INTERFACING WITH A SPATIAL VIRTUAL COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENT

• US 20090254842A1
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Leacock, Matthew, Wie, David Van
• Granted Patent: US 8,397,168 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/757
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04815 Interaction with a metaphor-based environment or interaction object displayed as three-dimensional, e.g. changing the user viewpoint with respect to the environment or object
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/80 2D [Two Dimensional] animation, e.g. using sprites
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment is displayed. A user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones. Navigation controls and interaction controls are presented. The navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area. The interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment. A respective presence of the user is established in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls. Respective graphical representations of the communicants are depicted in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

on a monitor, displaying a spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment, wherein a user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones;

on the monitor, presenting navigation controls and interaction controls, wherein the navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area and the interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment;

establishing a respective presence of the user in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls; and

on the monitor, depicting respective graphical representations of the communicants in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the zones as respective graphical representations of elements of a physical environment.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the displaying comprises displaying the zones as respective graphical representations of physical spaces associated with a building.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising enabling the user to perceive interactions of the communicants in the virtual area with respective levels of detail that depend on where the user has presence in relation to where the Interactions occur.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the enabling comprises enabling the user to listen to and speak with communicants in the one or more zones in which the user has presence but not enabling the user to listen to or speak with communicants in any of the zones where the user does not have presence.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the enabling comprises enabling the user to view documents being shared in the one or more zones in which the user has presence but not enabling the user to view documents being shared in any of the zones where the user does not have presence.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to a user command to execute one of the zones displayed on the monitor, the depicting comprises depicting the graphical representation of the user in the selected zone.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein

the displaying comprises displaying a view of objects in all renderable zones of the virtual area in an area map, and

in response to the user command, displaying in the area map a zoomed-in view of the selected zone and surrounding portions of the virtual area adjacent the zone represented by the zone object.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein,

in response to a user command to execute any of the surrounding portions of the virtual area, displaying a zoomed-out view of the selected zone and an increased amount of the surrounding portions.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to receipt of an enter command in connection with a user selection of one of the zones displayed on the monitor, moving the graphical representation of the user to the selected zone from the zone where the user had presence before the selection.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the moving comprises moving the user to one of a predetermined set of positions in the selected zone.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the enter command is received as a double-click computer mouse command.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to receipt of a copy presence command in connection with a user selection of one of the zones displayed on the monitor, depicting a respective graphical representation of the user in the selected zone while continuing to depict a respective graphical representation of the user in each of the zones where the user had presence before the selection.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the copy presence command is received as a shift-double-click computer mouse command.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the depicting comprises depicting each of the graphical representations of the user in a respective view presented in a separate window on the display.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the depicting comprises presenting on the monitor user-selectable tabs respectively associated with the windows, and in response to a user selection of any of the tabs displaying in a common display area only content of the window respectively associated with the selected tab.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the presenting comprises presenting interaction controls that enable the user to independently control local sound rendering of audio associated with each of the zones in which the user has presence.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the presenting comprises presenting interaction controls that enable the user to selectively transmit local microphone signals to only one of the zones in which the user has presence at a time.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein

in response to entry of the user into a selected one of the zones, automatically establishing a network connection between the user and each of the other communicants occupying the selected zone.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising

in response to a user selection of one of the graphical representations of the other communicants, displaying a window containing information and user-selectable controls relating to the communicant associated with the selected graphical representation.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the user selectable controls comprise a mute button that enables the user to selectively mute audio signals received from the communicant associated with the selected graphical representation.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to a user selection of a graphical representation of a viewscreen object in a respective one of the zones, displaying a file selection interface prompting the user to select a data file; and

in response to a user selection of a data file via the file selection interface, displaying a rendering of contents of the data file in the viewscreen object on the monitor.

23. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording a history comprising a temporally ordered list of the views of the virtual area presented to the user, and wherein the presenting comprises presenting navigation controls enabling the user to change a current view of the virtual area to a selected one of the views in the history.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the presenting comprises depicting a hierarchical sequence of successive, user-selectable links, and each of the successive links corresponds to a respective level in a hierarchical model of the virtual area in which each successive level is contained by preceding ones of the levels.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the presenting comprises depicting a backward control enabling the user to incrementally change the current view to preceding ones of the views in the history, and depicting a forward control enabling the user to incrementally change the current view to successive ones of the views in the history.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a placemark control enabling the user to placemark a location shown in a current view of the virtual area, and

further comprising,

in response to a user selection of the placemark control, storing an image of the location shown in the current view in association with a hyperlink to the corresponding location in the virtual area,

presenting a placemarks window comprising images of all locations that have been placemarked by the user, wherein each of the images in the placemarks window is associated with a respective user-selectable hyperlink, and

in response to user selection of one of the hyperlinks in the placemarks window, automatically displaying a view of the virtual area corresponding to the location associated with the selected hyperlink.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein at least one of the images presented in the placemarks window corresponds to a depiction of realtime interactions occurring in the corresponding location in the virtual area.

28. The method of claim 1, further comprising recording a history comprising a temporally ordered list of presence states of the user in the virtual area, wherein the presenting comprises depicting a backward control enabling the user to incrementally change the user'"'"'s presence state to preceding ones of the presence states in the history, and depicting a forward control enabling the user to incrementally change the users presence state to successive ones of the presence states in the history.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying on the monitor images of different views of the zones as the user navigates the virtual area, and each of the images comprises a respective set of pixels each of which is associated with a respective user-selectable navigational control.

30. The method of claim 1, wherein the displaying comprises displaying a first view of a user-selected one of the zones in which the user has presence, and concurrently displaying a second view of the selected zone and surrounding portions of the virtual area adjacent the selected zone.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein the displaying comprises showing the first view as a 2.5-dimensional view of the selected zone and showing the second view as a two-dimensional top view of the selected zone and surrounding portions of virtual area adjacent the selected zone.

32. The method of claim 30, wherein the displaying comprises showing the first view as a two-dimensional view of a viewscreen object in the selected zone, and showing the second view as a 2.5-dimensional view of the selected zone.

33. The method of claim 30, wherein the displaying comprises displaying one or more of the navigational controls and one or more of the interaction controls in association with the second view.

34. The method of claim 30, wherein the displaying comprises depicting in the second view graphical representations of all communicants having presence in the selected zone.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a microphone button and a speaker button in association with a current view of the virtual area, the microphone button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable transmission of local microphone signals to other communicants in association with at least one of the zones in the current view in which the user has presence, and the speaker button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable local rendering of audio received from other communicants in association with at least one of the zones in the current view in which the user has presence.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a chat button in association with a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the chat button, displaying a chat window enabling the user to exchange text messages with other communicants.

37. The method of claim 36, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a microphone button and a speaker button in the chat window, the microphone button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable transmission of local microphone signals to other communicants in association with the respective zone, and the speaker button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable local rendering of audio received from other communicants in association with the respective zone.

38. The method of claim 36, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a minimap button in the chat window, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the minimap button displaying a view of a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence and graphical representations of all communicants that have presence in the respective zone.

39. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a get button, and further comprising in response to a user selection of the get button, displaying a list of available communicants and, in response to a user selection of one of the communicants in the list, transmitting an invitation to the selected communicant to join the user in a designated one of the zones.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein the get button is presented in association with a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence and, in response to a user selection of one of the communicants in the list, transmitting an invitation to the selected communicant to join the user in the respective zone.

41. The method of claim 39, further comprising displaying a contacts windows comprising a list of contacts associated with the user and an indication of respective ones of the zones in which the contacts have presence, wherein the get button is presented in the contacts window and, in response to a user selection of one of the contacts in the list, transmitting an invitation to the selected contact to join the user in a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence.

42. The method of claim 1, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a leave button in association with a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the leave button, terminating the users presence in the respective zone.

43. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a zones window comprising one or more filtered lists of renderable ones of the zones of the virtual area.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the displaying comprises displaying in the zones window a list of all of the zones in which the user has presence.

45. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying an areas window comprising a view of one or more virtual areas that are associated with the user.

46. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying a notification window describing an event associated with a respective one of the zones.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the notification window comprises a hyperlink to the respective zone, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the hyperlink, moving the graphical representation of the user to the respective zone from the zone where the user had presence before the selection and establishing a presence for the user in the respective zone.

48. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to implement a method comprising:

on a monitor, displaying a spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment, wherein a user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones;

on the monitor, presenting navigation controls and interaction controls, wherein the navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area and the interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment;

establishing a respective presence of the user in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls; and

on the monitor, depicting respective graphical representations of the communicants in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.

49. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises enabling the user to perceive interactions of the communicants in the virtual area with respective levels of detail that depend on where the user has presence in relation to where the interactions occur.

50. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein in response to a user command to execute selection of one of the zones displayed on the monitor, the depicting comprises depicting the graphical representation of the user in the selected zone.

51. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises, in response to receipt of a move presence command in connection with a user selection of one of the zones displayed on the monitor, moving the graphical representation of the user to the selected zone from the zone where the user had presence before the selection.

52. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises, in response to receipt of a copy presence command in connection with a user selection of one of the zones displayed on the monitor, depicting a respective graphical representation of the user in the selected zone while continuing to depict a respective graphical representation of the user in each of the zones where the user had presence before the selection.

53. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises, in response to entry of the user into a selected one of the zones, automatically establishing a network connection between the user and each of the other communicants occupying the selected zone.

54. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises, in response to a user selection of one of the graphical representations of the other communicants, displaying a window containing information and user-selectable controls relating to the communicant associated with the selected graphical representation.

55. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, further wherein the method further comprises:

in response to a user selection of a graphical representation of a viewscreen object in a respective one of the zones, displaying a file selection interface prompting the user to select a data file; and

in response to a user selection of a data file via the file selection interface, displaying a rendering of contents of the data file in the viewscreen object on the monitor.

56. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises recording a history comprising a temporally ordered list of the views of the virtual area presented to the user, and wherein the presenting comprises presenting navigation controls enabling the user to change a current view of the virtual area to a selected one of the views in the history.

57. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the displaying comprises displaying on the monitor images of different views of the zones as the user navigates the virtual area, and each of the images comprises a respective set of pixels each of which is associated with a respective user-selectable navigational control.

58. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the displaying comprises displaying a first view of a user-selected one of the zones in which the user has presence, and concurrently displaying a second view of the selected zone and surrounding portions of the virtual area adjacent the selected zone.

59. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a microphone button and a speaker button in association with a current view of the virtual area, the microphone button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable transmission of local microphone signals to other communicants in association with at least one of the zones in the current view in which the user has presence, and the speaker button allowing the user to selectively enable and disable local rendering of audio received from other communicants in association with at least one of the zones in the current view in which the user has presence.

60. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a chat button in association with a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the chat button, displaying a chat window enabling the user to exchange text messages with other communicants.

61. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a get button, and further comprising in response to a user selection of the get button, displaying a list of available communicants and, in response to a user selection of one of the communicants in the list, transmitting an invitation to the selected communicant to join the user in a designated one of the zones.

62. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the presenting comprises presenting a leave button in association with a respective one of the zones in which the user has presence, and further comprising, in response to a user selection of the leave button, terminating the users presence in the respective zone.

63. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises displaying a zones window comprising one or more filtered lists of renderable ones of the zones of the virtual area.

64. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises displaying an areas window comprising a hierarchical view of one or more virtual areas that are associated with the user.

65. The at least one computer-readable medium of claim 48, wherein the method further comprises displaying a notification window describing an event associated with a respective one of the zones.

66. Apparatus, comprising:

a computer-readable medium storing computer-readable instructions; and

a data processing unit coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

displaying a spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment, wherein a user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones;

presenting navigation controls and interaction controls, wherein the navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area and the interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment;

establishing a respective presence of the user in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls; and

depicting respective graphical representations of the communicants in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.