Apple Patents for Automatic 3D Avatar Creation and Emotional States
Something to expect in the future in regards to online identity (both of which were filed today):
A three-dimensional (“3D”) avatar can be automatically created that resembles the physical appearance of an individual captured in one or more input images or video frames. The avatar can be further customized by the individual in an editing environment and used in various applications, including but not limited to gaming, social networking and video conferencing.
I wonder if this will be connected to Apple’s purchase of depth sensor company Primesense [Link to patent file]
Methods, systems, and computer-readable media for creating and using customized avatar instances to reflect current user states are disclosed. In various implementations, the user states can be defines using trigger events based on user-entered textual data, emoticons, or states of the device being used. For each user state, a customized avatar instance having a facial expression, body language, accessories, clothing items, and/or a presentation scheme reflective of the user state can be generated.