Shared virtual area communication environment based apparatus and methods

• US 8,191,001 B2
• Filed: 04/03/2009
• Issued: 05/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Van Wie, David, Brody, Paul J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Robinson, Greta
• Assistant Examiner(s): Weinrich, Brian E.
• Application Number:
  US12/418,243
• Publication Number:
  US 20090254843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 715/757, 707/726, 707/724, 707/727
• US Class Current: 715/757
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• 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 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1813 for computer conferences, e.g. chat rooms instant messaging H04L51/04; protocols for multimedia communication H04L65/1101; arrangements for multi-party communication H04L65/403; telephonic conference arrangements H04M3/56; television conference systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1822 Conducting the conference, e.g. admission, detection, selection or grouping of participants, correlating users to one or more conference sessions, prioritising transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 7/157 defining a virtual conference space and using avatars or agents computer conference optimisation or adaptation H04L12/1827

Abstract

Improved systems and methods for navigating and interacting in virtual communication environments are described. At least some of these systems and methods provide a framework that includes one or more virtual areas and supports realtime communications between the communicants. At least some of these systems and methods provide an interface that includes navigation controls that enable a user to navigate virtual areas and interaction controls that enable the user to interact with other communicants in the one or more virtual areas.

Claims

1. A method, comprising by a computer system performing operations comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction;

administering the network communication environment based on the historical interaction records, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on a query comprising at least one communicant identifier attribute value that respectively identifies at least one communicant, and determining from results of the querying at least one of a set of the virtual areas in which the at least one communicant interacted and a set of the communicants with whom the at least one communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas;

ranking the communicants in the list based on the results of the querying, wherein the ranking comprises determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set of communicants based on at least one statistic derived from results of the querying of the historical interaction records, and the ranking comprises ordering the communicants in the list of communicants by relevance score.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records start and end times of the respective interaction, and the query comprises at least one of a particular start time and a particular end time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more data identifier values respectively identifying data shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the results of the querying comprise one or more of the data stream identifiers, and further comprising retrieving data based on the one or more of the data stream identifiers in the results of the querying.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the place attribute values identifies a zone of a respective one of the virtual areas in which respective ones of the interactions occurred, and the query comprises the place attribute value that identifies the zone of the respective virtual area.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each of one or more place attribute values identifies a respective one of the virtual areas within the network communication environment either by uniquely naming the respective virtual area or by describing a unique address of the respective virtual area.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the querying is performed based on input data received from the network node of a particular one of the communicants.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the administering comprises transmitting a list of communicants in the set of communicants to the network node of the particular communicant.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the administering comprises transmitting a list of virtual areas in the set of the virtual areas to the network node of the particular communicant.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevance scores measure frequency of interaction between the at least one communicant and the communicants in the set of communicants.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the relevance scores measure recentness of interaction between the at least one communicant and the communicants in the set of communicants.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising ranking the virtual areas in the list of virtual areas based on the results of the querying, and ordering the identified ones of the virtual areas in the list by rank.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises associating with a particular one of the communicants a respective current location attribute value that identifies a respective one of the virtual areas in which the particular communicant is present.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the administering comprises determining whether a particular one of the communicants satisfies at least one governance rule associated with a particular one of the virtual areas based on at least one statistic derived from results of querying the historical interaction records, and enabling the particular communicant to access a resource associated with the virtual area based on a determination that the particular communicant satisfies the at least one governance rule.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the particular virtual area is associated with the governance rule by a virtual area specification comprising a description of geometric elements of the particular virtual area.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the governance rule describes criteria for accessing the resource.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the governance rule describes a scope of access to the resource.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the governance rule describes one or more consequences of access to the resource.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the historical interaction records on at least one computer-readable medium.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein each historical interaction record describes an interaction between a pair of communicants.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the virtual areas comprises multiple zones, and each of the zones supports establishment of communicant presence and is associated with a respective set of one or more switching rules for connecting sources and sinks of the network nodes that are associated with respective ones of the communicants who have presence in the zone, and the administering comprises administering interactions of communicants in the zones of the at least one virtual area based on results of querying the historical interaction records.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the administering further comprises:

transmitting to the network node of a particular one of the communicants a list of virtual areas in the set of the virtual areas;

based on receipt of a request to interact in a selected one of the virtual areas from the network node of the particular communicant in connection with the transmitted list of virtual areas, determining whether the particular communicant is eligible to enter the selected virtual area based on results of querying the historical interaction records; and

