System and Method for Using Partial Teleportation or Relocation in Virtual Worlds
First Claim
1. A method for previewing a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method including:
- establishing a location in said virtual universe at which a partial teleportation can be performed;
caching an image of a portion of said teleportation destination;
moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe; and
in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination to a user corresponding to said avatar.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The processing burden of rendering incident to a full teleportation operation in a virtual universe is avoided while contact with particular teleport destinations is promoted by provision of a partial teleportation facility such as a virtual kiosk as an object within a virtual universe (which may be sponsored or owned by users wishing to promote particular teleportation destinations) at which an avatar can view previously rendered images of portions of one or more teleportation destinations. Limited interaction and simulated travel within the teleportation destination can be achieved through image manipulation and updates rather than rendering. An avatar image can be displayed in connection with both the object and the teleport destination with, preferably control of only one avatar image while the other is displayed using a low resolution image. Full teleportation can be initiated automatically upon detection of a particular condition such as duration of an avatar presence at the location of the partial teleportation facility object. When full teleportation is initiated, the processing intensive rendering can be supplemented from image data representing the portion or the teleportation destination, thus hiding rendering delays and simulating seamless, instantaneous response to the full teleportation operation.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for previewing a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method including:
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establishing a location in said virtual universe at which a partial teleportation can be performed; caching an image of a portion of said teleportation destination; moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe; and in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination to a user corresponding to said avatar. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium or a communication link providing signals comprising a program to a data processor, said program, when run on said data processor, causing said data processor to perform steps of:
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establishing a location in a virtual universe at which a partial teleportation can be performed; caching an image of a portion of a teleportation destination; moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe; and in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination to a user corresponding to said avatar. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A virtual universe system including:
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an object at a location within said virtual universe from which partial teleportation can be performed; a location comparator for determining presence of an avatar at said location; an image cache for storing data representing an image of a teleportation destination; and an image generator for displaying said image of said teleportation destination, responsive to detected presence of said avatar at said location. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of presenting an image of a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method comprising,
defining an object at a location in said virtual universe at which partial teleportation may be performed, and displaying a portion of a selected teleportation destination in connection with said object when an avatar is located at said location without teleporting said avatar to said teleportation destination.
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21. A method of operating a virtual universe system on a plurality of networked data processors to provide the appearance to a user of teleportation without delays due to rendering, said method comprising configuring at least one data processor of said plurality of data processors to provide
an object at a location within said virtual universe from which partial teleportation can be performed; -
a location comparator for determining presence of an avatar at said location; an image cache for storing data representing an image of a teleportation destination; and an image generator for displaying said image of said teleportation destination, responsive to detected presence of said avatar at said location.
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Specification