SMS (short message service) or multimedia message service (MMS) can be used to communicate via text message. The peculiarity of these services is that they allow a spontaneous dialogue between the participants, which may also involve other people in the sense of a conversation in real time ("chat").

In order to make such a dialog readable, even if a large number of text messages are exchanged in quick succession, it is known to surround the individual, mostly short utterances with text or speech bubbles and their hint symbols virtually to the appropriate author of the message align. Thus, the hint symbols, which indicate one of the two participants, may be directed to the left edge of the screen while those of the other party are directed to the right edge. In addition, the text bubbles to be assigned to the participants can each have a different color underlined. Such a design makes such a dialogue more readable, but it remains with these simple tools.

The object of the present invention is therefore to improve such methods with a simple possibility of implementation with regard to a greater variety of expressions. Another object is to provide a terminal for implementing the method.

These objects are achieved by a method with the characterizing features of claim 1 and a terminal according to claim 11. Advantageous embodiments and modifications of the invention will become apparent from the respective dependent claims.

According to the main claims is the essential idea of the invention is to give the hitherto known border, which may be formed, for example, as a text bubble, a special design in order to further (background)! In this case, the special design of the border can be carried out automatically and thus indirectly specified by the sender insofar as the design results from the analysis of a behavior of the sender, in particular from the analysis of his message. Such an automatism can also be realized only on the terminal of the receiver, which analyzes an incoming text message for its meaning and then displays it on the screen in a correspondingly designed border The sender can, however, also be given the opportunity to access the border almost directly by appropriate means Make input on your device during or after writing the message.

In particular, the shape and / or the line type are available as design features of the border. Also the background color of the of Border surrounded area can be included as a feature in the particular design.

In a particularly advantageous embodiment of particularly high symbolic value and great attractiveness, the border has the shape of a text bubble, as it is known from the genre of comics. Such text bubbles are provided at one point with an indication symbol, for example a kind of flag, arrow or line, which points to the generating figure, ie to the "speaker" and in the case of the text message to the author. There are a variety of design possibilities of such text bubbles, which can be formed as "spoken" speech bubbles or "thought" thought bubbles, etc. In addition to the hint symbols, the shape and design of the text bubbles can help to identify the speaker, and constrictions in the bubbles can cause pauses in speech Overall, the design of the text bubbles may be based on the content being presented and may be typical of a particular genre.

As is known, such text bubbles offer the possibility of expressing hyperinformation such as emotions or a linguistic presentation. Thus, the shape of the text bubble can characterize the nature and tone of the text. Examples include a roughly jagged outline that indicates anger in expression, while the smooth outline expresses a normal mood. A finely jagged border may indicate helplessness or nervousness. A text bubble with a broken border may indicate quiet speech. As stated, text bubbles can also be colored. Thus red indicates anger, green anger and yellow envy. White bubbles can be used to highlight particularly important places. Even with the typeface, the characters and the formatting mood changes of the speaker can be expressed.

Also, the nature and design of the hint symbols contribute to the transmission of such hyperinformation. For example, "thought bubbles" are interrupted Lines or small circles on. Outwardly opening funnel-shaped hint symbols indicate.

According to the invention, two variants of the procedure are provided: On the one hand, the sender can design his own border directly. On the other hand, it can be specified by an automatism in the manner of a function, whereby of course it can be provided to also manually change such automatic specifications. The design features are automatically selected in the second variant, in particular due to an analysis of the meaning of the text message indirectly.

One way to make the border, especially the text bubble, is that the sender generates it himself with a graphic tool. For example, he can use a stylus to draw on a touch screen screen. In this way a maximum of individuality is guaranteed.

It is easier to choose from existing representations: Thus, it can be provided in both the indirect and the immediate variant that the shape and / or the size of the text bubble from predetermined forms - the sender or the function - are selected. The same applies to the line style of the text bubble, which can be selected from given types and / or strengths. Also for the background color different colors can be offered for selection.

In addition to the border, further design features, in particular meaningful attributes, may be available and selected by the sender or by the function. As such, for example, "contrails" as signs of particular haste or "skid marks" may be used as a sign of slowing down.

In a particular embodiment of the invention, not only the text bubble is specially designed, but also the environment of the text bubble. So it is particularly attractive if on the screen of the addressee an image assigned to the sender, in particular its counterpart, is displayed on the Sentinel of the text bubble points. This image can get the realized on the terminal of the addressee function from the phone book and output at an appropriate location on the screen. This causes a particularly symbolic effect, since the sender is visibly associated with the text message for the recipient. This procedure is not necessarily dependent on the idea according to the invention of designing the border of the text message.

