Controlling sound characteristics of alert tunes that signal receipt of messages responsive to content of the messages

A communication terminal comprising:

• a transceiver that is configured to receive electronic messages from another communication terminal;
• and
• a controller that is configured to respond to receipt of each of the messages by examining content of the message to attempt to match message text to a stored list of words and/or phrases, and to play through a speaker an alert tune have sound characteristics that are controlled in response to an outcome of the matching, wherein the controller is configured to carry out one of increasing and decreasing pitch and/or volume of the played alert tune in response to matching the message text to one or more of the stored words and/or phrases that are known to indicate that a positive emotion is being conveyed in the message text, and to carry out the other one of increasing and decreasing pitch and/or volume of the played alert tune in response to matching the message text to one or more of the stored words and/or phrases that are known to indicative that a negative emotion is being conveyed in the message text.

A method of operating a communication terminal, the method comprising:

• receiving electronic messages from another communication terminal;
• responding to receipt of each of the messages by analyzing an image contained within picture data and/or video data content of the message to determine whether the image contains an object that matches characteristics that have been previously defined in the communication terminal;
• playing through a speaker an alert tune have sound characteristics that are controlled in response to an outcome of the image analysis.