Image capture and buffering in a virtual world

• US 8,026,913 B2
• Filed: 07/29/2008
• Issued: 09/27/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Garbow, Zachary A., Chen, Jim C., Cradick, Ryan K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yang, Ryan R
• Application Number:
  US12/181,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20100026716A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,155 Days
• Field of Search: 345/419, 345/633
• US Class Current: 345/419
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/525 Changing parameters of virtual cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/60 Generating or modifying game content before or while executing the game program, e.g. authoring tools specially adapted for game development or game-integrated level editor
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/6669 using a plurality of virtual cameras concurrently or sequentially, e.g. automatically switching between fixed virtual cameras when a character change rooms

Abstract

A technique is disclosed for detecting photo opportunities within a virtual environment. In response to detecting a photo opportunity, images of the virtual environment may be captured from perspectives not limited to the user'"'"'s viewport. A variety of physiological and virtual world parameters are measured to determine when to capture an image of a user interacting with the virtual environment. To improve the quality of images, these parameters may be individually weighted by factors specified by the user. Captured images may be stored in a temporary buffer space, possibly replacing older images. The user may view the buffer contents and select ideal images to move to a permanent gallery. The user'"'"'s image selections can in turn be used to further improve the quality of future images.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method for capturing image data depicting a virtual world, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of measurements related to a user interacting with the virtual word;

computing, from all of the plurality of measurements by at least one computer processor, a current value for a photo opportunity score;

comparing the current value for the photo opportunity score to a predefined threshold; and

upon determining that the current value for the opportunity score exceeds the predefined threshold, capturing a set of image data of the virtual world.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the plurality of measurements is weighted by a user-configurable weighting value.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, storing the captured image data of the virtual world in a buffer, wherein the buffer is configured to store a plurality of sets of image data and a photo opportunity score corresponding to each set of image data.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving a selection of one of the sets of image data from the buffer; and

copying the selected set of image data to a permanent photo gallery.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of measurements includes at least one of a number of nearby friends, a relationship strength of friends, a type of activity being performed, a magnitude of activity, microphone cues, characters used in an instant message exchange, a typing speed, a typing pattern, a keyword used in an instant message exchange, dialogue content, and an aggregation of viewport orientations.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of image data includes a plurality of images capturing an image of the virtual world, and wherein each image is captured from a distinct camera position.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the set of image data include a set of three-dimensional scene data describing each object depicted in the virtual environment at when the set of image data is captured.

8. A computer-readable storage medium containing a program which, when executed, performs an operation for capturing image data depicting a virtual world, comprising:

monitoring a plurality of measurements related to a user interacting with the virtual word;

computing, from all of the plurality of measurements, a current value for a photo opportunity score;

comparing the current value for the photo opportunity score to a predefined threshold; and

upon determining that the current value for the opportunity score exceeds the predefined threshold, capturing a set of image data of the virtual world.

9. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein at least one of the plurality of measurements is weighted by a user-configurable weighting value.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises, storing the captured image data of the virtual world in a buffer, wherein the buffer is configured to store a plurality of sets of image data and a photo opportunity score corresponding to each set of image data.

11. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a selection of one of the sets of image data from the buffer; and

copying the selected set of image data to a permanent photo gallery.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the plurality of measurements includes at least one of a number of nearby friends, a relationship strength of friends, a type of activity being performed, a magnitude of activity, microphone cues, characters used in an instant message exchange, a typing speed, a typing pattern, a keyword used in an instant message exchange, dialogue content, and an aggregation of viewport orientations.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the set of image data includes a plurality of images capturing an image of the virtual world, and wherein each image is captured from a distinct camera position.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 8, wherein the set of image data include a set of three-dimensional scene data describing each object depicted in the virtual environment at when the set of image data is captured.

15. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory containing a program, which when executed by the processor is configured to perform an operation for capturing image data depicting a virtual world, comprising;

monitoring a plurality of measurements related to a user interacting with the virtual word;

computing, from all of the plurality of measurements, a current value for a photo opportunity score;

comparing the current value for the photo opportunity score to a predefined threshold; and

upon determining that the current value for the opportunity score exceeds the predefined threshold, capturing a set of image data of the virtual world.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein at least one of the plurality of measurements is weighted by a user-configurable weighting value.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operation further comprises, storing the captured image data of the virtual world in a buffer, wherein the buffer is configured to store a plurality of sets of image data and a photo opportunity score corresponding to each set of image data.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the operation further comprises:

receiving a selection of one of the sets of image data from the buffer; and

copying the selected set of image data to a permanent photo gallery.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the plurality of measurements includes at least one of a number of nearby friends, a relationship strength of friends, a type of activity being performed, a magnitude of activity, microphone cues, characters used in an instant message exchange, a typing speed, a typing pattern, a keyword used in an instant message exchange, dialogue content, and an aggregation of viewport orientations.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of image data includes a plurality of images capturing an image of the virtual world, and wherein each image is captured from a distinct camera position.

21. The system of claim 15, wherein the set of image data include a set of three-dimensional scene data describing each object depicted in the virtual environment at when the set of image data is captured.