Methods, systems, and media for providing personalized digital assets to heterogeneous sets of independent applications

Abstract

The present disclosure relates generally to architectures, structures, and components for systems and networks for distributing media, in particular to providing personalized media content to heterogeneous network applications. For example, methods and systems may be provided for storing, managing, and distributing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous set of users and applications. Such a service may be provided to an application in a secure manner, and distribution of personal digital assets may be protected by a digital rights management scheme. Such digital assets may be used in an agnostic manner within or across independent applications or platforms with user authorization, providing a consistent and unified experience related to these personalized digital assets.

Description

Incorporated herein by reference

[0001] This disclosure is based upon and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. non-provisional patent application No. 18 / 440,813, filed on February 13, 2024, and based upon and claims the benefit of priority of U.S. provisional application No. 63 / 446,279, filed on February 16, 2023, both of which are entitled “Trusted Service for Storing and Distributing Personalized Assets for Use by Third-Party Applications,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates generally to the architecture, structure, and components of systems and networks for distributing media, and more particularly to providing personalized media content to heterogeneous network applications. Background Art

[0003] Digital media assets such as user avatars are platform specific. For example, a user's digital assets used in each virtual world platform to provide an immersive metaverse experience, or a user's digital assets in other online applications, do not exist outside of that particular virtual world platform or online application. At the same time, at least some types of digital assets may be universal to users. Therefore, it may be desirable to separate these types of digital assets from a specific application or platform. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present disclosure generally relates to the architecture, structure and components of systems and networks for distributing media, and more particularly to providing personalized media content to heterogeneous network applications. For example, methods and systems can be provided for storing, managing and distributing personalized digital assets as services to heterogeneous collections of users and applications. Such services can be provided to applications in a secure manner, and the distribution of personal digital assets can be protected by digital rights management schemes. Such digital assets can be used in an agnostic manner within or across independent applications or platforms with user authorization, thereby providing a consistent and unified experience related to these personalized digital assets.

[0005] In some example embodiments, a method of providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous set of independent applications through a trusted circuit is disclosed. The method includes: receiving the personalized digital assets generated in a common format; storing the personalized digital assets outside a blockchain system; and when any application in the heterogeneous set of independent applications requests the personalized digital assets and the owner of the personalized digital assets electronically authorizes the personalized digital assets, distributing the personalized digital assets with usage right restrictions and the right to modify or adjust the application, the usage right restrictions being provided under at least one digital rights management scheme.

[0006] In the above example implementation, the personalized digital asset includes a 3D avatar created by the owner.

[0007] In any of the above example implementations, the usage right restriction is configured to prohibit copying the distributed personalized digital asset or redistributing the personalized digital asset to other applications.

[0008] In any of the above example implementations, distributing the personalized digital asset is performed in the blockchain system.

[0009] In any of the above example implementations, the usage right restriction is configured to enforce an expiration condition for the usage of the distributed personalized digital asset.

[0010] In any of the above example embodiments, an enhanced digital asset that can be combined with the personalized digital asset is received, the enhanced digital asset is provided by the application for enhancing the personal digital asset; and the enhanced digital asset is stored outside the blockchain system.

[0011] In any of the above example implementations, the method further comprises providing the enhanced digital asset to be combined with the personalized digital asset for use in another application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications.

[0012] In any of the above example implementations, the application is an online retail store including a virtual dressing room and 3D digitizations of a plurality of items for sale.

[0013] In any of the above-mentioned example embodiments, the application is an online retail store, and the method further includes: when a second application in the heterogeneous set of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and the owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, distributing the personalized digital asset to the second application, the second application being a virtual world application.

[0014] In any of the above example implementations, the heterogeneous set of independent applications includes at least one real world application and at least one virtual world application; and the personalized digital assets are provided by the trusted circuit to the at least one real world application and the at least one virtual world application.

[0015] In any of the above example implementations, the heterogeneous set of independent applications includes at least two different virtual world applications; and the personalized digital assets are provided by the trusted circuit for use in the at least two different virtual world applications.

[0016] In some other example embodiments, a system is disclosed for providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous set of independent applications through a trusted circuit. The system includes a memory for storing computer instructions and a processor configured to execute the computer instructions to perform any of the above methods.

[0017] In some other example embodiments, a non-transitory computer-readable medium is disclosed for storing computer instructions for providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous collection of independent applications through a trusted circuit according to any of the above methods. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Other features, properties and various advantages of the disclosed subject matter will become further apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which:

[0019] Figure 1 An example entity relationship diagram is shown, depicting the relationships among a user client, an application service, a trusted service, a secure asset database, and an application database in a system for providing personalized digital assets.

[0020] Figure 2 Shows Figure 1 Schematic diagram of an example data flow between the entities depicted in for transferring secure assets to an application.

[0021] Figure 3 Shows Figure 1 Schematic diagram of an example data flow between the entities depicted in Figure 1 for transferring a secure asset from a user to a trusted service.

[0022] Figure 4 An example sequence diagram depicting the interactions between a user, an application, and a trusted service regarding personalized digital assets for a virtual dressing room use case is shown.

[0023] Figure 5 Shows the use of Figure 4 Functional diagram of personalized digital assets for the virtual dressing room use case.

