Patent ID: 7329188
Filing Date: 2008-02-12
Classification: A63F

Abstract:
1. A method for modeling a two-way conversation between a computer-based character and a user, the method comprising: storing situation data that defines a set of situation tags and associated situation text, wherein the situation tags represent situations that describe contexts in which the user interacts with one or more of a plurality of characters; wherein a system administrator manages a situation tag type for assembling situation-specific content, and, wherein said system administrator creates said situation tags for assembling said situation-specific content, and, wherein said situation tags can be incorporated with contextual accuracy into multiple behavior patterns, and whereby said incorporation of said situation tags into said behavior patterns reduces the production costs of generating said contextually-accurate two-way conversations, storing character data that defines a set of character tags and associated character text for each of the plurality of computer-based characters; wherein said system administrator defines a character tag type for assembling character-specific content, and, wherein said system administrator creates said character tags for assembling said character-specific content, and, wherein said character tags can be incorporated with contextual accuracy into multiple behavior patterns, and whereby said incorporation of said character tags into said behavior patterns reduces the production costs of generating said contextually-accurate two-way conversations, storing a plurality of behavior patterns, selecting one of the situations as a currently selected situation, one of the characters as a currently selected character, and one of the behavior patterns as a currently selected behavior pattern; presenting text-based dialogue from the currently selected character to the user within the online environment by merging: (1) the text-based dialogue specified by the frames of the currently selected behavior pattern, (2) the situation text of the currently selected situation, and (3) the character text of the currently selected character.