Animating Speech Of An Avatar Representing A Participant In A Mobile Communication

A mobile communications device for animating speech of an avatar representing a participant in a mobile communication, the avatar displayed on a display screen of the mobile communications device, the mobile communications device comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of:

• selecting, by an animation module installed on the mobile communications device from data storage, one or more images to represent the participant;
• selecting, by the animation module from data storage, a generic animation template for the participant, the generic animation template having a mouth, the mouth characterized by a mouth position;
• fitting, by the animation module, the one or more images representing the participant with the generic animation template;
• texture wrapping, by the animation module, the one more images representing the participant over the generic animation template;
• displaying, by the animation module, the one or more images texture wrapped over the generic animation template;
• receiving, by the animation module, an audio speech signal derived from the mobile communication of the participant;
• identifying, by the animation module from the audio speech signal, a series of phonemes, each phoneme representing a portion of the audio speech signal;
• and for each phoneme:
• identifying a new mouth position for the mouth of the generic animation template;
• altering the mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template to the new mouth position;
• texture wrapping a portion of the one or more images corresponding to the altered mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template;
• displaying the texture wrapped portion of the one or more images corresponding to the altered mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template;
• and
• playing, synchronously with the displayed texture wrapped portion of the one or more images, the portion of the audio speech signal represented by the phoneme.

A computer program product for animating speech of an avatar representing a participant in a mobile communication, the avatar displayed on a display screen of a mobile communications device, the computer program product disposed in a signal bearing medium, the computer program product comprising computer program instructions capable of:

• selecting, by an animation module installed on the mobile communications device from data storage, one or more images to represent the participant;
• selecting, by the animation module from data storage, a generic animation template for the participant, the generic animation template having a mouth, the mouth characterized by a mouth position;
• fitting, by the animation module, the one or more images representing the participant with the generic animation template;
• texture wrapping, by the animation module, the one more images representing the participant over the generic animation template;
• displaying, by the animation module, the one or more images texture wrapped over the generic animation template;
• receiving, by the animation module, an audio speech signal derived from the mobile communication of the participant;
• identifying, by the animation module from the audio speech signal, a series of phonemes, each phoneme representing a portion of the audio speech signal;
• and for each phoneme:
• identifying a new mouth position for the mouth of the generic animation template;
• altering the mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template to the new mouth position;
• texture wrapping a portion of the one or more images corresponding to the altered mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template;
• displaying the texture wrapped portion of the one or more images corresponding to the altered mouth position of the mouth of the generic animation template;
• and
• playing, synchronously with the displayed texture wrapped portion of the one or more images, the portion of the audio speech signal represented by the phoneme.