MANAGING INTERACTIONS IN A VIRTUAL WORLD ENVIRONMENT

• US 20100180216A1
• Filed: 01/15/2009
• Published: 07/15/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AirBNB Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Garbow, Zachary Adam, Chen, Jim Chun-Ta, Bates, Cary Lee, Young, Gregory Edward
• Granted Patent: US 9,300,612 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/757
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/744 Displaying an avatar, e.g. an animated cartoon character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/75 Enforcing rules, e.g. detecting foul play or generating lists of cheating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/556 Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/572 Communication between players during game play of non game information, e.g. e-mail, chat, file transfer, streaming of audio and streaming of video
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 9/24 Electric games; Games using electronic circuits not otherwise provided for video games A63F13/00; computerized gaming systems G07F17/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/212 using filtering or selective blocking
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1025 of avatars
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/157 defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827

Abstract

Methods and apparatus associate a computed trust level to avatars that interact with one another in a simulated environment. The avatars may represent legitimate users of the virtual world or spammers. System monitoring of each avatar provides ability to recognize potential spammers and create an alternate indication of the spammers. A user index may be used to store data describing attributes of each avatar for analysis using programs stored in memory.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating actions of a first avatar in a virtual environment, comprising:

assigning an initial trust rank to the first avatar upon the first avatar creating an account on a system linked to a network that enables communication with other avatars within the virtual environment;

monitoring one or more interactions between the first avatar and at least a second avatar;

adjusting the initial trust rank to a computed adjusted trust rank based on the interactions that are monitored; and

disabling the account of the first avatar when the computed adjusted trust rank reaches a specified threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the initial trust rank is based on content and length of the interactions between the first avatar and the second avatar.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the initial trust rank includes comparing number of words used by the first avatar to number of words used by the second avatar in a conversation.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the initial trust rank includes monitoring for repetition in the interactions of the first avatar.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein adjusting the initial trust rank to the computed trust rank is based on feedback from the second avatar with respect to the interactions of the first avatar.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying the computed trust rank on a user display.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring one or more interactions between the first avatar and at least a second avatar includes identifying that the first avatar is communicating by repeating a set of one or more words to multiple avatars.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising limiting the interactions of the first avatar until the computed trust rank reaches a second specified theshold.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising blocking communication of the first avatar with at least one other avatar according to criteria for the computed trust rank as set by the at least one other avatar.

10. A computer readable medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation to evaluate actions of a first avatar in a virtual environment, comprising:

assigning an initial trust rank to a first avatar upon the first avatar creating an account on a system linked to a network that enables communication with other avatars within the virtual environment;

monitoring one or more interactions between the first avatar and at least a second avatar;

adjusting the initial trust rank to a computed adjusted trust rank based on the interactions that are monitored; and

disabling the account of the first avatar when the computed adjusted trust rank reaches a specified threshold.

11. The computer readable medium of claim 10, wherein the operation to evaluate the interactions of the first avatar in a virtual environment further comprises displaying the computed adjusted trust rank on a user display.

12. A method of evaluating actions of a first avatar in a virtual environment, comprising:

providing a system linked to a network that enables communication between a first avatar and a second avatar;

monitoring the first avatar including an interaction between the first avatar and the second avatar;

assigning an adjustment value based on the interaction between the first avatar and the second avatar; and

changing a trust ranking of the first avatar based on the adjustment value.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring the first avatar includes detecting content and length of the interaction.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring the first avatar includes identification that the first avatar is communicating by repeating a set of one or more words and the adjustment value assigned is based on the identification.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring the first avatar makes a comparison of number of words used by the first avatar to number of words used by the second avatar in the interaction and the adjustment value assigned is based on the comparison.

16. The method of claim 12, further comprising disabling an account of the first avatar when the trust rank reaches a specified threshold.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein monitoring the first avatar is triggered by feedback from a third avatar.

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising displaying the trust rank on a user display.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein changing the trust rank occurs based on number of words used by the first avatar in the interaction being greater than number of words used by the second avatar in the interaction.

20. The method of claim 12, further comprising limiting communications by the first avatar, wherein the trust ranking is applied against a set criterion to determine which communications are limited.