Methods of efficiently recording and reproducing activity in virtual world

• US 8,825,690 B2
• Filed: 08/27/2012
• Issued: 09/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Iizuka, Shinji
• Primary Examiner(s): TRAN, ANHTAI V
• Application Number:
  US13/594,954
• Publication Number:
  US 20120323893A1
• Time in Patent Office: 736 Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/10 Control of the course of the game, e.g. start, progess, end
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/45 Controlling the progress of the video game
• 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 2300/554 by saving game or status data
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]

Abstract

An apparatus and method for recording activities of an avatar in a virtual world by means of a computer including: means for dividing the virtual world into a plurality of blocks each provided with a unique ID; means for recording a movement history in a storage area of the computer, the movement history including the ID of each block which an avatar acting in the virtual world enters and a time point at which the avatar enters the block; means for deleting the movement history between the first and the last blocks of a plurality of blocks which the avatar enters if the plurality of blocks are continuous in a straight line in one direction; and activity record DB recording means for recording, as an activity dataset in an activity record DB, an event content, the movement history and a repetition count of an event.

Claims

1. A memory recall assistance apparatus for providing memory recall assistance to a user by a computer, the user operating an avatar in a virtual world divided into a plurality of blocks each provided with a unique identifier (ID), the apparatus comprising:

search means of searching an activity record database (DB), including recorded activity datasets, to find an activity dataset containing an entered block ID of the avatar, the activity datasets each obtained by recording data on an activity of an avatar including an event content, a movement history and a repetition count of the activity;

determination means for determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance; and

display means for displaying, on a display of the computer, the activity dataset determined as appropriate for the memory recall assistance,

wherein the determination means includes means for calculating an importance score of the activity dataset from the event content and the repetition count and means for determining that the activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance if the importance score is greater than a predetermined value,

wherein the display means includes means for displaying the movement history of the activity dataset near the avatar and means for displaying the event content of the activity dataset near the avatar,

wherein the virtual world is shared by a server computer and a plurality of client computers, the activity record DB is recorded in the server computer, and wherein a search means, a determination means, and a display means operate by using activity datasets of the activity record DB to assist the user to recall memory according to an activity dataset of another client computer, and

wherein the memory recall assistance based on activity datasets of the other client computers is distinctively displayed with an attribute different from that of the memory recall assistance based on its own activity dataset.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the movement history is means for successively displaying graphic images of the avatar from the avatar to a location where the event occurred.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the means for displaying the event content is means for displaying the event content near either the avatar or the location where the event occurred.

4. A memory recall assistance method for assisting a user to recall memory by a computer, the user operating an avatar in a virtual world divided into a plurality of blocks each provided with a unique identifier (ID), the method comprising:

searching an activity record database (DB) including recorded activity datasets to find an activity dataset containing an entered block ID of the avatar, the activity datasets each obtained by recording data on an activity of an avatar including an event content, a movement history and a repetition count of the activity;

determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance; and

displaying, on a display of the computer, the activity dataset determined as appropriate for the memory recall assistance,

wherein said determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance includes calculating an importance score of the activity dataset from the event content and the repetition count and determining that the activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance if the importance score is greater than a predetermined value,

wherein said displaying of the activity dataset includes displaying the movement history of the activity dataset near the avatar and displaying the event content of the activity dataset near the avatar,

wherein the virtual world is shared by a server computer and a plurality of client computers, the activity record DB is recorded in the server computer, and wherein a search means, a determination means, and a display means operate by using activity datasets of the activity record DB to assist the user to recall memory according to an activity dataset of another client computer, and

wherein the memory recall assistance based on activity datasets of the other client computers is distinctively displayed with an attribute different from that of the memory recall assistance based on its own activity dataset.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising successively displaying graphic images of the avatar from the avatar to a location where the event occurred.

6. The method according to claim 4, further comprising displaying the event content near either the avatar or the location where the event occurred.

7. A non-transitory computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions comprising:

searching an activity record database (DB) including recorded activity datasets to find an activity dataset containing an entered block identifier (ID) of the avatar, the activity datasets each obtained by recording data on an activity of an avatar including an event content, a movement history and a repetition count of the activity;

determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance; and

displaying, on a display of the computer, the activity dataset determined as appropriate for the memory recall assistance,

wherein said determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance includes calculating an importance score of the activity dataset from the event content and the repetition count and determining that the activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance if the importance score is greater than a predetermined value,

wherein said displaying of the activity dataset includes displaying the movement history of the activity dataset near the avatar and displaying the event content of the activity dataset near the avatar,

wherein the virtual world is shared by a server computer and a plurality of client computers, the activity record DB is recorded in the server computer, and wherein a search means, a determination means, and a display means operate by using activity datasets of the activity record DB to assist the user to recall memory according to an activity dataset of another client computer, and

wherein the memory recall assistance based on activity datasets of the other client computers is distinctively displayed with an attribute different from that of the memory recall assistance based on its own activity dataset.

8. The non-transitory computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions according to claim 7, further comprising successively displaying graphic images of the avatar from the avatar to a location where the event occurred.

9. The non-transitory computer readable article of manufacture tangibly embodying computer readable instructions according to claim 7, further comprising displaying the event content near either the avatar or the location where the event occurred.

10. A memory recall assistance method for assisting a user to recall memory by a computer, the user operating an avatar in a virtual world divided into a plurality of blocks each provided with a unique identifier (ID), the method comprising:

searching an activity record database (DB) including recorded activity datasets to find an activity dataset containing an entered block ID of the avatar, the activity datasets each obtained by recording data on an activity of an avatar including an event content, a movement history and a repetition count of the activity;

determining whether the found activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance, said determining including;

calculating an importance score of the activity dataset based on the event content, the event content including at least one of communication with another avatar, a purchase, standing-up, making a, gesture, and equipping the avatar with an item, and

determining that the activity dataset is appropriate for the memory recall assistance if the importance score is greater than a predetermined value; and

displaying, on a display of the computer, the activity dataset determined as appropriate for the memory recall assistance,

wherein the virtual world is shared by a server computer and a plurality of client computers, the activity record DB is recorded in the server computer, and wherein a search means, a determination means, and a display means operate by using activity datasets of the activity record DB to assist the user to recall memory according to an activity dataset of another client computer, and

wherein the memory recall assistance based on activity datasets of the other client computers is distinctively displayed with an attribute different from that of the memory recall assistance based on its own activity dataset.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising successively displaying graphic images of the avatar from the avatar to a location where the event occurred.

12. The method according to claim 10, further comprising displaying the event content near either the avatar or the location where the event occurred.