MULTI-INSTANCE, MULTI-USER ANIMATION WITH COORDINATED CHAT
First Claim
1. A system for managing a multi-user animation process in coordination with a chat process, comprising:
- a network interface disposed to receive chat data from remotely-located clients of an electronic chat process;
a database comprising associations between defined data items in chat data and animation sequences;
a memory holding program instructions operable for parsing chat data received by the network interface, identifying defined data items in chat data associated with a corresponding one of the clients that provided chat data in which the data item is located, and selecting animation sequences using the defined data items as selection criteria; and
a processor, in communication with the memory, the database, and the network interface, configured for operating the program instructions.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Two or more participants provide inputs from a remote location to a central server, which aggregates the inputs to animate participating avatars in a space visible to the remote participants. In parallel, the server collects and distributes text chat data from and to each participant, such as in a chat window, to provide chat capability in parallel to a multi-participant animation. Avatars in the animation may be provided with animation sequences, based on defined character strings or other data detected in the text chat data. Text data provided by each user is used to select animation sequences for an avatar operated by the same user.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A system for managing a multi-user animation process in coordination with a chat process, comprising:
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a network interface disposed to receive chat data from remotely-located clients of an electronic chat process; a database comprising associations between defined data items in chat data and animation sequences; a memory holding program instructions operable for parsing chat data received by the network interface, identifying defined data items in chat data associated with a corresponding one of the clients that provided chat data in which the data item is located, and selecting animation sequences using the defined data items as selection criteria; and a processor, in communication with the memory, the database, and the network interface, configured for operating the program instructions. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A process for managing a multi-user animation process in coordination with a chat process, comprising:
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receiving input data items indicative of emotional states of remotely-located users of an electronic chat process from a plurality of clients; selecting animation sequences from a database of animation sequences using the input data items as selection criteria; and providing the animation sequences for corresponding ones of a plurality of avatars to the plurality of clients, wherein the animation sequences are associated with and reflect emotional states of corresponding ones of the users in a multi-user animation process indicated by the data items. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. Computer-readable media encoded with instructions operative to cause a computer to perform the steps of:
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parsing chat data exchanged between remotely-located participants of an electronic chat process to locate defined data items in chat data provided by the participants, each located data item associated with a corresponding one of the participants that provided chat data in which the data item is located; selecting animation sequences from a database of animation sequences using the defined data items as selection criteria; and providing the animation sequences for corresponding ones of a plurality of avatars associated with the corresponding ones of the participants in a scene of a multi-user animation process to produce a data output representative of the scene. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
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Specification