based on a determination that the particular communicant is eligible to enter the selected virtual area, establishing a presence for the particular communicant in the virtual area.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the administering further comprises:

transmitting to the network node of a particular one of the communicants a list of communicants in the set of the communicants;

based on receipt of a request to communicate with a selected one of the communicants from the network node of the particular communicant in connection with the transmitted list of communicants, determining whether the particular communicant is eligible to communicate with the selected communicant based on results of querying the historical interaction records; and

based on a determination that the particular communicant is eligible to communicate with the selected communicant, enabling the particular communicant to communicate with the selected communicant.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the communicants is associated with a respective object, and the administering comprises transmitting to the network node of a particular one of the communicants a specification of a graphic presentation of the objects associated with other ones of the communicants who are present in a particular one of the virtual areas.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on input data received from the network node of the particular communicant in connection with an interface element associated with the graphic presentation of the objects.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the administering comprises determining the graphic presentation of the objects based on results of querying the historical interaction records.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the administering comprises determining from the results of querying the historical interaction records frequencies of interaction between the particular communicant and other ones of the communicants, and the determining of the graphic presentation of the objects is based on the determined frequencies of interaction.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein the administering comprises determining from results of querying the historical interaction records recentness of interaction between the particular communicant and other ones of the communicants, and the determining of the graphic presentation of the objects is based on the determined recentness of interaction.

28. The method of claim 1, the administering comprises identifying at least one of the virtual areas based on results of querying the historical interaction records, transmitting to the network node of a particular one of the communicants a specification of a graphic presentation of the at least one identified virtual area, and establishing a respective presence for the user in the at least one identified virtual area.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the administering comprises determining from the results of querying the historical interaction records frequencies of interaction between the particular communicant and other ones of the communicants, and the determining of the graphic presentation of the at least one identified virtual area is based on the determined frequencies of interaction.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the administering comprises determining from the results of querying the historical interaction records recentness of interaction between the particular communicant and other ones of the communicants, and the determining of the graphic presentation of the at least one identified virtual area is based on the determined recentness of interaction.

31. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more recording identifiers respectively identifying one or more recordings of audio data streams that are shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the results of the querying comprise one or more of the recording identifiers, and further comprising retrieving one or more of the recordings based on the one or more of the recording identifiers in the results of the querying.

32. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more chat data identifiers respectively identifying one or more data files of text chat data streams that are shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the results of the querying comprise one or more of the chat data identifiers, and further comprising retrieving one or more of the data files based on the one or more of the chat data identifiers in the results of the querying.

33. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more video data identifiers respectively identifying one or more data files comprising video data streams that are shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the results of the querying comprise one or more of the video data identifiers, and further comprising retrieving one or more of the data files based on the one or more of the video data identifiers in the results of the querying.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more data file identifiers respectively identifying one or more data files that are shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the results of the querying comprise one or more of the data file identifiers, and further comprising retrieving one or more of the data files based on the one or more of the data file identifiers in the results of the querying.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the query comprises multiple communicant identifier attribute values that respectively identify particular ones of the communicants, and the determining comprises determining at least one of the virtual areas in which the particular communicants were co-present.

36. The method of claim 35, wherein the associating comprises including in each of one or more of the historical interaction records one or more data identifiers respectively identifying data shared from respective ones of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction, the query comprises the identifier attribute values identifying the particular communicants and the place attribute value identifying a particular one of the virtual areas, and the determining comprises determining from results of the querying data shared in the particular virtual area while the particular communicants were co-present.

37. A method, comprising by a computer system performing operations comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction;

administering the network communication environment based on the historical interaction records, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on a query comprising at least one communicant identifier attribute value that respectively identifies at least one communicant, and determining from results of the querying at least one of a set of the virtual areas in which the at least one communicant interacted and a set of the communicants with whom the at least one communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas;

ranking the virtual areas in the list of virtual areas based on the results of the querying, wherein the ranking comprises determining a respective relevance score for each of the virtual areas in the set of virtual areas based on at least one statistic derived from results of the querying of the historical interaction records, and the ranking comprises ordering the virtual areas in the list of virtual areas by relevance score.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the relevance scores measure frequency of interaction between the at least one communicant and the virtual areas in the set of virtual areas.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the relevance scores measure recentness of interaction between the at least one communicant and the other virtual areas in the set of virtual areas.