The procedure according to the invention is advantageously implemented by terminals, in particular mobile telephones, which enable written communication between at least two subscribers via a telecommunication system. For this purpose, an input means, in particular a keyboard, is provided on the terminal, with which a text message can be generated. The input means may also be a microphone that receives spoken words, which are converted via a corresponding function into text. According to the invention, a function is implemented on the terminal or a device connected to the terminal, which makes it possible to surround at least a part of the text message with a specially designed border. The function for the design of the border can either fall back on given design features or give the user the opportunity for free design.

Further advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description and the embodiments illustrated in the drawings. Show it:

FIG. 1: a mobile telephone with functionality according to the invention,

FIG. 2: examples of text bubbles,

Figure 3: the functionality of manual input and

Figure 4: the functionality of automatic generation. FIG. 1 shows a terminal in the form of a mobile telephone 1, which in a known manner communicates with other mobile telephones or computers for the exchange of messages via a telecommunication system. In this case, the terminal has as an input means a "QWERTY" - keyboard 2, by means of which the user can generate text messages, which are then displayed on the screen 3.

On the mobile phone 1 is also a function for generating a surrounding at least a part of the text message border - here in the form of text bubbles 4 with hinweisymben 5 - realized, which allows a special design of the text bubbles 4. This function makes it possible to use given design features or to use a free design. While a function for the design of the text bubbles 4 is implemented on the sender's terminal, the recipient's terminal makes use of a function which makes it possible to display on the screen the ragged text messages generated by the sender. This function at the receiver can also be independent of the sender. That is, in the receiving device, boundaries may be generated based on the content of the messages, indicating hyper-information.

In the case of the text bubbles surrounding a text "text", the upper bladder 6 indicates a particularly urgent message with the attribute of the contrail 7. The thought bubble 8 is characterized by its bubbly notation symbols and indicates a certain loss of thought 9, as can be seen from the hint symbol 10 opening to the edge, speaks out of the "off" and can signal a farewell: Such a representation can be made automatically from the word "bye".

In Figure 2, text bubbles are shown indicating a furious 11 with a jagged edge and a nervous 12 sender with a "trembling" edge, which may be generated by a keyword such as "test" or "test." The text bubble 13 is interrupted Rand should signal a soft spoken message. FIGS. 3 and 4 show two embodiments of the functionality according to the invention with reference to a mobile telephone 14 with keyboard 15. In the variant according to FIG. 3, the user gets his text during or after the message 16 has been written in an extra window 17 surround one of the shown and selectable text bubbles. According to FIG. 4, the words of the written text 18 are compared with a database, wherein a representation for the text bubble 19 - here strongly jagged for angry - is proposed on the basis of keywords or phrases. Using the keywords "immediate" or "fast", the attribute can be retrieved for "hurry", while "dream" or "think" a thought bubble or "annoyance" or "makes me angry" produce a heavily jagged and thus anger-signaling text bubble ,

The proposed text bubbles can also be processed manually with a separate function.

Claims

claims

1. A method for visual presentation of information, in particular a text message, on the screen (3) of a terminal (1), wherein a sender generates the information and transmitted electronically via a telecommunications system to the terminal (1) of an addressee, wherein at least a part of the transmitted and displayed information is surrounded by a border (4), likewise shown, because the border (4) has a design which can be predefined indirectly and / or directly by the sender.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the design features and / or the line type of the border (4) and / or the background color of the area surrounded by the border (4) are available.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the border has the shape of a text bubble (4) with a reference symbol (5).

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that the shape and / or size of the text bubble (4), in particular directly by the sender, is selected from predetermined shapes.

5. The method according to claim 3 or 4, characterized in that the line type of the text bubble (4) from the sender of predetermined types and / or strengths, in particular is selected directly by the sender and / or that the background color is selected from different colors, in particular directly from the sender.

6. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the

Design features a hyper-information, in particular an emotion or a linguistic presentation form, is expressed.

7. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that, in addition to the border, further design features, in particular meaningful attributes (7), are available.

8. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the design features are selected automatically, in particular on the basis of an analysis of the meaning of the text message, indirectly.

9. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the design features are selected manually by the sender.

10. Method according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that an image associated with the sender is displayed on the screen (3) of the addressee, pointing to the reference symbol.

11. Terminal in a telecommunication system, in particular for carrying out a method according to one of the above-mentioned claims, wherein the terminal has an input means, in particular a keyboard (2), for the input of text messages, ge nke ze hens a function for generating a in relation to the representation of a text message, individual design of a border (4) surrounding at least part of the text message.

12. Terminal according to claim 11, characterized in that the function for designing the border accesses predetermined design features.

13. Terminal according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that the function for the design of the border gives the user the opportunity for free design.