Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method of customizing animated entities for use in a multi-media communication application

US7671861B1 · kind B1 · utility

16Cited by
124References
4Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateNov 2, 2001
Grant dateMar 2, 2010
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 31, 2024

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06T13/40
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method of creating an animated entity for delivering a multi-media message from a sender to a recipient comprises receiving from the sender an image file to a server, the image file having associated sender-assigned name, gender, category and indexing information. The server presents to the sender the image file and a group of generic face model templates. After the sender selects one of the generic face model templates, the server presents the image file and the selected model template to the sender and requests the sender to mark features on the image file. After the sender marks the image file, the server presents to the sender a preview of at least one expression associated with the marked image file. If the user does not accept the image file after the preview, the server presents again the image file and selected model template for the sender to redo or add marked features on the image file. If the user accepts the image file after the preview, the server presents the image file as an optional animated entity when the sender chooses an animated entity to deliver a multi-media message.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.