METHOD AND USER INTERFACE FOR CREATING AN ANIMATED COMMUNICATION

• US 20130332859A1
• Filed: 06/10/2013
• Published: 12/12/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/08/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Original Assignee: SRI International, Inc.
• Inventors: Roschelle, Jeremy, PATTON, CHARLES M., Brecht, John J., Borelli, Kate S.
• Application Number:
  US13/914,230
• Publication Number:
  US 20130332859A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/753
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites

Abstract

Creating an animated communication includes receiving from a user a series of inputs, wherein the series of inputs defines turns at expression to be taken by a plurality of avatars, wherein at least one of the turns comprises a plurality of expressive modalities that collectively forms a single turn, and wherein at least one of the turns makes use of a virtual writing surface that is shared by the avatars, and rendering the animated communication in accordance with the inputs subsequently to the receiving. Editing a document, such as an animated communication or a portion thereof, includes rendering the document as a sequence of dynamic frames, detecting an input made by a user during the rendering, identifying a dynamic frame of the sequence of dynamic frames whose time of rendering corresponds to a time of the input, and replacing at least a portion of the dynamic frame with the input.

Claims

1. A method for creating an animated communication, the method comprising:

receiving from a user a series of inputs, wherein the series of inputs defines turns at expression to be taken by a plurality of avatars, wherein at least one of the turns at expression comprises a plurality of expressive modalities that collectively forms a single turn, and wherein at least one of the turns at expression makes use of a virtual writing surface that is shared by the plurality of avatars; and

rendering the animated communication in accordance with the series of inputs subsequently to the receiving.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the series of inputs comprises a linguistic input.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the linguistic input comprises an utterance to be made by one of the plurality of avatars.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the linguistic input is received through a text editing action via a user interface.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the text editing action comprises an entry of text in a dialogue balloon displayed by the user interface.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the linguistic input is received through an audio recording.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the series of inputs comprises a physical motion input.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the physical motion input is received through a stroke.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the stroke is embodied in a movement of a cursor via a user interface.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the stroke is embodied in a finger trace on a touch screen display.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the series of inputs comprises a first input and a second input that are received independently of each other.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the series of inputs comprises a first input and a second input that comprise different modalities of the plurality of expressive modalities.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a textual input of the series of inputs as static text.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a textual input of the series of inputs as dynamic text.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a textual input of the series of inputs as facial expression of one of the plurality of avatars.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a textual input of the series of inputs as an audible utterance of one of the plurality of avatars.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a marking on the virtual writing surface.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a deletion on the virtual writing surface.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as an magnification of a portion of the virtual writing surface.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a shrinking of a portion of the virtual writing surface.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a new portion of the virtual writing surface.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a gesture of one of the plurality of avatars.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a motion of an object.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering a stroke input of the series of inputs as a transformation of an object.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

displaying an uploaded image on the virtual writing surface.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

playing back a first input of the series of inputs in a manner that is time-scaled to a rendering of a second input of the series of inputs.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the rendering comprises:

rendering an input of the series of inputs as an output comprising a sequence of dynamic frames;

detecting a new input made by the user during playback of the output;

identifying a dynamic frame of the sequence of dynamic frames whose time of playback corresponds to a time of the detecting; and

replacing at least a portion of the dynamic frame with the new input.

28. A computer readable storage device containing an executable program for processing data streams, wherein when the program is executed, the program causes a processor to performs steps of:

receiving from a user a series of inputs, wherein the series of inputs defines turns at expression to be taken by a plurality of avatars, wherein at least one of the turns at expression comprises a plurality of expressive modalities that collectively forms a single turn, and wherein at least one of the turns at expression makes use of a virtual writing surface that is shared by the plurality of avatars; and

rendering the animated communication in accordance with the series of inputs subsequently to the receiving.

29. A user interface for creating an animated communication, the user interface comprising:

a virtual writing surface through which a first type of input from a user is directly received, the first type of input defining an appearance of the virtual writing surface; and

a plurality of avatars positioned adjacent to the virtual writing surface and through which a second type of input is directly received, the second type of input defining an appearance or gesture of one of the plurality of avatars.

30. The user interface of claim 29, further comprising:

a dialogue balloon positioned proximate to one of the plurality of avatars and through which a plurality of types of inputs, including the first type of input and the second type of input, are received, the plurality of inputs defining at least one of;

an appearance of the virtual writing surface, an appearance of the one of the plurality of avatars, a gesture of the one of the plurality of avatars, or an utterance of the one of the plurality of avatars.

31. A method for editing a document, the method comprising:

rendering the document as a sequence of dynamic frames;

detecting an input made by a user during the rendering;

identifying a dynamic frame of the sequence of dynamic frames whose time of rendering corresponds to a time of the input; and

replacing at least a portion of the dynamic frame with the input.

32. A method for creating an animated communication, the method comprising:

receiving from a user a series of inputs, wherein the series of inputs defines at least;

an utterance made by an avatar and a marking made by the avatar on a virtual writing surface;

displaying the avatar and the virtual writing surface on a common display;

rendering the utterance as displayed text and as an audible output; and

rendering the marking as a time-ordered series of displayed strokes on the virtual writing surface.