Enhanced visibility of avatars satisfying a profile

• US 8,878,873 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2008
• Issued: 11/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Banerjee, Dwip N., Mohan, Aditya, Patil, Sandeep R., Shah, Dhaval K.
• Primary Examiner(s): WANG, JIN CHENG
• Application Number:
  US12/339,649
• Publication Number:
  US 20100156909A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,146 Days
• Field of Search: 345440-442, 345473-474, 715758-764, 715/706, 709203-205, 34440-442, 34473-474
• US Class Current: 345/633
• 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 2300/55 Details of game data or player data management
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/101 Collaborative creation, e.g. joint development of products or services
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 13/40 of characters, e.g. humans, animals or virtual beings

Abstract

Disclosed is a computer implemented method, computer program product, and apparatus to decorate visible attributes of a rendered avatar. A server may collect a first user profile of a first avatar, the first user profile having at least one interest of a user. Next, the server may receive a location of the first avatar, wherein the location is associated with a view to at least a second avatar. The server can identify the second avatar among a group of avatars visible with respect to the first avatar. Further, the server may read a target profile of the second avatar then determine whether the second user profile satisfies a criterion based on the first user profile and the target profile. In addition, the server may render a modified rendered avatar to a client, responsive to the determination that the target profile satisfies the criterion.

Claims

1. A method for decorating visible attributes of a rendered avatar, the method comprising:

a server computer collecting a first user profile of a first avatar, the first user profile having at least one interest of a first user, and wherein the user profile is a text file;

the server computer receiving a location of the first avatar, wherein the location is associated with a view of at least one second avatar;

the server computer identifying the at least one second avatar among a group of avatars visible with respect to the first avatar;

the server computer reading a target profile of the at least one second avatar; and

receiving a pointer input hovering over the second avatar, and in response to receiving the pointer input hovering over the second avatar, showing a percentage match between the first user profile and the target profile.

2. The computer implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to receiving the location of the first avatar, the server computer determining whether a criterion is satisfied based on the first user profile and the target profile, wherein the criterion is specified by a second user; and

responsive to the determination that the criterion is satisfied, the server computer rendering a modified rendered avatar to a client, wherein the modified rendered avatar is based on the first avatar, wherein the modified rendered avatar is an emphasized rendered avatar having a halo, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are sufficiently matched.

3. The computer implemented method of claim 2, wherein the criterion is based on at least one selected from a group of a blog and a chat associated with a target profile.

4. The computer implemented method of claim 3, wherein the emphasized rendered avatar is an enhancement of color of the rendered avatar.

5. The computer implemented method of claim 1, wherein the modified rendered avatar is a de-emphasized rendered avatar, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are not sufficiently matched.

6. The computer implemented method of claim 5, wherein the de-emphasized rendered avatar is increased transparency.

7. A computer program product for decorating visible attributes of a rendered avatar, the computer program product comprising:

a computer usable tangible storage device having computer usable program code embodied therewith, the computer program product comprising;

computer usable program code configured to collect a first user profile of a first avatar, the first user profile having at least one interest of a user;

computer usable program code configured to receive a location of the first avatar, wherein the location is associated with a view of at least one second avatar, and wherein the view is a first person shooter view;

computer usable program code configured to identify the at least one second avatar among a group of avatars visible with respect to the first avatar;

computer usable program code configured to read a target profile of the at least one second avatar;

computer usable program code configured to receive a pointer input hovering over the second avatar, and in response to receiving the pointer input hovering over the first avatar, showing a percentage match between the first user profile and the target profile.

8. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the computer program product further comprises:

computer usable program code to determine whether a criterion is satisfied based on the first user profile and the target profile, wherein the criterion is specified by a second user, in response to receiving the location of the first avatar; and

in response render a modified rendered avatar to a client, wherein the modified rendered avatar is based on the first avatar, wherein the modified rendered avatar is an emphasized rendered avatar having a halo, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are sufficiently matched.

9. The computer program product of claim 8, wherein the criterion is based on a blog and chat.

10. The computer program product of claim 9, wherein the emphasized rendered avatar is an enhancement of color of the rendered avatar.

11. The computer program product of claim 7, wherein the modified rendered avatar is a de-emphasized rendered avatar, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are not sufficiently matched and the de-emphasized rendered avatar is increased transparency.

12. A data processing system comprising:

a bus;

a storage device connected to the bus, wherein computer usable code is located in the storage device;

a communication unit connected to the bus; and

a processing unit connected to the bus, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable code to decorate visible attributes of a rendered avatar, wherein the processing unit executes the computer usable program code to collect a first user profile of a first avatar, the first user profile having at least one interest of a first user, and wherein the interest is derived from a corpus authored by the first user;

receive a location of the first avatar, wherein the location is associated with a view of at least one second avatar;

identify the at least one second avatar among a group of avatars visible with respect to first avatar;

read a target profile of the at least one second avatar;

determine whether a criterion is satisfied based on the first user profile and the target profile, responsive to receiving the location of the first avatar, wherein the criterion is specified by a second user; and

render a modified rendered avatar to a client, responsive to the determination that the criterion is satisfied, wherein the modified rendered avatar is an emphasized rendered avatar having a halo and is based on the first avatar.

13. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the modified rendered avatar is an emphasized rendered avatar, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are sufficiently matched.

14. The data processing system of claim 13, wherein the criterion is based on a blog and chat.

15. The data processing system of claim 14, wherein the emphasized rendered avatar is an enhancement of color of the rendered avatar.

16. The data processing system of claim 15, wherein the processor further executes computer usable code to receive a pointer input hovering over the first avatar, and show a percentage match in response to satisfying the criterion.

17. The data processing system of claim 12, wherein the modified rendered avatar is a de-emphasized rendered avatar, and the criterion is that the target profile and the first user profile are not sufficiently matched.