CN1757057A - Using avatars to communicate - Google Patents

Abstract

A graphical user interface on a display device employing a computer to communicate using avatars includes an instant message sender display. The instant message sender display includes a sender portion that displays a sender avatar that can demonstrate various animations. The sender avatar is animated in response to a trigger related to the content of the message from the sender to the receiver, and can also be animated to send an out-of-band communication to another user, which is not directly conveyed in the text message sent Information bound by information. The avatar may also be included in one or more of the user's online personas initiated for use in the instant messaging session. The avatar may be animated in response to the animation of another avatar in the same communication session.

Description

Communicate using avatars

technical field

The present description relates to a graphical representation of a communication application operator (hereinafter "sender") in a communication sent within a computer network.

Background technique

Online services may provide users with the ability to send and receive instant messages. Instant messaging is a private online conversation between two or more people who have access to an instant messaging service, have installed the communications software necessary to access and use the instant messaging service, and generally each have access to information reflecting the online status of other users.

An instant message sender can send an item of self-expression to an instant message recipient. Current implementations of instant messaging self-expression enable users to individually select self-expression settings, such as buddy icons and buddy wallpapers, which are then communicated to other users who see or interact with that person online.

Contents of the invention

A graphical user interface on a computer display device is capable of communicating using avatars. The graphical user interface includes an instant message sender display. The instant message sender display has a sender portion that displays a sender avatar that can display various animations. The instant message sender display also has a message composition area capable of displaying text contained in a message sent from the sender to the recipient, and a communication controller. At least one communications controller is operable to receive an indication that a message displayed in the message composition area is to be sent from a sender to a recipient. The sender avatar is animated in response to a trigger related to the content of a message sent from the sender to the receiver.

Implementations may contain one or more of the following features. For example, an instant message sender display may contain a received section that displays an avatar of the recipient and a message history area. The recipient avatar can display multiple animations in response to triggers related to the content of a message sent by the sender to the recipient. The message history area is capable of displaying the contents of multiple messages sent between sender and receiver and identifying the identity associated with the receiver. The receiver avatar is animated in response to the animation of the sender avatar.

The graphical user interface may include a contact list display for displaying potential recipients. The contact list display can indicate whether each potential recipient is able to receive the message. Potential recipients may be grouped into groups and associated with an indication of group identity.

The potential recipients displayed on the contact list can be associated with the potential recipient avatars. The potential recipient avatar may be displayed on a contact list associated with the identity of the potential recipient. The potential recipient avatar may be animated on the contact list in response to animation of the potential recipient avatar displayed elsewhere. The animation of the potential recipient avatars on the contact list may include animations that are substantially similar to or different from animations of potential recipient avatars displayed elsewhere. The animation of potential recipient avatars on the contact list may include animations representing animations of potential recipient avatars displayed elsewhere.

The graphical user interface may be a graphical user interface for an instant messaging session. Triggers include part or all of the message text.

The appearance or animation of the sender avatar may indicate environmental conditions, personal characteristics associated with the sender, emotional states associated with the sender, set characteristics or activities associated with the sender.

The sender avatar may be animated in response to the elapse of a predetermined amount of time, during which the sender has not transmitted a message to the recipient, or has not used the communication session between the sender and the sender. The computing device used by the recipient to communicate.

Avatar animations used as communication channels may include breakout animations that involve displaying an avatar outside of the normal space occupied by the avatar. The sender avatar can be animated to make a sound for voice communication.

Implementations of the above-discussed techniques may include a computer program product for generating a graphical user interface, configured for displaying the graphical user interface on a display device or system or apparatus.

In another general aspect, communicating includes graphically representing a first user in a communication session involving a first user and a second user with an animation-enabled avatar. Messages are passed between the first user and the second user. A message conveys explicit information from a first user to a second user. The out-of-band information is communicated to the second user by using changes in the avatar appearance or animation of the avatar as a communication channel. The out-of-band communications include communications that relate to the context of the first user and are distinct from information conveyed in messages sent between the first user and the second user.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the communication session may be an instant messaging communication session. The avatar may be facial animation that does not include a body with ears or legs, or may be facial animation that includes a neck but does not include a body with ears or legs.

The out-of-band information may include information indicative of environmental conditions associated with the first user. The environmental conditions may include environmental conditions related to weather occurring at a geographic location near the first user. The out-of-band information may indicate a personal characteristic associated with the first user or an emotional state associated with the first user.

The out-of-band information may include information indicative of set features associated with the first user. The set features may include features relating to a time of day for the first user or features relating to a time of year. The time of year may include a holiday or a season, which may be one of spring, summer, autumn or winter. Set features may include features related to work settings or entertainment settings. Entertainment settings can include beach settings, tropical settings or winter sports settings.

The out-of-band information may include information related to the mood of the first user. The mood of the first user may be one of happy, sad or angry.

The out-of-band information may include information related to the activity of the first user. The activity may be completed by the first user at substantially the same time that the out-of-band message is being passed from the first user to the second user. The action could be working or listening to music. The out-of-band information may include communicating that the first user has turned off sound associated with the avatar.

An avatar animation communicating out-of-band information from a first user to a second user may be triggered based on information communicated in a message from the first user to the second user. The trigger may include part or all of the message text. The trigger may include an audible portion of the message. The trigger may include an elapse of a predetermined amount of time during which the first user does not message the second user or use the computer device used by the first user to communicate with the second user in the communication session.

Animation of an avatar used as a communication channel may include facial expressions of the avatar, gestures made by the avatar's hand or arm, movement of the avatar's body, or sounds made by the avatar. At least some of the sounds may include a voice based on the voice of the first user. Animation of an avatar used as a communication channel may include a burst animation that includes displaying the avatar outside of the normal display space occupied by the avatar. Burst animations can include shrinking, resizing, or repositioning of the avatar.

The first user may be provided by a variety of preconfigured avatars with associated preselected animations. The first user can select a particular avatar to represent the user in the communication session. The first user may remain associated with the selected avatar to represent the first user in subsequent communication sessions.

The first user is able to change the appearance of the avatar. Causing the first user to change the appearance of the avatar may include having the first user use a slide bar to indicate a particular change of a particular characteristic of the avatar, or having the first user change the appearance of the avatar to reflect a characteristic of the first user. The characteristic of the first user may be one of age, gender, hair color, eye color or facial features.

Causing the first user to change the appearance of the avatar may include causing the first user to change the appearance of the avatar by adding, changing, or deleting props displayed on the avatar. An accessory can be one of glasses, sunglasses, a hat or earrings.

The first user can alter the triggers used to animate the avatar. The trigger may include text contained in a message sent from the first user to the second user.

The avatar may be animated for use as auxiliary information to convey information to the first user. Utilization of avatars by applications other than communication applications including online magazines may be enabled.

The description of the avatar may be presented in a format substantially similar to a trading card. The avatar's trading card description may contain characteristics associated with the first user.

In yet another general aspect, awareness of multiple online personas is implemented within an instant messaging session. At least two identities to which messages may be directed in a communication environment are identified. A first persona of a user is capable of exhibiting the first of the aforementioned identities, while a second character of the same user is capable of simultaneously exhibiting the second of the aforementioned identities. Each of the first and second characters includes an avatar capable of animation, and the first and second characters are different.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, a first character may be different than a second character such that the first character invokes a different avatar than the second character invokes.

A first character may invoke a first avatar and a second character may invoke a second avatar. The first avatar and the second avatar may be the same avatar. The animation associated with the first avatar may be different than the animation associated with the second avatar. The appearance associated with the first avatar may be different than the appearance associated with the second avatar.

An avatar can be associated with a variety of sounds. The avatar can be animated based on the text of the message sent in the instant messaging session. Avatars can also be animated to send out-of-band communications.

The first persona may be associated with a first group of identities such that the first persona is exhibited in communication sessions with members of the first group of identities. The second persona may be associated with a second group of identities such that the second persona is exhibited in communication sessions with members of the second group of identities.

A role may be associated with a first identity, and a different role may be associated with a group of identities to which the first identity is associated. A first role presented as a first identity may be a combination of a role associated with the first identity and a different role associated with the group of identities. The role associated with the first identity may override the different roles associated with the group of identities to the point of conflict.

In another general aspect, awareness of multiple online personas is enabled within an instant messaging session. An instant messaging application user interface for an instant messaging communication session is presented on an instant message recipient system. The communication session involves at least one potential instant message recipient and a single potential instant message sender. A message containing the text message and role is sent. The persona is selected from a plurality of possible personas associated with the sender of the instant message for display by the potential recipient of the instant message when displaying the text message. The selected persona includes a collection of one or more self-expression items and a sender avatar that can be animated. The selected persona is presented on the potential instant message recipient system when another part of the message is presented.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the sender role may be selected by the instant message sender from a number of possible roles associated with the instant message sender. This role can be assumed before or after the communication is initiated by the potential instant message sender. Self-expression entries can include one or more wallpapers, emoticons, and sounds. One or more roles can be defined.

The first persona may be assigned to a first potential instant message recipient so that the first persona is subsequently automatically invoked and presented in an instant message communication session involving the first potential instant message recipient. The second persona can be assigned to the second potential instant message recipient so that the second persona is automatically invoked and presented later in an instant message communication session involving the second potential instant message recipient. The second role should be at least partially differentiated from the first role.

The first persona may be assigned to a first group of potential instant message recipients so that the first persona is subsequently automatically invoked and presented in an instant message communication session involving members of the first group of potential instant message recipients. The second persona can be assigned to the second potential instant message recipient so that the second persona is automatically invoked and presented later in an instant message communication session involving the second potential instant message recipient. The second role should be at least partially differentiated from the first role.

One of several roles can be prohibited. Prohibition of using one of multiple roles can be based on the instant message recipient.

One of the roles may be a work role associated with the presence of the instant message sender at a work location associated with the instant message sender. One of the multiple personas may be a family persona associated with the presence of the instant messager at home. Determine if the sender of the instant message is at home or at work. In response to determining that the instant message sender is at home, a family persona may be selected for use in the instant message communication session. In response to determining that the instant message sender is at a work location, a work persona may be selected for use in the instant messaging communication session.

The persona to be displayed may be selected by the potential instant message recipient based on the time of day, day of the week, or group of potential instant message recipients associated with the potential instant message recipient.

At least some characteristics of the role can be transparent to the instant message sender. The avatar of the sender can be animated to send an out-of-band communication from the instant message sender to the potential instant message recipient.

In another general aspect, avatars can be used for communication. The user is represented graphically by using an avatar capable of animation. The avatar is associated with various animations and various characteristics representing the appearance of a characteristic template that expresses the personality of the avatar.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, an avatar may be associated with a description identifying the personality of the avatar. The personality of the avatar may include at least some characteristics that are unique to at least some characteristics of the user's personality. A second user may graphically represent with a second avatar capable of animation. The second avatar may be associated with various animations and various features representing the appearance of a feature template that characterizes the second avatar. The second avatar's personality may include at least some characteristics that are unique to at least some of the characteristics of the first avatar's personality. Communication messages may be sent between the first user and the second user.

In another general aspect, the first avatar is animated based on the perceived animation of the second avatar. A first user is graphically represented using a first avatar capable of animation and a second user is graphically represented using a second avatar capable of animation. Communication messages are sent between the first user and the second user. An indication of an animation of the first avatar is received, and in response to and based on the received indication of the animation, the second avatar is animated.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. For example, the indication that an animation was received may be any one animation of the first avatar, or may be an indication of a particular animation among multiple possible animations of the first avatar. The first avatar may then be animated in response to and based on the animation of the second avatar.

The first avatar may be animated in response to a particular portion of the message sent between the first user and the second user. The message may be sent from the first user to the second user or from the second user to the first user. The first avatar may be animated to send an out-of-band communication from the first user to the second user.

Implementations of the techniques discussed above may include a method or process, a system or apparatus, or computer software on a computer-accessible medium.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will appear in the description, drawings and claims.

Description of drawings

Figures 1, 2 and 5 are user interface diagrams of instant messaging services that enable users to display avatars to express themselves.

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of the process of performing animation demonstration of an avatar based on the content of an instant message.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating exemplary animations of an avatar and contextual triggers for each animation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating an exemplary process involving communication between two instant messaging client systems and an instant messaging host system whereby animations of user avatars based on one instant messaging client system are communicated to another instant messaging client system. The user avatar of the messaging client system is animated.

Figure 7 is a flow chart of the process of selecting and optionally customizing an avatar.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an example of an avatar that can be displayed by a user for self-expression.

9 is a schematic diagram of a user interface for customizing the appearance of an avatar.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of a user interface used to represent a snapshot description of an avatar.

Figure 11A is a block diagram illustrating the relationship between online persona, avatar, avatar behavior and avatar appearance.

11B is a process flow diagram of communicating with each of two instant message recipients using different presence personas.

12 is a schematic diagram of a user interface enabling an instant message sender to select among available online personas.

13 is a schematic diagram of an exemplary user interface enabling an instant message sender to create and store an online persona that includes an avatar for self-expression.

14 is a process flow diagram for enabling a user to change an online persona that includes an avatar for self-expression.

Figure 15 is a process flow diagram for delivering an out-of-band message to an instant message recipient using an avatar.

16, 17 and 18 are schematic diagrams of exemplary communication systems that enable instant messaging users to display avatars for self-expression.

Detailed ways

An avatar representing an instant messaging user can be animated based on the messages sent between the sender and receiver. The instant messaging application interface is configured to detect the entry of predetermined or user-defined feature strings and associate these feature strings with predefined animations of the avatar. The avatar represented or selected by the sender is animated on the receiver's instant messaging application interface, and optionally on the sender's instant messaging application interface. The avatar is rendered based on an animation model that contains the defined mesh, the polygons used, the avatar's format, textures that define the image to overlay the avatar's mesh, and light maps that define the lighting effects on the avatar . Animated models for avatars include specialized geometry, including at least one thousand polygons in the underlying wire model that constructs the avatar mesh, and at least twenty blend shapes, each of which defines a different Facial expression or shape. The animation model includes animations capable of rendering for the avatar defined by the animation model and animations that can be associated with one or more sound effects. The animation model for the avatar may include only the face and/or the face and neck of the avatar.

An avatar representing a user in a communication session may also be used to send another user an out-of-band communication that conveys information unrelated to that directly conveyed in the sent text message. The out-of-band information may be communicated using the change in appearance of the avatar or animation of the avatar as a communication channel. By way of example, out-of-band communications may include information about the sender's settings, environment, activity, or mood that is not communicated explicitly and is part of the text messages exchanged between the sender and receiver.

Users can name and save a variety of different "online personas" or "online personalities," which are groups of instant messaging self-expression settings such as avatars, buddy voices, buddy wallpapers, and emoticons (eg, emoticons). Thus, depending on the identity the user communicates with, they can access and present a preselected one of their online personas in an instant messaging environment, or they can manually invoke and manage the online persona they present to others. The functionality and features of an instant messaging interface can be differentiated according to the online persona used in the instant messaging conversation.

An avatar representing a user in a communication session may be animated based on an animation of another avatar representing another user in the same communication session without user action. This may be referred to as an automatic response of one avatar to the behavior of another avatar.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface 100 for an instant messaging service that enables users to present avatars for self-expression. The user interface 100 can be browsed by a user who is an instant message sender and whose instant messaging program is configured to present relevant avatars for presentation to one or more other users or groups of users (collectively referred to as instant messages). The user identity of the recipient of the message). In particular, a user IMSender is an instant message sender using the user interface 100 . The instant message sender presents the avatar 135 in an instant message communication session with the instant message recipient SuperBubbyFan1 presenting the recipient avatar 115 . The corresponding GUI (not shown) is used by the instant message recipient SuperBubbyFan1. In this way, the sender avatar 135 is visible on each of the sender's user interface and the recipient's user interface, as is the recipient avatar 115 . The instant messaging sessions can be conducted simultaneously, near simultaneously or consecutively.

User interface (UI) 100 includes an instant messaging user interface 105 and an instant messaging buddy list window 170 .

