Communication in a virtual reality environment

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9338404-B1
Application number	US-201414580704-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Dec 23, 2014
Priority date	Dec 23, 2014
Publication date	May 10, 2016
Grant date	May 10, 2016

Abstract

A device may provide information for a virtual reality environment to a virtual reality device. The virtual reality device may be operated by a first party. The device may determine that the first party of the virtual reality device is placing a call to a second party from within the virtual reality environment. The device may determine connection information associated with the first party and the second party. The device may cause the call to be established between the virtual reality device and a second party device associated with the second party via a telephone network using the connection information and without the second party device connecting to the virtual reality environment. The telephone network may be located external to the virtual reality environment. The second party device may connect to the telephone network without connecting to the virtual reality environment.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A device, comprising:
one or more processors to:
provide information for a virtual reality environment to a virtual reality device,
the virtual reality device being operated by a first party;

determine that the first party of the virtual reality device is placing a call to a second party from within the virtual reality environment;
determine connection information associated with the first party and the second party; and
cause the call to be established between the virtual reality device and a second party device associated with the second party via a telephone network using the connection information and without the second party device connecting to the virtual reality environment,
the telephone network being located external to the virtual reality environment, and
the second party device connecting to the telephone network without connecting to the virtual reality environment.

2. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
determine information associated with representing the second party within the virtual reality environment; and
provide the information associated with representing the second party within the virtual reality environment to the virtual reality device.

3. The device of claim 1 ,
where the one or more processors, when providing the information for the virtual reality environment, are to:
determine that the virtual reality device has been activated;
receive information identifying the first party of the virtual reality device; and
provide information for the virtual reality environment to the virtual reality device based on the information identifying the first party of the virtual reality device; and

where the one or more processors, when determining the connection information associated with the first party, are to:
determine the connection information based on the information identifying the first party of the virtual reality device.

4. The device of claim 1 , where the one or more processors are further to:
identify a particular virtual reality object;
determine particular connection information associated with the second party; and
store information identifying an association between the particular virtual reality object and the particular connection information associated with the second party.

5. The device of claim 4 ,
where the one or more processors are further to:
detect a user interaction with the particular virtual reality object from within the virtual reality environment; and

where the one or more processors, when determining that the first party of the virtual reality device is placing the call to the second party from within the virtual reality environment, are to:
determine that the first party of the virtual reality device is placing the call based on the user interaction with the particular virtual reality object.

6. The device of claim 4 , where the one or more processors, when determining the connection information, are to:
determine the connection information based on the particular connection information associated with the second party.

7. The device of claim 4 , where the one or more processors when determining the particular connection information associated with the second party, are to:
request information associated with the second party from the first party of the virtual reality device;
receive, based on requesting the information associated with the second party, a phone number associated with the second party; and
determine the particular connection information based on the phone number associated with the second party.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
detect that a virtual reality object is selected, by a first party, within a virtual reality environment,
the first party being connected to the virtual reality environment using a virtual reality device;

determine that the virtual reality object is associated with placing a call to a second party;
determine connection information regarding the second party;
cause the call to be established between the first party and the second party via a telephone network using the connection information,
the telephone network being different from and independent of the virtual reality environment; and

provide information associated with representing the second party via the virtual reality environment during the call.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 ,
where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
provide the connection information to one or more devices associated with the telephone network; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to cause the call to be established, cause the one or more processors to:
cause the call to be established via the telephone network based on providing the connection information to the one or more devices associated with the telephone network.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to cause the call to be established, cause the one or more processors to:
provide information indicating that the call has been established to at least one of the first party or the second party.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 ,
where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
detect a first user interaction, with the virtual reality object, being performed by the first party via the virtual reality device from within the virtual reality environment;
receive information identifying the second party from the first party; and
store information identifying an association between the virtual reality object and the information identifying the second party; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to determine that the virtual reality object is associated with placing the call to the second party, cause the one or more processors to:
determine that the virtual reality object is associated with placing the call to the second party based on the stored information identifying the association between the virtual reality object and the information identifying the second party.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 ,
where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to:
determine one or more attributes associated with generating a computer rendering of the second party; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to provide the information associated with representing the second party, cause the one or more processors to:
provide information identifying the one or more attributes associated with generating the computer rendering of the second party.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to provide the information associated with representing the second party, cause the one or more processors to:
provide an image of the second party for display within the virtual reality environment.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 8 , where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to provide the information asso

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Egeler Christian
• Murray David B

Classifications

• H04L12/1822

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

• H04N7/157 Primary

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

• G06Q10/10

  Office automation; Time management · CPC title

• G06T19/006

  Mixed reality (object pose determination, tracking or camera calibration for mixed reality G06T7/00) · CPC title