System for providing virtual spaces for access by users

• US 20090077463A1
• Filed: 09/17/2007
• Published: 03/19/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Areae Inc.
• Inventors: Koster, Raph
• Granted Patent: US 9,968,850 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/234
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/35 Details of game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/57 Simulating properties, behaviour or motion of objects in the game world, e.g. computing tyre load in a car race game A63F13/56 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/552 for downloading to client devices, e.g. using OS version, hardware or software profile of the client device
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5533 using program state or machine event data, e.g. server keeps track of the state of multiple players on in a multiple player game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/63 for controlling the execution of the game in time
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality

Abstract

A system configured to provide one or more virtual spaces that are accessible to users. The system may implement a markup language to communicate information between various components. The markup language may enable the communication of information between components of the system via markup elements. A markup element may include a discrete unit of information that includes both content and attributes associated with the content. The implementation of the markup language may enable the instantiation of virtual spaces, and the conveyance to users of views of an instantiated virtual space via a distributed architecture in which the components (e.g., a server capable of instantiating virtual spaces, and a client capable of providing an interface between a user and a virtual space) are capable of providing virtual spaces with a broader range of characteristics than components in conventional systems capable of providing virtual spaces that are accessible to users. This may enable users to access virtual spaces from a broader range of platforms, provide access to a broader range of virtual spaces without requiring the installation of proprietary or specialized client applications, facilitate the creation and/or customization of virtual spaces, and/or provide other enhancements.

Claims

1. A system configured to provide a virtual space that is accessible to a user, wherein a virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, the system comprising:

a storage module that stores information related to a plurality of virtual spaces, wherein the information stored in the storage module that is related to a given virtual space comprises;

topographical information related to the topography of the given virtual space, and

manifestation information related to manifestation of the one or more objects positioned within the topography and/or unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects in the virtual space;

a server in operative communication with the database that receives the information stored in the database related to the given virtual space and instantiates the virtual space according to the received information; and

a client in operative communication with the server;

wherein the server implements the instantiation of the virtual space to determine a view of the virtual space,

wherein the client receives view information that describes the view from the server, and

wherein the client formats the view of the virtual space for viewing by the user by assembling the view information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the server communicates the view information to the client as markup elements of a markup language.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the information stored within the storage module that is related to the given virtual space further comprises interface information related to an interface between the user and the virtual space that enables the user to interact with the virtual space.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the client (i) receives interface information from the server that defines an interface, and (ii) provides the interface to the user to enable the user to interact with the virtual space by inputting commands to the virtual space via the interface.

6. The system of claim 4, wherein the server (i) receives the commands input to the interface provided by the client, and (ii) manipulates the instantiation of the virtual space in accordance with the received commands.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the view information received by the client from the server comprises an access location of visual content and a position in the view of the visual content located at the access location, and wherein assembling the view information comprises obtaining the visual content from the access location identified.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the access location comprises a URL that points to a network location remote from each of the storage module, the server, and the client.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the client is associated with an incarnation located within the virtual space, wherein the view determined by the server is dependent on a location of the incarnation within the virtual space.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the client communicates information to the server related to one or more capabilities of the client, and wherein the view information received by the client from the server has been generated by the server to accommodate the information related to the one or more capabilities of the client communicated from the client to the server.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more capabilities of the client comprise one or more of a display capability, an audio capability, or a processing capability.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein the view information received from the server has been generated such that the view information describes a simplified version of the view to accommodate a limitation of the one or more capabilities of the client communicated to the server by the client.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the simplified version of the view omits content.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the simplified version of the view includes a simplified presentation of substantially all of the content of the view.

15. The system of claim 1, wherein, in formatting the view of the virtual space by assembling the view information, the client takes into account one or more capabilities of the client.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more capabilities of the client comprise one or more of a display capability, an audio capability, or a processing capability.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the view formatted by the client is a simplified version of the view that accommodates a limitation of the one or more capabilities of the client.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the simplified version of the view omits content included in the view information.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the simplified version of the view includes a simplified presentation of substantially all of the content of the view.

