Data entry in a virtual environment with position indicator movement constrained between locations associated with selectable options

• US 7,139,984 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2001
• Issued: 11/21/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: British Telecommunications PLC (BT Group PLC)
• Original Assignee: British Telecommunications (BT Group Plc) (BT Group PLC)
• Inventors: Beaumont, David O, Azam, Mohammad S
• Primary Examiner(s): Huynh, Ba
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nunez, Jordany
• Application Number:
  US10/204,546
• Publication Number:
  US 20030014437A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,098 Days
• Field of Search: 715/848, 715/849, 715/850, 715/852, 715/851, 715/790, 715/507, 715/841, 715/863, 715/808, 395/353, 395/352, 395/354, 395/347
• US Class Current: 715/848
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• 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: G06F 40/117 Tagging; Marking up details of markup languages G06F40/143; Designating a block; Setting of attributes style sheets, e.g. eXtensible Stylesheet Language Transformation [XSLT], G06F40/154
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/174 Form filling; Merging
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/142 Managing session states for stateless protocols; Signalling session states; State transitions; Keeping-state mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

Information is entered into a data record which utilizes a virtual environment. A user can direct an avatar in this environment and at least one location in the virtual environment is associated with a field of the data record and with one or more selectable information options for inclusion in the field. The user is provided with representations of the selectable information options distributed around the location and the position of the avatar in the virtual environment is monitored. In the event that the avatar moves into a predefined proximity with one of the representations of the selectable options, the selection of that one of the selectable options is detected and that selected one option is then stored in the associated field of the data record.

Claims

1. A method of entering information by a user into a data form utilizing a virtual environment in which a user can direct at least one indicator of position;

at least one location in said virtual environment being associated with a field of said data form and with one or more selectable information options for inclusion in said field, the method comprising;

providing said user with representations of said selectable information options distributed around said at least one location;

monitoring the position of said indicator of position in said virtual environment;

in the event that said indicator of position moves into a predefined proximity with one of said representations of said selectable options, detecting the selection of said one of said selectable options;

and storing said selected one option in said field of said data form;

wherein said virtual environment contains a plurality of such locations, each such location being associated with a different field of said data form and with different selectable information options, further comprising constraining said indicator of position to move between said plurality of locations.

2. A method as in claim 1 further comprising providing said user with a representation of said field.

3. A method as in claim 1 in which said predefined proximity corresponds to zero distance between said indicator of position and said one of said representations.

5. A computer program storage medium, said medium embodying computer readable code for reading into a computer and executable by said computer to perform the method of claim 1.

4. A method of service provision;

said service being provided in dependence upon a data form, information being entered by a user into said data form through utilization of a virtual environment in which a user can direct at least one indicator of position;

said data form comprising a plurality of mandatory fields;

each of a plurality of locations in said virtual environment being associated with respective mandatory fields and with at least one selectable information options for inclusion in each said associated mandatory field, the method comprising;

providing said user with representations of said selectable information options distributed around each said location;

monitoring the position of said indicator of position in said virtual environment;

in respect of each said location, in the event that said indicator of position moves into a predefined proximity with one of said representations of said selectable options, detecting the selection of said one of said selectable options;

storing each said selected option in said associated mandatory field of said data form; and

in the event that said one or more mandatory fields are complete, providing said service in response to processing said completed data form.

6. An apparatus for entering information by a user into a data form, said apparatus hosting a virtual environment in which a user can direct at least one indicator of position;

at least one location in said virtual environment being associated with a field of said data form and with at least one selectable information options for inclusion in said field, said apparatus comprising;

means arranged to provide said user with representations of said selectable information options distributed around said at least one location;

means arranged to monitor the position of said indicator of position in said virtual environment;

means arranged to detect the selection of said one of said selectable options in the event that said indicator of position moves into a predefined proximity with one of said representations of said selectable options; and

means arranged to store said selected one option in said field of said data form;

wherein said virtual environment contains a plurality of such locations, each such location being associated with a different field of said data form and with different selectable information options, further comprising constraining said indicator of position to move between said plurality of locations.