[0024] Figure 6 An example system diagram of a computer system that may be used as a component to implement the digital asset provisioning system described above is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0025] Throughout the specification and claims, terms may have subtle meanings suggested or implied by the context that go beyond the explicitly stated meaning. The phrases "in one embodiment / implementation" or "in some embodiments / implementations" as used herein do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment / implementation, and the phrases "in another embodiment / implementation" or "in other embodiments" as used herein do not necessarily refer to different embodiments. For example, the claimed subject matter is intended to include all or part of a combination of exemplary embodiments / implementations.

[0026] In general, terms can be understood at least in part from the use in the context. For example, the terms used herein, such as "and", "or", or "and / or" can include various context-dependent meanings. Typically, "or", if used to associate a list, such as A, B, or C, is intended to represent A, B, and C, which are used in an inclusive sense, and A, B, or C, which are used in an exclusive sense. In addition, the terms "one or more", "at least one", "one (a)", "an" or "the" used herein depend at least in part on the context and can be used in a singular sense or in the plural. In addition, the term "based on" or "determined by..." can be understood as not necessarily intended to express a set of exclusive factors, but can allow the presence of other factors that are not necessarily explicitly described, which depends at least in part on the context.

[0027] The computer readable medium may have computer codes for performing various computer-implemented operations. The media and computer codes may be specially designed and constructed for the purpose of the present disclosure, or may be of a type well known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software.

[0028] Although the present disclosure has described several exemplary embodiments, there are changes, permutations, and various alternative equivalents that fall within the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, it should be understood that those skilled in the art will be able to design many systems and methods that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure and are therefore within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

[0029] In the following disclosure, "immersive experience" may be used to refer to human interaction with media and / or devices (which can ingest and support such media) to jointly stimulate any or any, some or all of the human sensory systems (visual, auditory, somatosensory, olfactory, and possibly taste) to create or enhance the human user's actual sense of presence in the experience created by the media (and / or the media and the actuators of the corresponding devices), which is beyond the user's current capabilities in the real world or natural environment (i.e., without such devices and media). Examples of immersive experiences include, but are not limited to, experiences that can be enabled by applications of augmented reality, virtual reality, or holographic images with or without sound, tactile, and olfactory stimulation. The visual, audio, and other perceptions in an immersive experience can typically adapt in real time to user direction, movement, etc. to provide a perception of immersion. Typically, these experiences exceed the capabilities of media created solely for presentation on two-dimensional (2D) displays and related applications.

[0030] Examples of "immersive experiences" include online virtual world experiences enabled by emerging platforms such as Meta Platforms' HorizonWorlds. In this example, individual users can use the building or creation tools provided by these platforms to create and publish virtual worlds, in which other users can be invited to participate and interact in real time. Virtual worlds can be composed of objects built from a menu of options, including geometric shapes, surface properties (e.g., color, reflectivity to light, visual texture, touch texture, etc.), sounds, animation functions, and dynamic properties (e.g., what happens if a user collides with a specific object). Similarly, individual users can create their own personalized avatars that represent how users appear in the virtual world, make sounds, and interact with other users. Avatars can be designed to be consistent with the user's real-world appearance, or similarly designed to portray a fictional character. For those of ordinary skill in the art, objects such as those contained in the virtual world, or the entire virtual world itself, and / or avatars used to capture the identity of individual users, can be considered digital assets, where these assets can be created and stored in one or more computer files.

[0031] Users in virtual worlds may collaborate or compete through their avatars to evolve or participate in these worlds for any number of purposes, goals, collaborations, competitions, or other scenarios that may have corollaries in the real world. An important aspect of these virtual worlds is that they persist over time until the virtual world is explicitly destroyed. Therefore, each world, and each character (avatar) within the world, has its own state associated with it. As is the case with the meta-platform's Horizon World, the current state of each avatar or virtual world may be captured and maintained by a particular platform (e.g., Horizon World) so that users can enter and exit each world and a timeline of events is saved and captured by the current state of the world or avatar such that it is consistent with the passage of time within the virtual world.

[0032] In the above example of an online virtual world, it is worth noting that each of the personal assets contained in the virtual world and / or the personal avatars themselves are stored within and owned by the platform on which they are used. For example, users of the Horizon World platform can create their personalized avatars, virtual worlds, and the objects contained in those virtual worlds. Their avatars can interact with other avatars, enter, exit, and / or participate in virtual worlds stored and managed within the Horizon World platform.

[0033] However, users may not be able to export assets for use in another online platform, including but not limited to avatars they created within the Horizon World platform. In other words, digital assets used within the Horizon World platform may not be exported so that they can be used in other third-party applications. Assets created in this way are not agnostic and therefore cannot span different virtual world platforms. Although specific virtual world platforms (such as Horizon World) are mentioned in the above or below disclosure, they are merely cited as examples, and the applicability of the basic principles of the various embodiments disclosed herein is not limited to this.

[0034] An extension of the above scenario in the immersive experience of a virtual world platform may be to allow users to import and export objects or digital assets that are created and owned by users individually and / or independently for use in any of a plurality of virtual world platforms maintained and managed by a heterogeneous collection of virtual world platform service providers. Such individually created digital assets will include, but are not limited to, the user's own digital avatar. In other words, such digital assets can then be in an immersive experience such as the virtual world described above, but across different virtual worlds or metaverse platforms. Each virtual world platform can then be configured to ingest these digital assets for the immersive experience provided by the virtual world platform. For example, each of a plurality of virtual world platforms may be standardized and configured to import and present avatars created and managed individually by users as representations of users in their virtual worlds, so as to provide an immersive experience for users, and the users look the same in each independent virtual world platform. For another example, digitized versions of other user attributes (such as the user's house, clothing, and other attributes) may also be imported or used in any one virtual world platform in a consistent manner.