The instant messaging user interface 105 has an instant message recipient portion 110 and an instant message sender portion 130 . The instant message recipient section 110 displays a recipient avatar 115 selected by the instant message recipient with whom the instant message sender is having an instant message conversation. Likewise, the instant message sender section 130 displays a sender avatar 135 selected by the instant message sender. The display of the sender avatar 135 in the instant message user interface 105 enables the instant message sender to perceive that the avatar is being presented to the particular instant message recipient with whom the instant message sender is communicating. Avatars 135 and 115 are personalized items selected by instant messaging users for self-expression.

The instant message user interface 105 includes an instant message composing area 145 for composing an instant message message to be sent to the instant message recipient, and a message history text box 125 for displaying a copy of the instant message communication session with the instant message recipient . Each message sent to or received from an instant message recipient is listed in message history text box 125 in chronological order, each with an indication of the user who sent the message, as shown at 126 . The message history text box 126 optionally includes a timestamp 127 for each message sent.

Wallpaper can be applied to various portions of the graphical user interface 100 . For example, the wallpaper may be applied to the portion of the window 120 located outside the message history text box 125 or the portion of the window 140 located outside the message composition area 145 . The recipient avatar 115 is displayed over or in place of the wallpaper applied to the window portion 120 , and the wallpaper applied to the window portion 120 corresponds to the recipient avatar 115 . Likewise, the sender avatar 135 is displayed over or in place of the wallpaper applied to the window portion 140 , the wallpaper applied to the window portion 120 corresponding to the sender avatar 135 . In some implementations, a box or other type of border may be displayed around the avatar, as shown by border 157 displayed around sender avatar 135 . A different wallpaper than that applied to the window portion 140 located outside the message composition area 145 rather than within the border 157 may be applied to the window portion 158 located within the border 157 . The display of the wallpaper can be non-uniform and can include animated objects. The wallpaper applied to window portions 120 and 140 may be a personalized item selectable by the instant messaging user for self-expression.

The instant messaging user interface 105 also includes a set of feature controls 165 and a set of transport controls 150 . Feature controller 165 may control features such as encryption, chat logging, chat forwarding to different communication modes, font size and color control, and spell checking, among others. The set of transmission controls 150 includes a control 160 for triggering the sending of messages typed into the instant message composition area 145 and a control 155 for modifying the appearance or behavior of the sender avatar 135 .

The instant message buddy list window 170 includes a list 175 of instant message sender selections of potential instant message recipients ("buddies") 180a-180g. A buddy is usually a contact known to a potential instant message sender (in this case, an IMSender). In list 175, representations 180a-180g contain text identifying the screen names of the buddies included in list 175; however, additional or alternative information may be used to represent one or more buddies, such as an avatar associated with the buddy , these avatars are reduced in size and either still or animated. For example, representation 180a includes a screen name and an instant message recipient avatar named SuperBuddyFan1. Expressions 180a-180g can provide an instant message sender with connectivity information about a friend, such as whether the friend is online, how long the friend has been online, whether the friend has left, or whether the friend is using a mobile device, and so on.

Friends can be grouped by instant message senders into one or more user-defined or pre-selected groups ("groups"). As shown, the instant messaging buddy list window 170 has three groups, buddies 182 , colleagues 184 and family 186 . SuperBuddyFan1 185a belongs to friend group 182, and ChattingChuck 185c belongs to colleague group 184. When the friend's instant messaging client program is able to receive communications, the friend's representation on the buddy list is displayed under the name or representation of the buddy group to which the buddy belongs. As shown, at least potential instant message recipients 180a-180g are online. On the contrary, when the friend's instant message client program can't receive communication, the friend expression in the friend list just can't be displayed under its related group, but can display the friend expression from other groups under the heading offline 188 instead. All friends included in the list 175 are displayed under one of the groups 182, 184 or 186, or under the heading Offline 188.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the sender avatar 135 and the receiver avatar 115 is an avatar image representing a user in an instant messaging communication session. The sender displays the sender avatar 135 for self-expression, and the recipient also displays the receiver avatar 115 for self-expression. Here, the animation avatars 135 and 115 are each an avatar including only a graphic image of a face, which may be called a face avatar or a head avatar. In other implementations, the avatar may include other body components. By way of example, a Thanksgiving turkey avatar may include an image of a whole turkey, including the head, neck, body, and feathers.

The sender avatar 135 can be animated in response to an instant message sent to an instant message recipient, and the recipient avatar 115 can be animated in response to an instant message sent by the instant message recipient. For example, instant message text sent by a sender may trigger animation of the sender avatar 135 , while instant message text sent to the sender by an instant message recipient may trigger animation of the recipient avatar 115 .

In particular, the text of the message to be sent is specified by the sender in the message specification text box 145 . The text entered into the message specification text box 145 is sent to the recipient when the sender activates the send button 160 . When the send button 160 is activated, the instant messaging application searches for the text of the message for the animation trigger. When an animation trigger is identified, the sender avatar 135 is animated with the animation associated with the identified trigger. This process will be described more fully below. In a similar manner, the message text sent by the instant message recipient and received by the sender is searched for animation triggers, and, when found, the recipient avatar 115 animates with the identified trigger Make an animation. By way of example, the message text may include the characteristic string "LOL," which is an acronym that stands for "lol out loud." The character string "LOL" may trigger animation of the sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 such that the sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 appears to be laughing.

Alternatively or additionally, sender avatar 135 may be animated in response to an instant message sent from an instant message recipient, and recipient avatar 115 may be animated in response to a message sent from an instant message sender. . For example, instant message text sent by the sender may trigger animation of the recipient avatar 115 , while instant message text sent by the instant message recipient to the sender may trigger animation of the sender avatar 135 .

In particular, the text of the message to be sent is specified by the sender in the message specification text box 145 . The text entered into the message specification text box 145 is sent to the recipient when the sender activates the send button 160 . When the send button 160 is activated, the instant messaging application searches the message text for an animation trigger. When an animation trigger is identified, the recipient avatar 115 is animated with the animation associated with the identified trigger. In a similar manner, the message text sent by the instant message recipient and received by the sender is searched for animation triggers and, when found, the sender avatar 135 is animated with the animation associated with the identified trigger. Animated demo.

Additionally, the sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 may be animated in direct response to a request from the sender or recipient. Direct animation of the sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 enables the use of the avatar as a vehicle for transferring information between the sender and recipient without accompanying instant messaging. For example, the sender may perform an action that directly causes the sender avatar 135 to animate, or the recipient may perform an action that directly causes the recipient avatar 115 to animate. The action may include pressing a button corresponding to an animation to be played or selecting an animation to be played from an animation list. For example, the sender may be presented with a button that triggers animation in the sender avatar 135 and that is distinct from the send button 160 . Selection of the button may cause an animation of the sender avatar 135 to be played without further action, such as sending an instant message specified in the message composition area 145 . The animation played can be randomly selected from the possible animations of the sender avatar 135, or the animation played can be selected before the button is selected.

Animation of one of the avatars 135 and 115 displayed on the instant messaging user interface 105 may cause animation in the other avatar. For example, animation of the recipient avatar 115 may trigger animation in the sender avatar 135, and vice versa. By way of example, the sender avatar 135 may be animated to appear crying. In response to the animation of the sender avatar 135, the recipient avatar 115 may also be animated to appear crying. In response to the animation of the sender avatar 135, the recipient avatar 115 may also be animated to appear crying. Optionally, the recipient avatar 115 may also be animated to show comfort or sympathy in response to the sender avatar 135 crying animation. In another example, the sender avatar 135 can be animated to also indicate a kiss, and in response, the receiver avatar 115 can be animated to indicate a blush.

The recipient avatar 115 may be displayed in response to the sender's emotion conveyed by the sender avatar 135 . By way of example, the recipient avatar 115 may also appear sad in response to the frowning or crying animation of the sender avatar 135 . Optionally, the receiver avatar 115 may also be animated to indicate an attempt to cheer up the sender avatar 135, such as by smiling, showing a funny expression, such as sticking out its tongue, or showing empathy, etc. .

Avatars 135 and 115 may be animated in response to detecting an idle period of a predetermined length of time. For example, after a period of sender inactivity, the sender avatar 135 may be animated to give the appearance that the avatar is sleeping, has left the instant messaging interface 105, or some other behavior indicative of inactivity . The avatar 135 or 115 may also undergo a series of animations during periods of inactivity by the sender. This series of animations can be repeated continuously or played only once in response to detecting an idle period. In one example, the sender avatar 135 may be animated to give the appearance that the avatar is sleeping, and then cause the avatar to display away from the instant messaging user interface 105 after being asleep for a period of time. The avatar 135 or 115 may provide entertainment to the sender through a sequential presentation of multiple animations representing periods of inactivity by the sender. This can lead to increased use of the instant messaging user interface 105 by senders, which in turn can lead to increased market share for instant messaging service providers.

The sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115, respectively, may be animated to reflect the weather at the geographic location of the sender and recipient. For example, if it is raining in the geographical location of the sender, the sender avatar 135 may animate to put on a raincoat or open an umbrella. The wallpaper corresponding to the sender avatar 135 may also contain animated raindrops falling to show that it is raining above the sender avatar 135 . The animation of the sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 played in response to the weather may be triggered by weather information received on the sender's computer or the recipient's computer, respectively. For example, the weather information can be pushed to the sender's computer by the host system of the instant messaging system being used. If the pushed weather information indicates that it is raining, an animation of the sender avatar 135 corresponding to rainy weather is played.

Additionally, avatars may be used to audibly verbalize content other than text communicated between parties in a communication session. For example, if the text "Hi" appears in a message sent by the sender, the sender avatar 135 may be animated to pronounce "Hello" in response. In another example, when the text "otp" or the text "on the phone" appears in a message sent by the recipient, the recipient avatar 115 can be animated to respond by pronouncing "please wait a moment" . As another example, in response to an idle state, an avatar may audibly attempt to get the sender's or receiver's attention. For example, when a receiver sends a sender a message containing a question mark and the sender is determined to be free, the receiver avatar 115 will pronounce "Hello? Are you there?" in an attempt to elicit the sender's question to the receiver respond.

The sender may ignore the recipient avatar 115 or the sender avatar 135 to prevent the recipient avatar 115 or the sender avatar 135 from speaking further. By way of example, the sender may prefer to ignore the recipient avatar 115 to prevent the recipient avatar 115 from speaking. In another implementation, the avatar may appear gagged in order to indicate that the avatar is ignored.

The voice of the avatar may coincide with the user's voice associated with the avatar. To do this, features of the user's voice may be extracted from samples of the user's voice. The extracted features and sound samples can be used to construct the voice of the avatar. Additionally or alternatively, the voice of the avatar need not coincide with the user's voice, but can be any generated or pre-recorded voice.

The sender avatar 135 may be used to communicate some aspect of the sender's settings or environment. By way of example, the animation and appearance of the sender avatar 135 may reflect aspects of the time, date or location of the sender or aspects of the sender's environment, objects or conditions. For example, when the sender is using the instant messaging user interface 105 at night, the sender avatar 135 may appear to be wearing pajamas with the lights on to illuminate the remaining dark portions of the screen displaying the avatar, and/or the sender avatar 135 can display yawning regularly. When the sender is using the instant messaging user interface 105 during the holiday season, the sender avatar 135 can be dressed in a manner that indicates the holiday, such as Santa Claus in December, a pumpkin near Halloween, or early July Uncle Sam. The appearance of the sender avatar 135 may also reflect the sender's climate or geographic location. For example, when it is raining at the sender's location, the wallpaper for the sender avatar 135 may contain falling raindrops and/or the sender avatar 135 may be wearing a rain hat or under an open umbrella. In another example, the sender avatar 135 may appear to be wearing beach attire when the sender is instant messaging from a tropical location.

The sender avatar 135 may also convey actions performed by the sender while the sender is using the instant messaging user interface 105 . For example, when the sender is listening to music, the avatar 135 appears to be wearing headphones. When the sender is at work, the sender avatar 135 may be in professional attire, such as shown wearing a suit and tie.

The appearance of the sender avatar 135 may also convey the sender's mood or emotional state. For example, the sender avatar 135 may convey a sad state by frowning or shedding a tear. The sender avatar 135 or the recipient avatar 115 may look like the sender or the recipient, respectively. For example, the appearance of the sender avatar 135 may be such that the sender avatar 135 appears to be of a similar age to the sender. In one implementation, the sender avatar 135 may appear to be older as well as the sender's age. In another example, the appearance of the recipient avatar 115 may be such that the recipient avatar 115 appears to be of a similar age to the recipient.

In some implementations, the wallpaper applied to window portion 120 and/or the wallpaper applied to window portion 140 may include one or more animated objects. The animation object can repeat a series of animations continuously or periodically according to a preset or random time. Additionally or alternatively, the wallpaper applied to window portions 120 and 140 may be animated in response to message text sent between the sender and receiver. For example, instant message text sent by a sender can trigger the animation of an animated object contained in the wallpaper corresponding to the sender's avatar 135, while instant message text sent to the sender by an instant message recipient can trigger the animation of an animated object contained in the wallpaper corresponding to the recipient's avatar 135. The animation of the animated objects in the wallpaper to which the avatar 115 corresponds. Animated objects included in the wallpaper can be animated to reflect the setting or environment, motion and mood of the receiver and sender respectively.

Avatars may be used as a mechanism for self-expression or additional non-text communication by users associated with the avatar. For example, sender avatar 135 is an avatarization of the sender and receiver avatar 115 is an avatarization of the receiver. The avatar represents the user in an instant messaging session involving the user. The personality or emotional state of the sender may be projected or otherwise conveyed through the avatar's personality. Some users may prefer to use an avatar that more accurately represents that user. Thus, a user can change the appearance or behavior of an avatar to more accurately reflect the user's personality. In some cases, the sender may prefer to use an avatar to express themselves rather than show an actual image of the sender. For example, some people may prefer to use an avatar to send a video or photo of the sender.

Referring to FIG. 2, animation of an avatar may involve resizing or repositioning of the avatar so that the avatar occupies more or different space on the instant messaging user interface 105 than the avatar's original capacity. In the example of FIG. 2 , the size of the sender avatar 205 is increased so that the avatar 205 can cover a portion of the instant message composition area 145 and the controller 155 . Additionally, elements of user interface 100 other than avatars may also be displayed by using additional space on user interface 100 or using different spaces. For example, a sender avatar may depict a starfish with an expressive face and may be displayed on a wallpaper containing animated fish. The animated fish contained on the wallpaper can be dragged out of the original boundary around the sender avatar 135 and shown swimming outside of the original boundary area.

Referring to FIG. 3, an illustrative process 300 is used to animate an avatar of self-expression based on instant message content. In particular, the avatar representing the sender of the instant message is animated in response to the text sent by the sender. Avatar wallpapers are also animated. Process 300 is completed by a processor executing an instant messaging program. Generally, the text of the message sent to the instant message recipient is searched for as an animation trigger, and when a trigger is found, the avatar representing the sender of the instant message is animated in a specific way based on the specific trigger found . The wallpaper displayed for the avatar includes a live object or a plurality of live objects. The one or more objects may be animated based on the content of the text message sent, or based on other triggers, including (but not limited to) the passage of a predetermined amount of time, the occurrence of a particular day or time of day , animation of any kind of sender avatar, animation of a specific type of sender avatar, animation of any type of animation of a receiver avatar, animation of a specific type of receiver avatar, etc. When the sender is inactive for a predetermined length of time, the avatar sequentially displays various animations each associated with the idle state.

Process 300 begins when an instant message sender associated with an avatar initiates an instant message communication session with an instant message recipient (step 305). To do this, the sender may select the recipient's name from a buddy list such as buddy list 170 in FIG. 1 . As an option, the recipient's name can be entered into the format enabling the instant message to be specified and sent. As another option, the sender can start an instant messaging application, which can be used to register into the instant messaging system and designate the recipient as the user of the instant messaging system where the communication session is about to start. In this manner once the recipient has been designated, a determination is made whether a copy of the avatar associated with the sender and recipient exists on the instant messaging client system the sender is using. If not, a copy of the avatar is retrieved for use during instant messaging. For example, information representing the recipient avatar may be retrieved from the instant message host system or the instant message recipient client. In some cases, a particular avatar may be selected by the sender for use during the instant messaging session. Alternatively or additionally, the avatar may be predetermined and associated with the sender.