5. The system of claim 5, wherein the client is associated with an incarnation located within the virtual space, and wherein interface enables the user to interact with the virtual space by inputting commands, via the interface, that control the actions of the incarnation within the virtual space.

20. A server capable of instantiating a virtual space, wherein a virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, the server comprising:

a communication module that receives information related to a virtual space from a storage module, wherein the information comprises;

topographical information related to a topography of the virtual space, and

manifestation information related to manifestation of one or more objects positioned within the topography and/or unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects in the virtual space;

an instantiation module that instantiates the virtual space according to the received information, wherein the topography of the instantiated virtual space is dictated entirely by the topographical information conveyed in the received information, and wherein the locomotion characteristics, unseen forces experienced by, and interaction characteristics of the one or more objects positioned within the virtual space are dictated entirely by the manifestation information conveyed in the received information; and

a view module that implements the instantiation of the virtual space to determine a view of the virtual space, wherein the view module generates view information that describes the view,

wherein the communication module further transmits the view information generated by the view module to a client, the client formatting the view of the virtual space, for viewing by a user on the client, by assembling the view information.

21. The server of claim 20, wherein the communication module receives command information from the client, and wherein the command information comprises commands input to the client by a user by way of an interface between the user and the virtual space that is provided to the user on the client, and wherein the instantiation module executes the commands in the instantiated virtual space in real time.

22. The server of claim 21, wherein the virtual space includes an incarnation associated with the client positioned therein, and wherein the command information received from the client includes command information that controls the actions of the incarnation.

23. The server of claim 20, wherein information received from the storage module further comprises interface information related to the interface between the user and the virtual space such that the interface is dictated entirely by the interface information received from the storage module.

24. The server of claim 20, wherein the unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects positioned within the topography comprise one or more of gravity, a wind current, a water current, or an unseen force emanating from another one of the objects positioned within the topography.

25. The server of claim 20, wherein the interaction characteristics of the one or more objects positioned within the topography comprises information related to the manner in which the one or more objects interact with each other, the topography, and one or more unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects.

26. The server of claim 20, wherein the virtual space includes an incarnation associated with the client positioned therein, and wherein the view determined by the view module is based on the location of the incarnation within the virtual space.

27. The server of claim 20, wherein the client communicates information to the server related to one or more capabilities of the client, and wherein the view module generates the view information to accommodate the information related to the one or more capabilities of the client communicated from the client to the server.

28. The server of claim 27, wherein the one or more capabilities of the client comprise one or more of a display capability, an audio capability, or a processing capability.

29. The server of claim 27, wherein the view module generates the view information to describe a simplified version of the view to accommodate a limitation of the one or more capabilities of the client communicated to the server by the client.

30. The server of claim 29, wherein the simplified version of the view omits content.

31. The server of claim 29, wherein the simplified version of the view includes a simplified presentation of substantially all of the content of the view.

32. A client that enables interaction between a user and a virtual space, wherein a virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, the client comprising:

a server communication module that receives information from a server executing and instantiation of a virtual space, wherein the information comprises;

view information that describes a view of the virtual space, the view being assembled by the server based on the position of the incarnation within the virtual space, and

interface information that describes an interface provided to the user by the client that enables the user to interact with the virtual space;

a view module that formats the view of the virtual space for viewing by the user by assembling the view information received by the server communication module; and

an interface module that configures the interface based on the interface information received by the server communication module, wherein the interface enables the user to input commands to be executed within the virtual space,

wherein the server communication module transmits the commands input by the user via the interface to the server for execution in the instantiation of the virtual space.

33. The client of claim 32, wherein the interface information includes a key map and/or a user interface that is displayed to the user.

34. The client of claim 32, wherein the interface module configures the interface based substantially entirely on the interface information received by the server communication module.

