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

A computer implemented method of 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 method comprising:

• displaying, by an animation module installed on the mobile communications device, the avatar representing the participant including:
• selecting from data storage one or more images to represent the participant;
• selecting from data storage a generic animation template for the participant, the generic animation template having a mouth and at least one emotive feature, the mouth characterized by a mouth position;
• fitting the one or more images representing the participant with the generic animation template;
• texture wrapping the one more images representing the participant over the generic animation template;
• and 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 and one or more points of voice inflection greater than a predetermined threshold, each phoneme representing a portion of the audio speech signal;
• 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;
• and
• for each point of voice inflection greater than the predetermined threshold, triggering a motion key-frame caption that alters display of the emotive feature synchronously with the playing of a portion of the audio speech signal including the point of voice inflection greater than the predetermined threshold.

A computer implemented method of 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 method comprising:

• displaying, by an animation module installed on the mobile communications device, the avatar representing the participant including:
• selecting from data storage one or more images to represent the participant;
• selecting 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 the one or more images representing the participant with the generic animation template;
• texture wrapping the one more images representing the participant over the generic animation template;
• and displaying, by the animation module, the one or more images texture wrapped over the generic animation template;
• and
• receiving, by the animation module, an audio speech signal derived from the mobile communication of the participant;
• identifying a vocal pattern from a particular portion of the audio speech signal;
• determining whether the vocal pattern matches a predetermined vocal pattern;
• 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;
• and
• if the vocal pattern of the particular portion of the audio speech signal matches a predetermined vocal pattern, displaying an indication of the predetermined vocal pattern synchronously with the playing of the particular portion of the audio speech signal.