Patent ID: 7257239

Claim:
A method of communicating data for generating an image of an individual at a destination communication terminal, the method comprising: generating a plurality of face models utilizing images of individuals, each of the face models being built using images of individuals who share at least one identifying characteristic related to gender, ethnicity, age, or the presence or absence of facial hair or glasses; receiving type data identifying an identifying characteristic related to gender, ethnicity, age, the presence or absence of facial hair, or the presence or absence of glasses of a target individual in an image; selecting from among the generated face models, a face model built by using images of individuals who share the identifying characteristic corresponding to the received type data; modifying the image including the target individual such that positions of feature points in the image including the target individual correspond to positions of feature points identified by the selected face model; generating a model of the target individual in the image based on a comparison of color data in the modified image with an average face image generated using the selected face model; and sending the generated model of the target individual and data identifying the selected face model to a destination communication terminal operable to generate an image of the target individual using the generated model and the data identifying the selected face model.