KR20040055015A - A method for providing an avatar along with audio source and a system enabling the method - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A method for offering a cyber character attaching a sound source and a system for the same are provided to recognize the cyber character through an auditory sense as well as eyesight by inserting the sound source into the cyber character. CONSTITUTION: A cyber character database(120) classifies and stores the cyber character of each user. A sound source database(130) classifies and stores the sound source inserted into the cyber character by each user. A central processing part(140) manages and controls the cyber character database and the sound source database.

Description

A METHOD FOR PROVIDING AN AVATAR ALONG WITH AUDIO SOURCE AND A SYSTEM ENABLING THE METHOD}

The present invention relates to a method and system for reproducing a sound source set by a user when a cyber character is displayed on a screen by attaching a predetermined sound source to the cyber character in providing a cyber character on a website on the Internet. More specifically, the present invention attaches a music file or a voice of a user to a cyber character provided by a predetermined website, thereby providing cyber as well as audio satisfaction to users viewing the cyber character. It relates to a character providing method and a system for the same.

In the conventional service method, it is widely known that a user uses a cyber character, that is, an avatar, as a means for displaying a user on a web page in a predetermined web page. The service method of displaying the user himself on the website through such a cyber character has been widely spread through the Internet community site or the Internet chat site where the user's existence is revealed, and the service providing the cyber character itself is Emerging as one of the main sources of income.

In the conventional cyber character providing method as described above, the cyber character selected by the user can be visually decorated only. In other words, the main contents of the cyber character-related services currently provided in large community sites or internet chat sites are mainly the sale of items that can be grasped through the eyes of site users such as cyber characters' clothes or accessories.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2001-0025161 discloses an avatar maker implementation method capable of emotion processing. The above publication discloses a method of creating a cyber character capable of expressing various emotions instead of simply providing a cyber character with a fixed facial expression. However, the invention disclosed in the above publication also has a problem in that it is not only a technique for providing a cyber character that can be grasped through a sense other than visual, but also for visually displaying the cyber character in various ways.

An object of the present invention is to provide a cyber character that can be grasped not only through vision but also through hearing by inserting a predetermined sound source into the cyber character serviced by various kinds of websites.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to insert a predetermined sound source into a cyber character, so that the user can decorate the cyber character, which is his alter ego, in various ways to meet various needs of the user to decorate his cyber character. do.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to enable a service company providing a cyber character to create a new revenue model related to the cyber character by allowing a predetermined sound source to be inserted into the cyber character.

1 is a block diagram of a cyber character providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow for attaching a predetermined sound source to a cyber character in the cyber character providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of reproducing a predetermined sound source in the cyber character providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4A to 4B are diagrams showing an example of a cyber character that can be actually serviced in the cyber character providing method and system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

In order to achieve the above object, the cyber character providing method with a sound source according to the present invention comprises the steps of receiving a predetermined sound source to be attached to the cyber character from the user, setting the path of the specified sound source, the specified sound source Storing the path of, and playing the sound source through the stored path.

In addition, in order to achieve the above object, the method for providing a cyber character with a sound source according to the present invention comprises the steps of receiving a predetermined voice from the user, generating a sound source by converting the predetermined voice, the generation Setting a path of the sound source, storing the path of the generated sound source, and reproducing the sound source through the stored path.

Hereinafter, a cyber character providing method and a system therefor according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. As used herein, a user means a person who owns a cyber character, and a user means a person who views the user's cyber character or listens to an attached sound source file. The user is a concept including the user.

