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WO2006065005A1 - Participation in broadcast program by avatar and system which supports the participation - Google Patents

Participation in broadcast program by avatar and system which supports the participation Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2006065005A1
WO2006065005A1 PCT/KR2005/001010 KR2005001010W WO2006065005A1 WO 2006065005 A1 WO2006065005 A1 WO 2006065005A1 KR 2005001010 W KR2005001010 W KR 2005001010W WO 2006065005 A1 WO2006065005 A1 WO 2006065005A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
avatar
motion
participation
identification information
user
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/KR2005/001010
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Hwanhyo Pakr
Original Assignee
Alticast Corp.
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Alticast Corp. filed Critical Alticast Corp.
Publication of WO2006065005A1 publication Critical patent/WO2006065005A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/20—Servers specifically adapted for the distribution of content, e.g. VOD servers; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/23—Processing of content or additional data; Elementary server operations; Server middleware
    • H04N21/234—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs
    • H04N21/23412—Processing of video elementary streams, e.g. splicing of video streams or manipulating encoded video stream scene graphs for generating or manipulating the scene composition of objects, e.g. MPEG-4 objects
    • A63F13/12—
    • G—PHYSICS
    • G06—COMPUTING OR CALCULATING; COUNTING
    • G06Q—INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • G06Q50/00—Information and communication technology [ICT] specially adapted for implementation of business processes of specific business sectors, e.g. utilities or tourism
    • G06Q50/10—Services
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/30—Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/30—Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
    • A63F13/33—Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers using wide area network [WAN] connections
    • A63F13/338—Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers using wide area network [WAN] connections using television networks
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F13/00—Video games, i.e. games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions
    • A63F13/55—Controlling game characters or game objects based on the game progress
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N21/00—Selective content distribution, e.g. interactive television or video on demand [VOD]
    • H04N21/40—Client devices specifically adapted for the reception of or interaction with content, e.g. set-top-box [STB]; Operations thereof
    • H04N21/47—End-user applications
    • H04N21/472—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content
    • H04N21/47205—End-user interface for requesting content, additional data or services; End-user interface for interacting with content, e.g. for content reservation or setting reminders, for requesting event notification, for manipulating displayed content for manipulating displayed content, e.g. interacting with MPEG-4 objects, editing locally
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/14—Systems for two-way working
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04N—PICTORIAL COMMUNICATION, e.g. TELEVISION
    • H04N7/00—Television systems
    • H04N7/16—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems
    • H04N7/173—Analogue secrecy systems; Analogue subscription systems with two-way working, e.g. subscriber sending a programme selection signal
    • H04N7/17309—Transmission or handling of upstream communications
    • H04N7/17318—Direct or substantially direct transmission and handling of requests
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/40—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterised by details of platform network
    • A63F2300/409—Data transfer via television network
    • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
    • A63—SPORTS; GAMES; AMUSEMENTS
    • A63F—CARD, BOARD, OR ROULETTE GAMES; INDOOR GAMES USING SMALL MOVING PLAYING BODIES; VIDEO GAMES; GAMES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
    • A63F2300/00—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game
    • A63F2300/50—Features of games using an electronically generated display having two or more dimensions, e.g. on a television screen, showing representations related to the game characterized by details of game servers
    • A63F2300/55—Details of game data or player data management
    • A63F2300/5546—Details of game data or player data management using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
    • A63F2300/5553—Details of game data or player data management using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to participation in a broadcast program by an avatar and a system which supports the participation.
  • the present invention also relates a method for managing a bidirectional broadcast program which makes it possible new type of viewer's participation.
  • a television receives and displays broadcasting signals comprised of encoded and multiplexed video signal, audio signal and data signal transmitted from broadcasting stations.
  • the transmitted signals are treated by the digital television.
  • Signal treatment by the digital television is as follows: a tuner of the digital television receives a digital broadcasting signal transmitted in a form of packetized bit streams, and tunes the broadcasting signal of the viewer-selected channel.
  • a demultiplexer separates the tuned broadcasting signal into audio, video and data signals, and then, an audio decoder, a video decoder and a data decoder decodes the separated signals.