The processor displays a user interface for an instant messaging session that includes an avatar associated with the sender and a wallpaper applied to the user interface where the avatar is displayed (step 307). The avatar may be displayed, for example, over wallpaper applied to the window portion of the instant messaging interface display. In another example, the avatar is displayed on a portion or portions of the instant messaging interface, such as window portion 120 or 140 and FIG. 1 . In the example of FIG. 3, the wallpaper consistent with the avatar may include an object or objects that are animated during the instant messaging session.

The processor receives message text entered by the sender to be sent to the instant message recipient (step 310), and sends a message conforming to the text entered by the recipient (step 315). The processor compares the message text to various animation triggers associated with the avatar displayed by the sender (step 320). Triggers can include any letter, number or symbol that can be typed using the keyboard or keypad. Various triggers can be associated with animations.

Referring again to FIG. 4, an example 400 of triggers associated with animations 405a-405q of a particular avatar model is shown. Each of the animations 405a-405q has a plurality of associated triggers 410a-410q. In particular, by way of example, animation 405a in which the avatar is made to smile has an associated trigger 410a. Each of the triggers 410a contains a plurality of character strings. In particular, triggers 410a include ":)" trigger 411a, ":-)" trigger 412a, "0:-)" trigger 413a, "0:)" trigger 414a, and "Nice" trigger 415a. As shown, the trigger can be an English word, such as 415a, or an expression, such as 411a-414a. Other examples of triggers include specific abbreviations, such as "lol" 411n, and English phrases, such as "Ohno" 415e. As discussed above, when one of the triggers is included in the instant message, the avatar is animated with the animation associated with the trigger. In one example, the avatar smiles when "Nice" is included in an instant message. In one implementation, one or more animation-related triggers can be changed by a user. For example, a user may associate a new trigger with an animation, such as by adding "Happy" to trigger 410a to make the avatar smile. In another example, the user may delete a trigger associated with the animation (ie, make the trigger not associated with the animation), such as deleting "Nice" 415a. In yet another example, the user may change animation-related triggers, such as changing the "wink" trigger 413b to "winks".

In some implementations, a particular trigger may only be associated with one animation. In other implementations, a particular trigger may allow multiple animations to be associated. In some implementations, only one of multiple animations may play in response to a particular trigger. The single animation to be played can be selected randomly or in a preset manner from a plurality of animations. In other implementations, these multiple animations can all play consecutively based on a single trigger. In some implementations, the user may be allowed to delete a particular animation. For example, the user can delete the yelling animation 405g. In this case, the user may delete some or all of the triggers associated with the yelling animation 405g or may choose to associate some or all of the triggers 410g with a different animation, such as the smiling animation 405a.

Referring again to FIG. 3, the processor determines whether a trigger is included in the message (step 325). When a trigger is included in the message (step 325), the processor identifies an animation of the type associated with the identified trigger (step 330). This can be done using a database table, list, or file that associates one or more triggers with a certain type of animation for the avatar to recognize a particular type of animation, etc. Various types of animations include, for example, smiling 405a, winking 405b, frowning 405c, tongue out 405d, surprised 401d, kiss 405f, yelling 405g, big smile 405h, sleeping 405i, nodding 405j , sighing 405k, sad expression 405l, cool expression 405m, laughing 405n, disappearing 405o, smelling 405p, or rejecting expression 405q, etc. An animation of the particular type of avatar is played (step 335).

Optionally, the processor may identify and play an animation of at least one wallpaper object on the basis that the trigger matches the sent message text (step 337).

The processor monitors the sender's communication activity during periods of inactivity (step 340) to check when the sender is in an idle state or idle period of communication activity (step 345). A sender can be idle after a period of no message sending. To check the idle state, the processor may determine whether the sender has not entered or sent an instant message, or interacted with the instant messaging application for a predetermined amount of time. Alternatively, the idle state may be detected by the processor when the sender is not using the computer system in which the processor has been running for a predetermined amount of time.

When the processor detects inactivity (which may be referred to as an idle state), it recognizes some type of animation associated with the idle state (step 350). This could be done through a database table, list, or file identifying one or more types of animations etc. during the idle state detected. The type of animation played during idle detection can be the same or different than the trigger-based animation played in instant messaging. An animation of the identified type is played (step 355). In one implementation, various types of animations associated with the idle state can be identified and played. When the processor detects that the sender is no longer idle, for example by receiving input from the sender, the processor may immediately stop playing animation events (not displayed). In some implementations, the user can select various types of animations to play during the idle period and/or select the order in which the animations are played when multiple animations are played during the idle period. A user may configure or otherwise determine the duration of no message sending to enact an idle period for the user.

In some implementations, the processor may detect a wallpaper object trigger that is different from the trigger used to animate the sender avatar (step 360). For example, the processor may detect the passage of a predetermined amount of time. In another example, the processor may detect that the content of the instant message contains a trigger for animating the wallpaper object that is different from a trigger for animating the sender avatar. Other wallpaper object triggers can include (but are not limited to) the occurrence of a specific day or time of day, the presence of any sender avatar animation, the presence of a specific type of sender avatar animation, the presence of a receiver avatar animation , and/or the presence of specific types of receiver avatars. Triggers for wallpaper object animations may also be user configurable so that the user selects which particular type of animation is included, which animations to play, and triggers for one or more wallpaper objects. The trigger for some type of animation of the object or objects of the wallpaper may be the same as or different from one of the triggers associated with animating the avatar.

When the processor detects the wallpaper object trigger (step 360), the processor identifies and plays an animation of at least one wallpaper object (step 337).

For each instant message sent and each instant message received by the processor, the process of identifying and playing various types of animations during sending of the instant message is performed (steps 310-335). The process of identifying and playing various types of animation events (steps 340-355) during periods of inactivity may occur multiple times in an instant messaging session. Steps 310-355 may be repeated irregularly until the end of the instant messaging session.

The process of identifying and playing various types of animations (steps 320-355) corresponding to the instant message sent or played during the period of inactivity of the sender is also done by the instant messaging application processor receiving the message. In this way, the animation of the sender's avatar can be viewed by both the sender and recipient of the instant messaging system. In this way, the animation of the avatar conveys information from the sender to the recipient not directly involved in the instant message.

Referring to FIG. 5, an instant messaging interface 500 may be used by a sender of a voice-based instant messaging system to send and receive instant messages. In voice-based instant messaging systems, instant messages are heard rather than read by the user. The instant message may be an audio recording of a voice-based instant messaging system user, or the instant message may contain text that is converted to audible speech using a text-to-speech engine. The audio recording or audible speech is played by the user. Voice-based instant messaging interface 500 may display an avatar 505 corresponding to the user of the instant messaging system from which the voice-based instant message was received. The avatar 505 can be automatically animated in response to receiving the instant message so that the avatar 505 appears to be speaking the content of the instant message. The recipient can watch the animation of the avatar 505 and gather information that is not directly or explicitly conveyed in the instant message. Depending on the animation being played, the receiver may be able to tell, for example, the mood of the sender, or whether the sender is serious or joking.

In particular, audio messages may be processed in the same or similar manner as text instant messages in animation process 300 of FIG. 3 . In this case, various types of animations are triggered by audio triggers contained within the instant message.

In some implementations, the avatar 505 can appear to be speaking an instant message. For example, avatar 505 may include animation of mouth movements that correspond to phonemes in human speech to improve the accuracy of the speaking animation. When the instant message contains text, the text-to-speech process can generate sounds made by the avatar 505, corresponding to the animation of the phonemes in the generated text, and the lip-sync process can be used to synchronize the audio playback with the lip animation so that the phonemes Can be heard while the corresponding animation of the mouth of avatar 505 is seen. When an instant message contains an audio recording, animations corresponding to phonemes in the audio recording can be generated, and lip sync is used to synchronize the playback of the audio recording with the lip animation.

In another example, the sender may record an audio portion to be associated with one or more animations of avatar 505 . The recording can then be played when the corresponding animation of the avatar 505 is played.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example process 600 for communicating between instant messaging clients 602a and 602b via instant messaging host system 604 to animate one avatar in response to an animation played in another, different avatar. Each user using clients 602a and 602b is associated with an avatar that represents and impersonates the user during the instant messaging session. Communication between clients 602a and 602b is facilitated by instant messaging host system 604 . In general, the communication process 600 enables a first client 602a and a second client 602b to send and receive communications from each other. The communication is sent through the instant messaging host system 604 . Some or all of the communication may trigger an animation or animations in the avatar associated with the user of the first client 602a, or an animation or animations in the avatar associated with the user of the second client 602b. Multiple animations.

An instant messaging communication session is established between the first client 602a and the second client 602b, wherein the communication is sent through the instant messaging server host system 604 (step 606). The communication session includes a first avatar representing a user of the first client 602a and a second avatar representing a user of the second client 602b. This can be achieved, for example, as described above with reference to step 305 of FIG. 3 . In general, both a user of the first client 602a and a user of the second client 602b can use a user interface similar to user interface 100 in FIG. The square avatar is displayed on the first client 602a and the second client 602b.

During the instant messaging session, the user input associated with the first client 602a will send the instant message text to the user of the second client 602b, which is received by a processor executing the instant messaging application on the client 602a (step 608). The entered text may contain a trigger for one of the animations from the first avatar model. The processor executing the instant messaging application program in the instant messaging task sends the input text to the second client 602b through the host system 604 (step 610). In particular, host system 604 receives the message and forwards the message from first client 602a to second client 602b (step 612). The message is received by the second client 602b (step 614). After receiving the message, the second client 602b displays the message on the user interface used to display the message from the first client 602a. The user interface may be similar to instant messaging user interface 105 in FIG. 1 showing avatars corresponding to senders and recipients.

Both the first client 602a and the second client 602b have a copy of the message, and both the first client 602a and the second client 602b start processing the text in the message to determine whether the text in the message triggers Any animation in the respective copies of the first and second avatar models. When processing the message, the first client 602a and the second client 602b may actually process substantially in parallel or serially, but both the first client 602a and the second client 602b process the message in the same manner.

Specifically, the first client 602a searches the text in the message for an animation trigger to identify a certain type of animation to play (step 616a). The first client 602a then identifies an animation of the identified type of animation for the first avatar associated with the user of the first client 602a (step 618a). The first client 602a plays the identified animation for the first avatar associated with the user of the first client 602a (step 620a). The first avatar model is used to identify the animation to be played because the first avatar model is associated with the first client 602a sending the message. The first client 602a and the second client 602b process information using the same copy of the first avatar model, so that the same animation events are seen on the first client 602a and the second client 602b.

Animation from the first avatar model triggers animation from the second avatar model. To do this, the first client 602a identifies an animation to play for the second avatar associated with the user of the second client 602b based on the identified type of animation played for the first avatar in response to the text trigger. type of animation (step 622a). The first client 602b plays the same type of animation for the second avatar (step 624a).

The first client may also identify a certain type of animation to be played for the wallpaper corresponding to the first avatar and play the identified wallpaper animation for the first avatar (step 626a). The avatar wallpaper may contain an object or objects that are animated during the instant messaging session. The animation of the object or objects occurs based on, for example, a trigger in an instant message or the passage of a predetermined amount of time. Animations for wallpaper objects may be user configurable so that the user chooses whether to play a particular type of animation or any animation, and triggers for one or more wallpaper objects. The trigger for a certain type of animation of the object or objects of the wallpaper may be the same as or different from one of the triggers associated with animating the avatar. After a message is sent or processed, the user of the first client 602a may not send any other messages for a period of time. The first client 602a detects such a period of inactivity (step 628a). The first client 602a identifies and plays animations of the type detected by the first client 602a that are associated with a period of inactivity. This can be done using a database table, list, or file identifying one or more types of animation during periods of detected idleness.

The second client 602b handles instant messages in the same manner as the first client 602a. Specifically, the second client 602b processes the message with steps 616b-630b, each of which is identical to the parallel message processing steps 616a-630a performed by the first client 602a. Since each of the first client 602a and the second client 602b has a copy of the avatar corresponding to the user of the first client 602a and the second client 602b, as a result of performing steps 616a-630a are displayed in The same animation on the first client 602a is also displayed on the second client 602b as a result of performing steps 616b-630b.

During the course of the communication session 600, a text-based message indicates the type of animation that occurs. However, animations with different types of content can also trigger the animation of the avatar. For example, features of a voice signal incorporated into a voice-based message can trigger animation from the avatar.

Referring to FIG. 7, a process 700 is used to select and optionally customize an avatar for use with an instant messaging system. The avatar may be customized to reflect another aspect of the user's desired personality or self-expression with respect to the avatar. Process 700 begins when a user selects an avatar from a plurality of avatars, and the selection is received by a processor executing process 700 (step 705). For example, a user may select a specific avatar from among a plurality of avatars as illustrated in FIG. 8 . Each of the avatars 805a-805r is associated with an avatar model that specifies the appearance of the avatar. Each of the avatars 805a-805r also includes a plurality of associated animations, each animation identified as a particular animation type. The selection process may be accomplished, for example, when a user selects an avatar from a group of displayed avatars. Display of Avatars Multiple avatars may be exhibited in a window, for example by displaying a small image (which may be called a "thumbnail" in some implementations) of each avatar. Additionally or alternatively, the display may be a list from which the user selects an avatar name.

Figure 8 illustrates a plurality of avatars 805a-805r. Each of the avatars 805a-805r includes an appearance, a name, and a personality description. In one example, the avatar 805a has an appearance 810a, a name 810b, and a personality description 810c. The appearance of an avatar may, for example, appear as a living, fictional, or historical character, marine creature, amphibian, reptile, mammal, bird, or animated object, among others. Some avatars may only display a head, such as avatars 805a-805r. In one example, the appearance of the avatar 805b includes a sheep's head. The appearance of other avatars may contain only a portion of the header or a specified portion. For example, the avatar 8051 looks like a set of lips. Other avatars may be displayed by bodies other than heads. For example, the appearance of the avatar 805n includes a complete crab body in addition to the head. The avatars may be displayed in a thematic fashion over the wallpaper associated with the avatars. In one example, avatar 805i is displayed over wallpaper representing a swamp in which avatar 805j lives.

Each of the avatars 805a-805r has a basic state expression. For example, the avatar 805f appears happy, the avatar 805j appears sad, and the avatar 805m appears angry. The avatar may have other base state expressions, such as fear or boredom. The basic state of an avatar The expression can affect the behavior of the avatar, including the animation or sound of the avatar. In one example, avatar 805f has a happy base state expression and thus generally happy behavior, while avatar 805m has a crawling base state expression and thus generally panicked, crawling and spooky behavior. In another example, a happy avatar may have a cheerful voice and an angry avatar may appear to be yelling when the sound is produced. The base state expression of an avatar may be changed as a result of user activity associated with the avatar. By way of example, the level of happiness shown by the avatar may be correlated to the number of messages sent or received by the user. When the user has sent or received many messages in a predetermined period of time, the avatar may appear happier than when fewer messages have been sent or received in the predetermined period of time.

A user of the instant messaging system may select one of the plurality of avatars 805a-805r. Each of the avatars 805a-805r is associated with appearance, characteristics and behaviors that represent a particular type of personality. For example, an avatar 805f may be selected that has the appearance of a dolphin.

Each of the avatars 805a-805r is a multi-dimensional character with depth of personality, voice, and visible characteristics. The avatars in avatars 805a-805r are capable of representing rich types of information about the user exhibiting the avatar, as compared to representing an individual aspect of the user through the use of non-animated, two-dimensional graphical icons. The attributes of an avatar enable the communication of physical characteristics, emotional characteristics, and other types of environmental information about the user that would not be well matched (or even available) through the use of two-dimensional icon representations without motion of). In one example, the avatar may reflect the user's state, mood, and personality. In another example, an avatar can reflect the user's location, actions, and other contextual information. These characteristics of the user can be conveyed through the appearance of the avatar, the animation that can be seen, and the sound that can be heard.

