Customized digital avatar accessories

• US 10,454,857 B1
• Filed: 05/01/2017
• Issued: 10/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Inventors: Blackstock, Jacob Edward, Escalante, Diego Munoz, Grantham, Matthew Colin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Thuong
• Application Number:
  US15/583,142
• Time in Patent Office: 904 Days
• Field of Search: 709201, 709206, 715706, 715753, 715764, 707812
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/216 using geographical information, e.g. location of the game device or player using GPS
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/217 using environment-related information, i.e. information generated otherwise than by the player, e.g. ambient temperature or humidity
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/352 involving special game server arrangements, e.g. regional servers connected to a national server or a plurality of servers managing partitions of the game world
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/58 by computing conditions of game characters, e.g. stamina, strength, motivation or energy level
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/655 by importing photos, e.g. of the player
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/87 Communicating with other players during game play, e.g. by e-mail or chat
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/5866 using information manually generated, e.g. tags, keywords, comments, manually generated location and time information
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/107 Computer-aided management of electronic mailing [e-mailing]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/60 Editing figures and text; Combining figures or text
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/046 Interoperability with other network applications or services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/216 Handling conversation history, e.g. grouping of messages in sessions or threads
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 : specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 : Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality of electronic messaging software and systems by generating customized images with avatars of different users within electronic messages. For example, users of different mobile computing devices can exchange electronic communications with images generated to include avatars representing themselves as well as their friends, colleagues, and other acquaintances.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a processor;

a user interface coupled to the processor, the user interface comprising an input device and a display screen; and

memory coupled to the processor and storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

identifying a real-world factor associated with a user, wherein identifying the real-world factor includes;

determining a geolocation associated with the user,

identifying a sporting event venue associated with the geolocation,

determining a first sports team and a second snorts team that are scheduled to appear at the sporting event venue within a threshold period from a current time,

determining a residence location of the user, and

determining that the first sports team is associated with the residence location of the user;

modifying a characteristic of an avatar associated with the user based on the real-world factor, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar includes modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit is associated with the first sports team; and

causing the avatar to be displayed on the display screen of the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the real-world factor is at least one of:

a location, a velocity, an altitude, weather, time of day, mood or sentiment of previous messages associated with the user, trends or popularity, or a past purchase made by the user.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the processor to perform operations comprising modifying the characteristic of the avatar by modifying an avatar outfit or accessory worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit or accessory is associated with the real-world factor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein

determining the geolocation associated with the user is based on geolocation information from a mobile device of the user.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the processor to perform operations comprising identifying the real-world factor by:

determining the geolocation associated with the user and a movement information associated with the user based on a geolocation and movement information from a mobile device of the user; and

identifying a context associated with an electronic communication based on the geolocation and the movement information, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar comprises modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit is associated with the geolocation and the context.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the processor to perform operations comprising identifying the real-world factor by:

receiving an image of the user; and

identifying an article of clothing worn by the user in the image, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar comprises modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit corresponds to the article of clothing worn by the user.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the processor to perform operations comprising identifying the real-world factor by:

receiving an image of a tag attached to an article of clothing; and

determining the geolocation associated with the user based on geolocation of a mobile device of the user; and

causing an outfit or content associated with the article of clothing and the geolocation to be displayed on the display screen of the user interface while the mobile device of the user is within a threshold distance of the geolocation.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

identifying, by a processor, a real-world factor associated with a user, wherein identifying the real-world factor includes;

determining a geolocation associated with the user,

identifying a sporting event venue associated with the geolocation,

determining a first sports team and a second sports team that are scheduled to appear at the sporting event venue within a threshold period from a current time,

determining a residence location of the user, and

determining that the first sports team is associated with the residence location of the user;

modifying, by the processor, a characteristic of an avatar based on the real-world factor, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar includes modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit is associated with the first sports team; and

causing the avatar to be displayed on a display screen of a user interface.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the real-world factor is at least one of:

a location, a velocity, an altitude, weather, time of day, mood or sentiment of previous messages associated with the user, trends or popularity, or a past purchase made by the user.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar comprises

modifying an avatar outfit or accessory worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit or accessory is associated with the real-world factor.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein

determining the geolocation associated with the user is based on geolocation information from a mobile device of the user.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the real-world factor comprises:

determining the geolocation associated with the user and movement information associated with the user based on a geolocation and movement information from a mobile device of the user; and

identifying a context associated with an electronic communication based on the geolocation and the movement information, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar comprises modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit is associated with the geolocation and the context.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the real-world factor comprises:

receiving an image of the user; and

identifying an article of clothing worn by the user in the image, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar comprises modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit corresponds to the article of clothing worn by the user.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein identifying the real-world factor comprises:

receiving an image of a tag attached to an article of clothing;

determining the geolocation associated with the user based on geolocation of a the mobile device of the user; and

causing an outfit or content associated with the article of clothing and the geolocation to be displayed on the display screen of the user interface while the mobile device of the user is within a threshold distance of the geolocation.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

identifying real-world factor associated with a user, wherein identifying the real-world factor includes;

determining a geolocation associated with the user,

identifying a sporting event venue associated with the geolocation,

determining a first sports team and a second sports team that are scheduled to appear at the sporting event venue within a threshold period from a current time,

determining a residence location of the user, and

determining that the first sports team is associated with the residence location of the user;

modifying a characteristic of an avatar associated with the user based on the real-world factor, wherein modifying the characteristic of the avatar includes modifying an avatar outfit worn by the avatar, wherein the avatar outfit is associated with the first sports team; and

causing the avatar to be displayed on a display screen of a user interface.