1 is a block diagram of a cyber character providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The cyber character providing system shown in FIG. 1 includes a cyber character storage database means 120 and a sound source file storage database means 130, and a central processing unit 140 for managing these database means and controlling overall system operation. It may be configured to include a web server 100, a user terminal 110, a sound content provider server 150. The user connects to the web server 100 through the user terminal 110. When the web server 140 is connected to the web server 140 and requests a predetermined web page, the web server 140 searches for the cyber character of the user in the cyber character storage database 120 and displays it on the user terminal 110. The sound recording file storage database 130 is for storing sound recording files designated or uploaded by the user. The path of the sound source file may be stored in the cyber character storage database 120 together with the cyber character. The path of the sound source file may be displayed together with the cyber character while the cyber character is displayed.

The sound source content provider server 150 of the cyber character providing system shown in FIG. 1 stores a sound source file to be attached to the cyber character of the user, and the sound source file in various forms according to a user's request for the reproduction of the sound source file. It serves to provide to the web server 140. Although the sound source content provider server 150 is illustrated as a separate entity from the web server 100 in FIG. 1, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the sound content content provider server 150 may be designed to be integrated with the web server 100 that provides the cyber characters. something to do. In addition, the cyber character storage database 120 and the sound source file storage database 130 are also functionally separated, and may be physically implemented in one storage means.

An operation method of the cyber character providing system illustrated in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 through 3 below.

2 is a flowchart illustrating a flow for attaching a predetermined sound source to a cyber character in the cyber character providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 2, in the cyber character providing method according to the present invention, a method of receiving a sound source to be attached to a predetermined cyber character may be divided into three types.

(1) The user may receive a sound source to be attached to the cyber character by providing a predetermined list of sound sources to the user and selecting one of the sound sources in the sound source list from the user.

(2) A sound source to be attached to the cyber character can be specified by receiving a predetermined voice from the user and converting the received voice into a digital sound source.

(3) By directly receiving a sound source to be attached to the cyber character from the user, the sound source to be attached to the cyber character of the user can be specified. However, in this case, since a problem of copyright may arise depending on the size of the sound source uploaded by the user or the type of the sound source, it may be implemented to limit the use of the sound source.

It is possible to specify a sound source to be attached to the cyber character of the user in the three ways described above. 2 illustrates a flow required for specifying a sound source to be attached to the user's cyber character as described above, and playing the same together with the cyber character. Referring to Fig. 2, the service is started by the user accessing a predetermined website providing the cyber character (step 200). The user accesses a website and calls his cyber character through a predetermined login process (step 201). In order to play the sound source attached to the cyber character, it is first determined whether a sound source is already set in the called cyber character (step 202). If the sound source is already set, the sound source is set according to the present invention. The sound source is reproduced (this will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3), and if no sound source is set, the process moves to the step of setting the sound source. If it is determined in step 202 that no sound source is set for the cyber character, a predetermined sound source selection menu is displayed so that the user can select a sound source to be attached to his cybercharacter (step 203). The method of selecting a sound source to be attached to the user's cyber character may be one of the three methods described above. Whether the user selects a sound source through the user's voice input (branch 1) or the user selects a predetermined sound source. It is determined whether to upload directly to the service provider (branch 2) or whether the user selects a sound source from the list of predetermined sound sources provided by the service provider (branch 3) (step 204).

