COMPUTER METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERSISTING PIECES OF A VIRTUAL WORLD GROUP CONVERSATION

• US 20090249228A1
• Filed: 03/26/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation, ServiceNow Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Cheng, Li-Te, Patterson, John F., Rohall, Steven L.
• Granted Patent: US 8,612,868 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance

Abstract

Computer method and apparatus persists portions of group conversations in a virtual environment. A group conversation is formed of group member communications. Indications or illustrations, such as chat bubbles, are displayed to end users to represent the group member communications. The invention system enables a user to persist a portion of the group conversation by selecting respective indicators (e.g., chat bubbles) corresponding to one or more of the group member communications. The processor (persist engine) also enables any user to interact with persisted conversation portions. Interactions supported include moving, arranging, tagging with metadata and saving snapshots of the persisted conversation portions, in the virtual environment.

Claims

1. A computer method of persisting a portion of group conversations in a virtual environment, comprising:

providing a group conversation in a virtual environment, the group conversation being formed of a plurality of group member communications;

displaying to a user indications of the group member communications in the plurality; and

enabling the user to persist a portion of the group conversation by the user selecting, through respective indications, ones of the group member communications, and the user selected ones being persisted.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the virtual environment is any one of a virtual world, a gaming environment, a 3D video, a simulation, an online session, and a computer network session.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the group conversation is bubble based such that each of the group member communications is indicated in a respective graphical bubble of an avatar in the virtual environment, different users being represented by different avatars in the virtual environment.

4. A method as claimed in claim 3 wherein the step of enabling includes persisting the user selected ones of the group member communications corresponding to graphical bubbles selected by the user.

5. A method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising enabling any user to interact with the user selected graphical bubbles, for a given user selected graphical bubble, said interacting with including any of:

moving the given graphical bubble, tagging the given graphical bubble with user specified metadata, making an arrangement of the given graphical bubble with other graphical bubbles in the virtual environment and making a snapshot of at least the given graphical bubble.

6. A method as claimed in claim 4 further comprising enabling any user to save a snapshot of one or more of the user selected graphical bubbles as arranged on a working surface in the virtual environment.

7. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the group conversation is instant messaging based.

8. A method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the group conversation is chat based.

9. Computer apparatus for persisting a portion of group conversations in a virtual environment, comprising:

a communication system providing a group conversation in a virtual environment, the group conversation being formed of a plurality of participant-users'"'"' communications and the plurality of participant-users'"'"' communications being illustrated in the virtual environment; and

a persist engine enabling a subject user to persist a portion of the group conversation by the subject user selecting, through the virtual environment illustrations, ones of the participant-users'"'"' communications, and the subject user selected ones being persisted.

10. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the virtual environment is any one of a virtual world, a gaming environment, a 3D video, a simulation, an online session, and a computer network session.

11. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the group conversation is bubble based such that each of the participant-user'"'"'s communications is illustrated in a respective graphical bubble of an avatar in the virtual environment, different users being represented by different avatars in the virtual environment.

12. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 11 wherein the persist engine persists the subject user selected ones of the participant-user'"'"'s communications corresponding to graphical bubbles selected by the subject user.

13. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 12 wherein the persist engine further enables any user to interact with the subject user selected graphical bubbles, said interacting with including any of:

moving one or more of the subject user selected graphical bubbles, tagging with metadata any of the subject user selected graphical bubbles, making an arrangement in the virtual environment of one or more of the subject user selected graphical bubbles, and saving a snapshot of one or more of the subject user selected graphical bubbles.

14. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 12 wherein the persist engine further enables any user to save a snapshot of one or more of the subject user selected graphical bubbles as arranged on a working surface in the virtual environment.

15. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the group conversation is instant message based.

16. Computer apparatus as claimed in claim 9 wherein the group conversation is chat based.

17. A computer system for persisting a portion of group conversations in a virtual environment, comprising:

group communication means for providing a group conversation in a virtual environment, the group conversation being formed of a plurality of group member communications;

a user interface means for displaying to a user indications of the group member communications; and

processor means for enabling the user to persist a portion of the group conversation by the user selecting, through respective indications, ones of the group member communications, and the user selected ones being persisted.

18. A computer system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the virtual environment is any one of a virtual world, a gaming environment, a 3D video, a simulation, an online session, and a computer network session.

19. A computer system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the group conversation is one of:

graphical bubble based, instant messaging based and chat based.

20. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having a computer readable program, wherein the computer readable program when executed on a computer causes:

providing a group conversation in a virtual environment, the group conversation being formed of a plurality of a group member communications;

displaying to a user illustrations of the group member communications in the plurality; and

enabling the user to persist a portion of the group conversation by the user selecting, through respective illustrations, ones of the group member communications, and the user selected ones being persisted.