System and method for using partial teleportation or relocation in virtual worlds
First Claim
1. A method for previewing a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method including:
- establishing a location in said virtual universe at which a partial teleportation to said teleportation destination can be performed;
caching an image of a portion of said teleportation destination;
moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe while said avatar is anchored in said virtual universe; and
in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination concurrently with display of an image of said avatar at said location in said virtual universe to a user corresponding to said avatar.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The processing burden of rendering incident to a full teleportation operation in a virtual universe is avoided while contact with particular teleport destinations is promoted by provision of a partial teleportation facility such as a virtual kiosk as an object within a virtual universe (which may be sponsored or owned by users wishing to promote particular teleportation destinations) at which an avatar can view previously rendered images of portions of one or more teleportation destinations. Limited interaction and simulated travel within the teleportation destination can be achieved through image manipulation and updates rather than rendering. An avatar image can be displayed in connection with both the object and the teleport destination with, preferably control of only one avatar image while the other is displayed using a low resolution image. Full teleportation can be initiated automatically upon detection of a particular condition such as duration of an avatar presence at the location of the partial teleportation facility object. When full teleportation is initiated, the processing intensive rendering can be supplemented from image data representing the portion or the teleportation destination, thus hiding rendering delays and simulating seamless, instantaneous response to the full teleportation operation.
19 Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for previewing a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method including:
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establishing a location in said virtual universe at which a partial teleportation to said teleportation destination can be performed; caching an image of a portion of said teleportation destination; moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe while said avatar is anchored in said virtual universe; and in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination concurrently with display of an image of said avatar at said location in said virtual universe to a user corresponding to said avatar. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions comprising a program to control operations of a data processor, said program, when run on said data processor, causing said data processor to perform steps of:
- establishing a location in a virtual universe at which a partial teleportation to a teleportation destination can be performed;
caching an image of a portion of said teleportation destination;
moving an avatar to said location in said virtual universe while said avatar is anchored in said virtual universe; and
in response to said step of moving an avatar to said location, displaying said image of a portion of said teleportation destination concurrently with display of an image of said avatar in said teleportation facility to a user corresponding to said avatar. - View Dependent Claims (7, 8, 9, 10)
- establishing a location in a virtual universe at which a partial teleportation to a teleportation destination can be performed;
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11. A virtual universe system including at least one computer or special purpose processor configured to provide:
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an object at a location within said virtual universe from which partial teleportation to a teleportation destination can be performed; a location comparator for determining presence of an avatar at said location; an image cache for storing data representing an image of a portion of a teleportation destination; and an image generator for displaying to a user corresponding to said avatar said image of said portion of said teleportation destination concurrently with displaying to said user an image of said avatar at said object, responsive to detected presence of said avatar at said object. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method of presenting an image of a teleportation destination in a virtual universe, said method comprising,
defining an object corresponding to a teleportation destination at a location in said virtual universe at which partial teleportation to said teleportation destination may be performed, and displaying to a user corresponding to an avatar a portion of said teleportation destination corresponding to said object concurrently with an image of said avatar in connection with said object when said avatar is located at said location without teleporting said avatar to said teleportation destination.
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21. A method of operating a virtual universe system on a plurality of networked data processors to provide the appearance to a user of teleportation without delays due to rendering of said teleportation destination in connection with teleportation, said method comprising configuring at least one data processor of said plurality of data processors to provide
an object at a location within said virtual universe from which partial teleportation to a teleportation destination can be performed; -
a location comparator for determining presence of an avatar at said location; an image cache for storing data representing an image of a portion of said teleportation destination; and an image generator for displaying to a user corresponding to said avatar said image of said portion of said teleportation destination concurrently with an image of said avatar at said object, responsive to detected presence of said avatar at said location.
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Specification