In one example of an avatar personality, an avatar named SoccerBuddy (not shown) is associated with an energetic personality. In fact, the avatar SoccerBuddy's personality can be described as energetic, jovial, dependable enthusiastic and youthful. The behavior of the avatar SoccerBuddy mirrors the events in the soccer game. For example, the avatar's yelling animation is the chant of "oh come oh come oh come" , his big smile animation is "go-go-go" and, in frown animation or tongue-out animation , the graphic representation shows a yellow card. Through the use of wallpaper, SoccerBuddy is assigned to represent a specific team. Features unique to the avatar SoccerBuddy include splinted feet to represent the bottom of the avatar. Generally the feet are used as the bottom of the avatar. The avatar SoccerBuddy is able to appear to move around with pogo stick movements on its feet. In several animations, such as when the avatar walks away, the avatar's feet can grow larger and separate from the SoccerBuddy. Feet can be animated to kick the ball around the display.

In another example, silent film avatars are flashbacks of silent film actors from the 1920s and 1930s. Silent film avatars are depicted through the use of chimney hats and cane-style mustaches. Silent film avatars are not associated with sound. Instead of speech, the silent film avatar is replaced by a placard with text, or displayed, in a manner similar to how speech is presented in a silent film.

In other examples, the avatar may correspond to a current event or season. In one example, the avatar may represent a team or player in a team that includes professional or amateur sports. The avatar may represent a football team, a baseball team, or a basketball team, or a particular player on a team. In one example, teams playing in a particular playoff series can be played. Examples of seasonal avatars include a Santa Claus avatar, an Uncle Sam avatar, a Thanksgiving turkey avatar, a jack-o-lantern avatar, a Valentine's Day heart avatar, an Easter egg avatar, and an Easter bunny avatar, among others.

The animation triggers for the avatar can be modified or customized when various types of animations related to the avatar are to occur (step 710). For example, a user may modify the trigger shown in FIG. 4 to indicate when the avatar is to be animated, as previously described with respect to FIG. 3 . Triggers can be added to include frequently used words, phrases, or signature strings. Triggers can also be modified so that animations that play as a result of the trigger represent the avatar's personality. Modification triggers can help define the personality expressed by the avatar and serve as the user's self-expression.

The user may also configure the appearance of the avatar (step 715). This can also help define the personality of the avatar and convey the sender's self-expressive aspect. For example, referring also to FIG. 9 , an appearance modification user interface 900 may be used to configure the appearance of an avatar. In the example in FIG. 9, appearance modification user interface 900 enables a user to modify various features of an avatar's head. For example, the avatar's hair, eyes, nose, lips, and skin tone can all be configured using the appearance modification user interface 900 . For example, hair slider 905 may be used to modify the hair length of an avatar. Different positions of the hair slider bar 905 represent different possible lengths of avatar hair corresponding to different displays of avatar hair contained in an avatar model file associated with the configured avatar. The eye slider 910 can be used to modify the color of the avatar's eyes, each position of the eye slider 910 represents a different possible color for the avatar's eyes, and each color is reflected in the avatar model file. Nose slider 915 may be used to modify the appearance of the avatar's nose, with each position of nose slider 915 representing a different possible appearance of the avatar's nose as reflected in the avatar model file. In a similar manner, the lips slider 920 can be used to modify the appearance of the avatar's lips, with each position of the lips slider 920 representing a different possible appearance of the avatar's lips and associated with a different lip display in the avatar model file couplet. The skin tone of the avatar can also be modified using the skin tone slider 925. Each possible position of the skin tone slider 925 represents a possible skin tone for the avatar, each of which is displayed in the avatar model file.

The avatar appearance created as a result of using the slider bars 905-925 can be previewed in the avatar browser 930. The values selected by slider bars 905 - 925 are reflected in the avatar displayed by avatar browser 930 . In one implementation, the avatar browser 930 may update as each of the sliders 905-925 is moved so that changes made to the appearance of the avatar are immediately visible. In another implementation, the avatar browser 930 may be updated once after all sliders 905-925 have been used.

The rotation slider 935 rotates the avatar displayed in the avatar browser 930 . For example, the avatar may be rotated by a certain number selected by rotating the slider bar 935 along some axis relative to the unrotated orientation of the avatar. In one implementation, the axis extends vertically through the center of the avatar's head, while the avatar's unrotated orientation is when the avatar is facing directly forward. Rotating the avatar's head using the rotation slider bar 930 allows viewing of all sides of the avatar to show changes in the avatar's appearance made using the slider bars 905-925. The avatar browser 930 can be updated as the rotary slider 930 is moved so that changes in the orientation of the avatar are immediately visible.

Appearance modification user interface 900 also includes hair tool button 940 , skin tool button 945 , and accessory tool button 950 . Selecting the hair tools button 940 displays tools for modifying various features of the avatar's hair. For example, the tools displayed as a result of selecting the hair tool button 940 can effectuate changes, eg, avatar hair length, color, trim style, and comb. In one implementation, modifications made to the avatar's hair by the tools displayed as a result of selecting the hair tool button 940 are reflected in the avatar instance map of the avatar browser 930 .

Similarly, selecting the skin tool button 945 displays tools for modifying various aspects of the avatar's skin. For example, the tools displayed as a result of selecting the header skin tool button 945 may be implemented. For example, modify the color of an avatar's skin, add teal to an avatar, add sashimi to an avatar, or change the aging of an avatar's skin to give the appearance of the avatar's age. In one implementation, modifications made to the avatar's skin by tools displayed as a result of selecting the skin tool button 945 are reflected in the avatar instance map of the avatar browser 930 .

In a similar manner, accessory tools button 950 is selected to display tools for associating one or more accessories with an avatar. For example, eyes, earrings, hats, or other items that can be worn by the avatar, or appear on or near the avatar, can be added to the avatar through use of the accessory tool. In one implementation, accessories added to the avatar by tools displayed as a result of selecting accessory tool button 950 are displayed in the avatar instance map of avatar browser 930 . In some implementations, all accessories that may be associated with an avatar are included in the avatar model file. The accessories control whether each accessory is made visible when displaying the avatar. In some implementations, accessories can be created and displayed using two-dimensional animation techniques. The display of accessories is synchronized with the animation of the three-dimensional avatar. Accessories can be generated and associated with an avatar after the avatar is initially created.

Once all desired modifications to the avatar's appearance have been made, the user may accept the modifications by selecting the publish button 955 . Publish button 955 is selected to save the modifications made to the appearance of the avatar. Additionally, when copies of the avatar are held by other users of the instant messaging system to reflect modifications made, the other users are sent an updated copy of the avatar reflecting the modifications made to the avatar by the user. This copy of the avatar can be updated so that all copies of the avatar have the same appearance so that there is consistency between the avatars used to send and receive out-of-band communications. Appearance modification user interface 900 may be used by a user to change only the corresponding user's copy of the avatar. Thus, users are prevented from modifying other avatars corresponding to other users that might be overwritten. The updated copy of the other avatar sent to the user is due to modifications made to the other avatar by the other user. Prevent users from modifying other avatars to ensure that all copies of the avatar are identical.

The avatar rendered in the avatar browser 930 may have an appearance without one of the hair, eyes, nose, lips, or skin color modified by the sliders 905-925. For example, the appearance of the avatar 8051 from FIG. 8 is devoid of hair, eyes, nose and skin color. In such a case, the appearance modification user interface 900 may omit the sliders 905-925 and include sliders to control other aspects of the avatar's appearance. For example, appearance modification user interface 900 may include a tooth slider when the appearance of avatar 8051 is modified. Furthermore, the interface 900 can be customized based on the selected avatar to suitably and reliably implement which direction to strengthen.

In another example of configuring an avatar's appearance, the avatar's configurable facial features may be created using blend shapes corresponding to the avatar's animation model. Blend shapes define parts of an avatar that can be animated. In some implementations, the blend shape can include mesh percentages that can be modified to cause corresponding modifications in facial features. In this case, the user may have the ability to configure the facial feature of the avatar by using a slider or other type of controller to modify the mesh percentage of the blend shape associated with the configured facial feature.

In addition to modifying the shape of the avatar using the appearance modification user interface 900, the color, texture, and texture of the avatar may also be modified. In particular, the color or shading of an avatar can be changed. Textures applied to an avatar can be modified to look like an aged or aging avatar's skin. Additionally, the avatar's width, length, texture, and dot color can be customized. In one example, an avatar particle used to depict hair or facial hair, such as a beard, can be modified to show the growth of the avatar's hair or beard.

Referring again to FIG. 7, a wallpaper over which to display the avatar and animations for objects on the wallpaper may be selected (step 720). This can be done, for example, by selecting a wallpaper from a set of possible wallpapers. The wallpaper can include live objects, or the user can select objects and animations as selected objects to be added on the selected wallpaper.

A trade card may be created that includes the avatar image, a description of the avatar (step 725). In some implementations, the trade card may also contain a description of the user associated with the avatar. Trading cards can be shared with other users of the instant messaging system to provide information to other users of the avatar associated with that user.

Still referring to FIG. 10, an example of a trading card is depicted. The front face 1045 of the trading card displays an avatar 1046 . An animation of the avatar can be played by selecting the animation control 1047. The back 1050 of the trade card contains descriptive information about the avatar, including the avatar's name, date of birth, city, type, likes, dislikes, habits, and aspirations. As shown in Figure 10, both the front 1045 and back 1050 of the trade card are displayed. In some implementations, only one of sides 1045 and 1050 of a trade card can be displayed at a time. In this case, the user can control a certain side of the displayed trading card by using one of the flip controls 1048 or 1052 . The store from which to purchase accessories for the avatar 1046 illustrated in the trade card can be accessed by selecting the store control 1049 .

Still referring to FIG. 7, the avatar may also be exported for use in another application (step 730). In some implementations, the avatar can be used by applications other than the messaging application. In one example, the avatar may be displayed as part of a user's customized home page of a user's access provider, such as an Internet service provider. The instant message sender can drag and drop the avatar onto the user-customized homepage so that the avatar can be browsed by the user corresponding to the avatar. In another example, an avatar may be used in an application where the avatar may be browsable by anyone. The instant message sender can drag and drop the sender's avatar into the sender's blog or another type of publicly accessible online magazine. The user may repeat the steps in process 700 one or more times until the user is satisfied with the appearance and behavior of the avatar. The avatar can be saved and made visible to the user during the instant messaging session.

Still referring to FIG. 10 , the avatar settings user interface 1000 includes a personality area 1002 . Selecting the personality page 1010 displayed on the personality area of the avatar settings user interface 1000 is used to modify the behavior of one or more avatars. In one implementation, the avatar settings user interface 1000 can be used with the process 700 of FIG. 7 to select a wallpaper for the avatar and/or to create a trading card for the avatar.

Personality area 1002 of avatar settings user interface 1000 includes an avatar list 1015 containing one or more various avatars corresponding to instant messaging system users. Each of the one or more avatars can be assigned a different personality for use when communicating with a particular person or in a particular situation. In one implementation, the avatar can change appearance or behavior depending on who the user is interacting with. For example, an avatar may be created with a personality that likes to communicate in business, while another avatar may be created with a personality that likes to communicate with family members. Each avatar can be displayed in a list with a name and a small icon for each avatar's appearance. Select an avatar from list 1015 to specify the behavior of the selected avatar. For example, avatar 1020, the one selected as the user's default avatar, has been selected from avatar list 1015 so that the behavior of avatar 1020 can be specified.

The avatar names contained in the avatar list can be changed by selecting the rename button 1025 . Selecting the rename button displays tools for changing the name of an avatar selected from the avatar list 1015 . Similarly, an avatar may be designated as the default avatar by selecting a default button 1030 after selecting an avatar from the avatar list 1015 . An avatar may be deleted by selecting delete button 1030 after selecting the avatar from list of avatars 1015 . In one implementation, a notification is displayed prior to the avatar being deleted from the avatar list 1015 . Avatars can also be created by selecting the create button 1040 . A new entry is added to the avatar list 1015 when the create button 1040 is pressed. This entry can be selected and modified in the same manner as the other avatars in the avatar list 1015 .

The behavior of the avatar is outlined on the card front 1045 and card back 1050 displayed on the personality area. Card front 1045 includes an illustration of the avatar and the wallpaper over which avatar 1020 is displayed. The card front 1045 also includes a store control 1049 as a means of purchasing accessories for the selected avatar 1020 . The back of the card 1050 includes information describing the selected avatar 1020 and the user of the selected avatar. The description may include name, date of birth, location, and other identifying and descriptive information about the avatar and the user of the avatar. The card back 1050 may also include an illustration of the selected avatar 1020 and the wallpaper on which the avatar 1020 is displayed. The trade card created as part of the avatar customization process 700 includes a card front 1045 and a card back 1050 automatically generated by the avatar setup interface 1000 .

The personality area 1002 of the avatar settings interface 1000 may include a number of links 1055-1070 to various tools for modifying other aspects of the behavior of the selected avatar 1020 . For example, avatar link 1055 may lead to a tool for modifying the appearance of the selected avatar 1020 . In one implementation, selecting the avatar link 1055 may display the appearance modification user interface 900 in FIG. 9 . In another implementation, the avatar link 1055 may display a tool for selecting the selected avatar 1020 instead of or otherwise. In yet another example, the avatar link 1055 may allow the appearance of the avatar to be converted to another type. For example, the tool may allow the appearance of the avatar 1020 to change from that of a dog to that of a cat.

Wallpaper link 1060 may be selected to display a tool for selecting a wallpaper on which the selected avatar 1020 is depicted. In one implementation, the wallpaper can be live.

Sound link 1065 can be selected to display tools with which the sound made by avatar 1020 can be modified. When the avatar is animated, or at other times, the sound may be played to get the user's attention.

The emotion link 1070 can be selected to display a tool for specifying emoticons available when communicating with the selected avatar 1020 . Emoticons are two-dimensional, inactive images that are sent when certain triggers are included in the text of an instant message. Changes made using the tools available through links 1055-1070 can be reflected on the card front 1045 and card back 1050. After all desired modifications to the avatars contained in the avatar list 1015 have been completed, the avatar settings interface 1000 can be dismissed by selecting the close button 1075 .

Through the systems and techniques described herein, particularly with respect to FIGS. The specified one or more names are associated. Each self-expression item is used to represent the characteristics or preferences of the instant message sender or instant message sender, and may include user-selectable binary objects. This self-expression entry can be made by a potential instant message recipient ("instant message receiver") before, during, or after communication initiation by a potential instant message sender ("instant message sender"). . For example, an item of self-expression may contain an avatar, an image, such as wallpaper, etc., applied at a location on the user interface with a contextual layout. A contextual layout typically indicates a connection to a user represented by a self-expression item. For example, the wallpaper may be applied to the area where messages from an instant message sender are displayed, or to the area around a conversation area on a user interface. Self-expression entries also include sounds, animations, video clips, and emoticons (such as smileys). A personality can also include a set of characteristics or functions associated with a personality. For example, features such as encrypted transmissions, logging of instant message conversations, and forwarding of instant messages to alternative communication systems may be implemented for a given personality.

Users may designate personalities to be displayed while chatting with other users, either in advance or during a communication session "on the fly". This allows users to project different personalities to different online groups. In particular, a user may save one or more personalities (e.g., each personality typically includes a group of instant messaging self-expression items such as avatars, buddy voices, buddy wallpapers and emoticons, and/or a set of features or functions), And they can name these personalities to achieve their invocation, they can associate each different personality with a different user or group of users with which they communicate so as to automatically display the appropriate The/selected personalities, or they can create each different personalities in the process of creating, adding or customizing lists or groups of users or individual users themselves. In this way, the personality can be revealed to others in interactive online environments (such as instant messaging and chat) based on assignments made by the user. Also, personalities can be assigned, created, and/or associated with other settings so that they can be based on time of day, geographic or virtual location, or even characteristics or attributes of each (e.g., cold personality in Colorado winter or chatting personality in the process of participating in a chat room), etc. to display a specific personality.

In many instances, an instant message sender may have multiple presence personas used in an instant messaging communication session. Each presence persona is associated with an avatar representing that particular presence persona of the instant message sender. In many cases, each online persona of a particular instant message sender is associated with a different avatar. This doesn't have to be the case. And, even when two or more online personas of a particular instant message sender contain the same avatar, the appearance or behavior of the avatar may be different for each of the online personas. In one example, a starfish avatar may be associated with two online personas of a particular instant message sender. The starfish avatar associated with one online character may have a different animation than other starfish avatars associated with other online characters. Even if two starfish avatars include the same animation, one starfish avatar can act to show a certain type of animation based on a different trigger than show the same animation to the other starfish avatar.