[0035] As just an example, as a privately managed digital asset, the user's avatar can be created in various ways to represent the user's portrait. For example, various means of capturing, recording and storing the user's portrait can be implemented. The user's portrait can be stored in a two-dimensional representation (e.g., a still image or video), or synthesized into a three-dimensional format including, for example, a point cloud and / or a geometric mesh. Regarding the function of implementing an immersive experience on a device with immersive media capabilities, in particular, 3D formats can better represent the user's portrait because such formats can store more information about the user, for example, the complete geometry of the user including stature and shape. These formats can also store attributes about the user's appearance, such as how the user's skin reacts to various lighting conditions. That is, when these formats are presented in different lighting environments, photo-realistic results (e.g., consistent with the physical world) can be achieved. Therefore, since these formats can help store important and more intensive information about the user's portrait, for example, information that can be stored beyond that in a two-dimensional format, they are more likely to be suitable as a means of establishing the user's identity or portrait.

[0036] An example method of capturing a user's likeness to create a three-dimensional representation is to first record a series of moving images of the user from different angles. These images are then registered along a grid in order to align the images with information about the precise angle and viewpoint at which the user was captured. The angle information and images are then processed, for example, by one or more neural networks (a form of artificial intelligence) to synthesize the images into a 3D representation. An example of such a technique may be referred to as Neural Radiance Fields, or NeRF for short. NeRF technology may be one of many example techniques that have been and are being developed by which images of the real world of a user (or object) are captured from multiple viewpoints in order to synthesize a 3D representation of the user (or other object).

[0037] As an alternative or in addition to the user's portrait (avatar), other personalized digital assets may include, for example, 3D representations of other personal items, such as the user's home, car, children. Such a collection of 3D representations may be considered personal digital assets owned by a particular user, about which the user may wish to protect against online fraud or theft.

[0038] In addition to the use of the virtual world or metaverse described above, another use extension of the digital assets created and managed by users (such as the avatars and other personal assets described above) will be their use on various general applications. These applications may or may not be related to the virtual world platform. In addition, these applications may or may not involve immersive experiences. Therefore, although each virtual world platform can be regarded as an application that utilizes various personalized digital assets, the term "application" used in this disclosure should be interpreted broadly.

[0039] For example, some of these applications may be developed for purposes other than the virtual world platform experience. Instead, they may be developed for purposes that are more closely aligned with real-world use cases and scenarios, which nonetheless may leverage and use the personalized digital assets described above, including digital avatars. Such applications may or may not involve an immersive experience. The following use case provides an example of such a use case or scenario, where a user has created a personal avatar asset that closely approximates his or her appearance in the real world for use in an example real-world online application in addition to a virtual world platform.

[0040] In this example use case, as a virtual or digital asset, a user may have created a "selfie" avatar (e.g., based on images captured from a mobile camera device, or a micro-camera array, or other capture device, which are then composited into one or more predefined 3D formats). The user can store his or her avatar into a 3D personalized asset locker. An online retail application for a clothing store can accept a user's avatar into a virtual dressing room or fitting room, in which the user can try on different styles of clothing in different virtual environments (e.g., in a nightclub, restaurant, or sporting event) and under different lighting and shadow conditions. The virtual dressing room allows the user to see different styles of clothing on him or her and in different environments, thereby providing information relevant to the user's decision whether to purchase the clothing.

[0041] In some embodiments, after the application receives the personalized digital asset (e.g., avatar), it may first modify or change the personalized digital asset so as to adapt the personalized digital asset to the digital assets in the application so that these digital assets can be presented in combination with the desired consistency. For example, the size of the personalized digital asset can be modified. The color or color palette of the personalized digital asset can be modified. In applications involving various different types of personalized digital assets, the above modifications and adjustments may include, but are not limited to: rounding the corners and / or edges in the personalized digital asset to make it consistent with the digital assets in the application (e.g., having rounded corners / edges); changing the entire local geometry of the personalized digital asset to be consistent with the digital assets in the application; modifying the size; adjusting or modifying the color theme, etc. In this way, even if the personalized digital assets are managed and distributed by a trusted service provider, they are configured to be modifiable or adjustable by authorized applications. For example, the application can be specifically authorized by the user to modify / adjust the personalized digital asset. In some embodiments, the right to modify / adjust can be associated with or attached to the personalized digital asset, and the right can be provided to the application using one or more digital rights management schemes again.

[0042] In some example embodiments, the above adjustments or modifications to the personalized digital assets may be performed by the application (e.g., with authorization and permission to modify / adjust). Alternatively, such modifications may be requested by the application and performed by the trusted service provider in the trusted environment before the trusted service provider delivers the modified / adjusted personalized digital assets to the application. The application may specify the type of modification or adjustment in its request for the personalized digital assets.

[0043] With the above use case in mind, the following description provides a list including example functions that may be implemented to facilitate such use case in a user-acceptable manner.

[0044] 1. The user owns and controls the use and digital copyright of one or more of his or her own digital avatar assets. Such digital avatar assets or any other such digital assets should be protected using one or more digital rights management technologies to prevent such digital assets from being copied, transmitted, received, decoded and displayed without authorization, or any other unauthorized use.

[0045] 2. A third party provides a trusted service to the user (i.e., the 3D asset locker mentioned above) where the user's avatar is stored and securely protected from theft or other fraudulent activities. This trusted service functionality can be similar to, but not limited to, how cloud storage service providers use cloud storage services to provide storage services through which users can store copies of their digital items (e.g., photos, documents, videos, and backups of their application data).

