WEB BROWSER INTERFACE FOR SPATIAL COMMUNICATION ENVIRONMENTS

• US 20110185286A1
• Filed: 01/26/2010
• Published: 07/28/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Van Wie, David, Moyers, Josh
• Granted Patent: US 9,009,603 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/752
• 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: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1827 Network arrangements for conference optimisation or adaptation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/222 using geographical location information, e.g. messages transmitted or received in proximity of a certain spot or area
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection

Abstract

A web browser interface for visualizing realtime network communications in spatial communication environments allows communicants to interact with other communicants in an immersive spatial communication environment without having to install any specialized communication software and without requiring special proxies or firewall additions or exceptions.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

managing a realtime communication session between client communicants operating respective client network nodes that are exchanging peer-to-peer realtime data streams in association with a spatial visualization comprising a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicants in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area, wherein the managing comprises determining respective locations of the graphical representations of the client communicants in the virtual area; and

interfacing a guest communicant with the realtime communication session, wherein the guest communicant is operating a web browser application on a guest network node, the interfacing comprises transmitting to the guest network node an interface specification comprising specifications of the graphical representation of the virtual area and the graphical representations of the client communicants and their respective current locations in the virtual area, and the interfacing further comprises responding to messages received from the web browser application in connection with respective elements of the interface specification.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the interfacing comprises sending to the guest network node a rendering engine that is executable by the web browser and is operable to translate the interface specification into a format that is interpretable by the web browser application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the transmitting comprises transmitting the interface specification to the web browser application in an extended markup language (XML) format, and the rendering engine is operable to translate the interface specification from the XML format to a hyper text markup language (HTML) interface specification and to render the HTML specification in a web browser frame.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises respective specifications of one or more zones of the virtual area, each of the zones is addressed by a different respective universal resource locator (URL), and the responding comprises responding to a particular message from the web browser application referencing a respective one of the URLs based on properties of the zone that is addressed by the respective URL referenced by the particular message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises specifications for depicting visual cues indicating respective current communication states of the client communicants, and each of the communication states corresponds to a state of a respective communication channel over which a respective one of the client network nodes is configured to communicate.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising

in response to a message from a given one of the client communicants to activate an audio sink communication channel, incorporating in the interface specification a specification for depicting the graphical representation of the given communicant with a visual indication that the given communicant is configured as an audio sink.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising

in response to a message from a given one of the client communicants to activate an audio source communication channel, incorporating in the interface specification a specification for depicting the graphical representation of the given client communicant in the virtual area with a visual indication that the given communicant is configured as an audio source.

8. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

receiving from the web browser application a particular message to change the state of a guest audio communication channel over which the guest communicant is registered to communicate; and

in response to the particular message, transmitting to each of the client network nodes a respective specification for depicting a graphical representation of the guest communicant in the virtual area with a visual indication of the changed state of the guest audio communication channel.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising incorporating in the interface specification a specification of a graphical representation of the guest communicant in a respective location in the virtual area.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving from the web browser application a particular message to move the graphical representation of the guest communicant from a current location in the virtual area to a new current location in the virtual area;

determining the new current location of the graphical representation of the guest communicant in the virtual area based on the particular message; and

sending updates to the browser application, wherein the updates comprise modifications to the interface specification that reflect the graphical representation of the guest communicant moved to the new current location.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting to each of the client network nodes a respective specification of the graphical representation of the guest communicant and its respective current location in the virtual area in association with a unique guest identifier of the guest communicant, wherein the guest identifier is associated with a realtime communication channel established between the guest network node and one or more of the client network nodes.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises one or more props, each of the props represents a respective communication channel for communications between the client and guest network nodes, each of the props is addressable by a different respective universal resource locator (URL), and in response to receipt of a particular message from the web browser application referencing a respective one of the URLs, the responding comprises responding to the particular message based on properties of the prop that is addressable by the respective URL referenced by the particular message.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising

in response to receiving from the web browser application a particular message corresponding to a selection of a viewscreen prop in the virtual area, initiating an application sharing session between the guest network node and each of the client network nodes present in the virtual area.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising

in response to receiving from the web browser application a particular message corresponding to a selection of a table prop in the virtual area, initiating a file sharing session between the guest network node and each of the client network nodes present in the virtual area.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising registering the guest communicant with a unique guest identifier that is associated with a realtime communication channel between the guest network node and one or more of the client network nodes, wherein the managing comprises transmitting to each of the client network nodes a respective specification of a graphical representation of the guest communicant and its respective current location in the virtual area in association with the guest identifier.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises a specification of a presentation of navigation controls that enable the guest communicant to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises a specification of a presentation of interaction controls that enable the guest communicant to manage interactions with one or more of the client communicants in the network communication environment.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises a specification of a presentation of a log of event descriptions describing respective events involving interactions of the communicants in the virtual area.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the interface specification comprises an array of graphical blocks corresponding to respective divisions of the spatial visualization, and further comprising in response to an update message received from the web browser application, sending to the web browser application only those graphical blocks that have changed since a most recent response to a preceding update message was sent.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein messages are received from the web browser application and responses are sent to the web browser application in accordance with the hypertext transport protocol.

21. Apparatus, comprising:

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

a processor coupled to the computer-readable medium, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

managing a realtime communication session between client communicants operating respective client network nodes that are exchanging peer-to-peer realtime data streams in association with a spatial visualization comprising a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicants in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area, wherein the managing comprises determining respective locations of the graphical representations of the client communicants in the virtual area, and

interfacing a guest communicant with the realtime communication session, wherein the guest communicant is operating a web browser application on a guest network node, the interfacing comprises transmitting to the guest network node an interface specification comprising specifications of the graphical representation of the virtual area and the graphical representations of the client communicants and their respective current locations in the virtual area, and the interfacing further comprises responding to messages received from the web browser application in connection with respective elements of the interface specification.

22. A method, comprising:

transmitting a first network communication to a web browser application operating on a first client network node, wherein the first network communication comprises an interface specification of a graphical visualization of a shared communication session between the first client network node and a second client network node, and the graphical visualization comprises respective graphical representations of communicants who are operating the first and second network nodes in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area;

during the shared communication session, receiving from the web browser application a message referencing a location in the graphical representation of the virtual area;

generating an update to the graphical visualization of the shared communication session in response to the message; and

transmitting a respective interface specification of the update to each of the first and second network nodes.

23. Apparatus, comprising:

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

a processor coupled to the computer-readable medium, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

transmitting a first network communication to a web browser application operating on a first client network node, wherein the first network communication comprises an interface specification of a graphical visualization of a shared communication session between the first client network node and a second client network node, and the graphical visualization comprises respective graphical representations of communicants who are operating the first and second network nodes in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area,

during the shared communication session, receiving from the web browser application a message referencing a location in the graphical representation of the virtual area,

generating an update to the graphical visualization of the shared communication session in response to the message, and

transmitting a respective interface specification of the update to each of the first and second network nodes.

24. A method, comprising:

transmitting a first network communication to a web browser application operating on a first client network node, wherein the first network communication comprises an interface specification of a graphical visualization of a shared communication session between the first client network node and a second client network node;

during the shared communication session, receiving from the web browser application messages in association with the shared communication session;

during the shared communication session, receiving data describing a communication state of a realtime communication channel over which the first client network node and the second client network node are communicating outside the domain of the web browser application, and

during the shared communication session, sending to the web browser application a second network communication comprising a specification of a visual cue that is renderable in association with the graphical visualization of the shared communication session to depict the communication state of a communicant operating the first client network node.

25. The method of claim 24, the messages reference the graphical visualization of the shared communication session.

26. Apparatus, comprising:

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

a processor coupled to the computer-readable medium, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

transmitting a first network communication to a web browser application operating on a first client network node, wherein the first network communication comprises an interface specification of a graphical visualization of a shared communication session between the first client network node and a second client network node,

during the shared communication session, receiving from the web browser application messages in association with the shared communication session,

during the shared communication session, receiving data describing a communication state of a realtime communication channel over which the first client network node and the second client network node are communicating outside the domain of the web browser application, and

during the shared communication session, sending to the web browser application a second network communication comprising a specification of a visual cue that is renderable in association with the graphical visualization of the shared communication session to depict the communication state of a communicant operating the first client network node.