  • a graphic processor synthesizes, to perform graphic treatment, the decoded signals depending on the decoded formats, and delivers the synthesized data to a screen to display them.
  • User's participation to a broadcast program can be divided into a direct participation and a telephonic participation.
  • the former direct participation is to visit the place where a broadcast program is prepared.
  • This participation provides users with vivid feeling, but causes economic loss.
  • the latter telephonic participation saves economic loss, but it gives reduced vividness because user's vivid image can not be broadcasted. Further, the broadcast programs which ensure user's telephonic participation are significantly limited. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem
  • an object of the present invention is to provide a method which enables participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, and a system which supports the participation.
  • Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for managing a bidirectional broadcast program that requires user's participation, characterized in that the user's participation is carried out by an avatar.
  • An another object of the present invention is to provide a method for the par- ticipation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprising receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a specific user, figuring out an avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an audio/video (AV) from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen.
  • AV audio/video
  • a further another object of the present invention is to provide a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, comprising: an avatar supply site that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into an avatar management database, and makes it possible to download the avatar; an avatar motion managing server that receives an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user, requests to and receives from the avatar supply site the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar depending on the avatar motion information; a head-end server that synthesizes the avatar received from the avatar motion managing server with an AV data from an camera and transmits the synthesized data; and a digital receiver connected through an ethernet to the avatar supply site and to the avatar motion managing server comprising a broadcasting signal processing unit that receives the avatar data and the AV data and displays them on a screen, and an avatar manipulation application that enables to create the avatar from a sample avatar downloaded from the avatar supply site, manipulate the avatar, and send the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the
  • the method for the participation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprises receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a specific user, figuring out an avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an AV from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen.
  • the system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprises: an avatar supply site that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into an avatar management database, and makes it possible to download the avatar; an avatar motion managing server that receives an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user, requests to and receives from the avatar supply site the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar depending on the avatar motion in- formation; a head-end server that synthesizes the avatar received from the avatar motion managing server with an AV data from an camera and transmits the synthesized data; and a digital receiver connected through an ethernet to the avatar supply site and to the avatar motion managing server comprising a broadcasting signal processing unit that receives the avatar data and the AV data and displays them on a screen, and an avatar manipulation application that enables to create the avatar from a sample avatar downloaded from the avatar supply site, manipulate the avatar, and send the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the head-end server.
  • the user can manipulate one's own avatar displayed on AV screen with the avatar manipulation application of the digital receiver, which increases the completeness of the user's participation-requested broadcast program.
  • participation solves the problems caused by both the direct participation and the telephonic participation, which cause the inconvenience visiting to the spot where the broadcast program is made and passive participation by a telephone, respectively.
  • the user can express one's own personality through user-specific motion control to the avatar. This participation can be applicable to quiz programs, show programs, and other programs that require user's participation.
  • a novel business model according to the present invention ensures new type of user's participation. Further, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention to accomplish the business model makes it possible to realize such participation only by provision of the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the avatar motion managing server, which provides efficient realization of the participation. Therefore, the present invention contributes to provision of new management of the broadcast program and to new model of user's participation in the broadcast program.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing basic structure of a typical broadcasting system.
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating treatment of broadcasting signal by a digital receiver.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, in accordance with the present invention.
  • Mode for the Invention [17]
  • avatar is an incarnation or one's other self.
  • the word means an animation character that represents one's own personality.
  • the word is a synthetic word of "Ava” which means descending of God in a Sanskrit word, with "Terr", which means Earth.
  • the word means an incarnation of God descended to earth, but in internet space, it means one's other self referring to one's own appearance in a three-dimensional, virtual game or web chatting.
  • the avatar may refer to virtual oneself which represents one's own personality in cyberspace.
  • Use of the avatar extends to various fields such as cyber shopping mall, cyber education and cyber office, as well as games.
  • the most promising field is an online chatting service using icon chatting or three dimensional graphic chatting.
  • the avatar was a two-dimensional image.
  • three-dimensional avatars are widely used to enhance reality and cubism.
