Emoji recording and sending

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12450811-B2
Application number	US-202418737710-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2024
Priority date	May 16, 2017
Publication date	Oct 21, 2025
Grant date	Oct 21, 2025

Abstract

The present disclosure generally relates to generating and modifying virtual avatars. An electronic device having a camera and a display apparatus displays a virtual avatar that changes appearance in response to changes in a face in a field of view of the camera. In response to detecting changes in one or more physical features of the face in the field of view of the camera, the electronic device modifies one or more features of the virtual avatar.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
at an electronic device having one or more cameras and a display apparatus:
displaying, via the display apparatus, a representation of a virtual avatar, wherein the representation of the virtual avatar includes a virtual avatar that is reactive to changes in one or more physical features of a face of a user within a field of view of the one or more cameras;
while displaying the representation of the virtual avatar, detecting a first configuration of one or more physical features of the user, wherein the one or more physical features of the user includes the face of the user;
while detecting the first configuration of one or more physical features of the user:
in accordance with a determination that the first configuration of one or more physical features satisfies first animation criteria, the first animation criteria including a requirement that the first configuration includes a first pose that is maintained for at least a first threshold amount of time in order for the first animation criteria to be met, modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include a first animated effect;
in accordance with a determination that the first configuration of one or more physical features does not satisfy the first animation criteria, forgoing modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include the first animated effect;
in accordance with a determination that the first configuration of one or more physical features satisfies second animation criteria that is different from the first animation criteria, the second animation criteria including a requirement that the first configuration includes a second pose that is different from the first pose and is maintained for at least a second threshold amount of time in order for the second animation criteria to be met, modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include a second animated effect that is different from the first animated effect; and
in accordance with a determination that the first configuration of one or more physical features does not satisfy the second animation criteria, forgoing modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include the second animated effect;

detecting a change in a first physical feature of the face; and
in response to detecting the change in the first physical feature of the face, modifying a first avatar feature based on the change in the first physical feature of the face while displaying the first animated effect or the second animated effect.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the representation of the virtual avatar includes one or more avatar features, the method further comprising:
in response to detecting the first configuration of one or more physical features of the user, modifying at least one of the one or more avatar features based on the first configuration of the one or more physical features of the user.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first animated effect includes visually introducing one or more virtual objects that are distinct from the displayed virtual avatar.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the first configuration of one or more physical features includes the first pose when the first configuration of one or more physical features includes a first predetermined relative spatial positioning of two or more of the physical features of the user from a set of predetermined relative spatial positionings of two or more of the physical features of the user, and wherein the one or more virtual objects are determined based on the first predetermined relative spatial positioning.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first predetermined relative spatial positioning of two or more of the physical features of the user correspond to a pucker expression formed by at least a puckering of upper and lower lips of the face of the user and a closed jaw of the face, and wherein the one or more virtual objects include one or more hearts.

6. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first predetermined relative spatial positioning of two or more of the physical features of the user correspond to a sad expression formed by at least a first corner and second corner of a mouth of the user being lower than a middle portion of the mouth, and wherein the one or more virtual objects include one or more tears.

7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first predetermined relative spatial positioning of two or more of the physical features of the user correspond to a frown expression formed by at least two eyebrows of the face of the user having a lowered position, and wherein the one or more virtual objects include one or more storm clouds.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first predetermined relative spatial positioning of two or more of the physical features of the user correspond to a glower expression formed by at least a narrowing of two eyes of the face of the user, and wherein the one or more virtual objects include one or more laser beams.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include the first animated effect further includes displaying an animation of the one or more virtual objects moving relative to the virtual avatar.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein animation of the one or more virtual objects moving relative to the virtual avatar includes displaying animated movement of the one or more virtual objects from an origination location to a destination location, wherein, for each of the one or more virtual objects, the destination location is assigned a position relative to the virtual avatar based on a distribution function.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the animation of the one or more virtual objects moving relative to the virtual avatar includes movement having a direction based on a displayed orientation of the virtual avatar.

12. The method of claim 3 , wherein the one or more virtual objects are a plurality of virtual objects emitted at time intervals selected based on a distribution function.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the virtual avatar corresponds to a first virtual avatar template of a plurality of virtual avatar templates, and wherein a visual characteristic of the first animated effect is based on the first virtual avatar template.

14. The method of claim 1 , the method further comprising:
after modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include the first animated effect:
in accordance with a determination that the first configuration of one or more physical features satisfies additional animation criteria, the additional animation criteria including a requirement that the first configuration is maintained for at least a third threshold amount of time after modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include the first or second animated effect in order for the additional animation criteria to be met, modifying the representation of the virtual avatar to include a third animated effect.

15. An electronic device, comprising:
one or more cameras;
a display apparatus;
one or more processors; and
memory storing one or more programs configured to be executed by the one or more processors, the one or more programs including instructions for:
displaying, via the display apparatus, a representation of a virtual avatar, wherein the representation of the virtual avatar includes a virtual avatar that is reactive to changes in one or more physical features of a face of a user within a field of view of the one or more cameras;
while displaying the representation of the virtual avatar, detecting a first configuration of one or more physical features of the user

Assignees

• Apple Inc

Inventors

• Barlier Guillaume Pierre André
• Bauer Sebastian
• Bernstein Jeffrey T
• Dye Alan C
• Guzman Aurelio
• Hoffnung Amir
• Malia Joseph A
• Scapel Nicolas
• Wilson Christopher I
• Yerkes Giancarlo

Classifications

• H04N23/611

  where the recognised objects include parts of the human body · CPC title

• H04N23/63

  by using electronic viewfinders · CPC title

• H04M2250/52

  including functional features of a camera · CPC title

• H04L51/04

  Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM] · CPC title

• G06F3/04886

  by partitioning the display area of the touch-screen or the surface of the digitising tablet into independently controllable areas, e.g. virtual keyboards or menus · CPC title