Figure 11A shows the relationship between online persona, avatar, avatar behavior and avatar appearance. In particular, FIG. 11A shows online personas 1102a-1102e and avatars 1104a-1104d associated with online personas 1102a-1102e. Each of the avatars 1104a-1104d includes an appearance 1106a-1106c and a behavior 1108a-1108d. In particular, avatar 1104a includes appearance 1106a and behavior 1108a; avatar 1104b includes appearance 1106b and behavior 1108b; avatar 1104c includes appearance 1106c and behavior 1108c; and avatar 1104d includes appearance 1106c and behavior 1108d. Avatars 1104c and 1104d are similar in that they include appearance 1106c. However, avatars 1104c and 1104d differ in that avatar 1104c includes behavior 1108c and avatar 1104d includes behavior 1108d.

Each of the online personas 1102a-1102e is associated with one of the avatars 1104a-1104d. In particular, online persona 1102a is associated with avatar 1104a; online persona 1102b is associated with avatar 1104b; online persona 1102c is also associated with avatar 1104b and online persona 1102d is associated with avatar 1104c; and online persona 1102e is associated with avatar 1104b; Expression 1104d is associated. As illustrated by online persona 1102a being associated with avatar 1104a, an online persona may be associated with an avatar that is not associated with other online personas.

Multiple online characters can use the same avatar. This is illustrated by online personas 1102b and 1102c that are both associated with avatar 1104b. In this case, the appearance and behavior exhibited by the avatar 1104b is the same for both online personas 1102b and 1102c. In some cases, multiple online personas may use similar avatars with the same appearance exhibiting different behaviors, as illustrated by online personas 1102d and 1102e. Online personas 1102d and 1102e are associated with similar avatars 1104c and 1104d that have the same appearance 1106c. Avatars 1102d and 1102e, however, also exhibit different behaviors 1108c and 1108d, respectively.

During the process of creating a personality, an instant message sender can suppress the display of a particular personality to indicate an instant message recipient and/or group. For example, if an instant messager wants to ensure that the "casual" personality is not accidentally revealed to the boss or colleagues, the instant messager can disable the "casual" personality from being shown to the boss on an individual basis, and can block it on a group basis. Prohibit the "casual" personality from showing to the "colleagues" group. A suitable user interface can be provided to assist the instant message sender in making this choice. Likewise, an instant message sender may be provided with the option to "lock" the personality of an instant message recipient or group of instant message recipients to prevent accidental or unintentional personality switching and/or addition. Thus, for example, an instant message sender can lock a "work" personality to a boss on an individual basis, or a "work" personality to a group of "colleagues" on a group basis. In another example, random personalities are not applied to locked personalities.

FIG. 11B shows an exemplary process 1100 for enabling an instant message sender to select a presence persona to make him aware of the instant message sender. The selected presence persona includes an avatar representing the presence persona of the instant message sender. Process 1100 generally includes selecting and presenting an online persona comprising an avatar representing the sender. The instant message sender creates or modifies one or more personalities, including an avatar representing the sender (step 1105). Online personalities can be created and modified through, for example, avatar settings user interface 1000 in FIG. 10 . Creating an online persona typically involves the instant message sender selecting one or more self-expressive items and/or features and functions to display to a particular instant message recipient or group of instant message recipients. A user interface may be provided to assist the instant message sender in making this selection, as shown in FIG. 12 .

12 shows a selector user interface 1200 that enables an instant message sender to select at 1205, 1210, 1215, 1220, 1225, 1230, 1235, 1240, 1245, 1250, and 1255 available personalities. The user interface 1200 may have a control 1260 to enable the instant message sender to "block" other user's personalities, and a control 1265 to preview the personality settings currently selected by the instant message sender. By using the avatar settings interface 1000, the user can change the personality, including the avatar, presented to the instant message recipient before, during, or after an instant message conversation with the recipient.

Optionally, the selection of a personality can also occur automatically without the intervention of the sender. For example, an automatic determination can be made that the sender is instant messaging from work. In this case, the personality to be used at work can be automatically selected and used for all communications. As another example, an automatic determination can be made that the sender is sending instant messages from home, and the personality to be used at home can be automatically selected and used for all communications. In such an implementation, the sender has no control over which personality is chosen to use. In another implementation, the automatic selection of personalities can be used in association with the sender's personalization selections, in which case the automatic selection of personalities can serve as a default setting that can be changed by the sender.

FIG. 13 shows an exemplary series of user interfaces 1300 for enabling an instant message sender to create and store a personality, and/or select aspects of a personality such as avatars, buddy wallpapers, buddy voices, and smileys. As shown, user interface 1305 enables an instant message sender to select a set of one or more self-expression items and save the set of self-expression items as a personality. User interface 1305 also enables the instant message sender to preview and change the instant message personality. For example, the user interface 1305 enables the instant message sender to select an avatar 1310 (here, referred to as a SuperBuddy), a buddy wallpaper 1315, an emoticon 1320 (here, referred to as a smiley), and a buddy sound 1325. A set of controls 1340 is provided to enable an instant message sender to preview a summary 1340a and save these selected self-expressed entries 1340b as personalities. An instant message sender can name and save a personality 1345, thereby also being able to apply a personality 1350 to one or more individual instant message recipients or a group of one or more instant message recipients. A management area 1350a is provided to enable an instant message sender to delete, save, or rename various instant message personalities. Upon selection of a self-expression item, other interfaces such as user interface 1355 may be displayed to enable the instant message sender to select a particular self-expression item. User interface 1355 includes a set of themes 1360 for avatars, enabling the instant message sender to select a particular theme 1365 and select a particular avatar 1370 within the selected theme. A set of controls 1375 are provided to assist the instant message sender in making selections for self-expression items. The instant message sender may also have the ability to select a pre-defined theme, for example, by using the user interface 1380. On the user interface 1380, the instant message sender can select various pre-selected topic categories 1385 and by selecting a particular category 1390, a set of pre-selected self-expression items are displayed, 1390a, 1390b, 1390c, 1390d, 1390e , and 1390f. The group can be immutable or the instant message sender can have the ability to individually change any of the pre-selected self-expression entries in the group. A controller portion 1395 is also provided to enable the instant message sender to select the topic.

In another implementation, the features or functionality of the instant messaging interface may vary based on options selected or pre-selected by the user for a selected or currently-used personality. Features or functions may be transparent to the instant message sender. For example, when using the "work" personality, listed instant messages can be encrypted and copies can be logged, or copies can be forwarded to designated contacts such as administrative assistants. A warning may be provided to the instant message recipient that the instant message conversation is being recorded or viewed by others to accommodate the situation. In contrast, if the non-professional "casual" personality is selected, listed instant messages may be unencrypted and no copies are recorded or forwarded.

As a further example, if the "work" personality is selected and the instant message sender indicates that receiving instant messages is invalid (e.g., by selecting "away" messages or by going offline), messages received from others during the inactive period may be forwarded To another instant message recipient such as an administrative assistant, or an e-mail address that can be forwarded to the instant message sender. In contrast, if the non-professional "casual" personality was selected, no special measures were taken to confirm the delivery of the message.

In one implementation, personality-related features and functionality are transparent to the instant message sender, and may rely on one or more pre-selected profile categories when a personality is set. For example, an instant message sender may be asked to choose from a group of personality categories such as professional, managerial, informal, vacation, irregular, and the like. In the example above, the "work" personality could have been set as the "professional" personality type and the "casual" personality could have been set as the "informal" personality type. In another implementation, the instant message sender can individually select personality-related features and functions.

Referring again to FIG. 11B, the personality is stored (step 1110). The personality can be stored to the instant messaging system, on the instant messaging host system, or on another host system such as that of an authorized partner or access provider.

Next, the instant message sender specifies a personality to show in future instant message tasks or when busy with future instant message conversations with the instant message recipient (step 1115). An instant message sender may wish to display different personalities to different instant message recipients and/or groups in the buddy list. The instant message sender can use the user interface to assign personalization entries to personalities according to at least each friend group. For example, an instant message sender can assign full-range avatars to all personalities, but assign different buddy voices to other personalities (e.g., work, family, friends) per group, and adapt specific instant messages within groups on an individual basis The recipient's individual personality specifies the wallpaper. The instant message sender can specify other personality attributes based on the occurrence of some predetermined event or trigger. For example, a potential instant message recipient may be designated to see a rainy weather personality if the weather indicates rain in the instant message sender's geographic location. Default precedence rules may be applied to resolve conflicts, or the user may select precedence rules to resolve conflicts between revealed personalities or between self-expression items presented for merging personalities.

For example, a set of default priority rules may assign the highest priority to personality and self-expression items assigned on an individual basis, assign the next highest priority to assignments of personality and personalization items made on a group basis, and Assigns the lowest priority to assignments of personalities and personalization entries made on a regular user basis to resolve conflicts between assigned personalities. However, the user may be given the option to override these default priority rules and specify a different priority rule for conflict resolution.

Next, start an instant message task between the instant message sender and the instant message receiver (step 1120). The instant message task can be started by the instant message sender or the instant message receiver.

The instant message user interface is presented to the instant message recipient configured to display the personality, including avatars, assigned to the instant message recipient by the instant message sender (step 1125), for example, as shown in the user interface 100 of FIG. 1 . The personality selected by the instant message recipient, including the avatar associated with the personality, may be perceived by the instant message sender when the communication window is opened for the particular instant message recipient but before the communication is initiated. This may allow the user to decide whether to initiate communication with the instant message recipient. For example, an instant message sender may notice that the instant message recipient is displaying a personality at work, and the instant message sender may decide to refrain from sending the instant message. This is especially true when an avatar of the instant message recipient is displayed on the contact list. On the other hand, visualizing an avatar of the instant message recipient after sending the instant message can lead to more efficient communication.

Appropriate personalities/personalization items set for a buddy are sent to the buddy when the buddy communicates with the sender of the instant message through an instant messaging client program. For example, in the implementation of supporting common personalized items, group personalized items, and personal personalized items, if it has been set, the personal personalized item will be sent to the friend, otherwise, if it has been set, the group personalized item will be sent. If neither personal nor group personalization is set, normal personalization is sent. As another example, in an implementation that supports common personalized items and group personalized items, if it is set, the group personalized item for the group to which the friend belongs is sent, otherwise the normal personalized item is sent. In an implementation that supports only group personalization entries, the friend is sent a group personalization entry for the group the friend belongs to.

An instant message task between an instant message sender and an instant message recipient may also be initiated by the instant message sender or a second instant message recipient (step 1130).

With respect to the second instant message task, a second instant message user interface is presented to a second instant message recipient configured to display a personality including an avatar, similar to the user interface shown in Figure 1, by an instant message The sender is assigned to the second instant message recipient (step 1135). This personality can be revealed in a manner similar to that described with respect to step 1125 above. However, the personality and avatar presented to the second instant message recipient may differ from the personality and avatar presented to the first instant message recipient as described in step 1125 above.

Referring to FIG. 14, an exemplary process 1400 enables an instant message sender to change the personality assigned to an instant message recipient. In process 1400, a user selection of a new online persona, including an avatar, to be assigned to an instant message recipient is received (step 1405). Changes can be received through instant message selector 1200, such as discussed above with respect to FIG. ” An avatar of an online persona or friend. Blocking an avatar means that the use of one or more items, such as an avatar, by an instant message recipient is appropriated by an instant message sender. Typically, all personalized entries in the instant message recipient's presence persona are appropriated by the instant message sender when "blocking" the presence persona.

Next, an updated user interface for the instant message recipient is submitted based on the newly selected personality (step 1410).

15 illustrates an example process 1500 for modifying the appearance, or behavior, of an avatar associated with an instant message sender to deliver an out-of-band message to an instant message recipient. This process may be accomplished by an instant messaging system, such as communication systems 1600, 1700, and 1800 described with respect to Figures 16, 17, and 18, respectively. Out-of-band messaging refers to sending messages that convey context out-of-band, that is, conveying information that is not related to the information conveyed directly through the instant message text itself sent to the recipient. In this way, the recipient observes the appearance and behavior of the avatar to receive information that is not conveyed directly or explicitly within the instant message itself. By way of example, out-of-band communications may contain information about the sender's settings, environment, behavior, or state that is not passed on or is part of a text message exchanged between the sender and receiver.

Process 1500 begins when the instant messaging system monitors the communication environment and the sender's environment for out-of-band communication indicators (step 1510). An indicator may be an indicator of a sender's settings, environment, behavior, or status that is not explicitly communicated in an instant message sent by the sender. For example, an out-of-band indicator may be an indication of an event and date at the sender's location, available from a clock application associated with an instant messaging system or using the sender's computer. An indicator may be an indication of the sender's physical location. The indicator may be an indication of weather conditions at the sender's location, available from a weather reporting service, such as a site that provides weather information for a geographical location.

Additionally, the indicator may indicate sender actions that occurred at, or close to, the time the instant message was sent. For example, the indicator can be determined from other applications on the sender's computer that were active at or near the time the instant message was sent. For example, the indicator can detect that the sender is using a media player application to play music, so that an avatar associated with the sender can appear wearing headphones to reflect that the sender is listening to music. As another example, an indicator could detect that the sender is working using a calculator application, so that the avatar could appear wearing eyes to reflect that the sender is working.

The behavior of the sender can also be monitored through the use of a camera focused on the sender. The video information captured by the camera can be used to judge the behavior and status of the sender. For example, the position of a point on the sender's face can be determined from video information captured by a camera. The position and movement of facial points can be reflected into an avatar associated with the sender. Thus, if the sender wants to, for example, smile, the avatar also smiles.

The indicator of the sender's status may also come from another device operative to determine the sender's status and send an indication of the status to the sender's computer. For example, the sender can wear a device that monitors the heart rate and judge the sender's status from the heart rate. For example, the device can infer that the sender is agitated or excited when it detects an elevated heart rate. The device may send an indication of the sender's status to the sender's computer for use with the sender's avatar.

The instant messaging system makes a determination as to whether the out-of-band communication indicator has been detected (step 1520). When the out-of-band communication indicator is detected, the instant messaging system judges whether the avatar must be modified, customized, or animated to reflect the detected out-of-band communication indicator (step 1530); during or otherwise, the instant message The system continues to monitor for out-of-band communication indicators (step 1510). To determine which action is required, the instant messaging system can use a date table, list, or file containing out-of-band communication indicators, and for each out-of-band communication indicator an associated action should be taken. Not every detected out-of-band communication indicator requires an action. For example, an action may only be required for some out-of-band communication indicators when the indicator changes from a previous indicator setting. For example, an instant messaging system could periodically monitor a clock application to determine whether it is daytime or nighttime that is set relative to the sender. Once the instant messaging system takes action based on detecting that the out-of-band communication indicator has a night setting, the instant messaging system need not take action based on subsequent detection of a night setting indicator. The instant messaging system only takes action based on the nighttime setting when it receives an intervention from an out-of-band communication indicator for the daytime setting.

When an action is required (step 1540), the appearance and behavior of the avatar is modified in response to the out-of-band communication indicator (step 1550).

In one example, when the out-of-band communication indicator showed that the sender was instant messaging at night, the avatar's appearance was changed to be in pajamas. When the indicator shows that the sender is sending a message during the holidays, the avatar can be dressed as a holiday avatar. To illustrate, an avatar may dress up as Santa Claus in December, a pumpkin as Halloween approaches, or Uncle Sam in early July.

In another example, the avatar may be wearing business attire, such as a suit and tie, when the out-of-band indicator shows that the sender is in the office. The appearance of the avatar may also reflect the weather or general climate of the sender's geographic location. For example, when the out-of-band communication indicator shows that it is raining at the sender's location, the avatar's wallpaper may be modified to contain falling raindrops or to show an open umbrella and/or the avatar may show a rain hat being worn.