  • the present invention provides a novel business model and a preferred embodiment of a system which ensures participation in a broadcast program using the avatar.
  • FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing basic structure of a typical broadcasting system
  • FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating treatment of broadcasting signal by a digital receiver.
  • an interactive digital television application 2 comprised of an application component 21 and a graphic element 22 is transmitted as a digitized broadcasting signal in a form of packetized bit streams.
  • the digitized broadcasting signal is delivered to a digital receiver 10.
  • the digital receiver 10 treats the broadcasting signal with a signal processing unit 102 and displays on a user's TV (or a screen) 70.
  • the broadcasting signal may be stored into a storage (for example, hard disk) 104.
  • FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar.
  • the system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprises a digital receiver 10 equipped with an avatar manipulation application 101, an avatar supply site 20, an avatar motion managing server 30, a camera 40 that takes AV data for a broadcast program, and a head-end server 50 that transmits a broadcasting signal through a broadcasting network 60 to the digital receiver 10.
  • the avatar supply site 20 that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into avatar management database 201.
  • the site 20 may perform user authentication using user database (not shown).
  • the avatar supply site 20 enables new creation of an avatar by the authenticated user and download of the newly created avatar. If necessary, the avatar supply site 20 may charge for the creation and download of the avatar.
  • the site 20 may further comprise various databases such as a billing database (now shown).
  • the avatar motion managing server 30 receives information of the avatar corresponding to the user who participates in the broadcast program, and figures out the avatar based on the received avatar information.
  • the avatar information is transmitted to the avatar motion managing server 30 through a return path.
  • the avatar information data is preferable to have a capacity as small as possible.
  • the avatar motion managing server 30 receives only both an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user. Based on the avatar identification information received, the avatar motion managing server 30 requests and receives the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site 20. Based on the avatar motion information, it performs motion manipulation to the avatar. Therefore, the user needs not to send complete data to embody the avatar, and the embodiment of the avatar can be accomplished with reduced data exchange between the user and the avatar motion managing server 30.
  • the digital receiver 10 comprises an avatar manipulation application 101, a broadcasting signal processing unit 102 and an ethernet 103.
  • the digital receiver 10 connects to the avatar supply site 20 and the avatar motion managing server 30 and performs data communication with them.
  • the broadcasting signal processing unit 102 treats the broadcasting signal transmitted to the digital receiver 10 and displays it to a screen 70.
  • the avatar manipulation application 101 performs downloading of an avatar from the avatar supply site 20, displays the downloaded avatar, and enables to create one's own avatar and to manipulate the motion of the avatar.
  • the avatar manipulation application 101 delivers the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information through the ethernet 103 to the avatar motion managing server 30.
  • the avatar motion managing server 30 requests and receives the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site 20, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar, as mentioned in the above. Besides the transmission of the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the avatar motion managing server 30, if necessary, the avatar manipulation application 101 may further transmit to the avatar supply site 20 a request to send the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information. However, this process is not recommendable because of the increase of the capacity of the data transmitted through the return path. [24]
  • the head-end server 50 receives both the AV data taken form the camera 40 and the avatar data from the avatar motion managing server 30 and transmits them through the broadcasting network 60.
  • the digital receiver 10 treats the transmitted data with the broadcasting signal processing unit 102 and displays the AV and the avatar on the screen 70. Referring the avatar displayed on the screen 70, the user can perform another motion manipulation to the avatar with aid of the avatar manipulation application 101. If necessary, the motion manipulation data can be stored into the storage 104 shown in FlG. 2.
  • the avatar manipulation application 101 may be either a built-in application or a downloaded application specific to each of the broadcast programs. Further, the avatar manipulation by the user is carried out in a real time. In order words, the avatar manipulation by the user is delivered to the avatar manipulation application 101, and the avatar manipulation application 101 transmits the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information manipulated by the user to the avatar motion managing server 30.
  • the avatar motion managing server 30 requests and identifies the avatar delivered from the avatar supply site 20 based on the identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar, which is transmitted to the head-end server 50.
