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the straightforward, literal way described by Ann above (which I think applies in your context), where it means "as it is customary to do" — when someone smiles at you, it is customary to smaile back.
However, modern usage has introduced a secondary, more ironic meaning (as quoted by Komeil in his discussion post above), where it means the opposite — what one says is "as of course it is customary to do", but what one really means is "this is not actually something that everyone would normally do" — like standing on the balcony in your underwear! I don't think this second usage applies in your case.
But you can see how it is very important to look closely at the context in order to judge whether there is any irony intended or not.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 12 hrs (2010-10-17 08:00:37 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
As M/M has pointed out, there can even be a certain degree of irony in usage #1 — i.e. one does what is customary, even if it is not soncere. So when someone asks how you are, you are expected to answer "very well, thanks!' even if that isn't really the case.
So in your case, the person who smiled back maybe did so just because it was the expected thing to do, even though perhaps the situation meant that they didn't necessarily feel like smiling.
dear Paran
have a look in this definition of As U Do:
As you do
a conversational aside following a reported action, often used ironically when commenting on some unusual behaviour: "I was standing on the balcony in my underwear - as you do - when my neighbour walked by"
I think here it means as u smile which in Persian means مثه خودت /تو
Refers, I think, to the natural reaction of smiling, because someone has smiled at you.
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Answers
4 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): -1
as you do.
as you smiled
Explanation: .
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 4 mins (2010-10-16 19:19:55 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
as you smile
Komeil Zamani Babgohari Iran Local time: 05:41 Specializes in field Native speaker of: Farsi (Persian), Persian (Farsi)
49 mins confidence: peer agreement (net): +11
as you do
as one does
Explanation: This expression is used in two ways:
the straightforward, literal way described by Ann above (which I think applies in your context), where it means "as it is customary to do" — when someone smiles at you, it is customary to smaile back.
However, modern usage has introduced a secondary, more ironic meaning (as quoted by Komeil in his discussion post above), where it means the opposite — what one says is "as of course it is customary to do", but what one really means is "this is not actually something that everyone would normally do" — like standing on the balcony in your underwear! I don't think this second usage applies in your case.
But you can see how it is very important to look closely at the context in order to judge whether there is any irony intended or not.
-------------------------------------------------- Note added at 12 hrs (2010-10-17 08:00:37 GMT) --------------------------------------------------
As M/M has pointed out, there can even be a certain degree of irony in usage #1 — i.e. one does what is customary, even if it is not soncere. So when someone asks how you are, you are expected to answer "very well, thanks!' even if that isn't really the case.
So in your case, the person who smiled back maybe did so just because it was the expected thing to do, even though perhaps the situation meant that they didn't necessarily feel like smiling.
Tony M France Local time: 03:11 Works in field Native speaker of: English PRO pts in category: 32
The translation workplace 
peer agreement (net): -1
