Providing a door for a room within a virtual conferencing system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12483676-B2
Application number	US-202217954083-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 27, 2022
Priority date	Sep 30, 2021
Publication date	Nov 25, 2025
Grant date	Nov 25, 2025

Abstract

Aspects of the present disclosure involve a system comprising a computer-readable storage medium storing a program and method for providing a door for a room within a virtual conferencing system. The program and method provide for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a room of a virtual space, the room being assigned a door for entry by an additional participant into the room; provide, for each of the plural participants, an interface for locking or closing the door assigned to the room; receive indication of user selection, by at least one of the plural participants via the interface, to close or lock the door assigned to the room; and provide, in response to a request by the additional participant to enter the room, a notification that the door assigned to the room is closed or locked.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
providing for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a room of a virtual space, the room being assigned a door for entry by an additional participant into the room, wherein the plural participants include a first participant who designed the room and has administrative privileges, and the plural participants further include second participants without administrative privileges; causing, for each of the plural participants, display of a door icon which is user-selectable for locking and for closing the door assigned to the room, the door assigned to the room being lockable or closable by any of the first participant and the second participants, such that locking or closing of the door does not require administrative privileges, wherein locking the door corresponds with prohibiting the additional participant from entering the room, and wherein closing the door corresponds with requiring the additional participant to knock on the door before entering the room; receiving indication of user selection, by at least one of the plural participants via the door icon, to close or lock the door assigned to the room; in response to the receiving, causing display of a first notification for each of the plural participants, the first notification indicating that the door assigned to the room has been closed or locked, and storing the indication of the user selection; and causing, based on the stored indication and in response to a request by the additional participant to enter the room, display of a second notification for the additional participant, the second notification indicating that the door assigned to the room is closed or locked.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user selection is to close the door, and
wherein the notification corresponds to a prompt for the additional participant to knock on the door before entering the room.

3 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, a third notification confirming to the additional participant that the additional participant knocked on the door.

4 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, a third notification prompting the plural participants to accept or deny entry of the additional participant into the room.

5 . The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, playback of an audio track to the plural participants and to the additional participant, the audio track corresponding to a door knock sound.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user selection is to lock the door, and
wherein the notification indicates to the additional participant that the door is locked.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the additional participant is prohibited from entering the room when the door is locked unless the additional participant has administrator privileges.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, for each of the plural participants, display of a participant video element which corresponds to the participant and which includes a video feed for the participant.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the room is one of plural rooms provided by the virtual space, and
wherein each of the plural rooms is assigned a respective door which is closable or lockable by room participants.

10 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and a memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, configure the at least one processor to perform operations comprising: providing for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a room of a virtual space, the room being assigned a door for entry by an additional participant into the room, wherein the plural participants include a first participant who designed the room and has administrative privileges, and the plural participants further include second participants without administrative privileges; causing, for each of the plural participants, display of a door icon which is user-selectable for locking and for closing the door assigned to the room, the door assigned to the room being lockable or closable by any of the first participant and the second participants, such that locking or closing of the door does not require administrative privileges, wherein locking the door corresponds with prohibiting the additional participant from entering the room, and wherein closing the door corresponds with requiring the additional participant to knock on the door before entering the room; receiving indication of user selection, by at least one of the plural participants via the door icon, to close or lock the door assigned to the room; in response to the receiving, causing display of a first notification for each of the plural participants, the first notification indicating that the door assigned to the room has been closed or locked, and storing the indication of the user selection; and causing, based on the stored indication and in response to a request by the additional participant to enter the room, display of a second notification for the additional participant, the second notification indicating that the door assigned to the room is closed or locked.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the user selection is to close the door, and
wherein the notification corresponds to a prompt for the additional participant to knock on the door before entering the room.

12 . The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, a third notification confirming to the additional participant that the additional participant knocked on the door.

13 . The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, a third notification prompting the plural participants to accept or deny entry of the additional participant into the room.

14 . The system of claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
providing, in response to user input via the prompt to knock on the door, playback of an audio track to the plural participants and to the additional participant, the audio track corresponding to a door knock sound.

15 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the user selection is to lock the door, and
wherein the notification indicates to the additional participant that the door is locked.

16 . The system of claim 15 , wherein the additional participant is prohibited from entering the room when the door is locked unless the additional participant has administrator privileges.

17 . The system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising:
providing, for each of the plural participants, display of a participant video element which corresponds to the participant and which includes a video feed for the participant.

18 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the room is one of plural rooms provided by the virtual space, and
wherein each of the plural rooms is assigned a respective door which is closable or lockable by room participants.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer-readable storage medium including instructions that when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
providing for virtual conferencing between plural participants within a room of a virtual space, the

Assignees

• Snap Inc

Inventors

• Lin Andrew Cheng-Min
• Lin Walton

Classifications

• G06F3/04815

  Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional [3D], e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object · CPC title

• G06F3/0482

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

• G06F3/04842

  Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements (G06F3/0482 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H04N7/157 Primary

  defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents (computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827) · CPC title