Networked computer system for communicating and operating in a virtual reality environment

• US 8,655,980 B2
• Filed: 08/17/2007
• Issued: 02/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Xdyne, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Xdyne, Inc.
• Inventors: Edecker, Ada Mae, Siyanko, Alex, Syomik, Anatoly P.
• Primary Examiner(s): SHINGLES, KRISTIE D
• Application Number:
  US11/893,400
• Publication Number:
  US 20070288598A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,377 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/217, 709/227
• US Class Current: 709/217
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/50 Address allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/148 Migration or transfer of sessions

Abstract

The present invention relates to interactive virtual reality networked computer systems and methods that facilitate communication and operation in a virtual reality environment. The virtual reality networked computer system has an infrastructure that includes a number of users, hosts and servers. The interconnected hosts and servers allow users to effectively locate, activate, access and interact within virtual reality environments in a variety of different ways. For example, users can establish user groups such that interaction within the virtual reality environment occurs between hosts (accessed by users) without the need of a central or dedicated server.

Claims

1. A method of operating a virtual reality environment in an active mode within a networked computer system, the method comprising:

causing at least one of a plurality of session servers to establish an ongoing network connection between a client host, a server host, and at least one of a plurality of data servers, the at least one session server configured to communicate with the client host, the server host, and the at least one data server;

enabling the client host to receive static virtual reality data from the at least one data server via the ongoing network connection, the static virtual reality data including object information selected from the group consisting of;

a three-dimensional model, a graphic texture, a sound, a program module, and a script, the object information representing at least one virtual reality object;

enabling tile server host to transmit dynamic virtual reality data to the client host via the ongoing network connection based on at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host, the dynamic virtual reality data representing parameter values associated with at least one exemplar of the at least one virtual reality object;

enabling the client host to maintain a same set of the dynamic virtual reality data on the client host as on the server host while said ongoing network connection is active; and

enabling the client host to function as the client host with respect to a first virtual reality environment and as the server host with respect to a second different virtual reality environment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the client host is a first client host and the virtual reality environment is a first virtual reality environment, further comprising causing the first client host to display the first virtual reality environment using a virtual display located within a second virtual reality environment, the second virtual reality environment being an active virtual reality environment, without placing an avatar associated with the user of the first client host in the first virtual reality environment.

3. The method of claim 1, which includes enabling the user to provide an input to make the virtual reality environment a current active environment such that the user can interact with the current virtual reality environment via a server host local terminal.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first portion of the virtual reality data is received based on previously-received initial dynamic virtual reality data which is not based on said at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the dynamic virtual reality data is a first set of dynamic virtual reality data and wherein the client host is a first client host, which includes enabling the server host to transmit a second set of dynamic virtual reality data, which has been updated based on the at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by the user of the client host, from the first client host to a second different client host using the at least one session server.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the client host is a first client host and where the at least one session server is a first session server, further comprising transmitting the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host to a second different client host using a second different session server associated with the second different client host, the second different session server being geographically nearer to the second client host than the first session server is to the second client host.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising enabling the client host to receive additional static virtual reality data from a local storage device associated with the client host.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising enabling the client host to cache static virtual reality data received from the data server in a local storage device associated with the client host.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one session server is a first session server, further comprising enabling the server host to transmit additional dynamic virtual reality data using a second session server.

10. The method of claim 1 further comprising causing the server host to store the updated virtual reality data in a storage device associated with the server host.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising causing the client host to display an avatar in the virtual reality environment at a position selected by the user of the client host based on an avatar dynamic data record, the avatar dynamic data record being separate from the dynamic virtual reality data.

12. A method of operating a virtual reality environment in a passive mode within a networked computer system, the method comprising:

causing at least one of a plurality of session servers to establish a network connection between a client host, a server host, and at least one of a plurality of data servers, the at least one session server configured to communicate with the client host, the server host, and the at least one data server;

enabling the client host to receive static virtual reality data from the at least one data server via the network connection, the static virtual reality data including object information selected from the group consisting of a three-dimensional model, a graphic texture, a sound a program module, and a script, the object information representing at least one virtual reality object;

enabling the server host to transmit dynamic virtual reality data to the client host via the network connection based on at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host, the dynamic virtual reality data representing parameter values associated with at least one exemplar of the at least one virtual reality object;

enabling the client host to function as the client host with respect to a first virtual reality environment and as the server host with respect to a second different virtual reality environment;

causing the at least one of a plurality of servers to discontinue the network connection between the client host and the server host after the transmittal of the static virtual reality data and the dynamic virtual reality data; and

causing the server host to maintain the unaltered dynamic virtual reality data while a user of the client host provides input associated with at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising establishing a network connection between the first client host and a second client host;

enabling the second client host to obtain a copy of the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host; and

enabling the second client host to obtain the corresponding static virtual reality data from the at least one data server.

