LOCATION/EVENT BASED DICTIONARIES TO FACILITATE COMMUNICATION IN A VIRTUAL WORLD LOCATION

• US 20100023476A1
• Filed: 07/22/2008
• Published: 01/28/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Jones, Angela Richards, Lyle, Ruthie D., Cannon, Ulysses L.
• Granted Patent: US 9,678,940 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: N/A
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/242 Dictionaries

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to jargon usage in a location in a virtual world and provide a method, system and computer program product for location and event based dictionaries to facilitate communication in location in a virtual world. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for communication facilitation in a location within the virtual world can include identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world, looking up a glossary entry for the jargon in a dictionary of jargon for the location in the virtual world, and rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message.

Claims

1. A method for communication facilitation in a location within the virtual world, the method comprising:

identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world;

looking up a glossary entry for the jargon in a dictionary of jargon for the location in the virtual world; and

,

rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world comprises comparing words in the message to jargon in the dictionary to detect a match.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world comprises:

parsing the message into words; and

,

comparing the words to jargon in the dictionary to detect a match.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message comprises:

emphasizing the jargon in the message;

activating the emphasized jargon to respond to a user selection; and

,

rendering a pop-up box with the glossary entry responsive to a user selection of the emphasized jargon.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message comprises:

emphasizing the jargon in the message;

activating the emphasized jargon to respond to a user selection; and

,

rendering a pop-up box with the glossary entry responsive to a mouse over event in connection with the emphasized jargon.

6. A virtual world management data processing system comprising:

a virtual world server executing in a host computing platform and creating and managing multiple different locations for a virtual world in which different avatars of the virtual world exchange messages;

a dictionary of jargon coupled to the virtual world server, the dictionary comprising entries specific to a location, each of the entries comprising jargon and a corresponding explanation of a meaning of the jargon; and

,

jargon management logic coupled both to the dictionary and the virtual world server, the logic comprising program code enabled to identify jargon in a message exchanged in one of the locations of the virtual world, to look up a glossary entry for the jargon in the dictionary, and to render the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the jargon management logic is included as part of the virtual world server.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the jargon management logic is a remote service accessible by the virtual world server.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the jargon is an acronym.

10. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium embodying computer usable program code for communication facilitation in a location within the virtual world, the computer program product comprising:

computer usable program code for identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world;

computer usable program code for looking up a glossary entry for the jargon in a dictionary of jargon for the location in the virtual world; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world comprises computer usable program code for comparing words in the message to jargon in the dictionary to detect a match.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for identifying jargon in a message exchanged in a location in a virtual world comprises:

computer usable program code for parsing the message into words; and

,

computer usable program code for comparing the words to jargon in the dictionary to detect a match.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message comprises:

computer usable program code for emphasizing the jargon in the message;

computer usable program code for activating the emphasized jargon to respond to a user selection; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering a pop-up box with the glossary entry responsive to a user selection of the emphasized jargon.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering the glossary entry in connection with the jargon in the message comprises:

computer usable program code for emphasizing the jargon in the message;

computer usable program code for activating the emphasized jargon to respond to a user selection; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering a pop-up box with the glossary entry responsive to a mouse over event in connection with the emphasized jargon.