Patent · US Active

Speech and text driven HMM-based body animation synthesis

US8224652B2 · kind B2 · utility

88Cited by
13References
16Claims
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Key dates

Filing dateSep 26, 2008
Grant dateJul 17, 2012
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 14, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG10L13/00
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

An “Animation Synthesizer” uses trainable probabilistic models, such as Hidden Markov Models (HMM), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), etc., to provide speech and text driven body animation synthesis. Probabilistic models are trained using synchronized motion and speech inputs (e.g., live or recorded audio/video feeds) at various speech levels, such as sentences, phrases, words, phonemes, sub-phonemes, etc., depending upon the available data, and the motion type or body part being modeled. The Animation Synthesizer then uses the trainable probabilistic model for selecting animation trajectories for one or more different body parts (e.g., face, head, hands, arms, etc.) based on an arbitrary text and/or speech input. These animation trajectories are then used to synthesize a sequence of animations for digital avatars, cartoon characters, computer generated anthropomorphic persons or creatures, actual motions for physical robots, etc., that are synchronized with a speech output corresponding to the text and/or speech input.

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