14. The method of claim 12 further comprising storing at least one globally unique identifier in association with the static virtual reality data and enabling the first client host to retrieve the static virtual reality data using the at least one globally unique identifier after receiving the dynamic virtual reality data and before the user has provided data indicative of the at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object.

15. The method of claim 12 further comprising storing at least one globally unique identifier in association with the static virtual reality data and enabling the first client host to retrieve the static virtual reality data using the at least one globally unique identifier after receiving the dynamic virtual reality data and after the user has provided data indicative of the at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising enabling a network connection to be established between the first client host and a different second client host, wherein the second client host uses the network connection to obtain at least a portion of the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host without obtaining said portion of the dynamic virtual reality data from the server host, the network connection enabling peer-to-peer communication between the first client host and the second client host.

17. The method of claim 16, which includes enabling the first client host and the second client host to each maintain a local database having host IDs of each member client host of a user group.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the first client host and the second client host are part of a first user group using a first copy of the virtual reality environment, and which includes establishing network communication between a third client host and a fourth client host, the third client host and the fourth client host being part of a second user group using a different second copy of the virtual reality environment, wherein at least a portion of the first copy is different than a corresponding portion of the second copy.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising enabling a network connection to be established between the first client host and a different second client host, wherein the second client host uses the network connection to obtain at least a portion of the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host without obtaining said portion of the dynamic virtual reality data from the server host, the network communication between the first client host and the second client host being an ongoing connection enabling the transmission of updated dynamic virtual reality data between the first client host and the second client host.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising:

enabling the first client host to establish a network connection with a second client host and a third client host; and

enabling the second client host and the third client host to obtain the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host without using the server host, such that the second client host and the third client host continue to exchange dynamic virtual reality data if the network connection with the first client host is lost.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising:

enabling the first client host to establish a network connection with a second client host;

enabling the second client host to obtain the dynamic virtual reality data from the first client host without using the server host;

enabling the second client host to join a user group in which the first client host is a member by enabling the second client host to transmit its host ID to the first client host; and

enabling the first client host to transmit the host IDs of each member of the user group to the second client host.

22. The method of claim 12, wherein the client host is a first client host, further comprising:

enabling the first client host to establish a network connection with a second client host;

enabling the second client host to issue a follow user request associated with the first client host; and

enabling the first client host to respond to the follow user request by indicating a current virtual reality environment accessed by the first client host to the second client host.

23. The method of claim 12 further comprising enabling the client host to receive additional static virtual reality data from a local storage device associated with the client host.

24. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one session server is a first session server, further comprising enabling the server host to transmit additional dynamic virtual reality data using a second session server.

25. The method of claim 12 further comprising:

enabling the client host to store a copy of the dynamic virtual reality data stored on the server host; and

enabling the client host to update its stored copy of the dynamic virtual reality data based on the at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by the user of the client host without updating the dynamic virtual reality data stored on the server host.

26. The method of claim 12, wherein the first portion of the virtual reality data is received based on previously-received initial dynamic virtual reality data which is not based on said at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host.

27. A method of operating a virtual reality environment in an active mode within a networked computer system, the method comprising:

causing at least one of a plurality of session servers to establish an ongoing network connection between a client host, a server host, and at least one of a plurality of data servers, the at least one session server configured to communicate with the client host, the server host, and the at least one data server;

enabling the client host to receive a first portion of virtual reality data from the at least one data server via the ongoing network connection, the first portion of the virtual reality data including object information which cannot be altered by a user of client host;

enabling the server host to transmit a second portion of the virtual reality data to the client host via the continuous network connection based on at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host, the second portion of the virtual reality data representing parameter values associated with at least one exemplar of the at least one virtual reality object;

enabling the client host to maintain a same set of the second portion of the virtual reality data on the client host as on the server host while said network connection is established; and

enabling the client host to function as the client host with respect to a first virtual reality environment and as the server host with respect to a second different virtual reality environment.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein the first portion of the virtual reality data includes static virtual reality data including at least one selected from the group consisting of:

three-dimensional model, a graphic texture, a sound, a program module, and a script, the object information representing at least one virtual reality object.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the second portion of the virtual reality data includes dynamic virtual reality data representing parameter values associated with at least one exemplar of the at least one virtual reality object.

30. The method of claim 27, wherein the first portion of the virtual reality data is received based on previously-received initial dynamic virtual reality data which is not based on said at least one manipulation of the at least one virtual reality object by a user of the client host.