As another example, when the out-of-band communication indicator shows that the sender is listening to music, the appearance of the avatar can be changed to show the avatar wearing headphones. Additionally or alternatively, the appearance of the avatar may change based on the type of music the sender is listening to. When the indicator indicates that the sender is working (either at the sender's work location or at another location), the avatar may appear to be in business attire, such as wearing a suit and tie. As this example shows, different out-of-band communication indicators can trigger the same appearance of an avatar. In particular, both the out-of-band communication indicator that the sender is at work and the out-of-band communication indicator that the sender is performing work can cause the avatar to show wearing a suit and tie.

In yet another example of an out-of-band communication indicator, the status of the sender may be indicated as such. In this case, the appearance of the avatar may be changed to reflect the indicated state. For example, when the sender is sad, the avatar can be modified to reflect the sender's sad state, such as by animating the avatar to frown or cry. In another example, based on the detected motion of the sender, a tired, busy or stressed state may be detected and the avatar animated to convey such an emotional state.

After the appearance and/or behavior of the avatar is modified to reflect the out-of-band indicator (step 1550), the updated avatar, or an indication that the avatar has been updated, is communicated to the recipient (step 1560). In general, an updated avatar, or an indication that the avatar has been updated, is provided with the next instant message sent by the sender, however, this is not necessarily the case in every implementation. In some implementations, changes to the avatar may be communicated to the recipient independently of the sending of the communication. Additionally or alternatively, when the buddy list of the instant messaging user interface includes a display of the sender's avatar, a change in the appearance of the avatar may be communicated to each buddy that includes the sender. In this way, the updated avatar, behavior and/or appearance provided to the sender for out-of-band communication is perceived by the recipient.

FIG. 16 illustrates a communication system 1600 comprising an instant message originator system 1605 capable of communicating with an instant message host system 1610 over a communication link 1615 . Communication system 1600 also includes instant message recipient system 1620 capable of communicating with instant message host system 1610 via communication link 1615 . Using the communication system 1600 , a user of an instant message sender system 1605 can exchange communications with a user of an instant message recipient system 1620 . The communication system 1600 is capable of animating an avatar for use by an instant messager as self-expression.

In one implementation, any of instant message sender system 1605, instant message recipient system 1620, or instant message host system 1610 can include one or more general-purpose computers, one or more special-purpose purpose computers (such as devices specially programmed to communicate with each other), or a combination of one or more general purpose computers and one or more special purpose computers. By way of example, instant message sender system 1605 or instant message recipient system 1620 may be a personal computer or other type of personal computer device, such as a personal digital assistant or a mobile communication device. In some implementations, instant message sender system 1605 and/or instant message recipient system 1620 may be a mobile phone capable of receiving instant messages.

Instant message sender system 1605, instant message recipient system 1620 and instant message host system 1610 may be arranged to operate within or in response to one or more systems, such as, for example, one or more LANs (Local Area Networks) and and/or one or more WANs (Wide Area Networks). Communication link 1615 typically includes a transport network (not shown) that provides direct or indirect communication between instant message sender system 1605 and instant message host system 1610, regardless of physical separation. Examples of transport networks include the Internet, the World Wide Web, WAN, LAN, analog or digital wired and wireless telephone networks (e.g., public switched telephone network (PSTN), integrated services digital network (ISDN), and digital subscriber line (DSL) various implementations), radio, television, telegraph, or satellite systems, and other mechanisms for transporting data. Communication link 1615 may include a communication path (not shown) capable of communicating over one or more of the transport networks described above. Each of the communication paths may include, for example, wired, wireless, telegraphic or satellite communication paths.

The instant message host system 1610 may support instant message services or Internet access independent of the instant message sender's network. In this way, the instant message hosting system 1610 may allow users to send and receive instant messages, regardless of whether they are authorized to use any particular Internet Service Provider (ISP). Instant messaging host system 1610 may also support other services including, for example, account management services, directory services, and chat services. The instant message host system 1610 has an architecture that enables devices in the instant message host system 1610 to communicate with other people. To transfer data, instant messaging host system 1610 employs one or more standard or proprietary instant messaging protocols.

In order to access the instant message host system 1610 to initiate an instant message task in the implementation of FIG. Once the connection to the instant message host system 1610 has been established, the instant message sender system 1605 can directly or indirectly transmit data to the instant message host system 1610 and obtain content therefrom. By accessing the instant message host system 1610, the instant message sender can use the instant message client application positioned on the instant message party system 1605 to observe whether a specific user is online, observe whether the user can receive the instant message, and the specific Instant message recipients exchange instant messages, participate in group chat rooms, exchange files such as pictures, invitations or documents, discover other message recipients with similar interests, obtain customized information such as news or stock quotes, and search websites. The instant message recipient system 1620 can similarly operate to create a contemporaneous connection with the instant message host system 1610.

Additionally, the instant message sender can browse or preview the avatar and/or other aspects of the online persona associated with the instant message sender prior to engaging in a communication with the instant message recipient. For example, some aspect of the instant message recipient's chosen personality, such as an avatar chosen by the instant message recipient, may be perceived through the buddy list itself prior to communicating. Other aspects of the selected personality selected by the instant message recipient may be aware of the opening of the communication window for the particular instant message recipient made by the instant message recipient but prior to the initiation of the communication. For example, animation of an avatar associated with an instant message sender may only be visible in a communication window, such as user interface 100 in FIG. 1 .

In one implementation, instant messages sent between instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 are sent through instant message host system 1610 . In another implementation, instant messages sent between instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 are sent via a third party participating server (not shown), and, in some cases, also via instant message The host system 1610 sends. In yet another implementation, instant messages are sent directly between the instant message sender system 1605 and the instant message recipient system 1620 .

The techniques, processes and concepts in this specification may be implemented using the communication system 1600 . One or more processes may be implemented in a client/host environment, an isolated or offline client environment, or a combination of the above. For example, some functions of one or more processes may be performed entirely by the instant message sender system 1605, while other functions may be performed by the host system 1610, or by the joint operation of the instant message sender system 1605 and the host system 1610. Illustrating, in process 300, the avatar of the instant message party can be separately selected and presented by the isolated/offline device, while other aspects of the online persona of the instant message sender can be performed by a remote device in a non-client/host environment such as , for example, an end user served by a LAN server or a terminal device served by a host, to acquire and update.

FIG. 17 shows a communication system 1700 that includes an instant message sender system 1605 , an instant message host system 1610 , a communication link 1615 , and an instant message recipient system 1620 . System 1700 illustrates other possible implementations of communication system 1600 in FIG. 16 for animating an avatar by an instant message sender for self-expression.

Contrary to the description of the instant message host system 1610 among Fig. 16, the instant message host system 1610 includes a log server 1770 for being able to be accessed by the instant message sender and on other servers of the instant message sender system 1605 and the instant message host system 1610 Send communications between components. The instant message host system 1610 also includes an instant message service provider 1790 . To enable access to and facilitate interaction with instant message host system 1610, instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 may include communication software such as, for example, an online service provider client application and/or instant messaging client application.

In one implementation, instant message sender system 1605 creates a connection to log server 1770 in order to access instant message host system 1610 and initiate an instant message task. The log server 1770 typically determines whether a specific instant message sender is authorized to access the instant message host system 1610 by confirming the identity authentication and password of the instant message sender. If the instant message sender is authorized to access the instant message host system 1610, the log server 1770 will typically use a hash technique on the instant message sender's screen name to identify the specific instant message service provider 1790 in the instant message host system 1610 to Used in the task of the instant message sender. The log server 1770 provides the instant message sender (eg, the instant message sender system 1605) with the Internet Protocol ("IP") address of the instant message service provider 1790, the encrypted key to the instant message sender system 1605, and disconnects. The instant message sender system 1605 uses the IP address to establish a connection to the specific instant message service 1790 via the communication link 1615, and obtains access to the instant message server 1790 using an encrypted key. Representatively, the instant message sender system 1605 will be able to create an open TCP connection to the instant message service provider 1790 . Instant message recipient system 1620 creates a connection to instant message host system 1610 in a similar manner.

In one implementation, instant messaging host system 1610 also includes a user profile server (not shown) connected to a database (not shown) for storing large amounts of user profile data. The user profile server may be used to enter, retrieve, edit, manipulate, or otherwise process user profile data. In one implementation, the instant messager's profile data includes, for example, the instant messager's screen name, buddy list, specified interests, and geographic location. The instant message sender's profile data may also include self-expression items selected by the instant message sender. The instant message sender can also use an instant message client application installed on the instant messaging system 1705 to enter, edit and/or delete summary data to interact with the user's summary service provider.

Since the data of the instant message sender is stored in the instant message host system 1610, the instant message sender does not have to re-enter or update in the event that the instant message sender uses a new or different instant message sender system 1605 to Access to instant messaging host system 1610 for such information. Thus, when an instant message sender accesses the instant message host system 1610, the instant message server can notify the user that the summary server retrieves the instant message sender's summary data from the database and provides, for example, the instant message sender's self-expression entry and buddy list to the instant messaging server. As an option, user profile data may be stored locally on the instant message sender system 1605.

FIG. 18 illustrates another example communication system 1800 capable of exchanging communications between users displaying avatars for self-expression. Communication system 1800 includes instant message sender system 1605 , instant message host system 1610 , communication link 1615 and instant message recipient system 1620 .

Host system 1610 includes instant message server software 1832 that sends communications between instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 . Instant messaging server software 1832 may use user profile data 1834. User summary data 1834 includes an indication of self-expression items selected by the instant message sender. User profile data 1834 also includes associations 1834a between avatar models and users (eg, instant message senders). User profile data 1834 may be stored, for example, in a database or another type of data collection, such as a set of extensible programming language (XML) files. In some implementations, some portions of the user profile data 1834 may be stored in a database while other portions, such as the avatar model's association with the user 1834a, may be stored in an XML file.

One implementation of user profile data 1834 is shown in the table below. In this example, the user profile data includes a screen name to uniquely identify the user of the user profile data application, a password for logging into the instant messaging service, an avatar associated with the user, and an optional online persona. As shown in Table 1, a user can have multiple online personas, each associated with the same or different avatars.

Screen Name password graphic expression online persona Robert_Appleby 5846%JYNG Clam Work Robert_Appleby 5846%JYNG starfish Feel free Susan_Merit 6748#474V dolphin Bill_Smith JHG7868$0 starfish Feel free Bill_Smith JHG7868$0 starfish family Greg_Jone 85775$#59 frog

Table 1

The host system 1610 also includes an avatar model repository 1835 in which definitions of avatars that can be used in the instant messaging service are stored. In this implementation, the avatar definition includes an avatar model file, an avatar expression file for storing descriptions controlling the animation of the avatar, and a wallpaper file. Thus, avatar model repository 1835 includes avatar model files 1836 , avatar expression files 1837 and avatar wallpaper files 1838 .

Avatar model files 1836 define the appearance and animation of each avatar contained in avatar model repository 1835 . Each avatar model file 1836 defines the meshes, textures, lighting, sounds, and animations used to render the avatar. The mesh of the model file defines the shape of the avatar, and the texture defines the image overlaid on the mesh. A mesh can be represented as a linear structure consisting of a large number of polygons that can be geometrically deformed to display an avatar to give virtual motion. In one implementation, the lighting information of the avatar model file is in the form of a light map that depicts the effect of light sources on the avatar. The avatar model file also includes various animation definitions. Each animation definer defines a specific animation that can be played for that avatar. For example, each animation definer may define one or more shape objects to describe changes in the display to convey the mesh of the avatar, and to display changes in camera perspective for the display avatar.

As instant messaging users demonstrate avatars for self-expression, it may be desirable to define avatars with multiple animations, including facial animations, to provide a wider variety of animations available for users to express themselves. Also, it may be tempting to animate facials to use a large number of blend shapes, which can make avatars look more expressive when rendered. Blend shapes define parts of an avatar that can be animated and, in general, the more blend shapes you define for an animated model, the more expressive the image rendered from the animated model will appear.

Various data management techniques can be used for the implementation of the graphical representation model files. In some implementations, information defining an avatar may be stored in a plurality of avatar files that may be arranged in a hierarchical structure, such as a directory structure. In this case, the link between the user and the avatar can be made through the link between the user and the root file in the avatar model file directory.

In one implementation, the avatar model file may include all possible appearances of the avatar, including different features and accessories available for user customization. In this case, the user's preference for the appearance of the user avatar includes an indication of which part of the avatar model to display, and a flag or for each selectable appearance feature or accessory can be set to indicate whether that feature or accessory is to be displayed other instructions. To illustrate, an avatar model can be configured to display sunglasses, reading glasses, short or long hair. When the user configures the avatar to wear sunglasses and have long hair, the sunglasses feature and long hair feature are turned on, the reading glasses and short hair features are turned off, and a later depiction of the avatar shows the avatar to have long hair and sunglasses.

Avatar model repository 1835 also includes avatar expression files 1837 . Each avatar expression file 1837 defines triggers that cause the avatar to animate. For example, each avatar expression file 1837 may define a text trigger that, when recognized in an instant message, causes an animation, as previously described with respect to FIGS. 3 and 4 . The avatar expression file may also store a link between an out-of-band communication indicator and an animation to play when a particular out-of-band indicator is detected. An example of a partial avatar expression file is described in Table 2 below.

animation type trigger out-of-band communication indicator Smile :) :-) Nice leave bye brb cu gtg cul bbl gg b4n ttyl ttfn Instructions to turn off your computer fall asleep zzz tired sleepy snooze Time between 1a.m. and 5a.m. winter clothing Dates between November 1st and March 1st rain rainy weather snow snowy weather

Table 2

In some implementations, a link between a particular animation and a particular animation identifier is determined indirectly for a particular trigger or out-of-band communication indicator. For example, a specific trigger or out-of-band communication indicator may be associated with a type of animation (eg, smiling, leaving, or falling asleep), as shown in Table 2. A type of animation can also be associated with a specific animation identifier contained in a specific avatar model file, as shown in Table 3 below. In this case, to play an animation based on a particular trigger or out-of-band communication indicator, identify that type of animation, determine the animation identifier associated with the identified type of animation, and play the The recognized animation. Other computer animation and programming techniques can also be used. For example, each avatar may use the same animation identifier used for a particular animation category without including the avatar name shown in the table. Alternatively or additionally, a link between animation category and animation identifier may be stored separately for each avatar.

animation type animation identifier Avatar name Smile 1304505 DOLPHIN Smile 5858483 FROG leave 4848484 DOLPHIN

table 3

Avatar expression files 1837 also include information used to define the manner in which an avatar responds to the animation of other avatars. In one implementation, the avatar expression file includes pairs of animation identifiers. One animation identifier of each pair identifies a type of animation that, when played to one avatar, triggers the animation identified by the other animation identifier of the pair in the other avatar. In this manner, an avatar expression file may define an animation to be played to an instant message recipient avatar in response to an animation to play an instant message sender avatar. In some implementations, the avatar expression file 1837 may contain an XML file with elements defining text triggers for each corresponding avatar's animation and elements for defining animations to play in response to animations seen from other users .

The avatar model repository 1835 also includes an avatar wallpaper file 1838 that defines the wallpaper on which the avatar is drawn. Wallpapers can be defined by using the same or a different kind of file structure as the representation model file. For example, an avatar model file can be defined as an animation model file that is generated and playable using animation software from New York Viewpoint, Inc., New York State, while a wallpaper file can be in the format of a Macromedia Flash file that is produced using animation software from New York, California. The animation software of Micromedia Company of San Francisco, California can be generated and played. When the wallpaper includes animations of animated objects, out-of-band communication indicators, or avatars triggered by instant messages, the avatar wallpaper file 1838 may also contain one or more triggers associated with the wallpaper animation.

Each of instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 includes an instant messaging application 1807 or 1827 capable of exchanging instant messages over communication link 1615 and instant message host system 1610 . Instant messaging applications 1807 and 1827 can also be submitted as instant messaging clients.

