Dynamic location generation within a virtual world

• US 8,171,408 B2
• Filed: 12/17/2008
• Issued: 05/01/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Activision Publishing Incorporated (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Hamilton, Rick A. II, Pickover, Clifford A., Seaman, James W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Cao “Kevin”
• Application Number:
  US12/336,802
• Publication Number:
  US 20100153860A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,231 Days
• Field of Search: 715700-715, 715763-765, 715851-853, 715736-738
• US Class Current: 715/706
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/52 involving aspects of the displayed game scene
• 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 13/71 using secure communication between game devices and game servers, e.g. by encrypting game data or authenticating players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/79 involving player-related data, e.g. identities, accounts, preferences or play histories
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5533 using program state or machine event data, e.g. server keeps track of the state of multiple players on in a multiple player game
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/66 for rendering three dimensional images

Abstract

An approach is provided for dynamic loading and rendering of avatar'"'"'s initial login environment. The approach consists of a method and a system for dynamically rendering locations from a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by an avatar. In one embodiment the method consists of creating a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by the avatar, rendering a dynamically built continuous environment populated from such preference list of locations most likely to be visited by the avatar, and caching and thereafter rendering at least one of the locations from the preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar.

Claims

1. A method for dynamically building and rendering a location environment, upon an avatar'"'"'s login to a virtual world, from a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by an avatar, said method comprising:

creating a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar, said creating a preference list of locations comprising;

calculating a probability of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar,

and

comparing said probabilities of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar to determine a priority of said locations to be displayed on said preference list;

combining at least two neighboring entries from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar to dynamically build continuous location environment, and

caching and thereafter rendering said dynamically built continuous location environment populated from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar.

2. The method according to claim 1, said preference list dynamically constructed based upon the locations visited by said avatar during a most recent login.

3. The method according to claim 1, said preference list dynamically constructed based upon a number of times said locations were visited.

4. The method according to claim 1, said preference list dynamically constructed based upon a previous duration of each visit to said locations.

5. The method according to claim 1, said preference list further comprising self-contained fragments of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar, said rendering comprising said fragments, each fragment containing at least one indicator describing or advertising the original complete location of said fragment.

6. The method according to claim 1, said preference list dynamically constructed and updated based on avatar'"'"'s requests for a set of locations or portions thereof to be included and prioritized in said preference list.

7. The method according to claim 1, said preference list dynamically updated based on crowd sourcing.

8. The method according to claim 1, further comprising dropping a plurality of locations from current rendering equivalent in number to the number of newly cached locations such that the new rendering is comprised of at least one of the locations from said preference list and a subset of the originally displayed environment.

9. A computer system for dynamically rendering a locations environment, upon an avatar'"'"'s login to a virtual world, from a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by an avatar, comprising:

at least one processing unit;

memory operably associated with the at least one processing unit; and

a preference assessment tool storable in memory and executable by the at least one processing unit, the preference assessment tool comprising;

a probability calculation component configured to calculate a probability of a next visit to each of locations by said avatar;

a prioritization component configured to compare said probabilities of next visit to each of locations by said avatar to determine a priority of said locations to be displayed on said preference list; and

a rendering component configured to continuously render the location environment in the virtual universe, said location environment cached and thereafter rendered based on the priority of said locations to be displayed on said preference list and based on a personalized combination of at least two neighboring entries from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar.

10. The preference assessment tool according to claim 9, the probability calculation component further configured to raise said probability for locations visited by said avatar during a most recent login.

11. The preference assessment tool according to claim 9, the probability calculation component configured to raise said probability for locations visited the most number of times during a plurality of logins by said avatar.

12. The probability calculation component according to claim 9, further comprising a component to raise said probability for locations with longest durations of each visit during plurality of logins by said avatar.

13. The probability calculation component according to claim 9, further comprising a component to raise said probability for locations with longest durations of each visit during plurality of logins by said avatar.

14. The prioritization component as in claim 9, further comprising an interface for manually configuring the display order of locations in said preference list.

15. The computer system as in claim 9, further comprising a caching component configured to:

identify a next location from the preference list of locations; and

download and cache within a cache, said next location from said preference list of locations.

16. A computer-readable medium storing computer instructions, which when executed, enable a computer system to dynamically build and render a location environment, upon an avatar'"'"'s login to a virtual world, from a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by an avatar, in a virtual universe, the computer instructions comprising:

creating a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar, said creating a preference list of locations comprising;

calculating a probability of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar,

and

comparing said probabilities of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar to determine a priority of said locations to be displayed on said preference list;

combining at least two neighboring entries from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar to dynamically build continuous location environment, and

caching and thereafter rendering said dynamically built continuous location environment populated from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar.

17. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for constructing said preference list based upon the locations visited by said avatar during a most recent login.

18. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for constructing said preference list based upon a number of times said locations were visited during plurality of logins by said avatar.

19. The computer-readable medium according to claim 16, further comprising instructions for constructing said preference list based upon durations of each visit to said locations during plurality of logins by said avatar.

20. A method for deploying a rendering tool for use in a computer system that provides building and rendering of a location environment from a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by an avatar in a virtual universe, said method comprising:

providing a computer infrastructure operable to;

create a preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar, said creating a reference list of locations comprising;

calculating a probability of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar,

and

comparing said probabilities of a next visit to each of said locations by said avatar to determine a priority of said locations to be displayed on said preference list;

combine at least two neighboring entries from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar to dynamically build continuous location environment, and

cache and thereafter render said dynamically built continuous location environment populated from said preference list of locations most likely to be visited by said avatar.