[0046] 3. Upon entering the online portal of the retail application, the user may grant the application access to his or her avatar, which is stored by a trusted third-party service (e.g., the "3D asset locker" described in this use case), from which the application may download, stream, or otherwise access the user's avatar assets. More specifically, the retail application may obtain an authorized copy of the digital asset directly from the user's digital locker as described in item 2 above, through a secure transaction that protects the user's digital assets.

[0047] 4. The online retail application may access its own database of clothing products and apply a digitized and / or virtualized version of the clothing selected by the user to the user's avatar. The act of applying the clothing to the user's avatar may be accomplished by compositing the user's digital avatar with the digital representation of the clothing and presenting the composited result in real time. Thus, the presented result provides the appearance of the user's avatar virtually wearing the selected one or more clothing items.

[0048] 5. The user is able to manipulate the camera in the online scene (i.e., the "virtual dressing room") to view the selected garment applied to his or her avatar. This functionality can be achieved by using a real-time renderer to enable the user to direct a focused virtual camera into the scene (i.e., the virtual dressing room).

[0049] 6. The user should be able to change the environment of the scene in order to transform the virtual dressing room into other environments with different lighting conditions, such as outdoor sunlight, indoor ambient lighting, spotlights, bars, restaurants, concert halls, etc. This allows users to virtually consider clothing choices in different lighting scenarios and environments.

[0050] 7. After the online retail session is completed, the user may choose or not to allow the retail application to save a copy of the combined clothing and avatar assets for viewing in subsequent sessions. This permission, storage, and subsequent viewing may also be provided by the application itself with user authorization, or by a trusted third party using encryption and digital rights management techniques.

[0051] Furthermore, in the above example scenario, digital assets such as the user's selfie avatar may be personalized, managed and provided by a trusted third-party service. Such a third-party service may provide multiple functions to facilitate the online retail experience (e.g., trying on and purchasing clothing) between the user client and the retail application provider. Some of these functions may include, but are not limited to:

[0052] 1. Secure and private storage of users’ personalized digital assets.

[0053] 2. The ability for a user to authorize a retail service provider to access one or more of the user’s digital assets.

[0054] 3. The ability to verify that a retail service provider has access to one or more of a user’s digital assets.

[0055] 4. The ability to encrypt information into each user asset to limit the use of each asset so that the user asset can only be used by the retailer designated by the user.

[0056] 5. The ability to securely download or stream one or more assets to a retailer.

[0057] 6. The ability to ensure secure transactions between trusted third-party services and retailers.

[0058] 7. The ability to protect users' personalized digital assets, making it impossible or difficult for applications authorized to use specific digital assets to retain permanent copies locally, copy digital assets, and retransmit digital assets elsewhere, unless explicitly authorized by the user.

[0059] The virtual online clothing store described above may or may not involve an immersive experience. For non-immersive implementations, for example, a user avatar trying on clothing in a user-specified environment can be displayed in any display device (e.g., a flat-panel display device) for the user to view, manipulate (viewing angle, lighting conditions, etc.) and evaluate. For immersive implementations, the user can use, for example, a virtual reality (VR) device to observe his own avatar wearing the clothing of his choice in a selected environment and lighting conditions in VR.

[0060] The use cases of personalized virtual digital assets may not be limited to the above-mentioned example application of online virtual try-on and purchase of clothing, nor to general online retail applications. In addition, the personalized virtual digital assets used in various applications may not be limited to a specific version of an avatar (full body avatar, half body avatar, etc.), or may not be limited to avatar assets at all.

[0061] In a further extension of the online clothing store application, the clothing purchased by the user can be mailed (physically mailed) to the user separately. In addition, depending on the nature of the virtual purchase activity, the digital version of the purchased clothing can also accompany the transaction and be delivered to the user, and can become a personal digital asset. Such digital assets can be managed by the retailer. Alternatively, such digital assets can be managed by a trusted third-party service provider on behalf of the retailer. In addition, once becoming a personal asset, the digital version of the clothing purchased by the user can be imported and included in the user's wardrobe in the virtual world, and used in the virtual world platform (e.g., worn by the user's avatar) when interacting with other avatars in the virtual world environment in any independent virtual world platform, provided that these digital assets are constructed in a standardized format.

[0062] In the above example implementations and use cases, various digital assets managed by a trusted third-party service provider can be truly virtualized and used in real-world applications within or across a virtual world platform, and also serve as a bridge between real-world applications and the virtual world platform.

[0063] The personalized digital assets described above may be developed toward the overall goal of providing these personalized digital assets in an immersive experience within and across virtual worlds in a unified and holistic manner, for example, possibly in line with the idea of ​​a metaverse or virtual world, and other applications that are less related to virtual worlds (such as retail clothing applications). It is critical to record and manage the source, usage rights, and transfer of ownership of such personal assets. In some example embodiments, unlike non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that exist on a blockchain, such user-owned assets may be stored separately from the blockchain, such as by a trusted storage service provider, thereby enabling the copying and / or distribution of assets entrusted by third parties, while preventing such distribution and copying by other applications through digital rights management technology.

[0064] In some example embodiments, the provision of such digital assets may be performed partially outside of the blockchain and partially using the blockchain. For example, storage of the asset by a trusted third-party service provider may be done outside of the blockchain so that the digital asset can be copied and distributed by the trusted service provider. For example, distribution of a copy of the digital asset to a retailer application may be done in the blockchain so that further copying and distribution may be prevented.

