METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR HYBRID AUDIO-VISUAL COMMUNICATION
First Claim
1. A method for providing communication between a sending terminal and at least one receiving terminal in a communication network, the method comprising:
- detecting the media content of a signal transmitted by the sending terminal;
generating, from the media content, a voice stream, an avatar control parameter stream and a video stream;
selecting, as output, at least one of the voice stream, the avatar control parameter stream and the video stream; and
transmitting the selected output to the at least one receiving terminal.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and apparatus for providing communication between a sending terminal and one or more receiving terminals in a communication network. The media content of a signal transmitted by the sending terminal is detected and one or more of a voice stream, an avatar control parameter stream and a video stream are generated from the media content. At least one of the voice stream, the avatar control parameter stream and the video stream are selected as an output to be transmitted to the receiving terminal. The selection may be based on user preference, channel capacity, terminal capabilities or the load status of a network server performing the selection. The network server may be operable to generate synthetic video from the voice input, a natural video input and/or incoming avatar control parameters.
59 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for providing communication between a sending terminal and at least one receiving terminal in a communication network, the method comprising:
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detecting the media content of a signal transmitted by the sending terminal; generating, from the media content, a voice stream, an avatar control parameter stream and a video stream; selecting, as output, at least one of the voice stream, the avatar control parameter stream and the video stream; and transmitting the selected output to the at least one receiving terminal. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A system for providing communication between a sending terminal and at least one receiving terminal in a communication network, the system comprising:
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a viseme detector operable to receive a voice component of an incoming communication stream from the sending terminal and generate first avatar control parameters therefrom; a video tracker operable to receive a video component of the incoming communication stream and generate second avatar control parameters therefrom; an avatar rendering engine, operable to render avatar images dependent upon at least one of the first avatar control parameters, second avatar control parameters and avatar control parameters in the incoming communication stream; a video encoder, operable to encode the rendered avatar images to produce a synthetic video stream; an adaptation decision unit, operable to receive inputs selected from the group of inputs consisting of; the voice component of the incoming communication stream; avatar control parameters in the incoming communication stream; a natural video component of the incoming communication stream; and the synthetic video stream;
wherein the adaptation decision unit is operable to select at least one of the inputs as an output to be transmitted to the at least one receiving terminal. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification