SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING VIRTUAL SPACES FOR ACCESS BY USERS VIA THE WEB

• US 20100095213A1
• Filed: 10/10/2008
• Published: 04/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Playdom Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Koster, Raph, Donham, John, Riley, Sean
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,249 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/733
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5573 player location
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video
• 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: G06F 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/30 Managing network names, e.g. use of aliases or nicknames name-to-address mapping H04L61/45
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/01 Protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A system configured to provide one or more virtual spaces that are accessible to users. The virtual spaces may be provided such that an enhanced level of interactivity between the virtual spaces and the Web, including resources that communicate with the system via the Internet (e.g., via users, websites, webpages, other web resources, etc.) and/or other networks. To provide this enhanced level of interactivity, the system may enable interactions between an instance of a virtual space and the Web (e.g., queries, commands, communication, administrative controls, etc.) via a standard web protocol, such as a HyperText Transfer Protocol (e.g., http, https, etc.) and/or other standard web protocols. Since interactions take place between the instance of the virtual space and the Web via a standard web protocol, the instance of the virtual space may interact directly with Web resources such as web servers, web browsers, websites, webpages, and/or other Web resources.

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 server that executes an instance of a virtual space, wherein the instance of the virtual space includes a simulation of the virtual space that determines, in real-time, the positions, structure, and manifestation of objects, unseen forces, and topography within the virtual space, wherein instance of the virtual space includes a network accessible object that is capable of locomotion within the virtual space and is associated with a network location, and wherein the server comprises;

a communication module that obtains topography information related to the topography of the virtual space, and manifestation information related to the manner in which objects positioned within the topography, including the network accessible object, and/or one or more unseen forces experienced by the objects in the virtual space, are manifested in the virtual space;

an instantiation module that executes the instance of the virtual space in accordance with the topography information and the manifestation information obtained by the communication module; and

a network interaction module that receives a command transmitted to the network location associated with the object from a browser, manages the execution of one or more operations in accordance with the received command, and transmits the results of the one or more operations to the browser that transmitted the command.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the network location is a Uniform Resource Locator.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the command transmitted to the network interaction module is transmitted in a HyperText Transfer Protocol.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the results are transmitted by the network interaction module in a HyperText Transfer Protocol.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the communication module obtains access information for the network accessible object that includes information related to a set of commands to be supported by the network interaction module at the network location associated with the network accessible object.

6. A computer readable medium comprising:

a unit of computer readable information that describes various aspects of an object present in a virtual space, wherein the virtual space is a simulated physical space that has a topography, expresses real-time interaction by the user, and includes one or more objects, such as the object described by the unit of computer readable information, positioned within the topography that are capable of experiencing locomotion within the topography, wherein the unit of computer readable information comprises;

visual representation information that relates to a visual representation of the object;

manifestation information that relates to the manner in which the object is manifested in the virtual space;

network location information that dictates one or more aspects of an assignment of a network location to the object such that a server executing an instance of the virtual space will assign a network location to the object in accordance with the one or more aspects dictated by the network location information; and

command information related to commands which, if transmitted to the network location assigned to the object by a browser, are to be executed by the server executing the instance of the virtual space.

8. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein, for a given one of the commands, the command information dictates the operations to be executed in response to the given command.

7. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the command information includes a set of commands to be supported by the server.

9. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the network location information includes a naming convention that dictates at least a portion of the name of the network location that is assigned to the object.

10. The computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein the network location is a uniform resource locator.

11. 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 server that executes an instance of a virtual space, wherein the instance of the virtual space includes a simulation of the virtual space that determines, in real-time, the positions, structure, and manifestation of objects, unseen forces, and topography within the virtual space, wherein the server comprises;

a communication module that obtains topography information related to the topography of the virtual space, and manifestation information related to the manner in which objects positioned within the topography, and/or one or more unseen forces experienced by the objects in the virtual space, are manifested in the virtual space;

an instantiation module that executes the instance of the virtual space in accordance with the topography information and the manifestation information obtained by the communication module;

a view module that implements the instance of the virtual space to determine a view of the virtual space, wherein the view module generates view information for transmission to a client, the view information describing the view such that the client can assemble a display of the view from the view information; and

a network interaction module that receives, at a Uniform Resource Locator associated with the virtual space, a login request that comprises a view request and a command associated with the view request, wherein the view request is a request for view information from the server to be provided to a client, and wherein the command is in a HyperText Transfer Protocol and specifies one or more operations to be executed by the server, the network interaction module further being configured to manage the execution of the one or more operations specified in the command.

15. The system of claim 15, wherein the login request is generated by one or more processors that are separate from a computer platform that executes the client.

12. The system of claim 15, wherein the view module is configured to determine the view requested in response to the view request, and generates the corresponding view information, and wherein the communication module is configured to transmit the view information determined by the view module to the client that corresponds to the login request.

13. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more operations specified by the command provide the client with specific permissions and/or abilities in the virtual space.

14. The system of claim 15, wherein the one or more operations specified by the command provide a character associated with the client with one or more of a power, a skill, a tool, or a weapon in the virtual space.

17. 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 space server that obtains information related to a virtual space and executes an instance of the virtual space based on the obtained information, wherein the obtained information includes 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 instance of the virtual space includes a simulation of the virtual space that determines, in real-time, the positions, structure, and manifestation of objects, unseen forces, and topography within the virtual space, and wherein one of the objects present in the virtual space includes a browser configured to interact with webpages served remotely from the space server.

16. The system of claim 19, wherein the login request further includes an authentication of the source of the login request.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising a client in operative communication with the space server, the client comprising an input interface configured to receive commands for manipulating one or more of the objects in the virtual space, including commands that cause the object that includes the web browser to interact with one or more webpages served remotely from the space server.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the server implements the instantiation of the virtual space to determine a view of the virtual space, and transmits the view information to the client to enable the client to format the view of the virtual space for viewing by a user by assembling the view information.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein, in response to receipt by the client of a command to cause the object that includes the web browser to interact with one or more webpages served remotely from the space server, the server controls the object that includes the web browser such that the web browser interacts with the one or more webpages, and the results of the interaction with the one or more webpages are displayed to the user by the client.