[0065] In the above-mentioned applications involving personalized digital assets such as digital avatars, immersive or non-immersive experiences can be presented in various ways. In the following additional disclosure, the term "renderer" can be used to refer broadly to any device for generating and synthesizing output perceived by a user. In the context of immersive experience, the term "renderer" can be used to refer to a (usually software-based) application or process that is based on a selective mixture of disciplines related to acoustic physics, optical physics, visual perception, auditory perception, mathematics, and software development, and emits typical visual and / or audio signals suitable for presentation on a target device or conforming to the expected properties specified by the properties of the render target node in the scene graph, given an input scene graph and an asset container. Therefore, for visual-based media assets, the renderer can emit visual signals suitable for a target display or suitable for storage as an intermediate asset (e.g., repackaging into another container or for use in a series of rendering processes in a graphics pipeline). For audio-based media assets, the renderer can emit audio signals for presentation in multi-channel speakers and / or dual-channel headphones, or for repackaging into another (output) container. Popular examples of renderers include the real-time rendering capabilities of the game engines Unity and Unreal Engine. For example, many devices with immersive media capabilities can be realized, including head-mounted displays, augmented reality glasses, handheld controllers, multi-view displays, haptic gloves, and game consoles.

[0066] The further disclosure below addresses the need for a trusted service that exists as and is provided by a third-party entity between a user and one or more separate and distinct applications (including virtual world applications and / or other real world applications). Such a trusted service may exist in a network managed by an Internet service provider or a cloud storage service provider. The primary role of the trusted service is to provide secure online storage and distribution of user-created digital assets to one or more applications, wherein the distribution of the assets is performed in accordance with authenticated user instructions and protected by, for example, a digital rights management scheme.

[0067] Thus, the trusted service can utilize multiple data encryption algorithms and other security mechanisms or protocols within or outside of one or more digital rights management schemes to ensure the security of network transactions between authenticated asset owners and applications, thereby enabling secure network distribution of identified assets to applications for use only by user-authorized applications, i.e., assets may not be shared or distributed outside of specific instances authorized by the user, and / or may not be copied and redistributed by applications unless further authorized by the user.

[0068] For example, the distribution of personalized digital assets may be accompanied by usage rights restrictions provided by one or more digital rights management schemes. In some example embodiments, usage rights restrictions may be configured and provided to prohibit copying of distributed personalized digital assets or redistribution of personalized digital assets to other applications. In some example embodiments, personal digital assets are distributed in a blockchain system to implement such prohibitions. In some example embodiments, usage rights restrictions may be configured or provided to enforce usage expiration conditions for distributed personalized digital assets. For example, usage rights may expire at the end of a communication session or after a configured amount of time.

[0069] A single user digital asset provided by a third-party service provider can be in any form that is understandable to both the third-party service provider and the application, and can therefore be presented by the application. In the example embodiments disclosed herein, without loss of generality, it is assumed that a single user asset can exist in a variety of example formats. As an example, a user avatar can be stored in the Graphics Language Transfer Format (glTF) version 2.0 by Khronos, in the Universal Scene Description (USD) format by Pixar, or in the Immersive Technology Media Format (ITMF) by the Immersive Digital Experience Alliance (IDEA). Similarly, an avatar can represent a real-life portrait of a user (e.g., generated in the manner described above), or can be designed to represent a user in another persona, such as for one or more gaming platforms or virtual worlds.

[0070] In some example embodiments, the third-party trusted service provider may be the user's Internet service provider. Thus, when the user logs in or logs into an Internet service, he or she may be directly authorized to use a trusted service that provides his or her personalized digital assets (including his or her avatar).

[0071] Figure 1 An example implementation of a personalized digital asset management and use system that follows the above principles is shown. Figure 1A diagram 100 of the relationships between various entities and their processing circuits is depicted. A user client 101 represents a client application running on a client device. The client device may be implemented as any electronic device capable of processing and presenting information and media content. For example, the client device may be equipped with a 3D immersive display and sensors and circuits for obtaining user input. User personalized digital assets are stored in a secure user client asset storage circuit 103. This storage is managed and provided by a trusted third-party service circuit 102, which provides secure access to secure user assets 103. An application service provider circuit 104 manages the experience of a specific application (e.g., the above-mentioned example online clothing retail, or other immersive or non-immersive applications). An application asset database 105 contains digital assets owned by the application service provider circuit 104 and can be used to create user experiences (e.g., settings related to a virtual dressing room and digitized versions of clothing in the above-mentioned virtual dressing room use case). For the above-mentioned example application of providing an online clothing retail virtual dressing room, such digital assets may represent digitized versions of clothing being sold. Such digital assets may be dedicated to the application and may therefore be provided by the application in its own database 105. Alternatively, some such assets belonging to the application service provider may be created by the application provider but managed as personalized assets by the trusted third party service provider circuit 102 as part of the secure user client asset storage 103. These types of assets may follow a standard format so that they can be used across applications and platforms. An example of such an asset may be a digitization of a garment in the virtual dressing room use case described above, which can be worn by the purchasing user's avatar in other applications or virtual world platforms. Although Figure 1 The various objects in refer to entities that participate in a user's personalized digital asset provision, but these objects are also intended to represent processing circuitry associated with these entities.

