Communicating physical gestures as compressed data streams

Abstract

Computer-readable media and systems for communicating physical gestures as compressed data streams are provided. In particular, a technique is employed for generating replicated physical gestures on a user-interface display to visibly communicate sign language without transmitting information standard to typical video sessions, such as audio or video frames. In general, the technique entails the following steps: receiving coordinate representations of user-initiated physical gestures (e.g., hand movements); deciphering the received coordinate representations to identify corresponding motion patterns; and conveying the motion patterns to a presentation component for rendering. Rendering involves replicating the physical gestures by providing animations that carry out the motion patterns. The coordinate representations are generally received from a mobile device that captures physical gestures of a sender by employing a position-tracking interface. Upon capturing the physical gestures, the mobile device maps the coordinate representations to the physical gestures and records/transmits the coordinate representations at a high-speed frame rate.