40. A method, comprising operating a processor to perform operations comprising:

associating place attribute values with realtime interactions of a user and other communicants operating on respective network nodes and sharing a virtual communication environment comprising one or more virtual areas and supporting realtime communications between the user and the other communicants, wherein the associating comprises, for each interaction involving a respective one of the communicants in a respective one of the one or more virtual areas, generating a respective interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify respective ones of the communicants that participated in the interaction;

interfacing the user and the other communicants to the virtual communication environment based on the associated place attribute values, wherein the interfacing comprises establishing a respective presence of the user in a particular one of the virtual areas based on at least one statistic derived from the interaction records; and

determining a frequency of interaction of the user in the particular virtual area;

wherein the establishing comprises

establishing the respective presence of the user in the particular virtual area based on the determined frequency of interaction in the particular virtual area, and

based on a determination that the determined frequency of interaction meets a specified threshold level, automatically establishing the respective presence of the user in the particular virtual area.

41. The method of claim 40, wherein the establishing comprises:

based on a determination that the determined frequency of interaction in the particular virtual area fails to meet the specified threshold level, requiring confirmation by an authorized communicant before establishing the respective presence of the user in the particular virtual area.

42. A method, comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction, wherein each historical interaction record is stored in a database that is searchable by place attribute value and communicant identifier attribute value;

administering the network communication environment based on at least one statistic derived from the historical interaction records;

querying the database based on a query comprising a communicant identifier attribute value that identifies a particular one of the communicants;

determining from results of the querying a set of the communicants with whom the particular communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas;

determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set based on the at least one statistic; and

ordering the communicants in the set by relevance score.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein each of the communicants is associated with a respective object, and the administering comprises transmitting to the network node of the particular communicant a specification of a graphic representation of a particular one of the virtual areas in which the particular communicant is present and a graphic representation of each of the objects associated with other ones of the communicants who are present in the particular virtual area.

44. The method of claim 43, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records and deriving the at least one statistic from results of the querying, and the querying is initiated based on input data received from the network node of the particular communicant in connection with an interface element associated with the graphic representation of the particular virtual area.

45. The method of claim 42, further comprising deriving the at least one statistic from ones of the historical interaction records comprising a respective one of the place attribute values that identifies a particular one of the virtual areas.

46. The method of claim 42, further comprising deriving the at least one statistic from ones of the historical interaction records comprising a respective one of the place attribute values that identifies a particular one of the virtual areas and the communicant identifier attribute value that identifies the particular communicant.

47. The method of claim 42, further comprising transmitting to the network node of the particular communicant a specification of a graphic presentation of ones of the communicants in the set.

48. The method of claim 42, wherein the relevance scores measure frequency of interaction between the particular communicant and the communicants in the set.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the relevance scores measure recentness of interaction between the particular communicant and the communicants in the set.

50. The method of claim 42, wherein the administering comprises transmitting to the network node of the particular communicant a specification of a graphic presentation of the communicants who are present in a particular one of the virtual areas, and moving an object associated with the particular communicant into the particular virtual area in response to selection of one of the graphic representations of the other communicants in the virtual area by the particular communicant.

51. The method of claim 42, further comprising determining from results of the querying a set of the virtual areas in which the particular communicant has interacted.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein the administering comprises transmitting to the network node of the particular communicant a specification of a graphic presentation of ones of the virtual areas in the set.

53. The method of claim 42, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on two or more of place identifying attribute values, communicant identifying attribute values, and time attribute values.

54. The method of claim 42, wherein the generating comprises, for each of respective ones of the realtime interactions, generating a respective one of the historical interaction records comprising an identifier of the particular virtual area in which the interaction occurred, a respective identifier of each of the communicants in the particular virtual area when the interaction occurred, one or more time values indicating when the interaction occurred, and a file location identifier for each file shared from a respective one of the communicant network nodes during the respective interaction.

55. The method of claim 42, wherein the associating comprises, in respective ones of the historical interaction records, associating the respective place identifier value with identifiers of data files derived from realtime communications between one or more of the communicants participating in the respective interactions.

56. The method of claim 42, wherein each historical interaction record describes an interaction between a pair of communicants.

57. The method of claim 42, wherein at least one of the virtual areas comprises multiple zones, and each of the zones supports establishment of communicant presence and is associated with a respective set of one or more switching rules for connecting sources and sinks of the network nodes that are associated with respective ones of the communicants who have presence in the zone, and the administering comprises administering interactions of communicants in the zones of the at least one virtual area based on results of querying the historical interaction records.

