Systems and methods of virtual world interaction

• US 8,621,368 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2012
• Issued: 12/31/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pfaqutruma Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Utherverse, Inc.
• Inventors: Burch, Aaron, Kristiansen, Friso, Shuster, Brian, Neufeld, Ian, Herling, Dirk, Tyroler, Patrick, Shuster, Gary
• Primary Examiner(s): Hailu, Tadeese
• Assistant Examiner(s): Bycer, Eric J
• Application Number:
  US13/590,187
• Publication Number:
  US 20130047098A1
• Time in Patent Office: 498 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/757, 715848-850
• US Class Current: 715/757
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/355 Performing operations on behalf of clients with restricted processing capabilities, e.g. servers transform changing game scene into an encoded video stream for transmitting to a mobile phone or a thin client
• 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 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5586 for enforcing rights or rules, e.g. to prevent foul play
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/64 for computing dynamical parameters of game objects, e.g. motion determination or computation of frictional forces for a virtual car
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/65 for computing the condition of a game character
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/8082 Virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/444 Spatial browsing, e.g. 2D maps, 3D or virtual spaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/954 Navigation, e.g. using categorised browsing
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• 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 3/04842 Selection of displayed objects or displayed text elements G06F3/0482 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0487 using specific features provided by the input device, e.g. functions controlled by the rotation of a mouse with dual sensing arrangements, or of the nature of the input device, e.g. tap gestures based on pressure sensed by a digitiser
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/14 Tree-structured documents parsing G06F40/205; validation G06F40/226
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 40/143 Markup, e.g. Standard Generalized Markup Language [SGML] or Document Type Definition [DTD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/003 Navigation within 3D models or images
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 19/20 Editing of 3D images, e.g. changing shapes or colours, aligning objects or positioning parts
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/024 Multi-user, collaborative environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2219/2016 Rotation, translation, scaling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/08 : for authentication of entities cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication H04L9/32
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 : Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4015 : where at least one of the additional parallel sessions is real time or time sensitive, e.g. white board sharing, collaboration or spawning of a subconference
• 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 67/02 : based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 : Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

Systems and methods of virtual world interaction, operation, implementation, instantiation, creation, and other functions related to virtual worlds (note that where the term “virtual world” is used herein, it is to be understood as referring to virtual world systems, virtual environments reflecting real, simulated, fantasy, or other structures, and includes information systems that utilize interaction within a 3D environment). Various embodiments facilitate interoperation between and within virtual worlds, and may provide consistent structures for operating virtual worlds. The disclosed embodiments may further enable individuals to build new virtual worlds within a framework, and allow third party users to better interact with those worlds.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

instantiating, by a computing system having one or more hardware computer processors, in one or more computer memories of the computing system, a three-dimensional scene defined by a collection of document objects, wherein the document objects are encoded and define respective three-dimensional modeled objects or spaces;

receiving respective signals from two or more client devices, the signals indicating respective changes to versions of the three-dimensional scene associated with the two or more client devices, the signals including a first signal received at a first instance of the three-dimensional scene from a first client device and a second signal received at a second instance of the three-dimensional scene from a second client device, the first signal and the second signal each indicating respective changes to an object included in the collection of document objects;

determining a sequence of states for the object over time based on the indicated respective changes from the first instance and the second instance;

recording, in the one or more computer memories, a sequence of three-dimensional scene states based on the determined sequence of states of the object at successive times of a time sequence, including at least position and orientation of the object modeled in the scene; and

providing data representing the sequence of three-dimensional scene states to the two or more client devices, such that upon application of the sequence of three-dimensional scene states, respective instances of the three-dimensional scene associated with the two or more client devices include a synchronized scene state.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising instantiating an instance of the scene at least in part by instantiating ones of the document objects in the collection.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising instantiating at least one of the document objects at least in part by creating, from a document template received by the processor, a copy of the at least one of the document objects in the collection of document objects.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising organizing the collection of document objects in a hierarchical tree based on document object properties.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising installing one or more components in the one or more computer memories adapted for supporting an instance of the scene, in response to receiving an instruction from a server.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising controlling the collection of document objects at least in part by detecting, using the one or more components executing by the processor, ones of the signals signifying events corresponding to ones of the document objects.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising generating an information signal in response to the detecting the ones of the signals signifying events, and transmitting the information signal to the server.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising communicating with the server using the one or more components executing by the processor to determine respective outcomes of the events.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising updating states of one or more of the document objects in the collection, according to the respective outcomes.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising formatting the data into a format enabling a three-dimensional animated display of the scene for a user interface of the two or more client devices.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the document objects are encoded according to a markup language selected from the group consisting of:

a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) object, an Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML).

12. An apparatus comprising;

a computer processor; and

a memory holding instructions configured for execution by the processor to cause the apparatus to;

instantiate a three-dimensional scene defined by a collection of document objects, wherein the document objects are encoded in a markup language and define respective three-dimensional modeled objects or spaces;

receive respective signals from two or more client devices each depicting respective versions of the three-dimensional scene, the signal indicating a change to a respective version of the three-dimensional scene associated with the client device transmitting the signal, the signals including a first signal received at a first instance of the three-dimensional scene from a first client device and a second signal received at a second instance of the three-dimensional scene from a second client device, the first signal and the second signal each indicating a change to an object included in the collection of document objects;

determine a sequence of states for the object over time based on the indicated respective changes from the first instance and the second instance;

record a sequence of three-dimensional scene states based on the determined sequence of states of the object at successive times of a time sequence, including at least position and orientation of the object modeled in the scene; and

provide data representing the sequence of three-dimensional scene states to the two or more client devices, such that upon application of the sequence of three-dimensional scene states, respective instances of the three-dimensional scene associated with the two or more client devices include a synchronized scene state.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory holds further instructions for instantiating an instance of the scene at least in part by instantiating ones of the document objects in the collection.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory holds further instructions for instantiating at least one of the document objects at least in part by creating, from a document template received by the processor, a copy of the at least one of the document objects in the collection of document objects.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the memory holds further instructions for organizing the collection of document objects in a hierarchical tree based on document object properties.

16. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory holds further instructions for installing one or more components in the memory adapted for supporting an instance of the scene, in response to receiving an instruction from a server.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the memory holds further instructions for controlling the collection of document objects at least in part by detecting, using the one or more components executing by the processor, ones of the signals signifying events corresponding to ones of the document objects.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the memory holds further instructions for generating an information signal in response to the detecting the ones of the signals signifying events, and transmitting the information signal to the server.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the memory holds further instructions for communicating with the server using the one or more components executing by the processor to determine respective outcomes of the events.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the memory holds further instructions for updating states of one or more of the document objects in the collection, according to the respective outcomes.

21. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory holds further instructions for formatting the data into a format enabling a three-dimensional animated display of the scene for a user interface of the two or more client devices.

22. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the memory holds further instructions for interpreting the document objects according to the markup language selected from the group consisting of:

a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) object, an Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (XHTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML).