Patent ID: 8898565

Claim:
An avatar engine, comprising: a memory of a mobile communication device to store instructions; and a processor of the mobile communication device coupled to the memory, wherein responsive to executing the instructions the processor performs operation comprising: providing, from the mobile communication device to a set-top box, an avatar correlated to a profile of a user for presentation by the set-top box via a presentation device operably coupled with the set-top box; detecting a communication exchange between the user and the avatar, wherein the communication exchange comprises speech initiated by the user that causes the processor to generate synthesized speech associated with the avatar for responding to the speech of the user, thereby providing interactive avatar services to the user; identifying from the communication exchange a directive from the user to share the avatar with another user; and submitting to another avatar engine a shared avatar comprising a usage policy and a replica of all or some characteristics of the avatar, wherein the usage policy is configured to manage a usage of the shared avatar at the other avatar engine.