  • the maintenance of the avatar motion managing server 30 is preferably carried out by a broadcasting station, because final confirmation of the avatar motion is performed by the avatar motion managing server 30. If the avatar motion is not adequate for the broadcasting, the broadcasting station will take suitable action.

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Abstract

There is provided a method for the participation in a broadcast program by an avatar. The method comprises receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a user who participates in the broadcast program, figuring out the avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an audio/video from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen. The participation method arouses new interest in the participation in the broadcast program and triggers active participation. There is also provided a system which supports such participation. According to the preferred embodiment, the avatar participation can be accomplishable with minimized data exchange.

Description

Description
PARTICIPATION IN BROADCAST PROGRAM BY AVATAR AND SYSTEM WHICH SUPPORTS THE PARTICIPATION
Technical Field
[1] The present invention relates to participation in a broadcast program by an avatar and a system which supports the participation. The present invention also relates a method for managing a bidirectional broadcast program which makes it possible new type of viewer's participation. Background Art
[2] Generally, a television receives and displays broadcasting signals comprised of encoded and multiplexed video signal, audio signal and data signal transmitted from broadcasting stations. The transmitted signals are treated by the digital television. Signal treatment by the digital television is as follows: a tuner of the digital television receives a digital broadcasting signal transmitted in a form of packetized bit streams, and tunes the broadcasting signal of the viewer-selected channel. A demultiplexer separates the tuned broadcasting signal into audio, video and data signals, and then, an audio decoder, a video decoder and a data decoder decodes the separated signals. A graphic processor synthesizes, to perform graphic treatment, the decoded signals depending on the decoded formats, and delivers the synthesized data to a screen to display them.
[3] User's participation to a broadcast program can be divided into a direct participation and a telephonic participation. The former direct participation is to visit the place where a broadcast program is prepared. This participation provides users with vivid feeling, but causes economic loss. The latter telephonic participation saves economic loss, but it gives reduced vividness because user's vivid image can not be broadcasted. Further, the broadcast programs which ensure user's telephonic participation are significantly limited. Disclosure of Invention Technical Problem
[4] In order to avoid the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method which enables participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, and a system which supports the participation.
[5] Other object of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for managing a bidirectional broadcast program that requires user's participation, characterized in that the user's participation is carried out by an avatar.
[6] An another object of the present invention is to provide a method for the par- ticipation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprising receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a specific user, figuring out an avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an audio/video (AV) from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen.
[7] A further another object of the present invention is to provide a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, comprising: an avatar supply site that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into an avatar management database, and makes it possible to download the avatar; an avatar motion managing server that receives an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user, requests to and receives from the avatar supply site the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar depending on the avatar motion information; a head-end server that synthesizes the avatar received from the avatar motion managing server with an AV data from an camera and transmits the synthesized data; and a digital receiver connected through an ethernet to the avatar supply site and to the avatar motion managing server comprising a broadcasting signal processing unit that receives the avatar data and the AV data and displays them on a screen, and an avatar manipulation application that enables to create the avatar from a sample avatar downloaded from the avatar supply site, manipulate the avatar, and send the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the head-end server. Technical Solution
[8] In order to accomplish the above objects, the method for the participation in a broadcast program by an avatar according to the present invention comprises receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a specific user, figuring out an avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an AV from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen.
[9] Further, the system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar according to the present invention comprises: an avatar supply site that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into an avatar management database, and makes it possible to download the avatar; an avatar motion managing server that receives an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user, requests to and receives from the avatar supply site the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar depending on the avatar motion in- formation; a head-end server that synthesizes the avatar received from the avatar motion managing server with an AV data from an camera and transmits the synthesized data; and a digital receiver connected through an ethernet to the avatar supply site and to the avatar motion managing server comprising a broadcasting signal processing unit that receives the avatar data and the AV data and displays them on a screen, and an avatar manipulation application that enables to create the avatar from a sample avatar downloaded from the avatar supply site, manipulate the avatar, and send the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the head-end server. Advantageous Effects
[10] The method and the system for the participation in a broadcast program by an avatar provide the following advantages.
