Systems and methods of virtual worlds access

• US 8,671,142 B2
• Filed: 08/20/2012
• Issued: 03/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pfaqutruma Research LLC
• Original Assignee: Utherverse, Inc.
• Inventors: Shuster, Gary, Shuster, Brian, Burch, Aaron, Herling, Dick, Zarry, Zachary
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoang, Hieu
• Application Number:
  US13/590,183
• Publication Number:
  US 20130046854A1
• Time in Patent Office: 568 Days
• Field of Search: 709/203, 709/204, 709/224, 709/219
• US Class Current: 709/204
• 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 of interoperating between two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of a virtual world, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first client computer, a request for access to a virtual world, the request indicating a location in the virtual world to be accessed and a capability of the first client computer;

selecting, by a computing system having one or more computer processors, a representation of the virtual world from a plurality of representations of the virtual world for transmission to the first client computer, at least one of said plurality of representations including two-dimensional content and at least one of said plurality of representations including three-dimensional content, wherein said selecting is based on the received capability of the first client computer;

in response to selecting a representation that includes three-dimensional content, transmitting, to the first client computer, three-dimensional content representing the virtual world;

in response to selecting a representation that does not include three-dimensional content, transmitting, to the first client computer, two-dimensional content representing the virtual world, the two-dimensional content comprising an indicator configured so that when activated the first client computer invokes a virtual world browser configured to process three-dimensional content, the indicator further configured so that when activated the virtual world browser accesses the location in the virtual world indicated in the received request for access;

receiving a second request for access to the location in the virtual world from a second client computer, wherein a first avatar associated with the first client computer and a second avatar associated with the second client computer are located within the virtual world at the location; and

transmitting to the second client computer an indication of which of either the three-dimensional content or the two-dimensional content has been transmitted to the first client computer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator comprises a tag or link within HTML content transmitted to the first client computer.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the tag includes a URL identifying a protocol associated with the virtual world browser.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the indicator is configured to cause the virtual world browser to display the three-dimensional content in an interface enabling a user of the first client computer to switch between the two-dimensional content and the three-dimensional content.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the capability of the first client computer includes a client application of the first client computer, and wherein selecting a representation of the virtual world for transmission comprises:

determining a client application associated with the request for access; and

selecting a representation of the virtual world including content the client application is configured to present.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting a representation of the virtual world for transmission comprises:

determining a protocol associated with the request for access; and

selecting a representation of the virtual world including content associated with the protocol.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the request further includes bandwidth available to the first client computer, and

wherein identifying a representation of the virtual world further comprises identifying a representation having a transmission bandwidth less than the received indication of bandwidth available to the first client computer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the identified representation includes two-dimensional content and three-dimensional content.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the request further includes a type of content requested, and wherein identifying a representation of the virtual world further comprises identifying a representation based on the type of content requested.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication is associated with the first avatar for the first client computer, and

wherein the indication is usable by the second client computer to render the first avatar for the first client computer via the second client computer to indicate whether the first client computer is displaying the three-dimensional content or the two-dimensional content.

7. A computer system configured to interoperate between two-dimensional and three-dimensional representations of a virtual world, the computer system comprising:

computer-readable storage having stored thereon a plurality of modules implemented as executable instructions;

one or more computer processors configured to;

receive, from a first client computer and a second client computer, respective requests for access to the virtual world, the requests indicating a location in the virtual world to be accessed and a capability of the respective client computer;

identify a representation of the virtual world from a plurality of representations of the virtual world for transmission to the first client computer, at least one of said plurality of representations including two-dimensional content and at least one of said plurality of representations including three-dimensional content, said identifying based on content of the received capability of the first client computer;

upon identifying a representation including three-dimensional content;

transmit, to the first client computer, three-dimensional content representing the virtual world; and

transmit, to the second client computer, an indication that the three-dimensional content has been transmitted to the first client computer; and

otherwise;

transmit, to the first client computer, two-dimensional content representing the virtual world; and

transmit, to the second client computer, an indication that the two-dimensional content has been transmitted to the first client computer.

10. The computer system of claim 7, wherein the two-dimensional content comprises an indicator configured for use by the first client computer to invoke a virtual world browser configured to process three-dimensional content.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein the indicator is further configured for use by the first client computer to cause the virtual world browser to access a location in the virtual world corresponding to the location in the virtual world indicated in the received request for access.