Each of instant message sender system 1605 and instant message recipient system 1620 also includes avatar data 1808 and 1828 . Avatar data 1808 or 1828 includes avatar model file 1808a or 1828a, avatar expression file 1808b or 1828b, and avatar wallpaper file 1808c and 1828c for rendering by instant message sender system 1605 or instant message recipient system 1620, respectively. graphic expression. Avatar data 1808 and 1828 may be stored in a long-term repository, a short-term repository, or using a combination of long-term and short-term repositories. When all or some of the avatar data 1808 and 1828 are stored in the long-term repository, it is useful to associate a predetermined date at which all or some of the avatar data 1808 and 1828 will be sent from the instant message sender system 1605 and The instant message recipient system 1620 is deleted. In this manner, avatar data may be transferred from either the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message recipient system 1620 after the data has resided in the instant message sender system 1605 or 1620 for a predetermined period of time and is presumably no longer needed. removed from the . This can help reduce the amount of storage space used for instant messages on the instant message sender system 1605 or instant message recipient system 1620 .

In one implementation, the avatar data 1808 or 1828 are installed on the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message recipient system 1620 respectively, while the instant message client software is installed on the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message recipient Party system 1620 on. In another implementation, the avatar data 1808 or 1828 is transferred from the avatar model storehouse 1835 of the instant message host system 1610 to the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message receiver system 1620, respectively, in yet another implementation In , the avatar data 1808 or 1828 is copied from a source unrelated to the instant message and stored on the instant message sender system 1605 or instant message recipient system 1620 respectively for use as the avatar for the instant message. In yet another implementation, the avatar data 1808 or 1828 is sent to the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message recipient system 1620, respectively, along with sending the instant message to the instant message sender system 1605 or the instant message recipient System 1620. The avatar data sent with the instant message corresponds to the sender of the instant message that sent the message.

The avatar expression file 1808b or 1828b is used to determine when the avatar is to be rendered to the instant message sender system 1605 or instant message recipient system 1620, respectively. To render an avatar, one of the avatar model files 1808a is displayed on the two-dimensional display of the instant messaging system 1605 or 1620 via the avatar model player 1809 or 1829, respectively. In one implementation, the avatar model player 1809 or 1829 is an animation player from Viewpoint Corporation. In particular, the instant messaging system 1605 or 1620 process invokes the avatar model player 1809 or 1829 and identifies the animation contained in one of the avatar model files 1808a or 1828a. In general, animations are identified by animation identifiers in the avatar model file. The avatar model player 1809 or 1829 accesses the avatar model file and plays the recognized animation.

In many cases multiple animations can play based on a single trigger or out-of-band communication indicator. This may occur, for example, when one avatar reacts to the animation of another avatar that is animated based on a text trigger, as described above with respect to FIG. 6 .

In system 1800, four animations can each be initiated based on a text trigger in an instant message. An instant message sender exhibiting a self-expressive avatar uses instant message sender system 1605 to send a text message to an instant message recipient using instant message recipient system 1620 . The instant message recipient also exhibits an avatar of self-expression. The display of the instant message sender system 1605 displays an instant message user interface, such as user interface 100 in FIG. 1 , as does the display of the instant message recipient system 1620 . In this manner, the sender's avatar is displayed on both the instant message sender system 1605 and the instant message recipient system 1620, as is the recipient avatar. The instant message sent from the instant message sender system includes a text trigger that causes the animation of the sender avatar on the instant message sender system 1605 and the sender avatar on the instant message recipient system 1620 . In response to the animation of the sender avatar, the receiver avatar is also animated, as previously described with respect to FIG. 6 . The animation to which the recipient avatar reacts occurs both when the recipient avatar is displayed on the instant message sender system 1605 and when the recipient avatar is displayed on the instant message recipient system 1620 .

In some implementations, an instant messaging user is allowed to customize one or more triggers or out-of-band communication indicators for an avatar animation, a wallpaper displayed to an avatar, a trigger for animating an animated object on the wallpaper, or Out-of-band communication indicators, and appearance of avatars. In one implementation, a copy of the avatar model file, expression file or wallpaper file is made and user modifications are stored in the copy of the avatar model file, expression file or wallpaper file. The copy containing the changes is then associated with the user. Alternatively or additionally, only the changes—that is to say, the differences between the avatar before the modification and the avatar after the modification—are stored. In some implementations, different versions of the same avatar may be stored and associated with the user. This may enable a user to modify an avatar, use the modified avatar for a period of time, and then revert to using a previous version that did not contain the modified avatar.

In some implementations, the avatars from which the user can choose may be limited by the instant messaging service provider. This may be referred to as closed realization or locked realization. In such an implementation, animations or triggers associated with the avatars within each avatar's off settings may be preconfigured. In some closed implementations, a user can customize animations and/or triggers for selected avatars. For example, a user may include a favorite video clip as an animation of an avatar, and the avatar may be configured to play the video clip after a certain text trigger occurs in a message sent by the user. In another closed implementation, the user is also prevented from animating the avatar.

In some implementations, the set of avatars from which the user can choose is not limited by the instant messaging service provider, and the user can use an avatar other than the avatar provided by the instant messaging service provider. This may be referred to as an open implementation or an unlocked implementation. For example, an avatar available in an instant messaging service may be created by the user using animation software provided by the instant messaging service provider, off-the-shelf computer animation software, or by a dedicated avatar created and compatible with one or more instant messaging services. Software tools provided by third parties to create.

In some implementations, a combination of closed and open implementations may be used. For example, an IM service provider may restrict a minor user's choice of a predetermined set of avatars provided by the IM server provider while allowing an adult user to use an avatar instead of the one available from the IM service provider. graphic expression.

In some implementations, the avatars a user selects from may be limited based on characteristics of the user, such as age. As shown in Table 4 below and using the displayed avatars in FIG. 8 as an example only, users under the age of 10 may be restricted from using a set of avatars. Users between the ages of 10 and 18 may be restricted from using another set of avatars, some of which are the same avatars selectable for users under the age of 10. Users 18 years of age or older may choose from any of the available avatars served by the instant messaging provider.

user age Avatar name less than 10 years old Sheep, Cow, Dolphin, Delight, Starfish, Dragon, Polly 10 to 18 years old Sheep, Cow, Dolphin, Delight, Starfish, Dragon, Polly, Robot, Frog, T_Rex, Parrot, Boxing Gloves, Snake, Monster, Parrot 18 years or older Sheep, Cow, Dolphin, Delight, Starfish, Dragon, Polly, Robot, Frog, t_Rex, Parrot, Boxing Gloves, Snake, Monster, Parrot, Lips, Pirate Skull

Table 4

Typical instant messaging programs allow instant message senders to communicate with each other in real time in various ways. For example, many instant messaging programs allow instant message senders to send text as instant messages, transfer files, and communicate by voice. Examples of instant messaging applications include AIM (America Online Instant Messenger), AOL (America Online) Buddy List and Instant Messaging, among many client communication applications offered by AOL, Yahoo Messages, MSN Messages, and ICQ one aspect. While the above discussion is primarily about instant messaging applications, attention should also be paid to other implementations that provide similar functionality in platforms and online applications. For example, techniques and concepts can be applied to active avatars as information assistants to deliver news, weather, and other information to users of computer systems or computing devices.

The technologies and concepts have been briefly described in the relevant text of the instant message system, that is, using the instant message host system to promote the instant message communication between the instant message sender and the instant message receiver. Other instant messaging implementations are also contemplated, such as instant messaging services that exchange instant messages directly between instant message sender systems and instant message receiver systems.

For example, while the above examples are given in an instant messaging related article, other communication systems with similar properties could also be used. For example, multiple personalities can be used in chat rooms or in e-mail communications. The user interface can also be a browsable interface, an audible interface, a tactile interface, or a combination of these.

Other implementations are within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (163)

1. graphic user interface that is configured to present on display device comprises:

The transmit leg part is used to show the sender avatar that can show a plurality of animations;

Message constitutes the zone, is used for showing being included in the text that sends to take over party's message from transmit leg; With

A plurality of communication controlers, at least one communication controler operationally receives such indication, promptly constitutes the indication that the message that shows in the zone will send to described take over party from described transmit leg in described message;

Wherein, described sender avatar is carried out flash demo in response to relating to the trigger that sends to described take over party's message content from described transmit leg.

2. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein the sender display of instant message comprises:

Take over party's part, in response to relating to the trigger that sends to described take over party's message content from described transmit leg, demonstration can show take over party's avatars of a plurality of animations;

The message history zone is used to be presented at the content of the multiple messages that sends between described transmit leg and the described take over party and the identification identity relevant with described take over party.

3. according to the graphic user interface of claim 2, wherein, take over party's avatars is carried out flash demo in response to the animation of sender avatar.

4. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein said graphic user interface comprises the contact list demonstration that is used to show potential take over party.

5. according to the graphic user interface of claim 4, wherein said contact list shows whether each potential take over party of indication can be used for receiving message.

6. according to the graphic user interface of claim 4, wherein said potential take over party is divided into a plurality of groups, and is associated with the indication of group's identity.

7. according to the graphic user interface of claim 4, the potential take over party who wherein is presented on the contact list is associated with potential take over party's avatars, and further comprises:

Show with contact list that potential take over party's identity is associated on potential take over party's avatars; With

In response to the animation of the potential take over party's avatars that is presented at other places, the potential take over party's avatars on the contact list is carried out flash demo.

8. according to the graphic user interface of claim 7, wherein the animation of the potential take over party's avatars on the contact list comprises the animation that is similar to the potential take over party's avatars animation that is presented at other places substantially.

9. according to the graphic user interface of claim 7, wherein the animation of the potential take over party's avatars on the contact list comprises the animation that is different from the potential take over party's avatars animation that is presented at other places.

10. according to the graphic user interface of claim 7, wherein the animation of the potential take over party's avatars on the contact list comprises the animation of the animation of representing the potential take over party's avatars that is presented at other places.

11. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein graphic user interface is used for the instant messaging session.

12. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein trigger comprises the part of Message-text.

13. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein trigger comprises the whole of Message-text.

14. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein the outward appearance of sender avatar or animation are used to indicate the environmental baseline that is associated with transmit leg.

15. according to the graphic user interface in the claim 1, wherein the outward appearance of sender avatar or animation are used to indicate the personal characteristics that is associated with transmit leg.

16. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein the outward appearance of sender avatar or animation are used to indicate the emotional state that is associated with transmit leg.

17. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein the outward appearance of sender avatar or animation are used to indicate the setting feature that is associated with transmit leg.

18. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein the outward appearance of sender avatar or animation are used to indicate the activity that is associated with transmit leg.

19. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein in response to the passage of the schedule time amount sender avatar is carried out flash demo, wherein during described schedule time amount, transmit leg does not have pass-along message to arrive the take over party.

20. graphic user interface according to claim 1, wherein sender avatar is carried out flash demo in response to the passage of schedule time amount, wherein during described schedule time amount, the computing equipment that transmit leg not have use transmit leg and take over party signal post in communication session to use.

21. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1, wherein comprise the animation of outburst as the avatars animation of communications conduit, this animation relates to outside the occupied normal display space of avatars display graphics expresses.

22., wherein sender avatar is carried out flash demo is used for speech communication with generation sound according to the graphic user interface of claim 1.

23. according to the graphic user interface of claim 1-22, wherein graphic user interface generates by the computer program product.

24. an equipment that is used to generate the graphic user interface that is configured to present on display device, described equipment comprise the processor that links to each other with one or more output precisions with one or more input modules, wherein processor is configured to:

Generate the transmit leg part, be used to show the sender avatar that can show a plurality of animations;

Generate message and constitute the zone, be used for showing being included in the text that sends to take over party's message from transmit leg;

Generate a plurality of communication controlers, at least one communication controler operationally receives such indication, promptly indicates the message that shows in message formation zone to send to the take over party from transmit leg;

Wherein, sender avatar is carried out flash demo in response to relating to the trigger that sends to take over party's message content from transmit leg.

25. a communication means, described method comprises:

Utilization can be carried out the avatars of flash demo, relates to first user in first user and the second user's communications session with graphical representation;

Pass-along message between described first user and described second user, described message passes on explicit information to give described second user from described first user; With

The variation of using avatars outward appearance or avatars animation is as communications conduit, for described second user transmits the band external information,

Wherein out-of-band communication comprises the environment that relates to described first user and be different from the communication of institute's information conveyed in the message that sends between described first user and described second user.

26. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said communication session is the instant messaging session.

27. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said avatars comprises FA Facial Animation, described FA Facial Animation does not comprise the body with ear or leg.

28. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said avatars comprises the FA Facial Animation that comprises neck, but does not comprise the body with ear or leg.

29. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information of indication and the described first user-dependent environmental baseline.

30. according to the method for claim 29, wherein said environmental baseline comprises the environmental baseline of the weather that relates near place, the geographic position generation of described first user.

31. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information of indication and the described first user-dependent personal characteristics.

32. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information of indication and the described first user-dependent emotional state.

33. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information of the indication and the described first user-dependent setting feature.

34. according to the method for claim 33, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature of time in one day that relates to described first user.

35. according to the method for claim 33, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that relates to the time in 1 year.

36. according to the method for claim 35, wherein the time comprises vacation in 1 year.

37. according to the method for claim 35, wherein the time comprises season in 1 year, wherein is meant in spring, summer, autumn or winter season.

38. according to the method for claim 33, wherein said setting feature comprises with work relevant feature is set.

39. according to the method for claim 33, wherein said setting feature comprises with amusement relevant feature is set.

40. according to the method for claim 39, wherein said amusement setting comprises that the seabeach is provided with or the torrid zone is provided with.

41. according to the method for claim 39, wherein said amusement setting comprises the winter sports setting.

42. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information of the mood that relates to described first user.

43. according to the method for claim 42, wherein said first user's mood comprises happiness, a kind of in sadness or the anger.

44. according to the method for claim 25, wherein said band external information comprises the information relevant with described first user's activity.

45. according to the method for claim 44, wherein with described band outside message be passed to the substantially the same moment of described second user from described first user, finish described activity by described first user.

46. according to the method for claim 45, described activity comprise work or listen to the music in a kind of.

47. according to the method for claim 29, wherein said band external information comprises passes on described first user to close the information of the sound relevant with avatars.

48. the method according to claim 25 also comprises:

Based on the information of transmitting from described first user to described second user's message, the animation that triggers avatars is to transmit the band external information to described second user from described first user.

49. according to the method for claim 48, wherein said trigger comprises the part of text.

50. according to the method for claim 48, wherein said trigger comprises the whole of Message-text.

51. according to the method for claim 48, wherein said trigger comprises the audio-frequency unit of message.

52. according to the method for claim 48, wherein said trigger comprises the passage of scheduled volume time, wherein at described scheduled volume time durations, described first user is not to described second user's pass-along message.

53. method according to claim 48, wherein said trigger comprises the passage of schedule time amount, wherein at described scheduled volume time durations, described first user does not use at first user described in the communication session and the employed computing equipment of described second telex network.

54., wherein comprise the facial expression of described avatars as the avatars animation of communications conduit according to the method for claim 25.

55. according to the method for claim 25, wherein the avatars animation as communications conduit comprises gesture of being made by the hand of described avatars or the gesture of being made by the arm of described avatars.

56. according to the method for claim 25, wherein the avatars animation as communications conduit comprises moving of described avatars body.

57. according to the method for claim 25, wherein the avatars animation as communications conduit comprises the sound that is sent by described avatars.

58. according to the method for claim 57, wherein at least some in these sound comprise the voice based on described first user's voice.

59. according to the method for claim 25, wherein the avatars animation as communications conduit comprises the animation that relates to the outburst that display graphics is expressed outside the normal display space that is occupied by described avatars.

60. according to the method for claim 59, the animation of wherein said outburst comprises the folded described avatars that contracts.

61. according to the method for claim 59, the animation of wherein said outburst comprises adjusts size to described avatars.

62. according to the method for claim 59, the animation of wherein said outburst comprises reorientates described avatars.

63. the method according to claim 25 further comprises:

Provide for described first user to have the animation of selecting in advance that is associated a plurality of pre-configured avatars and

Make described first user can select specific avatars with the described user of representative in communication session.

64., further comprise described first user is linked together lastingly with the avatars of selecting, with described first user of representative in the subsequent communications session according to the method for claim 63.

65., further comprise making described first user can revise the outward appearance of avatars according to the method for claim 63.

66., the outward appearance of the described first user's modification avatars is comprised according to the method for claim 65:

Make described first user can use slider bar to indicate specific modification to the special characteristic of described avatars.

