Presenting Suggested Items for Use in Navigating within a Virtual Space
First Claim
1. A method, implemented by one or more computing devices, for presenting suggested items, comprising:
- receiving selection factors, the selection factors including;
candidate item information that describes characteristics of candidate items, the candidate items being selectable for presentation to a user as the user navigates through a virtual space, the virtual space being represented as a multi-resolution image;
focus-of-interest information that describes a current focus of interest of the user within the virtual space;
semantic association information that describes semantic relationships among features pertaining to the virtual space; and
history information that pertains to prior interest in items;
determining suggested items, selected from among the candidate items, based on one or more of the selection factors;
presenting the suggested items to a user;
receiving a navigation selection from the user in response to said presenting; and
repeating said receiving of the selection factors, said determining, said presenting, and said receiving of the navigation selection at least one time, to thereby define a navigation path through the virtual space in a guided manner.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An exploration system is described for assisting the user in navigating within a virtual space that can be represented using a tiled multi-resolution image. The exploration system receives various selection factors that have a bearing on the selection of suggested items from a collection of candidate items. The selection factors can include focus-of-interest information that pertains to a user'"'"'s presumed current focus of interest within the virtual space, semantic association information that describes semantic relationships among different features pertaining to the virtual space, and history information which describes prior expressed interest in items, e.g., as manifested in prior selections of items. The exploration system uses these selection factors to determine a set of suggested items. The suggested items provide recommendations to the user regarding items that may be germane to the user'"'"'s current interests in his or her navigation within the virtual space.
197 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, implemented by one or more computing devices, for presenting suggested items, comprising:
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receiving selection factors, the selection factors including; candidate item information that describes characteristics of candidate items, the candidate items being selectable for presentation to a user as the user navigates through a virtual space, the virtual space being represented as a multi-resolution image; focus-of-interest information that describes a current focus of interest of the user within the virtual space; semantic association information that describes semantic relationships among features pertaining to the virtual space; and history information that pertains to prior interest in items; determining suggested items, selected from among the candidate items, based on one or more of the selection factors; presenting the suggested items to a user; receiving a navigation selection from the user in response to said presenting; and repeating said receiving of the selection factors, said determining, said presenting, and said receiving of the navigation selection at least one time, to thereby define a navigation path through the virtual space in a guided manner. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. An exploration system, implemented by one or more computing devices, for presenting suggested items in a course of navigation within a virtual space by a user, comprising:
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a suggested item decision module configured to receive selection factors, the selection factors including; candidate item information that describes characteristics of candidate items, the candidate items being selectable for presentation to the user as the user navigates through the virtual space, the virtual space being represented as a multi-resolution image having plural image components; focus-of-interest information that describes a current focus of interest of the user within the virtual space; semantic association information that describes semantic relationships among features associated with the virtual space; and history information that pertains to prior interest in items; the suggested item decision module also being configured to determine suggested items, selected from among the candidate items, based on the candidate item information, the focus-of-interest information, the semantic association information, and the history information; and a presentation module configured to present the suggested items to the user. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19)
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20. A computer readable medium for storing computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions providing an exploration system when executed by one or more processing devices, the computer readable instructions comprising:
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logic configured to receive selection factors, the selection factors including; candidate item information that describes characteristics of candidate items, the candidate items being selectable for presentation to a user as the user navigates through a virtual space; zoom level information that describes a current zoom level within the virtual space; focus-of-view information that describes a portion of the virtual space that the user is presumed to be interested in at a current time; semantic association information that describes semantic relationships among features associated with the virtual space; personal history information that describes prior navigation selections made by the user in a current navigation session and over prior navigation sessions; and group navigation information that describes navigation selections made by a group of users; and logic configured to determine suggested items, from among the candidate items, based on one or more of the selection factors, the suggested items selected from among; objects within the virtual space; narratives that provide tutorials pertaining to the virtual space, the narratives having links to objects associated with the narratives; and information items that provide supplemental information regarding objects within the virtual space.
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Specification