Automatically navigating between rooms within a virtual conferencing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12316689-B2
Application number	US-202117390546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2021
Priority date	Mar 30, 2021
Publication date	May 27, 2025
Grant date	May 27, 2025

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for providing automatically navigating between rooms within a virtual space for virtual conferencing. The program and method provide for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a first room of plural rooms included within the virtual space; provide, for each of the plural participants, display of a participant video element which corresponds to the participant and which includes a user-selectable button for requesting that the participant follow another participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms; receive a first indication of a user selection, by a first participant, of the user-selectable button corresponding to a second participant; receive a second indication that the second participant authorizes following the first participant when navigating between the plural rooms; and provide for the second participant to follow the first participant.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
providing for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a first room of plural rooms, the plural rooms being included within a virtual space for virtual conferencing, each room of the plural rooms having a respective design for background and elements within the room;
providing, for each of the plural participants in the first room, display of a participant video element which corresponds to the participant and which includes a user-selectable button, the user-selectable button for requesting that the participant automatically follow another participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;
providing, for each of the plural participants in the first room, display of a list of the plural rooms, the list of plural rooms representing all available rooms within the virtual space, each listed room within the list of plural rooms being user-selectable to navigate to the listed room in order to switch between the plural rooms;
receiving a first indication of a user selection, by a first participant of the plural participants, of the user-selectable button corresponding to a second participant of the plural participants;
receiving, in response to receiving the first indication, a second indication that the second participant authorizes automatically following the first participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;
in response to receiving the second indication,
storing the second indication, and
updating a follower list for the first participant to include the second participant, the follower list indicating names of the plural participants that automatically follow the first participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;

receiving a third indication of user input, provided by the first participant via the list of plural rooms, selecting a second room of the plural rooms; and
providing, based on the stored second indication and the third indication, for the second participant to automatically follow the first participant from the first room to the second room, the first room and the second room having different backgrounds and elements.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
sending, prior to receiving the second indication, a request to a device associated with the second participant, the request for the second participant to authorize automatically following the first participant.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a fourth indication for the second participant to discontinue automatically following the first participant; and
providing, in response to receiving the fourth indication, for the second participant to discontinue automatically following the first participant.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fourth indication is based on a request received from the first participant.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the fourth indication is based on a request received from the second participant.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a fourth indication of a user selection, by the first participant, of the user-selectable button corresponding to a third participant of the plural participants;
receiving, in response to receiving the fourth indication, a fourth indication that the third participant authorizes automatically following the first participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms; and
providing, in response to receiving the fourth indication, for the third participant to automatically follow the first participant, such that both the second participant and the third participant automatically follow the first participant navigating between the plural rooms of the virtual space.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein for each of the plural participants, the participant video element includes a video feed for the participant.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein each name in the follower list is presented with a respective button which is user-selectable by the first participant to discontinue automatically following the first participant.

9. A system comprising:
a processor; and
a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure the processor to perform operations comprising:
providing for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a first room of plural rooms, the plural rooms being included within a virtual space for virtual conferencing, each room of the plural rooms having a respective design for background and elements within the room;
providing, for each of the plural participants in the first room, display of a participant video element which corresponds to the participant and which includes a user-selectable button, the user-selectable button for requesting that the participant automatically follow another participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;
providing, for each of the plural participants in the first room, display of a list of the plural rooms, the list of plural rooms representing all available rooms within the virtual space, each listed room within the list of plural rooms being user-selectable to navigate to the listed room in order to switch between the plural rooms;
receiving a first indication of a user selection, by a first participant of the plural participants, of the user-selectable button corresponding to a second participant of the plural participants;
receiving, in response to receiving the first indication, a second indication that the second participant authorizes automatically following the first participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;
in response to receiving the second indication,
storing the second indication, and
updating a follower list for the first participant to include the second participant, the follower list indicating names of the plural participants that automatically follow the first participant with respect to navigating between the plural rooms;

receiving a third indication of user input, provided by the first participant via the list of plural rooms, selecting a second room of the plural rooms; and
providing, based on the stored second indication and the third indication, for the second participant to automatically follow the first participant from the first room to the second room, the first room and the second room having different backgrounds and elements.

10. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
sending, prior to receiving the second indication, a request to a device associated with the second participant, the request for the second participant to authorize automatically following the first participant.

11. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
receiving a fourth indication for the second participant to discontinue automatically following the first participant; and
providing, in response to receiving the fourth indication, for the second participant to discontinue automatically following the first participant.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fourth indication is based on a request received from the first participant.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the fourth indication is based on a request received from the second participant.

14. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
receiving a fourth indication of a user selection, by the first participant, of the user-selectable button corresponding to a third participant of the plural participants;
receiving, in response to receiving the fourth indication, a fourth indication that the third participant authorizes automatically following the first participant with respect to

Assignees

• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Gale Maxwell
• Lin Andrew Cheng-Min
• Lin Walton

Classifications

• H04L65/1083

  In-session procedures · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

  Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus · CPC title

• H04L65/1093

  by adding participants; by removing participants · CPC title

• H04L65/403 Primary

  Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences (data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15) · CPC title