58. The method of claim 42, wherein the administering further comprises:

transmitting to the network node of a respective one of the communicants a list of virtual areas in the set of the virtual areas;

based on receipt of a request to interact in a selected one of the virtual areas from the network node of the respective communicant in connection with the transmitted list of virtual areas, determining whether the respective communicant is eligible to enter the selected virtual area based on results of querying the interaction records; and

based on a determination that the respective communicant is eligible to enter the selected virtual area, establishing a presence for the respective communicant in the virtual area.

59. The method of claim 42, wherein the administering further comprises:

transmitting to the network node of a respective one of the communicants a list of communicants in the set of the communicants;

based on receipt of a request to communicate with a selected one of the communicants from the network node of the respective communicant in connection with the transmitted list of communicants, determining whether the respective communicant is eligible to communicate with the selected communicant based on results of querying the interaction records; and

based on a determination that the respective communicant is eligible to communicate with the selected communicant, enabling the respective communicant to communicate with the selected communicant.

60. A method, comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction, wherein each historical interaction record is stored in a database that is searchable by place attribute value and communicant identifier attribute value;

administering the network communication environment based on at least one statistic derived from the historical interaction records;

querying the database based on a query comprising a communicant identifier attribute value that identifies a particular one of the communicants;

determining from results of the querying a set of the virtual areas in which the particular communicant has interacted;

determining a respective relevance score for each of the virtual areas in the set based on the at least one statistic; and

ordering the virtual areas in the set by relevance score.

61. The method of claim 60, wherein the relevance scores measure frequency of interaction between the particular communicant and the virtual areas in the set.

62. The method of claim 60, wherein the relevance scores measure recentness of interaction between the particular communicant and the virtual areas in the set.

63. Apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing processor-readable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction, and

administering the network communication environment based on the historical interaction records, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on a query comprising at least one communicant identifier attribute value that respectively identifies at least one communicant, and determining from results of the querying at least one of a set of the virtual areas in which the at least one communicant interacted and a set of the communicants with whom the at least one communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas,

ranking the communicants in the list based on the results of the querying, wherein the ranking comprises determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set of communicants based on at least one statistic derived from results of the querying of the historical interaction records, wherein the ranking comprises ordering the communicants in the list of communicants by relevance score.

64. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-readable instructions embodied therein, the processor-readable instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction; and

administering the network communication environment based on the historical interaction records, wherein the administering comprises querying the historical interaction records based on a query comprising at least one communicant identifier attribute value that respectively identifies at least one communicant, and determining from results of the querying at least one of a set of the virtual areas in which the at least one communicant interacted and a set of the communicants with whom the at least one communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas;

ranking the communicants in the list based on the results of the querying, wherein the ranking comprises determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set of communicants based on at least one statistic derived from results of the querying of the historical interaction records, wherein the ranking comprises ordering the communicants in the list of communicants by relevance score.

65. Apparatus, comprising:

a memory storing processor-readable instructions; and

a processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction, wherein each historical interaction record is stored in a database that is searchable by place attribute value and communicant identifier attribute value,

administering the network communication environment based on at least one statistic derived from the historical interaction records,

querying the database based on a query comprising a communicant identifier attribute value that identifies a particular one of the communicants,

determining from results of the querying a set of the communicants with whom the particular communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas,

determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set based on the at least one statistic, and

ordering the communicants in the set by relevance score.

66. At least one computer-readable medium having processor-readable instructions embodied therein, the processor-readable instructions adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method comprising:

associating place attribute values with interactions of communicants operating respective network nodes in a network communication environment supporting realtime interactions of the communicants in virtual areas, wherein the associating comprises, for each of respective ones of the interactions, generating a respective historical interaction record comprising a respective place attribute value that identifies the virtual area in which the interaction occurred and one or more communicant identifier attribute values that identify ones of the communicants who participated in the interaction, wherein each historical interaction record is stored in a database that is searchable by place attribute value and communicant identifier attribute value;

administering the network communication environment based on at least one statistic derived from the historical interaction records;

querying the database based on a query comprising a communicant identifier attribute value that identifies a particular one of the communicants;

determining from results of the querying a set of the communicants with whom the particular communicant has interacted in respective ones of the virtual areas;

determining a respective relevance score for each of the communicants in the set based on the at least one statistic; and

ordering the communicants in the set by relevance score.