67., the outward appearance of the described first user's modification avatars is comprised according to the method for claim 65:

Make described first user can revise the outward appearance of avatars to reflect described first user's feature.

68. according to the method for claim 67, wherein said first user's feature comprises in age, sex, hair color, eye color or the facial characteristics.

69. according to the method for claim 65, the outward appearance of the described first user's modification avatars is comprised make described first user can be by increasing, the accessories that change or deletion show with avatars be revised the outward appearance of avatars.

70. according to the method for claim 69, wherein said accessories comprise glasses, sunglasses, a kind of in cap or the earrings.

71., further comprise the trigger that described first user can be revised be used to the animation that causes described avatars according to the method for claim 25.

72. according to the method for claim 71, wherein said trigger comprises being included in from described first user and sends to text described second user's the message.

73., further comprise described avatars carried out flash demo to be used as supplementary, so that convey a message to described first user according to the method for claim 25.

74., comprise that further the use that makes described avatars is by an application beyond the communications applications according to the method for claim 25.

75. according to the method for claim 74, wherein making the use to described avatars is to comprise by an application beyond the communications applications:

Described avatars is used in online magazine.

76., further comprise with the form that is similar to the trade card substantially showing describing to described avatars according to the method for claim 25.

77., wherein the trade card of described avatars is described to comprise according to the method for claim 76:

Comprise with the trade card of the described avatars of described first user's correlated characteristic and describe.

78., wherein finish described process by the computer program that is configured to communicate by letter and be indexed in computer-readable media or the transmitting signal according to the method for claim 25-77.

79. an equipment that is used to communicate by letter, described equipment comprise the processor that links to each other with one or more input-output apparatus with memory device, wherein said processor configuration is used for:

Utilization can be carried out the avatars of flash demo, in relating to first user and the second user's communications session with graphical representation first user;

Pass-along message between described first user and described second user, described message is transmitted explicit information from described first user and is given described second user; With

The variation of using avatars outward appearance or avatars animation is transmitted the band external information to described second user as communications conduit;

Wherein out-of-band communication comprises the environment that relates to described first user and be different from the communication of the information of being transmitted in the message that sends between described first user and described second user.

80. one kind is used for sending the computer implemented method that communication session is realized a plurality of online roles of perception at instant message, described method comprises:

At least two directed identity of message in the identification communication environment; With

Make user's first role can show in these identity first, and make same user's second role show in these identity second simultaneously,

Wherein,

Described first and second roles all comprise the avatars that can carry out flash demo and

Described first role is different with described second role.

81. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein said first role is different from second role makes described first role call and the different avatars of described second avatars that the role calls.

82. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein:

Described first role calls first avatars,

Described second role calls second graph and expresses,

It is same avatars that described first avatars and described second graph are expressed, and

The animation relevant with described first avatars is different with the animation of being correlated with described second graph expression.

83. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein:

Described first role calls first avatars,

Described second role calls second graph and expresses,

It is same avatars that described first avatars and described second graph are expressed, and

The outward appearance relevant with described first avatars is different with the outward appearance of being correlated with described second graph expression.

84. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein at least one avatars comprises the avatars related with multiple acoustic phase.

85. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein at least one avatars comprises can become the avatars of cartoon role based on the Message-text that is sent in the instant messaging session.

86. 0 method according to Claim 8, wherein at least one avatars comprises and can carry out flash demo to send the avatars of out-of-band communication.

87. 0 method further comprises described first role is associated with first group of identity according to Claim 8, thereby described first role is illustrated in the communication session with the member of described first group of identity.

88. 7 method further comprises described second role is associated with second group of identity according to Claim 8, thereby described second role is illustrated in the communication session with the member of described second group of identity.

89. 0 method according to Claim 8, further comprise the role is associated with in these identity first, and different role is related with the identity faciation relevant with described first identity, wherein show first first role in these identity to comprise the merging of the different role of closing with first relevant role in these identity with described identity faciation.

90. 9 method according to Claim 8, wherein with these identity in first relevant role covered the degree that the different role of closing with described identity faciation is conflicted to existence.

91. the method for 0-90 according to Claim 8, wherein by configuration be used for instant messaging communication session realize to a plurality of online roles' perception and be included in computer-readable media or transmitting signal in computer program finish described process.

92. one kind is used for realizing that at instant messaging communication session described equipment comprises the processor that links to each other with one or more input-output apparatus with memory device to the equipment of a plurality of online roles' perception, wherein said processor is configured to:

At least two directed identity of message in the identification communication environment; With

Make user's first role can show in these identity first, and make same user's second role show in these identity second simultaneously,

Wherein,

Described first and second roles all comprise the avatars that can carry out flash demo and

Described first role is different with described second role.

93. according to the equipment of claim 92, wherein said first role is different from second role, makes described first role call the different avatars of avatars that is called with described second role.

94. according to the equipment of claim 92, wherein:

Described first role calls first avatars,

Described second role calls second graph and expresses,

It is same avatars that described first avatars and described second graph are expressed, and

The animation relevant with described first avatars is different with the animation of being correlated with described second graph expression.

95. according to the equipment of claim 92, wherein

Described first role calls first avatars,

Described second role calls second graph and expresses,

It is same avatars that described first avatars and described second graph are expressed, and

The outward appearance relevant with described first avatars is different with the outward appearance of being correlated with described second graph expression.

96. according to the equipment of claim 92, wherein comprise can be based on the text of the message that sends in the instant messaging session and become the avatars of cartoon role at least one avatars.

97. according to the equipment of claim 92, wherein at least one avatars comprises and can carry out flash demo to send the avatars of out-of-band communication.

98. a computer implemented method that is used for realizing at instant messaging communication session a plurality of online roles' perception, described method comprises:

On instant message acceptance method, system, present the instant message using user interface, described instant message user application circle is used to relate to the instant messaging session of at least one potential instant message take over party and single potential instant message transmit leg;

Transmission comprises text message and role's message, described role is from a plurality of may role select relevant with the instant message transmit leg, to be shown by potential instant message take over party when showing described text message, selected role comprises the set of one or more self-expression clauses and subclauses and can carry out the sender avatar of flash demo; With

When presenting other parts of message, in potential instant message take over party system, present selected role.

99. according to the method for claim 98, wherein said transmit leg role be selected from a plurality of possibility roles relevant with the instant message transmit leg by the instant message transmit leg.

100., wherein before communication starts, present described role by potential instant message transmit leg according to the method for claim 98.

101., wherein after communication starts, present described role by potential instant message transmit leg according to the method for claim 98.

102. according to the method for claim 98, wherein said self-expression clauses and subclauses comprise one or more in wallpaper, emotion icons and the sound.

103., further comprise the one or more roles of definition according to the method for claim 98.

104. the method according to claim 103 further comprises:

In the instant messaging session that relates to the first potential instant message take over party, distribute first role to the described first potential instant message take over party, so that described first role is hereafter called automatically and shows; With

In the instant messaging session that relates to the second potential instant message take over party, distribute the potential instant message take over party of second role to the second, so that described second role is hereafter called automatically and shows, wherein said second role is different from described first role to small part.

105. the method according to claim 104 further comprises:

In the member's who relates to first crowd of potential instant message take over party instant messaging session, distribute first role to described first crowd of potential instant message take over party, so that described first role is hereafter called automatically and shows; With

In the instant messaging session that relates to the second potential instant message take over party, distribute second role to the described second potential instant message take over party, so that described second role is hereafter called automatically and shows, wherein said second role is different from described first role to small part.

106., further comprise one that bans use of among a plurality of roles according to the method for claim 98.

107., wherein ban use of one among a plurality of roles to comprise according to the method for claim 98:

Ban use of based on one among a plurality of roles of instant message take over party.

108. according to the method for claim 98, wherein:

Among described a plurality of role one comprise the work role that is associated in the appearance of instant message sender related work occasion with the instant message transmit leg and

One among described a plurality of role comprises the family role that is associated with the appearance at home of instant message transmit leg,

Described method also comprises:

Determine that the instant message transmit leg is at home or in the workplace;

In response to definite instant message transmit leg is at home, selects described family role to be used for the instant messaging session; With

In response to definite instant message transmit leg is in the workplace, selects described work role to be used for the instant messaging session.

109., further comprise by potential instant message take over party and select the role that will show based on the time in one day according to the method for claim 98.

110., further comprise by potential instant message take over party and select the role that will show over based on the sky in the week according to the method for claim 98.

111., further comprise the group based on the potential instant message take over party relevant, the role that selection will show with potential instant message take over party by potential instant message take over party according to the method for claim 98.

112. according to the method for claim 98, wherein at least some can be transparent to the instant message transmit leg in the role characteristic.

113., wherein sender avatar is carried out flash demo to send out-of-band communication to potential instant message take over party from the instant message transmit leg according to the method for claim 98.

114. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises the communication of the environmental baseline that indication is relevant with the instant message transmit leg.

115. according to the method for claim 114, wherein said environmental baseline comprises the environmental baseline that relates near the weather that the geographic position takes place instant message sender.

116. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises the communication of the personal characteristics that indication is relevant with the instant message transmit leg.

117. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises the communication of the emotional state that indication is relevant with the instant message transmit leg.

118. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises the communication of the setting feature that indication is relevant with the instant message transmit leg.

119. according to the method for claim 118, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that relates to the time in the instant message transmit leg one day.

120. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that relates to the time in 1 year.

121. according to the method for claim 120, wherein the time comprises vacation in 1 year.

122. according to the method for claim 120, wherein the time comprises season in 1 year, wherein be the spring season, summer, in autumn or winter one.

123. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that is associated with work setting.

124. according to the method for claim 113, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that is associated with the amusement setting.

125. according to the method for claim 124, wherein the amusement setting comprises that the seabeach is provided with or the torrid zone is provided with.

126. according to the method for claim 125, wherein said amusement setting comprises the winter sports setting.

127. according to the method for claim 98-126, wherein by be configured in instant messaging communication session, to realize a plurality of online roles' perception and be embedded into computer-readable media or transmitting signal in computer program finish described process.

128. an equipment of realizing a plurality of online roles' perception in instant messaging communication session, described equipment comprises the processor that links to each other with one or more input-output apparatus with memory device, and wherein said processor is arranged to:

On instant message acceptance method, system, present the instant message using user interface, described instant message using user interface is used to relate to the instant messaging session of at least one potential instant message take over party and single potential instant message transmit leg;

Transmission comprises text message and role's message, described role is from a plurality of may role select relevant with the instant message transmit leg, to be shown by potential instant message take over party when showing described text message, selected role comprises the set of one or more self-expression clauses and subclauses and can carry out the sender avatar of flash demo; With

When presenting other parts of message, in potential instant message take over party system, present selected role.

129. a computer implemented method that is used to use avatars communication, described method comprises:

Use can be carried out the avatars of flash demo with the figure representative of consumer, and wherein said avatars is associated with a plurality of features of the outward appearance of the feature templates of a plurality of animations and the described avatars individual character of representative performance.

130. according to the method for claim 129, wherein avatars is associated with the description of the described avatars individual character of identification.

131. according to the method for claim 129, the individual character of wherein said avatars comprise described user personality at least some features unique at least some features.

132. the method according to claim 129 also comprises:

Utilization can be carried out the second graph expression of flash demo and represent second user with figure, and wherein said second graph is expressed with a plurality of animations and represented a plurality of features of the outward appearance of the feature templates that shows second graph expression individual character to be associated,

Wherein:

Described second graph express individual character comprise the described first avatars individual character at least some features unique at least some features and

Communication information sends between described first user and described second user.

133., wherein finish described process by the computing machine that is configured to use avatars communication and embedding to record in computer-readable media or the transmitting signal according to the method for claim 73-75.

134. an equipment that is used to use avatars communication, described equipment comprises the processor that links to each other with one or more input-output apparatus with memory device, and wherein said processor configuration is used for:

Use can be carried out the avatars of flash demo with the figure representative of consumer, and wherein said avatars is associated with a plurality of features of the outward appearance of the feature templates of a plurality of animations and representative performance avatars individual character.

135. an equipment that is used to use avatars communication, described equipment comprises:

Use can be carried out the device of the avatars of flash demo with the figure representative of consumer, and wherein said avatars is associated with a plurality of features of the outward appearance of the feature templates of a plurality of animations and the described avatars individual character of representative performance.

136. one kind is used for the animation of expressing based on the second graph that perceives, and first avatars is carried out the computer implemented method of flash demo, described method comprises:

Use can be carried out first avatars of flash demo, represents first user with figure;

Use can be carried out the second graph expression of flash demo, represents second user with figure, and wherein communication information sends between described first user and described second user;

Receive the indication of the flash demo of described first avatars; With

Response and based on the indication of the described flash demo that receives is expressed described second graph and to be carried out flash demo.

137. according to the method for claim 136, the indication that wherein receives flash demo comprises the indication of any kind animation that receives described first avatars.

138. according to the method for claim 136, the indication that wherein receives flash demo comprises the indication of specific animation in the multiple possibility animation that receives described first avatars.

139. according to the method for claim 136, further comprise response and the flash demo of expressing, described first avatars carried out flash demo based on described second graph.

140. according to the method for claim 136, wherein said first avatars responds the specific part of the message that sends between described first user and described second user and carries out flash demo.

141. according to the method for claim 140, wherein said first avatars responds the specific part from described first user to message that described second user sends and carries out flash demo.

142. according to the method for claim 140, the response of wherein said first avatars send to from described second user described first user message specific part and carry out flash demo.

143. according to the method for claim 136, wherein said first avatars carries out flash demo to send out-of-band communication to described second user from described first user.

144. according to the method for claim 143, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises indication and the communicating by letter of the described first user-dependent environmental baseline.

145. according to the method for claim 144, wherein said environmental baseline comprises the environmental baseline that relates near the weather that the geographic position takes place described first user.

146. according to the method for claim 143, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises indication and the communicating by letter of the described first user-dependent personal characteristics.

147. according to the method for claim 143, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises indication and the communicating by letter of the described first user-dependent emotional state.

148. according to the method for claim 143, wherein said out-of-band communication comprises indication and the communicating by letter of the described first user-dependent setting feature.

149. according to the method for claim 148, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that relates to the time in first user one day.

150. according to the method for claim 147, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that relates to the time in 1 year.

151. according to the method for claim 150, wherein the time comprises vacation in 1 year.

152. according to the method for claim 150, wherein the time comprises season in 1 year, wherein be the spring season, summer, in autumn or winter one.

153. according to the method for claim 147, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that is associated with work setting.

154. according to the method for claim 147, wherein said setting feature comprises the feature that is associated with the amusement setting.

155. according to the method for claim 154, wherein said amusement setting comprises that the seabeach is provided with or the torrid zone is provided with.

156. according to the method for claim 154, wherein said amusement setting comprises the winter sports setting.

157. according to the method for claim 136-156, wherein by be configured to that based on perceiving animation that second graph expresses first avatars carried out flash demo and be embedded into computer-readable media or transmitting signal in computer program finish described process.

158. a device that first avatars is carried out flash demo based on perceiving animation that second graph expresses, described device comprises the processor that links to each other with one or more input-output apparatus with memory device, and wherein said processor is arranged to:

Utilization can be carried out first avatars of flash demo and represent first user with figure;

Utilization can be carried out the second graph expression of flash demo and represent second user with figure, and wherein communication information sends between described first user and described second user;

Receive the indication of the animation of described first avatars; With

Response and based on the indication of the described flash demo that receives is expressed second graph and to be carried out flash demo.

159. according to the device of claim 158, wherein said processor is arranged to the indication of any kind animation that receives described first avatars.

160. according to the device of claim 158, wherein said processor is arranged to the indication of specific animation in the multiple possibility animation that receives described first avatars.

161. according to the device of claim 158, the animation that wherein said processor also is arranged to response and expresses based on described second graph carries out flash demo to described first avatars.

162. according to the method for claim 158, wherein processor also is arranged to the specific part of response message that sends between described first user and described second user and described first avatars is carried out flash demo.

163. according to the method for claim 158, wherein processor also is arranged to described first avatars is carried out flash demo, to send out-of-band communication to described second user from described first user.

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