Apple has filed for a patent (number 10,521,948) for “emoji recording and sending” involving its Animoji and Memoji features.
Animojis allow a user can select an avatar to represent themselves. The Animoji can move and talk as if it were a video of the user.
Animojis enable users to create personalized versions of emojis in a fun and creative way. Memoji is the name used for iOS’s personalized Animoji characters that can be created and customized right within Messages by choosing from a set of inclusive and diverse characteristics to form a unique personality.
In the patent filing, Apple notes that some messaging applications allow users to select from a predefined library of emojis and virtual avatars that are sent as part of a message that can contain other content (e.g., other multimedia and/or textual content). Stickers are another type of multimedia content that are sometimes sent with messaging applications.
In some ways, stickers are similar to emojis and virtual avatars in that they can represent people, objects, actions, and/or other things. Some stickers and/or messaging applications allow for stickers to be associated with previously sent or received messages. Apple wants to facilitate the process.
Here’s the summary of the patent filing: “The present disclosure generally relates to generating and modifying virtual avatars. An electronic device having a camera and a display apparatus displays a virtual avatar that changes appearance in response to changes in a face in a field of view of the camera. In response to detecting changes in one or more physical features of the face in the field of view of the camera, the electronic device modifies one or more features of the virtual avatar.”
