Animated expressive icon

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11880923-B2
Application number	US-202318184283-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 15, 2023
Priority date	Feb 28, 2018
Publication date	Jan 23, 2024
Grant date	Jan 23, 2024

Abstract

Embodiments described herein include an expressive icon system to present an animated graphical icon, wherein the animated graphical icon is generated by capture facial tracking data at a client device. In some embodiments, the system may track and capture facial tracking data of a user via a camera associated with a client device (e.g., a front facing camera, or a paired camera), and process the facial tracking data to animate a graphical icon.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request to initiate a communication session with a user associated with a user account, the user account including a correlation of a graphical icon with an identifier of the client device;
accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session;
causing display of a presentation of the graphical icon at the client device;
receiving facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account; and
animating the presentation of the graphical icon at the client device based on the facial tracking data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session includes:
receiving a selection of the request from the client device;
initiating the communication session with the user associated with the user account at the client device based on the selection of the request.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving the facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account includes:
receiving image data that comprises a depiction of a set of facial landmarks;
generating a set of points based on positions of the set of facial landmarks, each point among the set of points corresponding to a facial landmark from among the set of facial landmarks; and
generating the facial tracking data based on the set of points.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the correlation includes a correlation of the graphical icon with the identifier of the client device and one or more contextual factors, and wherein the accessing the graphical icon includes:
selecting the graphical icon from among a set of graphical icons based on the identifier and the one or more contextual factors.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the contextual factors include one or more of:
attributes of the client device;
location data; and
a time of day.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the animating the presentation of the graphical icon based on the facial tracking data comprises:
transposing the facial tracking data upon the graphical icon.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
generating a message that includes the presentation of the graphical icon.

8. A system comprising:
a memory; and
at least one hardware processor coupled to the memory and comprising instructions that causes the system to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request to initiate a communication session with a user associated with a user account, the user account including a correlation of a graphical icon with an identifier of the client device;
accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session;
causing display of a presentation of the graphical icon at the client device;
receiving facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account; and
animating the presentation of the graphical icon at the client device based on the facial tracking data.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session includes:
receiving a selection of the request from the client device;
initiating the communication session with the user associated with the user account at the client device based on the selection of the request.

10. The system of claim 8 , wherein the receiving the facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account includes:
receiving image data that comprises a depiction of a set of facial landmarks;
generating a set of points based on positions of the set of facial landmarks, each point among the set of points corresponding to a facial landmark from among the set of facial landmarks; and
generating the facial tracking data based on the set of points.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein the correlation includes a correlation of the graphical icon with the identifier of the client device and one or more contextual factors, and wherein the accessing the graphical icon includes:
selecting the graphical icon from among a set of graphical icons based on the identifier and the one or more contextual factors.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the contextual factors include one or more of:
attributes of the client device;
location data; and
a time of day.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein the animating the presentation of the graphical icon based on the facial tracking data comprises:
transposing the facial tracking data upon the graphical icon.

14. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
generating a message that includes the presentation of the graphical icon.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a machine, cause the machine to perform operations comprising:
receiving, from a client device, a request to initiate a communication session with a user associated with a user account, the user account including a correlation of a graphical icon with an identifier of the client device;
accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session;
causing display of a presentation of the graphical icon at the client device;
receiving facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account; and
animating the presentation of the graphical icon at the client device based on the facial tracking data.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the accessing the graphical icon correlated with the identifier of the client device responsive to the request to initiate the communication session includes:
receiving a selection of the request from the client device;
initiating the communication session with the user associated with the user account at the client device based on the selection of the request.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the receiving the facial tracking data associated with the user of the user account includes:
receiving image data that comprises a depiction of a set of facial landmarks;
generating a set of points based on positions of the set of facial landmarks, each point among the set of points corresponding to a facial landmark from among the set of facial landmarks; and
generating the facial tracking data based on the set of points.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the correlation includes a correlation of the graphical icon with the identifier of the client device and one or more contextual factors, and wherein the accessing the graphical icon includes:
selecting the graphical icon from among a set of graphical icons based on the identifier and the one or more contextual factors.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the contextual factors include one or more of:
attributes of the client device;
location data; and
a time of day.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the animating the presentation of the graphical icon based on the facial tracking data comprises:
transposing the facial tracking data upon the graphical icon.

Assignees

• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Al Majid Newar Husam
• Boyd Nathan Kenneth
• Chang Sheldon
• Samaranayake Chamal
• Voss Jeremy

Classifications

• G06T13/40 Primary

  of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings · CPC title

• G06F3/04817 Primary

  using icons (graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34) · CPC title

• G06V40/161

  Detection; Localisation; Normalisation · CPC title

• G06V40/168

  Feature extraction; Face representation · CPC title

• G06V40/171

  Local features and components; Facial parts (eye characteristics G06V40/18); Occluding parts, e.g. glasses; Geometrical relationships · CPC title