A user may create an avatar and/or animated sequence illustrating a particular object or living being performing a certain activity, using images of portions of the object or living being extracted from a still image or set of still images of the object or living being. The resulting avatar and/or associated animated sequence may be created to include recognizable facial or other features of the individual(s)/objects, and may, for example, be suitable for exchange over the Internet, or as part of a game or other activity.
Please help me write a proper abstract based on the patent claims. CLAIM: 1. A method for operating a system for producing an image or video representing an end-user in a contemporaneous context selected based on a mood of the end-user, the system comprising one or more processors for communicatively coupling to a communication network and a display device, the method comprising: monitoring, by the one or more processors, one or more sources of news and social traffic to determine currently trending topics; gathering, by the one or more processors, information about certain topics of the currently trending topics, the information comprising one or more images and any textual content attached to or associated with the one or more images; classifying, by the one or more processors, the gathered information, to determine one or more characteristics; presenting to an end-user, by the one or more processors, one or more questions related to the certain topics of the currently trending topics; estimating, by the one or more processors, a mood or an emotion of the end-user, using responses of the end-user to the one or more questions; retrieving, by the one or more processors, one or more images related to particular topics found to be currently trending topics, according to the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user and the particular topics; and creating, by the one or more processors, one or more combined images comprising an avatar representing the end-user and one or more background images selected from the retrieved one or more images according to the one or more characteristics, the particular topics, and the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user, for display on the display device. 2. The method according to claim 1, where the one or more characteristics comprise one or more of one or more of a subject matter, a level of importance, timeliness, global or local relevance, and a mood. 3. The method according to claim 1, the method further comprising: adjusting one or both of appearance aspects and motion aspects of the avatar of the end-user based upon the responses of the end-user. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating the mood or emotion of the end-user comprises analyzing a series of images of the end-user to produce an estimate of the mood or emotion of the end-user. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the certain topics comprise topics that are most active on the one or more sources of news and social traffic. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the one or more images related to particular topics are retrieved from one or both of a source identified during a search of the Internet, or a source on a personal computer or handheld device of the end-user. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the retrieved one or more images comprise one or both of video content comprising one or more images of a well-known public figure and one or more system-generated images of an avatar representing a well-known public figure, and in which the avatar of the end-user interacts with the well-known public figure. 8. A system for producing an image or video representing an end-user in a contemporaneous context selected based on a mood of the end-user, the system comprising: one or more processors for communicatively coupling to a communication network and a display device, the one or more processors operable to, at least: monitor one or more sources of news and social traffic to determine currently trending topics; gather information about certain topics of the currently trending topics, the information comprising one or more images and any textual content attached to or associated with the one or more images; classify the gathered information, to determine one or more characteristics; present to the end-user, one or more questions related to the certain topics of the currently trending topics; estimate a mood or an emotion of the end-user, using responses of the end-user to the one or more questions; retrieve one or more images related to particular topics found to be currently trending topics, according to the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user and the particular topics; and create one or more combined images comprising an avatar representing the end-user and one or more background images selected from the retrieved one or more images according to the one or more characteristics, the particular topics, and the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user, for display. 9. The system according to claim 8, where the one or more characteristics comprise one or more of one or more of a subject matter, a level of importance, timeliness, global or local relevance, and a mood. 10. The system according to claim 8, the method further comprising: adjusting one or both of appearance aspects and motion aspects of the avatar of the end-user based upon the responses of the end-user. 11. The system according to claim 8, wherein estimating the mood or emotion of the end-user comprises analyzing a series of images of the end-user to produce an estimate of the mood or emotion of the end-user. 12. The system according to claim 8, wherein the certain topics comprise topics that are most active on the one or more sources of news and social traffic. 13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the one or more images related to particular topics are retrieved from one or both of a source identified during a search of the Internet, or a source on a personal computer or handheld device of the end-user. 14. The system according to claim 8, wherein the retrieved one or more images comprise one or both of video content comprising one or more images of a well-known public figure and one or more system-generated images of an avatar representing a well-known public figure, and in which the avatar of the end-user interacts with the well-known public figure. 15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium having a plurality of code sections, each code section comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform actions for producing an image or video representing an end-user in a contemporaneous context selected based on a mood of the end-user, the actions comprising: monitoring one or more sources of news and social traffic to determine currently trending topics; gathering information about certain topics of the currently trending topics, the information comprising one or more images and any textual content attached to or associated with the one or more images; classifying the gathered information, to determine one or more characteristics; presenting to an end-user, one or more questions related to the certain topics of the currently trending topics; estimating a mood or an emotion of the end-user, using responses of the end-user to the one or more questions; retrieving one or more images related to particular topics found to be currently trending topics, according to the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user and the particular topics; and creating one or more combined images comprising an avatar representing the end-user and one or more background images selected from the retrieved one or more images according to the one or more characteristics, the particular topics, and the estimated mood or emotion of the end-user, for display. 16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, where the one or more characteristics comprise one or more of a subject matter, a level of importance, timeliness, global or local relevance, and a mood. 17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, the actions further comprising: adjusting one or both of appearance aspects and motion aspects of the avatar of the end-user based upon the responses of the end-user. 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, wherein estimating the mood or emotion of the end-user comprises analyzing a series of images of the end-user to produce an estimate of the mood or emotion of the end-user. 19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, wherein the certain topics comprise topics that are most active on the one or more sources of news and social traffic. 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, wherein the one or more images related to particular topics are retrieved from one or both of a source identified during a search of the Internet, or a source on a personal computer or handheld device of the end-user. 21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium according to claim 15, wherein the retrieved one or more images comprise one or both of video content comprising one or more images of a well-known public figure and one or more system-generated images of an avatar representing a well-known public figure, and in which the avatar of the end-user interacts with the well-known public figure.