Emoticon keyboard

A keyboard system for interfacing with an information processing system, comprising:

• a keyboard including keys representing abbreviations;
• a keyboard processor in the keyboard, wherein the keyboard processor produces an enhanced scan code when a key representing an abbreviation is pressed in the keyboard;
• a keyboard driver on a computer system for interfacing with the keyboard, wherein he keyboard driver receives the enhanced scan code and determines at least one character that corresponds to the enhanced scan code;
• and
• an application on the computer system for interfacing with the keyboard driver, wherein the application receives the at least one character determined by the keyboard driver and displays an image corresponding to the at least one character.

A keyboard system for Interfacing with an information processing system, comprising:

• a keyboard attachment including keys representing emoticons;
• a keyboard processor in the keyboard attachment, wherein the keyboard processor produces an enhanced scan code when a key representing an emoticon is pressed in the keyboard attachment;
• a keyboard driver on a computer system for interfacing with the keyboard attachment, wherein the keyboard driver receives the enhanced scan code and determines at least one character that corresponds to the enhanced scan code;
• and
• an application on the computer system for interfacing with the keyboard driver, wherein the application receives the at least one character by the keyboard driver and displays an image corresponding to the at least one character.

A keyboard system for interfacing with an information processing system, comprising:

• a keyboard attachment including keys representing abbreviations;
• a keyboard processor in the keyboard attachment, wherein the keyboard processor produces an enhanced scan code when a key representing an abbreviation is pressed in the keyboard attachment;
• a keyboard driver on a computer system for interfacing with the keyboard attachment, wherein the keyboard driver receives the enhanced scan code and determines at least one character that corresponds to the enhanced scan code;
• and
• an application on the computer system for interfacing with the keyboard driver, wherein the application receives the at least one character determined by the keyboard driver and displays an image corresponding to the at least one character.

A method for interfacing a keyboard with an information Processing system, the method comprising:

• determining, on a keyboard processor in a keyboard, which key representing an emoticon in the keyboard has been pressed;
• producing, on the keyboard processor, an enhanced scan code corresponding to a key representing an emoticon in the keyboard, wherein the key representing an emoticon has been pressed;
• receiving, by a keyboard driver on a computer system, the enhanced scan code;
• determining, by the keyboard driver, at least one character that corresponds to the enhanced scan code;
• receiving, by an application on the computer system, the at least one character determined by the keyboard driver;
• and
• displaying an image corresponding to the at least one character received.

A method for interfacing a keyboard attachment with an information processing system, the method comprising:

• determining, on a keyboard processor in a keyboard attachment, which key representing an emoticon in the keyboard attachment has been pressed;
• producing, on the keyboard processor, an enhanced scan code corresponding to a key representing an emoticon in the keyboard attachment, wherein the key representing an emoticon has been pressed;
• receiving, by a keyboard driver on a computer system, the enhanced scan code;
• determining, by the keyboard driver, at least one character that corresponds to the enhanced scan code;
• receiving, by an application on the computer system, the at least one character determined by the keyboard driver;
• and
• displaying an image corresponding to the at least one character received.