Patent ID: 7203648

Claim:
A method of delivering a multi-media message to a recipient, the multi-media message being created by a sender for delivery by an animated entity, the method comprising: recording an audio message from the sender; after recording the audio message from the sender, converting the audio message to a text message and presenting the text message to the sender; inserting at least one emoticon into the text message; receiving a choice of one of a plurality of animated entities to deliver the message; conforming the audio message to movements associated with the animated entity to create a multi-media message; and delivering the multi-media message to the recipient with the animated entity speaking the recorded audio message from the sender, wherein: when the animated entity delivers the multi-media message corresponding to the text message, the animated entity exhibits actions associated with a respective one of the at least one emoticon beginning at a point corresponding to a first predetermined amount of time before the respective one of the at least one emoticon and ending at a second point corresponding to a second predetermined amount of time after the respective one of the at least one emoticon, and the first predetermined amount of time and the second predetermined amount of time are defined based, at least partly, on words surrounding the respective one of the at least one emoticon.