Directed communication in a virtual environment
First Claim
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1. A method for providing directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment, comprising:
- determining a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment, wherein the determining of the relative location comprises determining a facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar;
adjusting aspects of a voice communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location, wherein the aspects comprise audio characteristics of the voice communication including volume and at least one of pitch, gender, voice rate and accent, and wherein the audio characteristics of the voice communication are adjusted based on the facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar;
referring to a list of avatars whose audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication, the list containing types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list, wherein the list and the types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list are detected and generated automatically from audio characteristics that the avatars have used in past interactions within the virtual environment including in a social networking context; and
further adjusting the audio characteristics of one of the first avatar and the second avatar in accordance with the types of audio characteristics set forth in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication in response to determining that one of the first avatar and the second avatar is in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication.
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Abstract
The present invention is directed to directed communication in a virtual environment. A method for method for providing directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: determining a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment; and adjusting an aspect of a communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location.
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Citations
21 Claims
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1. A method for providing directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment, comprising:
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determining a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment, wherein the determining of the relative location comprises determining a facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; adjusting aspects of a voice communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location, wherein the aspects comprise audio characteristics of the voice communication including volume and at least one of pitch, gender, voice rate and accent, and wherein the audio characteristics of the voice communication are adjusted based on the facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; referring to a list of avatars whose audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication, the list containing types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list, wherein the list and the types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list are detected and generated automatically from audio characteristics that the avatars have used in past interactions within the virtual environment including in a social networking context; and further adjusting the audio characteristics of one of the first avatar and the second avatar in accordance with the types of audio characteristics set forth in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication in response to determining that one of the first avatar and the second avatar is in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 18)
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9. A computer system, comprising:
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at least one processing unit; memory operably associated with the at least one processing unit; a system for providing directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment that is storable in memory and executable by the at least one processing unit, the system comprising; a system for determining a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment, wherein the determining of the relative location comprises determining a facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; a system for adjusting aspects of a voice communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location, wherein the aspects comprise audio characteristics of the voice communication including volume and at least one of pitch, gender, voice rate and accent, and wherein the audio characteristics of the voice communication are adjusted based on the facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; a system for referring to a list of avatars whose audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication, the list containing types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list, wherein the list and the types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list are detected and generated automatically from audio characteristics that the avatars have used in past interactions within the virtual environment including in a social networking context; and a system for further adjusting the audio characteristics of one of the first avatar and the second avatar in accordance with the types of audio characteristics set forth in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication in response to determining that one of the first avatar and the second avatar is in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19)
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16. A program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage device, which when executed by a computer system, provides directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment, the computer readable storage device comprising program code for:
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determining a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment, wherein the determining of the relative location comprises determining a facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; adjusting aspects of a voice communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location, wherein the aspects comprise audio characteristics of the voice communication including volume and at least one of pitch, gender, voice rate and accent, and wherein the audio characteristics of the voice communication are adjusted based on the facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; referring to a list of avatars whose audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication, the list containing types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list, wherein the list and the types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list are detected and generated automatically from audio characteristics that the avatars have used in past interactions within the virtual environment including in a social networking context; and further adjusting the audio characteristics of one of the first avatar and the second avatar in accordance with the types of audio characteristics set forth in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication in response to determining that one of the first avatar and the second avatar is in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication. - View Dependent Claims (20)
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17. A method for deploying an application for providing directed communication between avatars in a virtual environment, comprising:
providing a computer infrastructure being operable to; determine a relative location of a first avatar and a second avatar in a virtual environment, wherein the determining of the relative location comprises determining a facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; adjust aspects of a voice communication between the first avatar and the second avatar based on the relative location, wherein the aspects comprise audio characteristics of the voice communication including volume and at least one of pitch, gender, voice rate and accent, and wherein the audio characteristics charactcrictic of the voice communication are adjusted based on the facial direction of the first avatar relative to the second avatar; refer to a list of avatars whose audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication, the list containing types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list, wherein the list and the types of audio characteristics to be portrayed for each avatar on the list are detected and generated automatically from audio characteristics that the avatars have used in past interactions within the virtual environment including a social networking context; and further adjust the audio characteristics of one of the first avatar and the second avatar in accordance with the types of audio characteristics set forth in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication in response to determining that one of the first avatar and the second avatar is in the automatically generated list of avatars whose detected audio characteristics are to be portrayed differently in a voice communication. - View Dependent Claims (21)
Specification