[0072] Figure 2 Further depicted is a data flow diagram 200 for interaction, wherein Figure 1 In the personalized digital asset management and use system 100, secure assets are transferred to applications on behalf of users. Figure 2 As shown, the user client 201 (corresponding to Figure 1 101) and its underlying circuit can be provided to a trusted third-party service provider 203 (corresponding to Figure 1 102) initiates a user authentication request 202. The user client 201 may also transmit a user authorization 207 (referred to as user authorization to access assets) to the application service provider 206 (corresponding to Figure 1 104). The application service provider 206 may provide the trusted service provider 203 (corresponding to Figure 1104) sends application authorization 208 (called application authorization from the user to access user assets). Then, the trusted service provider 203 can use the secure user client asset database 205 (corresponding to Figure 1 103) initiates a preparation process 204 (referred to as asset transfer preparation) to access the requested personalized digital assets. Then, the application service provider 206 initiates a retrieval process 210 (referred to as asset retrieval on behalf of the user) to obtain the personalized digital assets authorized by the user client 201 from the secure user client asset database 205. Optionally, the application service provider 206 may further perform a retrieval process to retrieve the personalized digital assets authorized by the user client 201 from the application asset database 211 (corresponding to the Figure 1 105) retrieves the application asset 212 so that the user can provide the requested application / experience. Figure 2 It is clearly shown that digital assets belonging to an application, such as digital assets of database 211, can also be provided by application service 206 to be stored in secure user client asset database 205 through trusted service provider 203, so that these assets can be used across applications and platforms.

[0073] Figure 3 A data flow diagram 300 for a transaction is depicted, wherein during the personalized digital asset creation and storage process, secure assets are transferred to a secure user client database. User client 301 (corresponding to the above Figure 1 101) can generate the user assets 302 as described above, and initiate the transfer of the user assets 302 to the trusted third-party service provider 303 (corresponding to the above Figure 1 In response, the service provider 303 may send a request to the secure user client asset database 305 (corresponding to the above Figure 1 103) initiates a storage request 304.

[0074] Figure 4 Depicts an example sequence of interactions / messaging in the context of the virtual dressing room use case described above. Figure 4 In the example sequence and interaction / messaging of FIG. 1 , the trusted service is identified and referred to as a "3D asset locker". The application service is identified on the application service provider side as a "virtual store from a retailer". The user client is identified as a "user application". The rendering device on the user client side is identified as a "3D display" (for example only, the display need not be a 3D display). Example steps of the example sequence may include, but are not limited to, the following steps.

[0075] 1. Perform initialization steps. The initialization steps include application initialization, user authentication, discovery, and connection with the 3D asset locker, virtual dressing room, and clothing database, including format negotiation and determination.

[0076] 2. The user selects his / her own personalized avatar from the 3D asset locker.

[0077] 3. Download the selected avatar in a format supported by the application.

[0078] 4. The app selects a virtual room from the retailer database.

[0079] 5. The selected virtual room is delivered to the application in a compatible format.

[0080] 6. Send a preview of the available garments in the database to the app.

[0081] 7. The user selects clothing to try on in the virtual room of the user application client.

[0082] 8. The application requests the selected garment from the garment database.

[0083] 9. The selected garments are sent to the app in a compatible format.

[0084] 10. The received avatar may be modified or adjusted by the user application as needed and with user authorization (as provided by the trusted service provider) to combine the avatar with digital versions of the garments in the virtual dressing room. Example modifications or adjustments are described above. Alternatively, the modifications or adjustments may be performed by the trusted service provider (3D asset locker) upon request from the application and / or user authorization.

[0085] 11. The application combines the selected garments and avatar (eg, the modified or adjusted avatar from step 10) and places the combination in the virtual dressing room.

[0086] 12. Present the display on the user client side from a default viewpoint, for example in 3D format.

[0087] 13. The user interacts with the scene (e.g., moving the avatar around the room, selecting different viewpoints, changing lighting conditions and environmental settings, etc.).

[0088] 14. Present the updated scene from the new viewpoint in real time on the user client side.

[0089] 15. As long as the user interacts with the scene, return to step 13

[0090] 16. If the user selects another garment to try on, return to step 7.

[0091] Figure 5 It further shows that the above Figure 4 Schematic diagram of the functional entities of the example virtual dressing room use case described in . Figure 5As shown, a personalized 3D asset locker 502 is provided by a trusted third-party service provider and is configured to store personalized digital assets such as personal avatars and deliver personalized digital assets in an appropriate request format when authorized. A virtual store (labeled 504) associated with an online retailer contains digital assets (e.g., 3D digital assets) owned by the retailer, including one or more virtual dressing rooms 506, and includes a clothing database 508, which includes a set of 3D assets (e.g., digitized 3D versions of clothing) for users to browse and select. One or more virtual rooms 506 can be configured for different contexts or environments with different lighting conditions, which can be selectively determined by user selection and navigation. The client-side user application 510 (client-side of a user online retail application for a specific virtual online dressing room use case) may be configured to download 3D assets (e.g., user avatars from a personalized 3D asset locker 502), virtual dressing rooms, and clothing from a virtual store 504, combine them together based on user interaction (selection of clothing, navigation in a virtual room, selection of settings for a virtual room), and ultimately send a view for presentation in, for example, a 3D display 512.