27. A method, comprising on a client network node:

establishing a realtime communication session between a client communicant operating the client network node and a guest communicant operating a guest network node;

on a display of the client network node, displaying a spatial visualization of the realtime communication session, wherein the spatial visualization comprises a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicant and the guest communicant in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area; and

during the realtime communication session,

establishing a realtime data stream connection with the guest communicant,

determining current communication states of the guest communicant from the realtime data stream connection, and

depicting in the spatial visualization visual cues that show the determined current communication states of the guest communicant.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein:

the determining comprises determining a connection status of the realtime data stream connection, and classifying the guest communicant into one of a connected state or a unconnected state based on the determined connection status of the realtime data stream connection; and

the depicting comprises depicting respective visual cues indicating which of the connected and unconnected states the guest communicant currently is classified.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein:

the determining comprises classifying the guest communicant into an actively communicating state in response to a detection of a current realtime data stream over the realtime data stream connection, and classifying the guest communicant into a non-communicating state in response to a failure to detect a current realtime data stream over the realtime data stream connection; and

the depicting comprises depicting respective visual cues indicating which of the actively communicating and non-communicating states the guest communicant currently is classified.

30. The method of claim 27,

further comprising during the realtime communication session, receiving from a server network node specifications of current positions of the graphical representation of the guest communicant in the virtual area;

and

wherein the guest realtime data stream and the graphical representation of the guest communicant respectively are associated with a unique guest identifier that is assigned to the guest communicant, and the depicting comprises depicting the visual cues in association with the current positions of the graphical representation of the guest communicant in the virtual area based on the unique guest identifier.

31. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a client network node to perform operations comprising:

establishing a realtime communication session between a client communicant operating the client network node and a guest communicant operating a guest network node;

on a display of the client network node, displaying a spatial visualization of the realtime communication session, wherein the spatial visualization comprises a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicant and the guest communicant in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area; and

during the realtime communication session,

establishing a realtime data stream connection with the guest communicant,

determining current communication states of the guest communicant from the realtime data stream connection, and

depicting in the spatial visualization visual cues that show the determined current communication states of the guest communicant.

32. A method, comprising on a sponsoring client network node:

establishing with one or more other client network nodes a realtime communication session between client communicants respectively operating on the sponsoring client network node and the other client network nodes;

during the realtime communication session, exchanging peer-to-peer realtime data streams with the client network nodes in association with a spatial visualization comprising a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicants in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area;

receiving a guest realtime data stream from a guest communicant;

sending to each of the other client network nodes a respective realtime data stream derived from the guest realtime data stream; and

transmitting to the guest communicant one or more realtime data streams derived from the peer-to-peer realtime data streams sourced by the sponsoring client network node and the peer-to-peer realtime data stream received by the sponsoring client network node from the other client network nodes.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the sending comprises sending to each of the other client network nodes a respective copy of the guest realtime data stream that is associated with a respective unique identifier of the guest communicant.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the transmitting comprises mixing the peer-to-peer realtime data streams sourced by the sponsoring client network node and the peer-to-peer realtime data stream received by the sponsoring client network node from the other client network nodes to produce an output realtime data stream, and transmitting the output realtime data stream to the guest communicant.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the guest realtime data stream from a telephone operated by the guest communicant, and the transmitting comprises transmitting the one or more realtime data streams derived from the peer-to-peer realtime data streams to the telephone.

36. At least one computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a sponsoring client network node to perform operations comprising:

establishing with one or more other client network nodes a realtime communication session between client communicants respectively operating on the sponsoring client network node and the other client network nodes;

during the realtime communication session, exchanging peer-to-peer realtime data streams with the client network nodes in association with a spatial visualization comprising a respective graphical representation of each of the client communicants in spatial relation to a graphical representation of a virtual area;

receiving a guest realtime data stream from a guest communicant;

sending to each of the other client network nodes a respective realtime data stream derived from the guest realtime data stream; and

transmitting to the guest communicant one or more realtime data streams derived from the peer-to-peer realtime data streams sourced by the sponsoring client network node and the peer-to-peer realtime data stream received by the sponsoring client network node from the other client network nodes.