[11] Firstly, the user can manipulate one's own avatar displayed on AV screen with the avatar manipulation application of the digital receiver, which increases the completeness of the user's participation-requested broadcast program. Specifically, such participation solves the problems caused by both the direct participation and the telephonic participation, which cause the inconvenience visiting to the spot where the broadcast program is made and passive participation by a telephone, respectively.
[12] Secondly, the user can express one's own personality through user-specific motion control to the avatar. This participation can be applicable to quiz programs, show programs, and other programs that require user's participation.
[13] Conclusively, a novel business model according to the present invention ensures new type of user's participation. Further, according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention to accomplish the business model makes it possible to realize such participation only by provision of the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the avatar motion managing server, which provides efficient realization of the participation. Therefore, the present invention contributes to provision of new management of the broadcast program and to new model of user's participation in the broadcast program. Brief Description of the Drawings
[14] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing basic structure of a typical broadcasting system.
[15] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating treatment of broadcasting signal by a digital receiver.
[16] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, in accordance with the present invention. Mode for the Invention [17] Today, users express their personality through their own avatar in blogs and web sites. The term "avatar" is an incarnation or one's other self. In a cyberspace, the word means an animation character that represents one's own personality. The word is a synthetic word of "Ava" which means descending of God in a Sanskrit word, with "Terr", which means Earth. In other words, in ancient India, the word means an incarnation of God descended to earth, but in internet space, it means one's other self referring to one's own appearance in a three-dimensional, virtual game or web chatting. The avatar may refer to virtual oneself which represents one's own personality in cyberspace. Use of the avatar extends to various fields such as cyber shopping mall, cyber education and cyber office, as well as games. The most promising field is an online chatting service using icon chatting or three dimensional graphic chatting. Conventionally, the avatar was a two-dimensional image. Recently, three-dimensional avatars are widely used to enhance reality and cubism. The present invention provides a novel business model and a preferred embodiment of a system which ensures participation in a broadcast program using the avatar.
[18] Referring to the accompanied drawings, the present invention will be more fully illustrated.
[19] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing basic structure of a typical broadcasting system, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating treatment of broadcasting signal by a digital receiver. As shown in FIG. 1 and 2, under control of a head-end server 50, an interactive digital television application 2 comprised of an application component 21 and a graphic element 22 is transmitted as a digitized broadcasting signal in a form of packetized bit streams. The digitized broadcasting signal is delivered to a digital receiver 10. The digital receiver 10 treats the broadcasting signal with a signal processing unit 102 and displays on a user's TV (or a screen) 70. In response to user's request, the broadcasting signal may be stored into a storage (for example, hard disk) 104.
[20] FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a preferred embodiment of a system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar. As shown in FIG. 3, the system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar comprises a digital receiver 10 equipped with an avatar manipulation application 101, an avatar supply site 20, an avatar motion managing server 30, a camera 40 that takes AV data for a broadcast program, and a head-end server 50 that transmits a broadcasting signal through a broadcasting network 60 to the digital receiver 10.
[21] The avatar supply site 20 that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into avatar management database 201. The site 20 may perform user authentication using user database (not shown). The avatar supply site 20 enables new creation of an avatar by the authenticated user and download of the newly created avatar. If necessary, the avatar supply site 20 may charge for the creation and download of the avatar. For this purpose, the site 20 may further comprise various databases such as a billing database (now shown).
[22] The avatar motion managing server 30 receives information of the avatar corresponding to the user who participates in the broadcast program, and figures out the avatar based on the received avatar information. Herein, the avatar information is transmitted to the avatar motion managing server 30 through a return path. The avatar information data is preferable to have a capacity as small as possible. In order to reduce the capacity of the avatar information data, the avatar motion managing server 30 receives only both an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from the user. Based on the avatar identification information received, the avatar motion managing server 30 requests and receives the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site 20. Based on the avatar motion information, it performs motion manipulation to the avatar. Therefore, the user needs not to send complete data to embody the avatar, and the embodiment of the avatar can be accomplished with reduced data exchange between the user and the avatar motion managing server 30.
