Client server animation system for managing interactive user interface characters
First Claim
1. A method for generating an interactive, animated character in the user interface of a computer using a client-server architecture, the method comprising:
- in response to a request from a client, creating an instance of a character and displaying the character in the user interface;
in the server, receiving from a client a set of client-specified user input commands that the character will respond to, the set comprising cursor input from a cursor control device;
in the server, monitoring for the specified user input commands;
in the server, when one of the user input commands is detected, sending a notification to the client;
in the server, receiving from the client a request that is conditioned upon the notification from the server; and
in response to the request from the client, playing back a client-specified sequence of animation output to animate the character in the user interface.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A client server animation system provides services to enable clients to play animation and lip-synched speech output for an interactive user interface character. Through the programming interface of the server, clients can specify both speech and cursor device input that an instance of an interactive user interface character will respond to when the clients are active. Clients can also request playback of animation and lip-synched speech output through this interface. Services can be invoked from application programs as well as web scripts embedded in web pages downloaded from the Internet.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for generating an interactive, animated character in the user interface of a computer using a client-server architecture, the method comprising:
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in response to a request from a client, creating an instance of a character and displaying the character in the user interface; in the server, receiving from a client a set of client-specified user input commands that the character will respond to, the set comprising cursor input from a cursor control device; in the server, monitoring for the specified user input commands; in the server, when one of the user input commands is detected, sending a notification to the client; in the server, receiving from the client a request that is conditioned upon the notification from the server; and in response to the request from the client, playing back a client-specified sequence of animation output to animate the character in the user interface. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A client-server animation system for generating interactive animated characters, the system comprising:
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an animation server for receiving requests from clients to create a character on the user interface, for controlling playback of a sequence of frames of animation and lip synched speech output from the character on the user interface in response to requests from the clients, for receiving an identification of cursor device and speech input commands, and for notifying the clients when the server determines that the cursor device input and the speech input commands have been provided by a user; a speech recognition engine in communication with an audio input device for receiving speech input from the user and for analyzing the speech input to identify the speech input commands; and
in communication with the server for sending notification messages to the server when the speech input commands are detected; anda speech synthesis engine in communication with an audio output device for generating speech output, and in communication with the server for receiving requests to generate audio output corresponding to a text string provided by the clients via the server, and for notifying the server when a tag is detected in the text string so that the server can synchronize display of text in the text string with the speech output. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for generating an interactive, animated character in the user interface of a computer using a client-server architecture, the method comprising:
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in response to a request from a client, creating an instance of a character and displaying the character in the user interface; in the server, receiving from a client a set of client-specified user input commands that the character will respond to, the set comprising a speech input command; in the server, monitoring for the specified user input commands; in the server, sending a notification to the client when one of the user input commands is detected; in the server, receiving from the client a request that is conditioned upon the notification from the server; and in response to the request from the client, playing back a client-specified sequence of animation and speech output to animate the character in the user interface. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21)
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Specification