Avatar appearance transformation in a virtual universe
First Claim
1. A method for configuring a chameleon avatar in response to data associated with a target avatar within a virtual universe, the method comprising:
- determining that an engagement of a chameleon avatar with a target avatar within a region of a virtual universe is indicated, wherein the chameleon avatar presents one or more initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances to other avatars within the virtual universe;
determining whether any of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region;
if determined that one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region, reading an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar or the indicated virtual universe region and changing the one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances as a function of the read attribute; and
the chameleon avatar engaging the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region in the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances if determined that none of the appearances should be changed, or in the changed ones of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that the at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Methods, articles of manufacture, systems, articles and programmable devices are provided for configuring a chameleon avatar in response to data associated with a target avatar within a virtual universe. In response to determining that an engagement of a chameleon avatar with a target avatar is indicated, it is determined whether the chameleon avatar should maintain an initial appearance or be auto-morphed for engagement with the target avatar. Auto-morphing may be accomplished by reading an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar, selecting a baseline avatar template and auto-morphing the baseline template to incorporate the read attribute. Target avatar attributes include gender, interests, outfits attribute, ethnic data, language and preferences, as well as others. The chameleon may mimic an appearance of the target avatar.
336 Citations
25 Claims
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1. A method for configuring a chameleon avatar in response to data associated with a target avatar within a virtual universe, the method comprising:
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determining that an engagement of a chameleon avatar with a target avatar within a region of a virtual universe is indicated, wherein the chameleon avatar presents one or more initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances to other avatars within the virtual universe; determining whether any of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region; if determined that one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region, reading an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar or the indicated virtual universe region and changing the one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances as a function of the read attribute; and the chameleon avatar engaging the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region in the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension or clothing attire appearances if determined that none of the appearances should be changed, or in the changed ones of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that the at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A service for configuring a chameleon avatar within a virtual universe in response to data associated with a target avatar, comprising:
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deploying an engagement determiner within a virtual universe that determines whether an engagement of the chameleon avatar with a target avatar within a region of the virtual universe is indicated, the chameleon avatar having one or more initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances, and determines whether any of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region; deploying an avatar attribute analyzer within the virtual universe that reads an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar or the indicated virtual universe region if the engagement determiner determines that at least one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement; and deploying an avatar morpher within the virtual universe that changes at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances for the indicated engagement with the target avatar as a function of the read attribute if the engagement determiner determines that at least one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. An article of manufacture comprising:
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a computer-readable tangible storage device having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the program code comprising instructions that, when executed by a computer system, cause the computer system to; determine that an engagement of a chameleon avatar with a target avatar within a region of a virtual universe is indicated, the chameleon avatar presenting one or more initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances to other avatars within the virtual universe; determine whether any of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region; and if determined that at least one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region, read an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar or the indicated virtual universe region and change at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances as a function of the read attribute; and cause the chameleon avatar to engage the target avatar in the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that none of the appearances should be changed, or in the changed ones of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that the at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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23. A programmable device comprising:
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a processing means; a computer-readable memory in communication with the processing means; and a computer-readable storage medium; wherein the processing means, when executing program instructions stored on the computer-readable storage medium via the computer readable memory configures a chameleon avatar within a virtual universe by; determining that an engagement of the chameleon avatar with a target avatar within a region of the virtual universe is indicated, the chameleon avatar presenting one or more initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances to other avatars within the virtual universe; determining whether any of the presented initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement with the target avatar within the indicated virtual universe region; if determined that at least one of the initial chameleon avatar gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed for the indicated engagement, reading an attribute from metadata associated with the target avatar or the indicated virtual universe region and changing at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances as a function of the read attribute; and causing the chameleon avatar to engage the target avatar in the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that none of the appearances should be changed, or in the changed ones of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances if determined that the at least one of the initial gender, ethnic, body dimension and clothing attire appearances should be changed. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25)
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Specification