Patent ID: 8869197

Claim:
An internet protocol television system, comprising a memory storing computer instructions; and a controller device coupled to the memory, wherein the controller device when executing the computer instructions performs operations comprising: retrieving a user profile associated with a user of the internet protocol television system; causing a set-top box to present at a display an avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile; receiving from the set-top box a response associated with the user, wherein the response is generated by the set-top box from an analysis of a user communication exchange with the avatar; identifying from the response that a communication session should be initiated with a content source that provides the set-top box with access to media content; initiating the communication session with the content source; receiving from the content source an avatar profile comprising gesture information, wherein the gesture information is based on gestures utilized by a character supplied by the content source, wherein the user profile differs from the avatar profile; generating an adapted avatar based on the avatar profile by adapting the characteristics of the avatar having characteristics that correlate to the user profile to duplicate the gestures of the character supplied by the content source; and causing the set-top box to present at the display the adapted avatar.