35. The client of claim 32, wherein the view information received by the server communication module from the server identifies an access location of visual content and a position of the visual content in the view, and wherein assembling the view information comprises obtaining the visual content from the access location identified.

36. The client of claim 35, wherein the access location comprises a URL that points to a network location remote from each of the server and the client.

37. The client of claim 32, wherein the client communicates information to the server related to one or more capabilities of the client.

38. The client of claim 37, wherein the one or more capabilities of the client comprise one or more of a display capability, an audio capability, or a processing capability.

39. The client of claim 32, wherein, in formatting the view of the virtual space by assembling the view information, the view module takes into account one or more capabilities of the client.

40. The client of claim 39, wherein the one or more capabilities of the client comprise one or more of a display capability, an audio capability, or a processing capability.

41. The client of claim 39, wherein the view formatted by the view module is a simplified version of the view that accommodates a limitation of the one or more capabilities of the client.

42. The client of claim 41, wherein the simplified version of the view omits content included in the view information.

43. The client of claim 41, wherein the simplified version of the view includes a simplified presentation of substantially all of the content of the view.

44. A storage module configured to store information related to a virtual space, wherein a virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, the storage module comprising:

information storage that stores information related to a plurality of virtual spaces, wherein the information stored in the information storage that is related to a given virtual space comprises;

topographical information related to the topography of the given virtual space, and

manifestation information related to manifestation of the one or more objects positioned within the topography and/or unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects in the virtual space; and

a server communication module that communicates the information related to the given virtual space to a server to enable the server to instantiate the virtual space.

45. The storage module of claim 44, wherein the information storage stores topographical information and manifestation information for each of the plurality of virtual spaces.

46. The storage module of claim 44, wherein the information stored within the information storage that is related to the given virtual space further comprises interface information related to an interface between the user and the virtual space that enables the user to interact with the virtual space.

47. The storage module of claim 44, wherein the information storage comprises one or more of a database, a file system, flat text files, or XML files.

48. The storage module of claim 44, wherein the manifestation information comprises the locomotion characteristics, unseen forces experienced by, and interaction characteristics of the one or more objects positioned within the virtual space.

49. A system configured to enable a user to create a virtual space, wherein a virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, the system comprising:

a client that enables a user to create a new virtual space by selecting a set of characteristics of a virtual space, wherein selection of the set of characteristics dictate (i) aspects of a topography of the new virtual space, and (ii) manifestation of one or more objects positioned within the topography and/or unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects in the new virtual space; and

a storage module in operative communication with the client that stores information related to a plurality of virtual spaces, wherein the information stored in the storage module that is related to a given virtual space comprises;

topographical information related to the topography of the given virtual space, and

manifestation information related to manifestation of the one or more objects positioned within the topography and/or unseen forces experienced by the one or more objects in the virtual space,

wherein the storage module adds the new virtual space to the plurality of virtual spaces by storing the information conveyed from the client to the storage module.

50. The system of claim 49, further comprising a server in operative communication with the client and the storage module that receives the set of characteristics selected by the user from the client, and instantiates the new virtual space according to the received characteristics, wherein the storage module receives information related to the new virtual space from the server.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein the server implements the instantiation of the virtual space to determine a view of an incarnation within the virtual space that is associated with the client, the view being dependent on a location of the incarnation within the virtual space, wherein the client receives view information that describes the view from the server, and wherein the client formats the view of the virtual space for viewing by the user by assembling the view information received from the server.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the client presents an interface to the user that enables the user to refine one or more of the selected characteristics, and wherein refinements made by the user to the one or more selected characteristics are communicated from the client to the server.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein the server manipulates the instantiation of the new virtual space according to the refinements made by the user.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the information related to the new virtual space that is stored within the storage module is updated to reflect the refinements made by the user.

55. The system of claim 49, wherein the user is enabled to select one or more of the set of characteristics of the new virtual space by selecting one or more characteristics of one of the virtual spaces stored by the storage module.