Shared Virtual Area Communication Environment Based Apparatus and Methods

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2021349604-A1
Application number	US-202117246843-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	May 3, 2021
Priority date	Apr 5, 2008
Publication date	Nov 11, 2021
Grant date	—

Abstract

Improved systems and methods for navigating and interacting in virtual communication environments. At least some of these systems and methods provide a framework that includes one or more virtual areas and supports realtime communications between the communicants. At least some of these systems and methods provide an interface that includes navigation controls that enable a user to navigate virtual areas and interaction controls that enable the user to interact with other communicants in the one or more virtual areas.

First claim

1 . A method, comprising:
determining interaction options from results of querying at least one database comprising interaction records describing respective interactions of a user in a virtual communication environment comprising virtual areas and supporting realtime communications between the user and other communicants, wherein each of the interaction records comprises a respective place attribute value that identifies a respective one of the virtual areas in which a respective one of the interactions occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify respective ones of the communicants that participated in the interaction in the respective virtual area; on a display, presenting a user interface comprising graphic representations of the interaction options in association with a respective set of one or more user-selectable controls; and in response to the user's selection of a respective one of the user-selectable controls, initiating an interaction of the user in the virtual communication environment.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises ascertaining as respective ones of the interaction options one or more of the other communicants with whom the user has interacted in the virtual communication environment, and the presenting comprises displaying in the user interface a respective graphic representation of each of the ascertained other communicants in association with at least one respective user-selectable control for interacting with the respective other communicant.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the ascertaining comprises identifying as respective ones of the interaction options one or more of the other communicants with whom the user has interacted in a particular one of the virtual areas, and the presenting comprises displaying the graphic representations of the identified other communicants in association with a graphic representation of the particular virtual area.

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the identifying comprises generating a query on the interaction records, and the query comprises an identifier of the user and an identifier of the particular virtual area.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the displaying comprises displaying the respective graphic representations of the identified other communicants in an array adjacent the graphic representation of the particular virtual area and sorted based on a ranking of the identified other communicants that is derived from an evaluation of the interaction records describing the interactions between the user and the respective ones of the identified other communicants.

6 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the initiating comprises moving a graphic representation of the user into a particular one of the virtual areas in response to the user's selection of one of the graphic representations of the other communicants who has presence in the particular virtual area.

7 . The method of claim 2 , wherein in response to the user's selection of the graphic representation of a particular one the other communicants, the initiating comprises transmitting to the particular other communicant an invitation to join the user in a particular one of the virtual areas in which the user has presence.

8 . The method of claim 2 , wherein
in response to the user's selection of the graphic representation of a particular one the other communicants, displaying in association with the selected graphic representation a view of a location in which the particular other communicant has a presence.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising
in response to the user's selection of the graphic representation of the particular other communicant, launching a client software application enabling realtime interaction between the user and the particular other communicant in the location in which the particular other communicant has a presence.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the launching of the client software application connects the user to a network video game.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining comprises ascertaining as respective ones of the interaction options one or more of the virtual areas in which the user has interacted, and the presenting comprises displaying in the user interface a respective graphic representation of each of the ascertained virtual areas in association with at least one user-selectable control for interacting with the respective virtual area.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the displaying comprises displaying the respective graphic representations of the ascertained virtual areas in an array that is sorted based on a ranking of the ascertained virtual areas that is derived from an evaluation of the interaction records describing the interactions between the user and the respective ones of the ascertained virtual areas.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the initiating comprises moving a graphic representation of the user into a particular one of the virtual area in response to the user's selection of the graphic representations of the particular virtual area.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the displaying comprises for each of one or more of the ascertained virtual areas
displaying a respective two-dimensional graphic representation the virtual area, and depicting in the respective two-dimensional graphic representation a respective graphic representation of each of the communicants that has presence in the virtual area.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein each of the respective graphic representations of the communicants provides context information from which the user can infer a respective activity currently performed by the respective other communicant in the respective virtual area.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the context information comprises one or more of: information describing respective positions of the one or more other communicants in terms of virtual area identifiers; information describing respective locations of the one or more other communicants within the virtual area; and information describing respective orientations of the one or more other communicants.

17 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the presenting comprises presenting in association with each of the graphic representations of the ascertained virtual areas at least one user-selectable control that enables the user to establish a presence in the respective virtual area.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the presenting comprises displaying a graphic representation of a particular one of the virtual areas in which the user has presence.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the ascertaining comprises identifying as respective ones of the interaction options one or more of the other communicants with whom the user has interacted in the particular virtual area, and the presenting comprises displaying respective graphic representations of the identified other communicants in an array adjacent the graphic representation of the particular virtual area and sorted based on a ranking of the identified other communicants that is derived from an evaluation of the interaction records describing the interactions between the user and the respective ones of the identified other communicants.

20 . The method of claim 19 , wherein the ascertaining further comprises ascertaining as respective ones of the interaction options one or more of the virtual areas in which the user has interacted, and the presenting comprises displaying the respective graphic representations of the

Assignees

• Sococo Inc

Inventors

• Van Wie David
• Brody Paul J

Classifications

• H04L12/1822 Primary

  Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission · CPC title

• H04L67/131

  Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality · CPC title

• G06F3/04815 Primary

  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

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• H04L12/1813

  for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms (instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15) · CPC title