Branch 1 in step 204 is when the user selects the sound of himself or a third party as a sound source to attach to his cyber character. To this end, the user needs to transmit (step 211) his or her voice or a third party's voice (such as a friend or family member) to the service provider. Various techniques may be used for the voice transmission. First, if a predetermined microphone is provided on the user terminal side, predetermined voice data may be transmitted to the service provider system through the microphone, and the service provider system converts the transmitted voice data into a playable digital sound source file ( Step 212). In this case, the process of converting the voice data into the digital sound source file is not performed in the service provider system, but the conversion process may be performed using a window recorder or the like on the user terminal. It can be integrated in such a way that the user uploads a predetermined sound source file directly to the service provider system. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, voice input from the user or a third party may be performed using an answering machine. According to an embodiment of the present invention, a user inputs his / her mobile phone number on a web page for voice input, and the service provider system reads a short text message including an access number of an answering machine in the form of a callback number. The user who transmits the message to the user's mobile phone and checks the short message is able to input his / her voice by accessing the access number of the answering machine included in the short text message through an acknowledgment such as pressing a call button (step 211). Can be. The voice data input to the answering machine is converted into a playable digital sound source file (step 212). The converted sound source file may be stored in a storage means such as a database located in the service provider system, and the path in which the sound source file is stored may be stored together with the cyber character (step 213). According to an aspect of the present invention, a cyber character and the sound source file may not be integrated and stored as one, and only a path of a sound source file may be stored together with the cyber character, which may be used to display the cyber character according to the size of the sound source file. It may take time, and do not operate to play a predetermined sound source file every time the cyber character is displayed according to a user's setting, and selectively play the sound source file according to a command of users viewing the cyber character. This is because there may be advantages in terms of efficiency as well as convenience of the user. According to one embodiment of the present invention, the path of the sound source file stored in step 213 means that a part of the cyber character is displayed in the form of an icon. A method of reproducing a sound source file according to the embodiment will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4B.

Branch 2 in step 204 is a case where the user directly selects a desired sound source as a sound source to be attached to his cyber character. The user transmits the sound source file he has to the service provider system for this purpose (step 221). According to an embodiment of the present invention, in this case, the size or bit rate of the sound source file transmitted may be limited to a predetermined level or less in a method for reducing the load on the service provider system. The transmitted sound source file may be stored in a storage means such as a database located in a service provider system, and the path in which the sound source file is stored may be stored together with the cyber character (step 222).

Quarter 3 in step 204 is a case where the user selects a sound source to attach to his cyber character from the sound source list provided by the service provider. In the case of branch 3, the service provider displays to the user a list of sound sources to attach to the cyber character (step 231). The user browses this and selects a desired sound source (step 232). The selected sound source file may be a sound source file owned by a service provider, but may be a sound source file owned by a content provider that professionally provides sound source files. Since the selected sound source file is already stored in the service provider or content provider, branch 3 stores only the path information in which the sound source file is stored together with the cyber character (step 233).

The sound source can be attached to the cyber character by the above-described method with reference to FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 shows a series of flows for reproducing the sound source attached to the cyber character.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of playing an attached sound source in the cyber character providing method according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. 2 to 3, when it is determined in step 202 of FIG. 2 that the sound source is set in the cyber character, the process branches to FIG. 3. A user of the cyber character may set a predetermined playback condition for playing the sound source file shown in FIG. 3. As a reproduction condition, a user using the cyber character clicks a user interface in the form of an icon which can be located in a part of the cyber character, or the sound source file is automatically played back as soon as the cyber character is displayed to the user. It may be possible to, for example. When the user clicks on the user interface in the form of an icon that can be located in a part of the cyber character, the path of the sound source stored in the cyber character is analyzed (step 310). If the user sets a playback condition such that the sound file is automatically played as soon as the cyber character is displayed to the user, step 310 is performed simultaneously with the user's cyber character being displayed to the user. In this specification, analyzing a path of a sound source means searching for a location where a sound source file to be attached and reproduced to a cyber character is stored. After analyzing the path of the sound source file, the sound source file is requested using the path (step 320). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sound source file may be stored in a storage means provided on the cyber character service provider side, or may be stored in a storage means provided on the content provider side that professionally provides the sound source file.

The sound source file requested in step 320 is played to the user (step 330). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the sound source file may be transmitted to the user terminal in the form of streaming and played. In the case of streaming, the volume of the sound source file is so large that it may take more than a certain time to download and play it to the cache means of the user's terminal, or the sound source file may have a problem related to copyright. If the size of the sound source file itself is small and there is no problem related to the copyright, it is possible to download and play the sound source file directly from the analyzed path or to play it by the service provider.

