Did You Know...
...that after Parker Brothers executives turned down the game of Monopoly because it had "52 fundamental errors" (including taking too long to play), a copy of the game wound up in the home of the company president who stayed up until 1 a.m. to finish playing it? He was so impressed by the game that the next day he wrote to inventor Charles Darrow and offered to buy it!
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8111258 | Information processing program and information processing apparatus As a virtual plane used when converting a designation point, which is a touched position on a touch panel, into a control point, in a virtual three dimensional space, used for controlling a movement of an object, a first virtual plane is used when a ball is an objec... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8111257 | System and method for the generation of navigation graphs in real-time A system and method for navigation graph generation in real time is provided including a dictionary operable to maintain information mapping surface features to navigational costs. Further included is a graphical module operable to transform geometrical data of a vi... | 02/07/2012 |
| 8106909 | Common key frame caching for a remote user interface Common key frames are provided to a client during initialization to provide more efficient remoting of user interface graphical information. By storing the common key frames at the client, the common key frames may be loaded quicker and more efficiently at the clien... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8094156 | Rigless retargeting for character animation Motion may be transferred between portions of two characters if those portions have a minimum topological similarity. The portions or structures of the source and target character topologies may be represented as one or more descriptive files comprised of a hierarch... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8089484 | Video game program and video game device for generating an attribute status image Displayed on a first LCD 11 are a “fire” planet 40a, a “wood” planet 40b; an “earth” planet 40c, a “wind” planet 40d and a “water” planet 40e, each traveling along an or... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8077179 | System and method for creating animated video with personalized elements Described herein are systems and methods for cartoonizing an image and incorporating the image into an animated video based upon a predefined animated story. In alternate embodiments of the invention, multiple images may be incorporated into the animated video. In f... | 12/13/2011 |
| 8072458 | Storage medium having game program stored thereon and game apparatus When a movement of a sight point of a virtual camera along a line of sight thereof in a virtual game space is completed, an image representing the virtual game space is taken by the virtual camera and the image is used as a reference image. At the same time, started... | 12/06/2011 |
| 8068108 | Management of presentation time in a digital media presentation system with variable rate presentation capability Techniques are provided for managing Presentation Time in a digital rendering system for presentation of temporally-ordered data when the digital rendering system includes a Variable Rate Presentation capability. In one embodiment, Presentation Time is converted to ... | 11/29/2011 |
| 8068107 | Method to synchronize audio and graphics in a multimedia presentation In a multimedia presentation, having speech and graphic contributions, a list of graphic objects is provided. Each graphic is associated to a graphic file capable of being executed by a computer to display a corresponding graphic contribution on a screen. A speech f... | 11/29/2011 |
| 8063905 | Animating speech of an avatar representing a participant in a mobile communication Animating speech of an avatar representing a participant in a mobile communication including selecting one or more images; selecting a generic animation template; fitting the one or more images with the generic animation template; texture wrapping the one more image... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8063906 | Multiparameter stage lighting apparatus with graphical output A multiparameter stage lighting apparatus is provided comprising a lamp housing, which may include a plurality of sets of light emitting diodes, each set of light emitting diodes having a plurality of colors, the plurality of sets of light emitting diodes forming an... | 11/22/2011 |
| 8059127 | Techniques for animating complex scenes Techniques that enable users (e.g., animators) to accurately animate models in a scene without having to load all the models involved in the scene concurrently in computer memory. For a particular model that a user wishes to animate, only a minimal set of models inv... | 11/15/2011 |
| 8054311 | Rig baking for arbitrary deformers Methods, systems, and articles of manufacture are disclosed for creating posed models. In various embodiments, deformations resulting from posing a model can be represented in a set of training poses. The sets of training poses for the model and a desired target pos... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8054310 | Recasting a legacy web page as a motion picture with audio Computer-implemented methods, systems, and computer program products are provided for recasting a legacy web page as a motion picture with audio. Embodiments include retrieving a legacy web page; identifying audio objects in the legacy web page for audio rendering; ... | 11/08/2011 |
| 8049755 | Character input method for adding visual effect to character when character is input and mobile station therefor Disclosed is a apparatus and a method for displaying various character effects on a character input screen of a mobile station using a differentiated graphic element according to a key input signal. In the method a visual character theme set by a user is displayed i... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8049756 | Time-dependent client inactivity indicia in a multi-user animation environment A method for managing a multi-user animation platform is disclosed. A three-dimensional space within a computer memory is modeled. An avatar of a client is located within the three-dimensional space, the avatar being graphically represented by a three-dimensional fi... | 11/01/2011 |
| 8044962 | Inversion of post-skinning features A computer-implemented method includes identifying a representation of a feature of an animated character by inverting an skinned representation of the feature in one position. The inversion includes a non-linear inversion of the skinned representation of the featur... | 10/25/2011 |
| 8035643 | Animation retargeting Systems and methods are described, which create a mapping from a space of a source object (e.g., source facial expressions) to a space of a target object (e.g., target facial expressions). In certain implementations, the mapping is learned based a training set compo... | 10/11/2011 |
| 8026917 | Development tools for animated character rigging Computer-implemented methods and computer program products for automatically transferring expressions between rigs with consistent joint structure, and for automatically transferring skin weights between different skin meshes based on joint positioning. A method is ... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8026918 | Controlling communications with proximate avatars in virtual world environment A first user's avatar in a virtual world environment may be controlled by using a virtual world application enabling access to a virtual world environment within which the first user has an avatar associated with the first user. A virtual world location correspondin... | 09/27/2011 |