[0092] Each of the above functions can be implemented by a circuit, which can be a dedicated circuit or a general-purpose computing device. These computing devices can be centralized or distributed physical machines (e.g., personal computers, tablets, servers, smartphones, personal digital assistants, wearable devices, gaming devices, IoT devices, etc.), or virtualized versions of computing machines with underlying distributed physical computers and memory, such as those implemented in a cloud platform. Figure 6 An example of such a computing system is shown, and example components of the computing system may be included in each dedicated or virtual computer system, which may be used to implement the above-mentioned example personalized assets by running a set of computer software. Such computer software may be encoded in any suitable machine code or computer language, and may be compiled, compiled, linked, or other mechanisms to create a code including instructions, which may be directly executed by a computer central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), or the like included in the computing system, or executed by decoding, microcode, or the like.

[0093] Figure 6 The components shown for computer system 600 are exemplary in nature and are not intended to impose any limitations on the scope of use or functionality of computer software implementing the disclosed embodiments. Nor should the configuration of the components be interpreted as having any dependency or requirement on any one or combination of components shown in the exemplary embodiment of computer system 600.

[0094] The computer system 600 may include certain human-computer interface input devices. Such human-computer interface input devices may respond to input from one or more human users through tactile input (e.g., keyboard input, sliding, data glove movement), audio input (e.g., sound, applause), visual input (e.g., gestures), and olfactory input (not shown). The human-computer interface devices may also be used to capture certain media that are not necessarily directly related to conscious human input, such as audio (e.g., speech, music, ambient sound), images (e.g., scanned images, photographic images obtained from a still image camera), and videos (e.g., two-dimensional video, three-dimensional video including stereoscopic video).

[0095] The human-machine interface input device may include one or more of the following (only one of which is depicted): keyboard 601 , mouse 602 , touchpad 603 , touch screen 610 , data gloves (not shown), joystick 605 , microphone 606 , scanner 607 , camera 608 .

[0096] The computer system 600 may also include certain human-computer interface output devices. Such human-computer interface output devices may stimulate the senses of one or more human users through, for example, tactile output, sound, light, and smell / taste. Such human-computer interface output devices may include tactile output devices (e.g., tactile feedback through a touch screen 610, a data glove (not shown), or a joystick 605, but there may also be tactile feedback devices that are not used as input devices), audio output devices (e.g., speakers 609, headphones (not shown)), visual output devices (e.g., screens 610 including cathode ray tube screens, liquid crystal screens, plasma screens, organic light emitting diode screens, each of which has or does not have a touch screen input function, each of which has or does not have a tactile feedback function - some of which may output two-dimensional visual outputs or outputs of more than three dimensions by means such as stereoscopic picture output; virtual reality glasses (not shown), holographic displays, and smoke boxes (not shown)) and printers (not shown).

[0097] The computer system 600 may also include human-accessible storage devices and their associated media, such as optical media including high-density read-only / rewritable optical disks (CD / DVD ROM / RW) 620 with CD / DVD or similar media 621, a thumb drive 622, a removable hard drive or solid state drive 623, traditional magnetic media such as tapes and floppy disks (not shown), special-purpose ROM / ASIC / PLD-based devices such as security software protectors (not shown), and the like.

[0098] Those skilled in the art should also understand that the term "computer-readable media" used in connection with the disclosed subject matter does not include transmission media, carrier waves, or other transient signals.

[0099] The computer system 600 may also include an interface to one or more communication networks. For example, the network may be wireless, wired, or optical. The network may also be a local area network, a wide area network, a metropolitan area network, an in-vehicle network, an industrial network, a real-time network, a delay-tolerant network, and the like. The network also includes local area networks such as Ethernet, wireless local area networks, cellular networks (GSM, 3G, 4G, 5G, LTE, etc.), television wired or wireless wide area digital networks (including cable television, satellite television, and terrestrial broadcast television), in-vehicle and industrial networks (including CANBus), and the like. Some networks typically require an external network interface adapter for connecting to some universal data ports or peripheral buses (649) (e.g., a USB port of the computer system 600); other systems are typically integrated into the core of the computer system 600 by connecting to a system bus as described below (e.g., an Ethernet interface integrated into a PC computer system or a cellular network interface integrated into a smart phone computer system). By using any of these networks, the computer system 600 can communicate with other entities. The communication can be one-way, for receiving only (e.g., wireless television), one-way for sending only (e.g., CAN bus to certain CAN bus devices), or two-way, such as to other computer systems via a local or wide area digital network. Each of the above networks and network interfaces can use certain protocols and protocol stacks.

[0100] The above-mentioned human-machine interface devices, human-accessible storage devices, and network interfaces may be connected to the core 640 of the computer system 600 .

[0101] The core 640 may include one or more central processing units (CPUs) 641, graphics processing units (GPUs) 642, dedicated programmable processing units in the form of field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) 643, hardware accelerators for specific tasks 644, and the like. These devices, as well as read-only memory (ROM) 645, random access memory 646, internal mass storage (e.g., internal non-user accessible hard disk drives, solid-state drives, etc.) 647, and the like may be connected via a system bus 648. In some computer systems, the system bus 648 may be accessed in the form of one or more physical plugs so that it may be expanded by additional central processing units, graphics processing units, and the like. Peripheral devices may be attached directly to the core's system bus 648, or connected via a peripheral bus 649. The architecture of the peripheral bus includes the external peripheral component interconnect PCI, the universal serial bus USB, and the like.

[0102] The CPU 641, GPU 642, FPGA 643, and accelerator 644 may execute certain instructions, which in combination may constitute the above-mentioned computer code. The computer code may be stored in ROM 645 or RAM 646. Transient data may also be stored in RAM 646, while permanent data may be stored in, for example, internal mass storage 647. Fast storage and retrieval of any memory device may be achieved by using a cache memory, which may be closely associated with one or more CPUs 641, GPU 642, mass storage 647, ROM 645, RAM 646, etc.

