Patent ID: 6539099
Filing Date: 2003-03-25
Classification: G06T,H04L

Abstract:
A method for providing a visual chat session comprising:reading a character image into memory; receiving video images including image data of a person, wherein the video images include a plurality of video frames; tracking a portion of a person image in the video images; executing an image gathering operation for obtaining a portion of the person image; and executing an influencing operation for influencing the character image utilizing the obtained portion of the person image; wherein the portion of the person image is obtained from a head portion of the person image, and wherein the influencing operation includes a blending operation comprising the operation of: blending the obtained portion of the person image into the character image to create a blended character image, wherein the blended character image includes features corresponding to features of the person image, and wherein the features of the blended character image change as the features of the person change; wherein the blending operation comprises the operations of: determining an average flesh tone value for each feature; determining a color relationship between each person pixel value in a feature and the determined average flesh tone value of the feature; and generating a new color value for a corresponding character pixel of the character image, wherein the new color value is generated utilizing the determined color relationship.