Context avatar

• US 20080201638A1
• Filed: 02/15/2007
• Published: 08/21/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: R2 Solutions LLC (Acacia Research Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo! Inc. (Apollo Global Management, Inc.)
• Inventors: Nair, Rahul
• Granted Patent: US 7,979,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/706
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/004 Artificial life, i.e. computing arrangements simulating life
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 11/00 2D [Two Dimensional] image generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Methods and systems for generating information about a physical context of a user are provided. These methods and systems provide the capability to render a context avatar associated with the user as a composite image that can be broadcast in virtual environments to provide information about the physical context of the user. The composite image can be automatically updated without user intervention to include, among other things, a virtual person image of the user and a background image defined by encoded image data associated with the current geographic location of the user.

Claims

1. A method for generating information about a physical context of a user, comprising:

(a) obtaining the information about the physical context of the user; and

(b) rendering a composite image including a virtual person image of the user, the composite image providing an encoded representation of the information about the physical context of the user,

wherein (a) and (b) are performed without intervention by the user.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein (a) and (b) are performed once every pre-defined time interval or upon receipt of a notification that the physical context of the user is changed, and the pre-defined time interval is set by the user.

4. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein obtaining the information about the physical context of the user includes one or more of:

determining a geographic location of the user from location information of a mobile device, the location information being associated with the user; and

determining an activity of the user from an electronic calendar system.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein determining the geographic location of the user includes one of:

retrieving the location information of the mobile device and user identifier information associated with the mobile device from the mobile device, if the mobile device is a cellular phone, the location information including a cell tower ID;

retrieving the location information of the mobile device and user identifier information associated with the mobile device from the mobile device, if the mobile device is the Global Positioning System (GPS)-capable device, the location information including GPS coordinates;

or

retrieving the location information of the mobile device and user identifier information associated with the mobile device from the mobile device, if the mobile device is a computing device, the location information including an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) BSSID (Basic Service Set ID).

6. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the cell tower ID is associated with the cellular phone and a cellular phone tower of a cellular communication system.

7. The method as recited in claim 5, wherein the GPS coordinates include a latitude and longitude.

8. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the virtual person image of the user is clothed according to the geographic location of the user.

9. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein obtaining the information about the physical context of the user further includes one or more of:

obtaining weather information corresponding to the geographic location of the user, the weather information representing current weather conditions at the geographic location of the user; and

obtaining time of day information corresponding to the geographic location of the user.

10. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the virtual person image of the user is clothed according to the current weather conditions.

11. The method as recited in claim 9, wherein the current weather conditions include one or more of:

rain, freezing rain, lightning, snow, wind, overcast, sunny, partly sunny, mostly sunny, and temperature.

12. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein rendering the composite image includes providing a background image defined by image data associated with the geographic location of the user, the image data providing an encoded representation of the geographic location of the user, the composite image including the background image.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein providing the background image includes obtaining the image data associated with the geographic location of the user by one of:

searching an image database for representative image data corresponding to the geographic location of the user;

downloading a custom image from the Internet;

or

downloading a temporary image from the Internet.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the custom image is a ZoneTag™

image having a “

setlocationbadge”

tag.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein downloading the custom image includes:

(i) identifying one or more uploaded images tagged as custom image data;

(ii) identifying which of the one or more uploaded images identified at (i) are associated with the location information of the mobile device; and

(iii) selecting the custom image to download from the one or more uploaded images identified at (ii), wherein the custom image selected to download is a most recently uploaded custom image.

16. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein the temporary image is a ZoneTag™

image having a “

setbadge”

tag.

17. The method as recited in claim 16, wherein downloading the temporary image further includes:

(i) identifying one or more uploaded images tagged as temporary image data;

(ii) identifying which of the one or more uploaded images identified at (i) were uploaded within a pre-defined time period; and

(iii) selecting the temporary image to download from the one or more uploaded images identified at (ii), wherein the temporary image selected to download is a most recently uploaded temporary image.

20. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein rendering the composite image includes providing an icon image, the composite image including the icon image, the icon image including one or more of:

an image representing current time of day at the geographic location of the user; and

an image representing the current weather conditions at the geographic location of the user.

21. The method as recited in claim 20,

wherein the image representing current time of day at the geographic location of the user is a sun image, if the current time of day is between sunrise and sunset, and

wherein the image representing current time of day at the geographic location of the user is a moon image, if the current time of day is between sunset and sunrise.

22. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein rendering the composite image includes broadcasting the composite image to one or more viewers interested in obtaining the information about the physical context of the user, and wherein broadcasting the composite image further includes publishing the composite image on a webpage and the one or more viewers are capable of decoding the composite image to obtain the information about the physical context of the user.

25. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the composite image includes one or more virtual person images, wherein each of the one or more virtual person images corresponds to a third party user, wherein the third party user is acting within the physical context of the user.

30. The system as recited in claim 25,

wherein the mobile device is a computing device, and

wherein the location information includes an Internet Protocol (IP) address or a WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) BSSID (Basic Service Set ID).

3. (canceled)

18. (canceled)

19. (canceled)

23. (canceled)

24. (canceled)

26. A computer-readable media for directing a computer system to generate information about a physical context of a user, comprising:

instructions for obtaining the information about the physical context of the user; and

instructions for rendering a composite image including a virtual person image of the user, the composite image providing an encoded representation of the information about the physical context of the user.

27. A system for generating information about a physical context of a user, comprising:

a mobile device coupled to the Internet, the mobile device being capable of providing location information of the mobile device and user identifier information associated with the mobile device on the Internet; and

a processing server coupled to the Internet, wherein the processing server is capable of;

obtaining information about the physical context of the user from the Internet, including the location information of the mobile device and the user identifier information, the location information and the user identifier information being used to determine a geographic location of the user; and

generating a composite image including a virtual person image of the user, the composite image providing an encoded representation of the information about the physical context of the user, including the geographic location of the user.

28. The system as recited in claim 27, further comprising a cellular communication system coupled between the mobile device and the Internet,

wherein the mobile device is a cellular phone,

the mobile device being capable of obtaining the location information of the cellular phone from the cellular communication system, the location information including a cell tower ID, and

the mobile device being capable of providing the location information and the user identifier information associated with the cellular phone on the Internet via the cellular communication system.

29. The system as recited in claim 27, further comprising a satellite communication system coupled between the mobile device and the Internet,

wherein the mobile device is a GPS-capable mobile device,

the mobile device being capable of obtaining the location information of the GPS-capable mobile device from the satellite communication system, the location information including GPS coordinates, and

the mobile device being capable of providing the location information and the user identifier information associated with the GPS-capable mobile device on the Internet via the satellite communication system.