CONTEXT-AWARE SHARED CONTENT REPRESENTATIONS

• US 20090037822A1
• Filed: 07/31/2007
• Published: 02/05/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Qurio Holdings Incorporated
• Inventors: Walsh, Richard J., Amidon, Christopher M., Kandekar, Kunal
• Application Number:
  US11/831,196
• Publication Number:
  US 20090037822A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

Systems and methods for providing context-aware content representations are disclosed. In general, the context-aware content representations are visual representations presented in association with a content representation host representative of a user or, alternatively, some other entity. The context-aware content representations are indicative of content made accessible by the user or of interest to the user and are additionally influenced by context. The context may be, for example, topics of social interactions such as text-based or voice-based conversations, device information descriptive of a device on which the accessible content is stored or through which the content is accessible, physical location, location within a virtual world, content access information related to content accessed by the user or entity represented by the content representation host or accessed by another user through the content representation host, or the like.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing a context-aware content representation based on at least one contextual input; and

effecting presentation of the context-aware content representation in association with a content representation host.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the context-aware content representation is visually indicative of at least one of a group consisting of:

content made accessible by an associated entity represented by the content representation host, content of interest to the associated entity, and content in which the associated entity is disinterested and is influenced by context as defined by the at least one contextual input.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one contextual input comprises at least one of a group consisting of:

a social interaction input, a device information input, a physical location input, a virtual environment location input, and a content access information input.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising obtaining the at least one contextual input from at least one source.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one source is a local source.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the at least one source is a remote source.

7. The method of claim 4 wherein obtaining the at least one contextual input comprises:

receiving the at least one contextual input from the at least one source;

identifying relevant metadata from the at least one contextual input based on a comparison of the at least one contextual input to at least one of a group consisting of;

content metadata describing content made accessible by an associated user and user interests of the associated user.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the relevant metadata comprises relevant keywords from the at least one contextual input.

9. The method of claim 7 further comprising applying at least one input usage rule to the at least one contextual input prior to identifying the relevant metadata.

10. The method of claim 7 wherein the at least one contextual input comprises coordinates defining a physical location of the associated user, and identifying the relevant metadata comprises:

applying at least one input usage rule to convert the coordinates to a text-based location; and

identifying the relevant metadata from the at least one contextual input based on a comparison of the text-based location and the at least one of the group consisting of;

the content metadata describing content made accessible by the associated user and the user interests of the associated user.

11. The method of claim 7 wherein providing the context-aware content representation comprises providing the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata comprises:

identifying a plurality of content representations applicable to the content made accessible by the associated user based on the content metadata describing the content made accessible by the associated user; and

filtering the plurality of content representations based on the relevant metadata to provide filtered content representations, wherein the context-aware content representation presented in association with the content representation host is one of the filtered content representations.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata comprises:

identifying a plurality of content representations applicable to the content made accessible by the associated user based on the content metadata describing the content made accessible by the associated user; and

adding at least one additional content representation to the plurality of content representations based on the relevant metadata, wherein the context-aware content representation presented in association with the content representation host is one of the plurality of content representations including the at least one additional content representation.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata comprises:

identifying a plurality of applicable content representations; and

modifying one of the plurality of applicable content representations based on the relevant metadata to provide the context-aware content representation.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein providing the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata comprises:

identifying a plurality of applicable content representations; and

highlighting one of the plurality of applicable content representations based on the relevant metadata to provide the context-aware content representation.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the content representation host is an avatar representing an associated user in a virtual environment.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the content representation host is an avatar representing an associated user in a contacts list.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein the content representation host is an identifier of an associated user in a digital environment.

19. The method of claim 1 wherein the content representation host is an identifier of an associated user in a contacts list of a second user.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the content representation host is an identifier of an associated user on a webpage.

21. A client device comprising:

a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the client device to a server of a virtual environment; and

b) a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

i) provide a context-aware content representation based on at least one contextual input for an associated user; and

ii) effect presentation of the context-aware content representation in association with an avatar representing the associated user in the virtual environment.

22. The client device of claim 21 wherein the context-aware content representation is visually indicative of at least one of a group consisting of:

content made accessible by the associated user, content of interest to the associated user, and content in which the associated user is disinterested and is influenced by context as defined by the at least one contextual input.

23. The client device of claim 21 wherein the control system is further adapted to obtain the at least one contextual input from at least one source.

24. The client device of claim 23 wherein in order to obtain the at least one contextual input, the control system is further adapted to:

receive the at least one contextual input from the at least one source;

identify relevant metadata from the at least one contextual input based on a comparison of the at least one contextual input to at least one of a group consisting of;

content metadata describing content made accessible by the associated user and user interests of the associated user.

25. The client device of claim 24 wherein the control system is further adapted to provide the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata.

26. A virtual environment server comprising:

a) a communication interface communicatively coupling the virtual environment server to a plurality of client devices; and

b) a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to;

i) provide a context-aware content representation based on at least one contextual input for a first user associated with a first one of the plurality of client devices; and

ii) effect presentation of the context-aware content representation in association with an avatar representing the first user in a client-specific view of a virtual environment provided to a second one of the plurality of client devices associated with a second user.

27. The virtual environment server of claim 26 wherein the context-aware content representation is visually indicative of at least one of a group consisting of:

content made accessible by the first user, content of interest to the first user, and content in which the first user is disinterested and is influenced by context as defined by the at least one contextual input.

28. The virtual environment server of claim 26 wherein the control system is further adapted to obtain the at least one contextual input from at least one source.

29. The virtual environment server of claim 28 wherein in order to obtain the at least one contextual input, the control system is further adapted to:

receive the at least one contextual input from the at least one source;

identify relevant metadata from the at least one contextual input based on a comparison of the at least one contextual input to at least one of a group consisting of;

content metadata describing content made accessible by the first user and user interests of the first user.

30. The client device of claim 29 wherein the control system is further adapted to provide the context-aware content representation based on the relevant metadata.