Automatically generating a reference mark in virtual shared space

• US 8,276,080 B2
• Filed: 08/22/2008
• Issued: 09/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/15/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Tatsubori, Michiaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Pesin, Boris
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUERTAS TORRES, AYESHA E
• Application Number:
  US12/197,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20090132931A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,495 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 715/751
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method and apparatus for automatically putting a reference mark on an object to pay attention to. A server device which provides a virtual reality space to multiple client devices connected to the server device via a network detects movement of an avatar related to a client device, the movement indicating an object in the virtual reality space displayed on a screen of the client device, as a trigger for generating a reference mark. In response to detection of the movement of the avatar, the server device generates a reference mark to be put on the object. The server device notifies another client device of the presence of the generated reference mark. Accordingly, the other client device is guided to the object by selecting the notification displayed on the screen.

Claims

1. A virtual reality system comprising:

a computer server configured to create a virtual reality space;

a movement detector on the computer server configured to detect movement of a first avatar on one of a plurality of computers connected to the computer server in a network, wherein the first avatar points to the virtual reality space;

a reference marker on the computer server configured to mark each of a plurality of objects with a reference mark in the virtual reality space;

a reference marker storage system that stores creation time of the reference marker, information about one of the plurality of objects on which the

reference marker is to be put, movement information about the movement of the first avatar, and avatar information about the first avatar, and

wherein the reference marker is generated based on the movement information about the movement of the first avatar; and

a guidance system configured to guide a second avatar on one of the plurality of computers to each of the plurality of objects pointed to by the first avatar in response to a user'"'"'s selecting on a screen display a notification of the presence of the reference marker; and

a policy system configured to register a policy in advance to the computer server by one of the plurality of computers, the policy defining one of the reference markers whose presence the one of the plurality of computers wishes to be notified of;

a notification system configured to select one of the reference markers that meets the policy, and notify the plurality of computers of the presence of the selected reference marker;

an information acquisition system configured to acquire from one of the plurality of computers a selection operation which one of the plurality of computers performs in response to a reference marker notification displayed on a screen; and

an updating system configured to update positional information and line information of a second avatar to guide the second avatar to one of the reference markers.

2. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the first avatar points to each of the plurality of objects for a predetermined time interval.

3. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein a user uses predetermined keywords in a chat message to cause the first avatar to point to one of the plurality of objects.

4. The virtually reality system of claim 3, wherein the chat message is stored.

5. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the notification system notifies the plurality of computers of the creation time of the selected reference mark that satisfies the predetermined policy, information about the object marked with the selected reference mark that satisfies the predetermined policy, and information about the first avatar including information about movement of the first avatar.

6. The virtual reality system of claim 1, wherein the storage system stores a value representing the number of times the reference mark of each of the plurality of objects is pointed to by the first avatar or by the second avatar, and the time when the reference mark of each of the plurality of objects was last referred to by the first avatar or by the second avatar.

7. The virtual reality system of claim 1, including a discarding system that discards the reference mark if said reference mark is not referred to for a predetermined time interval.

8. The virtual reality system of claim 1, including a response system wherein a user of one of the plurality of computers changes the location of the second avatar in response to information about the first avatar.

9. The virtual reality system of claim 7, wherein the discarding system is configured to discard the reference mark if said reference mark was created before a predetermined date.

10. A method comprising:

detecting movement of a first avatar on one of a plurality of computers connected to a computer server;

marking an object pointed to by the first avatar with a reference marker in a virtual reality space; and

storing creation time of the reference marker, information about one of the object on which the reference marker is to be put, movement information about the movement of the first avatar, and avatar information about the first avatar;

generating the reference marker based on the movement information about the movement of the first avatar;

guiding a second avatar on one of the plurality of computers to the object pointed to by the first avatar in response to a user'"'"'s selecting on a screen display a notification of the presence of the reference marker;

registering a policy in advance to the computer server by one of the plurality of computers, the policy defining a reference marker whose presence the one of the plurality of computers wishes to be notified of;

selecting the generated reference marker if the generated reference marker meets the policy, and notifying the plurality of computers of the presence of the selected reference marker;

acquiring from one of the plurality of computers a selection operation which one of the plurality of computers performs in response to a reference marker notification displayed on a display screen; and

updating positional information and line information on a second avatar to guide the second avatar to the selected reference marker.

11. A computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium, including:

computer program code configured to detect movement of a first avatar on one of a plurality of computers connected to a computer server;

computer program code configured to mark one of a plurality of objects with a reference mark in a virtual reality space pointed to by the first avatar;

computer program code configured to store creation time of the reference mark, information about one of the plurality of objects on which the reference mark is to be put, movement information about the movement of the first avatar, and avatar information about the first avatar;

computer program code configured to generate the reference mark based on the movement information about the movement of the first avatar;

computer program code configured to guide a second avatar on one of the plurality of computers to the marked object pointed to by the first avatar; and

computer program code configured to highlight or hide a notification to a plurality of users of the presence of previous reference marks.

computer program code configured to register a policy in advance to the computer server by one of the plurality of computers, the policy defining a reference mark whose presence the one of the plurality of computers wishes to be notified of;

computer program code configured to select the generated reference mark if it the generated reference marker meets the policy, and notifying the plurality of computers of the presence of the selected reference mark;

computer program code configured to acquire from one of the plurality of computers a selection operation which one of the plurality of computers performs in response to a reference mark notification displayed on a display screen; and

computer program code configured to update positional information and line information on a second avatar to guide the second avatar to the selected reference mark.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, including computer program code configured to display on a screen of one of the plurality of computers a notification of the presence and location of the reference mark.

13. The computer program product of claim 12, wherein the notification of the presence and location of the reference mark is so displayed for a predetermined time interval.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, including computer program code configured to use predetermined keywords in a chat message to cause the first avatar to point to the marked object.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, including computer program code configured to notify the computer server about the contents of a chat message.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, including computer program code configured to display on a screen of one of the client computers the reference mark of one of the plurality of objects.