[23] The digital receiver 10 comprises an avatar manipulation application 101, a broadcasting signal processing unit 102 and an ethernet 103. Through the ethernet 103, the digital receiver 10 connects to the avatar supply site 20 and the avatar motion managing server 30 and performs data communication with them. The broadcasting signal processing unit 102 treats the broadcasting signal transmitted to the digital receiver 10 and displays it to a screen 70. In response to the user's request, the avatar manipulation application 101 performs downloading of an avatar from the avatar supply site 20, displays the downloaded avatar, and enables to create one's own avatar and to manipulate the motion of the avatar. The avatar manipulation application 101 delivers the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information through the ethernet 103 to the avatar motion managing server 30. Based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information delivered from the digital receiver 10, the avatar motion managing server 30 requests and receives the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site 20, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar, as mentioned in the above. Besides the transmission of the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the avatar motion managing server 30, if necessary, the avatar manipulation application 101 may further transmit to the avatar supply site 20 a request to send the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information. However, this process is not recommendable because of the increase of the capacity of the data transmitted through the return path. [24] The head-end server 50 receives both the AV data taken form the camera 40 and the avatar data from the avatar motion managing server 30 and transmits them through the broadcasting network 60. The digital receiver 10 treats the transmitted data with the broadcasting signal processing unit 102 and displays the AV and the avatar on the screen 70. Referring the avatar displayed on the screen 70, the user can perform another motion manipulation to the avatar with aid of the avatar manipulation application 101. If necessary, the motion manipulation data can be stored into the storage 104 shown in FlG. 2.
[25] Herein, the avatar manipulation application 101 may be either a built-in application or a downloaded application specific to each of the broadcast programs. Further, the avatar manipulation by the user is carried out in a real time. In order words, the avatar manipulation by the user is delivered to the avatar manipulation application 101, and the avatar manipulation application 101 transmits the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information manipulated by the user to the avatar motion managing server 30. The avatar motion managing server 30 requests and identifies the avatar delivered from the avatar supply site 20 based on the identification information, and performs motion manipulation to the avatar, which is transmitted to the head-end server 50. In a meanwhile, the maintenance of the avatar motion managing server 30 is preferably carried out by a broadcasting station, because final confirmation of the avatar motion is performed by the avatar motion managing server 30. If the avatar motion is not adequate for the broadcasting, the broadcasting station will take suitable action.

Claims

Claims
[1] A method for managing a bidirectional broadcast program requiring user's participation, characterized in that the user's participation is carried out by an avatar.
[2] The method as set forth in claim 1, comprising receiving an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information of a user who participates in the broadcast program, figuring out the avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information, synthesizing the avatar with an AV from a camera, and transmitting the synthesized broadcasting signal to display it on a screen.
[3] The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the manipulation to the avatar is carried out in a real time.
[4] The method as set forth in claim 2, wherein the figuring out of an avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information is carried out by requesting an avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information to an avatar supply site, receiving the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site and performing motion manipulation to the avatar based on the avatar motion information.
[5] A system which supports participation in a broadcast program by an avatar, comprising: an avatar supply site that supports creation of an avatar in response to user's request, stores the avatar thus created into an avatar management database, and makes it possible to download the avatar; an avatar motion managing server that receives an avatar identification information and an avatar motion information from a user and figures out the avatar based on the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information; a head-end server that synthesizes the avatar received from the avatar motion managing server with an AV data from an camera and transmits the synthesized data; and a digital receiver connected through an ethernet to the avatar supply site and to the avatar motion managing server comprising a broadcasting signal processing unit that receives the avatar data and the AV data and displays them on a screen, and an avatar manipulation application that enables to create the avatar from a sample avatar downloaded from the avatar supply site, manipulate the avatar, and send the avatar identification information and the avatar motion information to the head-end server.
[6] The system as set forth in claim 5, wherein the avatar motion managing server requests the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information to the avatar supply site, receives the avatar corresponding to the avatar identification information from the avatar supply site and performs motion manipulation to the received avatar based on the avatar motion information.
PCT/KR2005/001010 2004-04-07 2005-04-07 Participation in broadcast program by avatar and system which supports the participation WO2006065005A1 (en)

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