Virtual space providing apparatus and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9015607-B2
Application number	US-76987510-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 29, 2010
Priority date	Dec 28, 2009
Publication date	Apr 21, 2015
Grant date	Apr 21, 2015

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus and method for providing a virtual space associated with a user. The apparatus may include a storage to store context information of the user of the virtual space, and a controller to provide, to another user, the virtual space transformed based on the context information of the user when the other user visits the virtual space of the user. The context information may include at least one of a connection time when the user connects to the virtual space, a location of the user during the connection time, a current emotion of the user as determined by the user, and a current status of the user as determined by the user.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for providing a virtual space associated with a user, the apparatus comprising:
a controller configured to:
display, on the virtual space, a timeline that comprises a time band, an indication band, and a location band;
display, on the time band of the virtual space, a connection time when a user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session;
display, on the location band of the virtual space, the physical location of the user at the connection time in association with the connection time;
display, on the indication band of the virtual space, an amount of the activities of the user of the virtual space in a corresponding time of the time band; and
display, on the virtual space, information about contents in association with the connection period of the communication session, the contents being provided to the user in the virtual space during the connection period of the communication session, wherein:
the virtual space is a personal homepage of the user, a blog page of the user, or a profile page associated with the user in a social network service.

2. An apparatus for providing a virtual space associated with a user, the apparatus comprising:
a storage configured to store context information of the user of the virtual space; and
a controller configured to provide, to another user, the virtual space transformed based on the context information of the user when the other user visits the virtual space of the user, wherein:
the controller selects a content item for display, from among a plurality of content items, based upon the context information and transforms the virtual space by displaying the selected item in the virtual space,
the virtual space is a personal homepage of the user, a blog page of the user, or a profile page associated with the user in a social network service,

the context information comprises at least one of: a connection time when the user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session, a location of the user during the connection time, a current emotion of the user as determined by the user, and a current status of the user as determined by the user, and
the virtual space displays a timeline that comprises a time band, an indication band and a location band, the time band displays a connection time when a user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session, the indication band displays an amount of activities of the user of the virtual space in a corresponding time of the time band, and the location band displays a physical location of the user at the connection time in association with the connection time.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to provide, to the other user, the virtual space transformed based on the context information of the user and preference information of the other user when the other user visits the virtual space of the user.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the preference information comprises at least one of:
information about a consumption frequency of contents consumed by the other user; and
wish list information about contents desired to be consumed by the other user, the wish list information being inputted by the other user.

5. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein the controller is further configured to:
select contents matching the context information based on metadata of each of a plurality of contents; and
provide, to the user, information about the selected contents when the user visits the virtual space.

6. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein:
the storage is further configured to store preference information extracted from an interaction between the user and the virtual space for a predetermined past period of time, and
the controller is further configured to:
select contents corresponding to the preference information referring to metadata of each of a plurality of contents; and
provide, to the user, information about the selected contents when the user visits the virtual space.

7. An apparatus for providing a virtual space associated with a user, the apparatus comprising:
a storage configured to store:
first information associated with the user of the virtual space; and
second information associated with and unique to each of other users; and

a controller configured to:
generate the virtual space based on the first information of the user and customize the virtual space when the other users visit the virtual space of the user by transforming, for each of the other users, the virtual space based solely on the second information associated with and unique to the other user; and
provide, to each of the other users, the virtual space customized for the other user, wherein:
the virtual space is a personal homepage of the user, a blog page of the user, or a profile page associated with the user in a social network service, and
the virtual space displays a timeline that comprises a time band, an indication band and a location band, the time band displays a connection time when a user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session, the indication band displays an amount of activities of the user of the virtual space in a corresponding time of the time band, and the location band displays a physical location of the user at the connection time in association with the connection time.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the second information is preference information of the particular other user.

9. A method of providing a virtual space associated with a user, the method comprising:
displaying, on the virtual space, a timeline that comprises a time band, an indication band, and a location band;
displaying, on the time band of the virtual space, a connection time when a user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session;
displaying, on the location band of the virtual space, the physical location of the user at the connection time in association with the connection time;
displaying, on the indication band of the virtual space, an amount of the activities of the user of the virtual space in a corresponding time of the time band; and
displaying, on the virtual space, information about contents in association with the connection period of the communication session, the contents being provided to the user in the virtual space during the connection period of the communication session, wherein:
the virtual space is a personal homepage of the user, a blog page of the user, or a profile page associated with the user in a social network service.

10. A method of providing a virtual space associated with a user, the method comprising:
storing context information of the user of the virtual space;
selecting a content item for display, from among a plurality of content items, based upon the context information of the user; and
providing, to another user, the virtual space transformed based on the context information of the user when the other user visits the virtual space of the user, wherein: the virtual space is transformed by displaying the selected item in the virtual space,
the virtual space is a personal homepage of the user, a blog page of the user, or a profile page associated with the user in a social network service,
the context information comprises at least one of: a connection time when the user initially connects to the virtual space for a communication session, a location of the user during the connection time, a current emotion of the user as determined by the user, and a current status of the user as determined by the user, and
the virtual space displays a timeline that comprises a time band, an indication band and a location b

Assignees

• Kang Hyun Joo
• Rhee Young Ho
• Kim Yeo Jin
• Chang Il Ku
• Lee Ju Youn
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kang Hyun Joo
• Rhee Young Ho
• Kim Yeo Jin
• Chang Il Ku
• Lee Ju Youn

Classifications

• G06Q10/40

  Business processes related to social networking or social networking services · CPC title

• G06F16/00

  Information retrieval; Database structures therefor; File system structures therefor · CPC title

• G06Q10/06 Primary

  Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling · CPC title

• G06Q50/10 Primary

  Services · CPC title

• G06Q50/01

  Physics · mapped topic