[0103] The computer readable medium may have computer code thereon for performing various computer-implemented operations. The medium and computer code may be specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present disclosure, or may be the medium and code well known and available to those skilled in the art of computer software.

[0104] As an embodiment and not limitation, a computer system having architecture 600, in particular core 640, can provide the function of executing software contained in one or more tangible computer-readable media as a processor (including CPU, GPU, FPGA, accelerator, etc.). Such computer-readable media can be a medium associated with the above-mentioned user-accessible mass storage, as well as a specific memory of the core 640 having non-volatility, such as core internal mass storage 647 or ROM 645. Software implementing various embodiments of the present disclosure can be stored in such a device and executed by the core 640. Depending on specific needs, the computer-readable medium may include one or more storage devices or chips. The software can enable the core 640, in particular the processor therein (including CPU, GPU, FPGA, etc.) to perform a specific process or a specific part of a specific process described herein, including defining a data structure stored in RAM 646 and modifying such a data structure according to a software-defined process. Additionally or alternatively, the computer system may provide logic hardwired or otherwise contained in circuitry (e.g., functionality of accelerator 644) that may operate in place of or in conjunction with software to perform specific processes or specific portions of specific processes described herein. References to software may include logic and vice versa, where appropriate. References to computer-readable media may include circuitry (such as an integrated circuit (IC)) storing executing software, circuitry containing executing logic, or both, where appropriate. The present disclosure includes any suitable combination of hardware and software.

Claims

1. A method for providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous collection of independent applications through a trusted circuit, characterized in that: The method comprises: Receiving the personalized digital asset generated in a universal format; Storing the personalized digital assets outside the blockchain system; and When any application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and the owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, the personalized digital asset is distributed with usage right restrictions and permissions to modify or adjust the application, wherein the usage right restrictions are provided under at least one digital rights management scheme.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The personalized digital asset includes a 3D avatar created by the owner.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The usage right restriction is configured to prohibit copying the distributed personalized digital asset or redistributing the personalized digital asset to other applications.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that Distributing the personalized digital assets is performed in the blockchain system.

5. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The usage rights restriction is configured to enforce a usage expiration condition for the distributed personalized digital asset.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Further including: receiving an enhanced digital asset that can be combined with the personalized digital asset, the enhanced digital asset provided by the application for enhancing the personal digital asset; as well as Storing the enhanced digital asset outside of the blockchain system.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that Further including: The enhanced digital asset is provided for combination with the personalized digital asset for use in another application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The application is an online retail store that includes a virtual dressing room and 3D digitization of multiple items on sale.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The application is an online retail store, and the method further comprises: When a second application in the heterogeneous set of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and an owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, the personalized digital asset is distributed to the second application, which is a virtual world application.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The heterogeneous set of independent applications includes at least one real world application and at least one virtual world application; and The personalized digital assets are provided by the trusted circuit to the at least one real world application and the at least one virtual world application.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The heterogeneous set of independent applications includes at least two different virtual world applications; and The personalized digital assets are provided by the trusted circuit for use in the at least two different virtual world applications.

12. A system for providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous collection of independent applications through a trusted circuit, characterized in that: The system includes a memory for storing computer instructions, and a processor configured to execute the computer instructions. Receiving the personalized digital asset generated in a universal format; Storing the personalized digital assets outside the blockchain system; and When any application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and the owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, the personalized digital asset is distributed with usage right restrictions and permissions to modify or adjust the application, wherein the usage right restrictions are provided under at least one digital rights management scheme.

13. The system according to claim 12, characterized in that The personalized digital asset includes a 3D avatar created by the owner.

14. The system according to claim 12, characterized in that The usage right restriction is configured to prohibit copying the distributed personalized digital asset or redistributing the personalized digital asset to other applications.

15. The system according to claim 14, characterized in that Distributing the personalized digital assets is performed in the blockchain system.

16. The system according to claim 12, characterized in that The usage rights restriction is configured to enforce a usage expiration condition for the distributed personalized digital asset.

17. The system according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that: The processor is further configured to execute the computer instructions to receiving an enhanced digital asset that can be combined with the personalized digital asset, the enhanced digital asset provided by the application for enhancing the personal digital asset; as well as Storing the enhanced digital asset outside of the blockchain system.

18. The system according to claim 17, characterized in that The processor is further configured to execute the computer instructions to provide the enhanced digital asset for combination with the personalized digital asset for use in another application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications.

19. The system according to any one of claims 12 to 16, characterized in that: The application is an online retail store, and the processor is further configured to execute the computer instructions to When a second application in the heterogeneous set of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and an owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, the personalized digital asset is distributed to the second application, which is a virtual world application.

20. A non-volatile computer readable medium for storing computer instructions, characterized in that: When the computer instructions are executed by circuitry for providing personalized digital assets as a service to a heterogeneous collection of independent applications through trusted circuitry, the computer instructions are configured to: Receiving the personalized digital asset generated in a universal format; Storing the personalized digital assets outside the blockchain system; as well as When any application in the heterogeneous collection of independent applications requests the personalized digital asset and the owner of the personalized digital asset electronically authorizes the personalized digital asset, the personalized digital asset is distributed with usage right restrictions and permissions to modify or adjust the application, wherein the usage right restrictions are provided under at least one digital rights management scheme.

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