ONLINE ANIMATION SYSTEM for PRACTICING CUED SPEECH

This paper presents a set of information and communication technologies developed with the goal to improve the practice of cued speech. They are based on three-dimensional (3D) graphics and are covering the entire end-to-end content chain: production, transmission, and visualization. Starting from defining a set of potential applications, the requirements of the targeted system for cued speech are set. The research and development path takes into account high-quality animation, real-time constraints, personalization, user acceptability and, equally important, the easiness and feasibility of the deployment. The latter led to a strong orientation toward open standards. The original components of the system include 3D graphics and animation encoders, streaming servers, and visualization engines. The core technology is validated in two real-time applications: a web service for text to animation conversion and a chat service supporting two or more users.