| 8018462 | Pack avatar for shared inventory in a virtual universe Generally speaking, systems, methods and media for providing a pack avatar for sharing inventory in a virtual universe are disclosed. Embodiments of a method may include receiving a request to create a pack avatar carrying one or more shared inventory items in a vir... | 09/13/2011 |
| 8013861 | Reducing a display quality of an area in a virtual universe to conserve computing resources Described herein are processes and devices that reduce a display quality of an area of a virtual universe to conserve computing resources. One of the devices described is a virtual resource conserver. The virtual resource conserver determines, or selects, an area in... | 09/06/2011 |
| 8009171 | Image processing apparatus and method, and program An image processing apparatus includes the following elements. An area designating unit designates an area to be processed from an input image. A delay amount setting unit sets an amount of delay in the area to be processed according to a distance from a reference p... | 08/30/2011 |
| 8004528 | Method, systems and computer product for deriving three-dimensional information progressively from a streaming video sequence A method for deriving three-dimensional information progressively from a streaming video sequence. ... | 08/23/2011 |
| 8004529 | Processing an animation file to provide an animated icon A method for processing an animation file to provide an animated icon to an instant messaging environment is presented. An animation file is reformatted to generate the animated icon to satisfy a pre-defined size requirement of the instant messaging environment. The... | 08/23/2011 |
| 7999810 | System and method for animated computer visualization of historic events A computer-implemented method for collecting, animating in chronological sequence, and presenting the progression of events is disclosed. The method includes providing a set of event data to form a database, the data relating to events that constrained or led up to ... | 08/16/2011 |
| 7995065 | Animation reproducing apparatus and method An animation reproducing apparatus and method of reproducing an animation reproduces an animation of a predetermined model. The animation reproducing apparatus includes a motion blending unit blending one or more previously prepared animations according to a desired... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7995064 | Computer-implemented chat system having dual channel communications and self-defining product structures A computer-implemented chat system having dual channel communications and self-defining product structures is disclosed. The system and method includes providing a first logical communication channel between a first chat client and a second chat client, the first lo... | 08/09/2011 |
| 7990387 | Method and apparatus for spawning projected avatars in a virtual universe The present invention provides a computer implemented method and apparatus to project a projected avatar associated with an avatar in a virtual universe. A computer receives a command to project the avatar, the command having a projection point. The computer transmi... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7990384 | Audio-visual selection process for the synthesis of photo-realistic talking-head animations A system and method for generating photo-realistic talking-head animation from a text input utilizes an audio-visual unit selection process. The lip-synchronization is obtained by optimally selecting and concatenating variable-length video units of the mouth area. T... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7990388 | Verification of animation in a computing device Methods and systems of verifying an animation applied in a mobile device may include a timer module that is programmed to time-slice the animation into multiple scenes at predetermined time points along a timeline of the animation. A first capture module is programm... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7990385 | Method and apparatus for generating new images by using image data that vary along time axis A rectangular-parallelopiped space (box space) expresses the moving images by use of a virtual space. A plurality of frames contained in the moving images appear continuously along time axis. The box space is cut through by a desired surface, and an image projected ... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7990386 | Method for correlating animation and video in a computer system A method for correlating a video stream at a first speed and an animation sequence at a second speed that includes decoding the video stream to obtain a video frame, rendering the animation sequence to obtain an animation frame, wherein the first speed and the secon... | 08/02/2011 |
| 7982738 | Interactive montages of sprites for indexing and summarizing video A “Video Browser” provides interactive browsing of unique events occurring within an overall video recording. In particular, the Video Browser processes the video to generate a set of video sprites representing unique events occurring within the overall period o... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7982739 | System and/or method for adjusting for input latency in a handheld device Embodiments of methods, apparatuses, devices and systems associated with adjusting for key latency in a handheld device are disclosed. A handheld device may receive a user input, such as a user actuation of a device key. A latency adjusted time of the input may be c... | 07/19/2011 |
| 7973793 | Scenario generation device, scenario generation method, and scenario generation program There is provided a scenario generation device capable of automatically generating a scenario for generating an animation of rich expression desired by a user even from a text created by the user who has no special knowledge about creation of animation. In the devic... | 07/05/2011 |
| 7969442 | Method and system of producing cartoon animation using character animation and mesh deformation A method for producing cartoon animation using character animation and mesh deformation is provided. The system includes a motion analysis module, a mesh deformation module, a motion deformation module, and a skinning module. The motion analysis module receives exis... | 06/28/2011 |
| 7965294 | Key frame animation with path-based motion Techniques that give animators the direct control they are accustomed to with key frame animation, while providing for path-based motion. A key frame animation-based interface is used to achieve path-based motion. ... | 06/21/2011 |
| 7956863 | Computer readable medium for modifying an animation wire frame An animation wireframe is modified with three-dimensional (3D) range and color data having a corresponding shape surface. The animation wireframe is vertically scaled based on distances between consecutive features within the 3D range and color data and correspondin... | 06/07/2011 |
| 7956862 | Determining camera motion Camera motion is determined in a three-dimensional image capture system using a combination of two-dimensional image data and three-dimensional point cloud data available from a stereoscopic, multi-aperture, or similar camera system. More specifically, a rigid trans... | 06/07/2011 |
