Patent ID: 8321518

Claim:
A method of using a communication network, in which a sender can send a message to a recipient, the network including a server for facilitating communication between the sender and the recipient, the method comprising the steps of: receiving an emoticon associated with a sound file at the server; linking the emoticon with the sound file according to a user preferences stored on the server, the user preferences indicating that the sound file is chosen to be linked with the emoticon by the sender, the user preferences periodically updated by the sender, the updating occurring by obtaining different sound files from the server and replacing one or more of a set of default sound files, linked with one or more emoticons, stored in the user preferences; sending the emoticon from the server to the recipient; and determining if the recipient needs the sound file, the sound file forwarded to the recipient from the server when the recipient needs the sound file, the sound file received by the server from the sender when the server does not have the sound file and the recipient needs the sound file, wherein the sound file is played at the recipient when the emoticon is displayed.