Granted Patent B2

US 8,862,462 · App. 13/315,995 · Granted Oct 14, 2014

Abstract

Claims (36)

1. A vehicle communication system comprising:

at least one communication device operable to audibly communicate information within the vehicle; and

a controller receiving a character string from an external device and operable to determine if said character string represents an emoticon, said controller translating said character string into a face description if said character string represents an emoticon, applying a series of rules to said character string to determine if said emoticon represents a vertical face or a horizontal face, and audibly communicating said face description via said at least one communication device.

2. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , wherein said at least one communication device includes a sound system of the vehicle.

3. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , wherein said controller performs an algorithm on said character string to determine if said character string represents an emoticon.

4. The vehicle communication system of claim 3 , wherein said controller determines said character string is an emoticon if said character string contains zero spaces and either two or more non-alphabetic characters or one or more non-alphabetic characters and two or less alphabetic characters.

5. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , wherein said controller references said character string on a database of emoticons to determine said face description and subsequently applies a series of rules to said character string if said character string does not match an emoticon of said database to determine said face description.

6. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , further comprising a user interface, said controller visually displaying at least one of said character string, said emoticon, and said face description via said user interface.

7. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , wherein said controller differentiates between a left-to-right horizontal face and a right-to-left horizontal face.

8. The vehicle communication system of claim 1 , wherein said controller determines whether said emoticon represents a left-to-right horizontal face or a right-to-left horizontal face based on the order of the characters in said character string.

9. A method comprising:

receiving a character string;

determining by a processor whether said character string represents an emoticon;

performing by said processor a vertical-face algorithm to determine if said character string represents a vertical face;

performing by said processor a horizontal-face algorithm to determine if said character string represents a horizontal face;

translating by said processor said character string into a face description based on the outcome of at least one of said vertical-face algorithm and said horizontal-face algorithm; and

communicating said face description.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein communicating said face description includes at least one of visually and audibly communicating said face description.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein audibly communicating said face description includes audibly communicating said face description via a sound system of a vehicle.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein determining whether said character string represents an emoticon includes determining whether said character string contains zero spaces and either two or more non-alphabetic characters or one or more non-alphabetic characters and two or less alphabetic characters.

13. The method of claim 9 , further comprising referencing by said processor said character string on a database of emoticons to determine said face description prior to performing said vertical-face algorithm and said horizontal-face algorithm.

14. The method of claim 9 , further comprising applying by said processor a series of rules to said character string to determine if said emoticon represents a vertical face or a horizontal face.

15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising differentiating by said processor between a left-to-right horizontal face and a right-to-left horizontal face.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising determining by said processor whether said emoticon represents a left-to-right horizontal face or a right-to-left horizontal face based on the order of the characters in said character string.

17. The method of claim 9 , further comprising communicating non-emoticon portions of said character string.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein communicating said non-emoticon portions of said character string includes at least one of visually and audibly communicating said non-emoticon portions via a vehicle system.

19. A method comprising:

receiving a character string;

determining by a processor whether said character string includes a space;

removing by said processor said space;

splitting by said processor said character string into a first character string and a second character string at said space;

determining by said processor whether either or both of said first character string and said second character string represents an emoticon;

performing by said processor a vertical-face algorithm to determine if either or both of said first character string and said second character string represents a vertical face;

performing by said processor a horizontal-face algorithm to determine if either or both of said first character string and said second character string represents a horizontal face;

translating by said processor at least one of said first character string and said second character string into a face description based on the outcome of at least one of said vertical-face algorithm and said horizontal-face algorithm; and

communicating said face description.

Assignments (8)