4A to 4B are diagrams showing an example of a cyber character that can be actually serviced in the cyber character providing method and system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4A illustrates an example of a cyber character according to the present invention, in which a path of a sound source file is displayed in an icon format on a predetermined cyber character part. As described above with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, users viewing the cyber characters of the user can reproduce and listen to the sound source file by clicking on the speaker icon shown in FIG. 4A. If the user does not want to listen to the sound source attached to the user's cyber characters, the user does not play the sound source file.

4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a method of reproducing a sound source attached to a cyber character according to the present invention. "Pre-challenge" shown in FIG. 4B means an Internet community site, and "Friting" means an Internet chat site. Users who want to listen to sound files attached to their cyber characters are most likely people who know or are interested in them, and therefore have a relationship with them (such as those registered in the user's address book or If a user registered in 'My Friends' sees the cyber character of the user, the user will not buy the user's antagonism even if the user is set to play the sound file at the same time as the cyber character display. However, a user who has little relationship with the user has a high possibility of feeling a antagonism when the user's cyber character is displayed and the sound source file is set to be played at the same time. In this case, the sound source file may be set to be played only when the user clicks on the path information in the form of the icon shown in FIG. 4A.

The present invention can be equally applicable to a mobile cyber character providing service through a wireless communication network, and sees a cyber character through a predetermined browser embedded in a wireless communication network and a mobile communication terminal, and plays by listening to a sound source file attached to the cyber character. It can also be applied to services.

Although the above-described method for providing a cyber character and a system for attaching the sound source have been described above, those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains various modifications or additional implementations based on the configuration according to the preferred embodiments of the present invention described above. It is obvious that this will be possible.

According to the cyber character providing method and a system therefor according to the present invention, by inserting a predetermined sound source to the cyber character that is serviced on a variety of websites, the cyber can be identified not only through vision but also through hearing The technical effect of providing a character can be obtained.

In addition, according to the method and system for providing the cyber character according to the present invention, by inserting a predetermined sound source in the cyber character, the user can decorate his cyber character by decorating his cyber character in various ways The technical effect that can meet the various needs of the user can be obtained.

In addition, according to the method and system for providing the cyber character according to the present invention, by inserting a predetermined sound source in the cyber character, a service provider providing the cyber character to create a new revenue model associated with the cyber character To achieve the technical effect.

As described above, the present invention has been described by way of limited embodiments and drawings, but the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which can be variously modified and modified by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains. It is obvious that modifications will be possible. Accordingly, the spirit of the present invention should be understood only by the claims set forth below, and all equivalent or equivalent modifications thereof will belong to the scope of the present invention.

Claims (8)

In the method for providing a cyber character, Receiving a predetermined sound source to be attached to the cyber character from a user; Setting a path of the selected sound source; Storing a path of the selected sound source; And Playing the sound source through the stored path Cyber character providing method comprising a. In the method for providing a cyber character, Receiving a predetermined voice from a user; Generating a sound source by converting the predetermined voice; Setting a path of the generated sound source; Storing a path of the generated sound source; And Playing the sound source through the stored path Cyber character providing method comprising a. Or according to claim 2, The storing of the path of the sound source may include displaying the path of the sound source in the form of an icon on a part of the cyber character. The method according to claim 1 or 2, In the playing of the sound source, the cyber character providing method may be performed by streaming or playing a sound source file directly according to the type of the sound source. The method according to claim 1 or 2, The playing of the sound source is a cyber character providing method, characterized in that performed simultaneously with the display of the playback command or the cyber character according to the user's settings. The method of claim 2, The cyber character providing method of receiving a predetermined voice from the user is performed through an Auto Responding System. A recording medium executable on a computer, characterized by recording a program on which the method of claim 1 or 2 is performed. In the system for providing a cyber character, Cyber character storage database means for classifying and storing the cyber characters for each user; Sound source database means for classifying and storing sound sources to be attached to the cyber character for each user; And And a central processing unit for managing and controlling the cyber character storage database means and the sound source database means.