GENERATING AND DISPLAYING CUSTOMIZED AVATARS IN MEDIA OVERLAYS

• US 20180113587A1
• Filed: 12/05/2016
• Published: 04/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Snap, Inc.
• Inventors: Allen, Nicholas Richard, Baldwin, Dorian Franklin, Blackstock, Jacob Edward, Kennedy, David James, Panth, Shahan
• Granted Patent: US 10,938,758 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/47 Detecting features for summarising video content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/063 Content adaptation, e.g. replacement of unsuitable content
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/08 Annexed information, e.g. attachments
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/10 Multimedia information
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/52 for supporting social networking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication

Abstract

Among other things, embodiments of the present disclosure improve the functionality of electronic messaging and imaging software and systems by generating and displaying media overlays with avatars of different users. For example, media overlays can be generated by the system and displayed in conjunction with media content (e.g., images and/or video) generated by an image-capturing device (e.g., a digital camera).

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 system to perform operations comprising;

receiving a media content item;

retrieving, from the memory, avatar characteristics associated with a user of the system;

generating a media overlay, based on the user'"'"'s avatar characteristics, that includes an avatar of the user; and

displaying the media overlay with the media content item on the display screen of the user interface.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the system to perform operations comprising:

applying the media overlay to the media content item in response to input from the user via the input device of the user interface.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the media content item is one of:

an image, or a video.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the system includes an image capturing device, and wherein the media content item is received from the image capturing device.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the media content item is received from a computing device over a network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay is further based on one or more of:

location information for the system, an event, a time of day, and a date.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein generating the media overlay based on the time of day includes identifying one or more of:

time information and time zone information from a clock operating on the system.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein generating the media overlay based on the location information includes identifying a location for the system from a location sensor coupled to the system.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includes one or more of:

modifying a setting of the media overlay and modifying the avatar of the user.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includes providing access to the media overlay by the user for a predetermined time period.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein displaying the media overlay with the media content item includes:

presenting, on the display screen of the user interface, a plurality of media overlays;

receiving, via the input device of the user interface, a selection of a media overlay from the plurality of media overlays; and

displaying the selected media overlay with the media content item.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includes:

retrieving, by the system, sensor information from a sensor component coupled to the system; and

generating the media overlay based on the sensor information.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the sensor component includes one or more of:

a temperature sensor, a velocity sensor, an acceleration sensor, and an altitude sensor.

14. The system of claim 1, wherein the system generates multiple media overlays and displays the multiple media overlays with the media content item.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein the multiple media overlays are selected by the user via the input device of the user interface from a plurality of media overlays displayed on the display screen of the user interface.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein displaying the plurality of media overlays includes:

receiving, from the user via the input device of the user interface, a selection of a first media overlay from the plurality of media overlays; and

in response to the selection of the first media overlay, removing a second media overlay from the plurality of media overlays presented to the user via the display screen of the user interface.

17. The system of claim 1, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the system to perform operations comprising:

storing a history of media content items with applied media overlays in a database in communication with the system.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the memory further stores instructions for causing the system to perform operations comprising:

retrieving the history of media content items with applied media overlays from the database; and

displaying the history of media content items on the display screen of the user interface.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein a first media content item displayed in the history of media content items has a media content overlay with a previous version of the user'"'"'s avatar, and wherein displaying the history of media content items includes displaying the first media content item with a current version of the user'"'"'s avatar.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includes generating text to display in conjunction with the media content item.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the text in the media overlay includes:

identifying a location for the system based on information from a location sensor coupled to the system;

identifying a language associated with the location for the system; and

generating the text in the media overlay in the identified language.

22. The system of claim 1, wherein generating the media overlay includes:

transmitting, to a server over a network, a request for the media overlay that includes the avatar characteristics for the user; and

receiving, from the server over the network, the media overlay including the avatar of the user.

23. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving, by a computer system, a media content item;

retrieving, by a computer system from a memory coupled to the computer system, avatar characteristics associated with a user of the computer system;

generating, by the computer system, a media overlay, based on the user'"'"'s avatar characteristics, that includes an avatar of the user; and

displaying the media overlay with the media content item on a display screen of a user interface coupled to the computer system.

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

receiving a media content item;

retrieving, from a memory coupled to the computer system, avatar characteristics associated with a user of the computer system;

generating a media overlay, based on the user'"'"'s avatar characteristics, that includes an avatar of the user; and

displaying the media overlay with the media content item on a display screen of a user interface coupled to the computer system.