Generation of animated gesture responses in a virtual world

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9299178-B2
Application number	US-9824008-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 4, 2008
Priority date	Apr 4, 2008
Publication date	Mar 29, 2016
Grant date	Mar 29, 2016

Abstract

Responding to gestures made by third parties in a virtual world by receiving a gesture from a first avatar directed to at least one second avatar. For at least one second avatar, a reply gesture may be selected that corresponds to the received gesture. The reply gesture may be output for communication to the first avatar.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for responding to gestures made by third parties in a virtual world, comprising:
receiving a first gesture to be made by a first avatar directed to at least one second avatar, thereby forming a first received gesture;
receiving a second gesture to be made by a third avatar directed to the at least one second avatar in a specific area of the virtual world, thereby forming a second received gesture;
accessing a database comprising a first reply gesture and a second reply gesture, wherein the first reply gesture corresponds to at least one unique set of criteria, wherein each set of criteria comprises at least one user-defined criterion and a received gesture criterion in addition to the user-defined criterion and the second reply gesture corresponds to a set of default gestures that are based on the specific area of the virtual world;
for the at least one second avatar, selecting the first reply gesture from the database corresponding to one of the unique sets of criteria based on at least a time period associated with the first received gesture, wherein the second reply gesture is different from the first reply gesture; and
simultaneously outputting the first reply gesture for communication to the first avatar and the second reply gesture for communication to the third avatar.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs automatically upon receipt of the received gesture from the first avatar.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs if a proximity of the first avatar to the second avatar is within a proximity threshold.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the proximity threshold comprises a distance value, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs if the distance between the first and second avatars is within the proximity threshold.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the proximity threshold comprises a defined environment surrounding the second avatar, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs if the proximity of the first avatar to the second avatar is within the proximity threshold.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply gestures are categorized into different classes, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture comprises selecting a reply gesture from the different classes.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply gestures are categorized into different avatar defined classes, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture comprises selecting a reply gesture from the different avatar defined classes.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply gestures are categorized based on different social environments, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture comprises selecting a reply gesture categorized based on the different social environments.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving information regarding a social environment of either one or both the first and second avatars, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture further comprises selecting the reply gesture that corresponds to the social environment of at least one of the first and second avatars.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the reply gestures are categorized based on different social environments comprising at least one of a business, cultural, and personal environment, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture comprises selecting a reply gesture categorized based on the different social environments.

11. A method for responding to gestures made by third parties in a virtual world, comprising:
receiving a first gesture to be made by a first avatar directed to at least one second avatar, thereby forming a first received gesture;
receiving a second gesture to be made by a third avatar directed to the at least one second avatar in a specific area of the virtual world, thereby forming a second received gesture;
accessing a database comprising a first reply gesture and a second reply gesture, wherein the first reply gesture corresponds to at least one unique set of criteria, wherein each set of criteria comprises at least one user-defined criterion and a received gesture criterion in addition to the user-defined criterion and the second reply gesture correspond to a set of default gestures that is based on the specific area of the virtual world;
for the at least one second avatar, selecting the first reply gesture from the database corresponding to one of the unique sets of criteria if a proximity of the first avatar to the second avatar is within a proximity threshold, the proximity threshold being adjustable based on the size of an environment, wherein the second reply gesture is different from the first reply gesture; and
simultaneously outputting the first reply gesture for communication to the first avatar and the second reply gesture for communication to the third avatar.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the proximity threshold comprises a distance value, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs if the distance between the first and second avatars is within the proximity threshold.

13. The method of claim 11 , wherein the proximity threshold comprises a defined environment surrounding the second avatar, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture occurs if the proximity of the first avatar to the second avatar is within the proximity threshold.

14. The method of claim 11 , further comprising receiving information regarding a social environment of either one or both the first and second avatars, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture further comprises selecting a reply gesture that corresponds to the social environment of at least one of the first and second avatars.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the reply gestures are categorized into different classes, and wherein selecting a reply gesture corresponding to the received gesture comprises selecting a reply gesture from the different classes.

16. A computer program product for responding to gestures made by third parties in a virtual world, the computer program product comprising:
a computer readable storage medium device having computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable storage medium comprising:
computer readable program code configured to receive a first gesture to be made by a first avatar directed to at least one second avatar, thereby forming a received gesture;
computer readable program code configured to receive a second gesture to be made by a third avatar directed to the at least one second avatar in a specific area of the virtual world, thereby forming a received gesture;
computer readable program code configured to access a database comprising a first reply gesture and a second reply gesture, wherein the first reply gesture corresponds to at least one unique set of criteria, wherein each set of criteria comprises at least one user-defined criterion and a received gesture criterion in addition to the user-defined criterion and the second reply gesture corresponds to a set of default gestures that are based on the specific area of the virtual world;
computer readable program code configured to, for the at least one second avatar, select the first reply gesture from the database corresponding to one of the un

Assignees

• Bokor Brian Ronald
• Smith Andrew Bryan
• IBM

Inventors

• Bokor Brian Ronald
• Smith Andrew Bryan

Classifications

• G06T13/40 Primary

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