Advertising and managing communities within a virtual space
First Claim
Patent Images
1. An information processing apparatus for managing a plurality of communities in a virtual space, comprising:
- first storage means for storing pieces of positional information of the respective communities in the virtual space;
second storage means for storing information relating to bulletin boards that are provided in the communities, wherein when positional information of a newly generated community is stored in the first storage means, and wherein information relating to the newly generated community and which is to be written to bulletin boards of communities that are near the newly generated community in the virtual space is generated and stored in the second storage means;
extracting means for searching among the information stored in the second storage means for each of the communities, for time points indicating when messages were written to the bulletin board and extracting a time point corresponding to a time when a latest message was written; and
sending means for sending an e-mail to an owner of a bulletin board having the latest message if the time point extracted by the extracting means is before a prescribed time point, wherein the information relating to the bulletin board that is stored in the second storage means includes at least one of a community ID for identification of the community, a message ID for identification of a message on the bulletin board, a time when the message was written, a user ID that is assigned to a user who wrote the message, and a message ID of another message that is included if the message is a reply to said another message.
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Abstract
A method and an information processing apparatus are provided for efficiently advertising a community provided in a virtual space. A user transmits a request for generating a community in a virtual space. Data relating to a community is newly generated and stored. Greeting sentences are thereafter sent to communities that are near the newly generated community in a virtual positional relationship of a virtual space.
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Citations
16 Claims
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1. An information processing apparatus for managing a plurality of communities in a virtual space, comprising:
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first storage means for storing pieces of positional information of the respective communities in the virtual space; second storage means for storing information relating to bulletin boards that are provided in the communities, wherein when positional information of a newly generated community is stored in the first storage means, and wherein information relating to the newly generated community and which is to be written to bulletin boards of communities that are near the newly generated community in the virtual space is generated and stored in the second storage means; extracting means for searching among the information stored in the second storage means for each of the communities, for time points indicating when messages were written to the bulletin board and extracting a time point corresponding to a time when a latest message was written; and sending means for sending an e-mail to an owner of a bulletin board having the latest message if the time point extracted by the extracting means is before a prescribed time point, wherein the information relating to the bulletin board that is stored in the second storage means includes at least one of a community ID for identification of the community, a message ID for identification of a message on the bulletin board, a time when the message was written, a user ID that is assigned to a user who wrote the message, and a message ID of another message that is included if the message is a reply to said another message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. An information processing apparatus for managing a plurality of communities in a virtual space, comprising:
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first storage means for storing pieces of positional information of the respective communities in the virtual space; second storage means for storing information relating to bulletin boards that are provided in communities, wherein when positional information of a newly generated community is stored in the first storage means, and wherein information relating to the newly generated community and which is to be written to bulletin boards of communities that are near the newly generated community in the virtual space is generated and stored in the second storage means; extracting means for extracting, for each of the communities, an unreplied to message having no message ID of another message among the information stored in the second storing means; and communicating means for communicating, to an owner of a bulletin board having the unreplied message, the unreplied to message itself extracted by the extracting means, wherein the information relating to the bulletin board that is stored in the second storage means includes at least one of a community ID for identification of the community, a message ID for identification of a message on the bulletin board, a time when the message was written, a user ID that is assigned to a user who wrote the message, and a message ID of another message that is included if the message is a reply to said another message. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15)
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16. An information processing apparatus for managing a plurality of communities in a virtual space, comprising:
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first storage means for storing pieces of positional information of the respective communities in the virtual space; second storage means for storing information relating to bulletin boards that are provided in communities, wherein when positional information of a newly generated community is stored in the first storage means, and wherein information relating to the newly generated community and which is to be written to bulletin boards of communities that are near the newly generated community in the virtual space is generated and stored in the second storage means; extracting means for extracting, for each of the communities, an unreplied message having no message ID of another message among the information stored in the second storing storage means; and communicating means for communicating, to an owner of a bulletin board having the unreplied to message, a message to the effect that the unreplied to message exists on the bulletin board, wherein the information relating to the bulletin board that is stored in the second storage means includes at least one of a community ID for identification of the community, a message ID for identification of a message on the bulletin board, a time when the message was written, a user ID that is assigned to a user who wrote the message, and a message ID of another message that is included if the message is a reply to said another message.
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Specification