Friends lists with dynamic ordering and dynamic avatar appearance

• US 8,887,096 B2
• Filed: 10/27/2011
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: Silbey, Marc, Yockey, Kevin
• Primary Examiner(s): Nunez, Jordany
• Application Number:
  US13/283,464
• Publication Number:
  US 20130111366A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,111 Days
• Field of Search: 715/757, 715/811, 709/204, 705/37
• US Class Current: 715/811
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/807 Gliding or sliding on surfaces, e.g. using skis, skates or boards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/556 Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list
• 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: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for presenting information related to a user'"'"'s friends within a virtual environment. For example, when a user requests to view a friends list, the virtual environment may respond by identifying interactions between that user and their friends. From this, the virtual environment may determine an order to present the users in the list. For example, individual with whom the user interacts with frequently may be more prominently displayed. However, the user may fix or “pin” the position of certain users (e.g., a close friend with whom contact is infrequent). Further, in addition to displaying friends'"'"' names, the list may display an animation of a user'"'"'s friend generated based on the then current activity, location, or appearance of that friend within a virtual environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for providing a list of users, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the first user;

weighting one or more interactions that have occurred within the virtual environment between the first user and one or more users in the list of users using predefined weight values, each weight value being associated with an interaction type;

further weighting one or more of the interactions based on timestamps identifying when each interaction occurred;

determining an ordering of the list of users based on at least a sum of the one or more weighted interactions;

generating, by operation of one or more computer processors, a graphical representation of the list of users according to the determined ordering, wherein the graphical representation depicts current activities of one or more avatars within the virtual environment corresponding to one or more users in the list of users, and wherein the graphical representation further depicts current locations within the virtual environment of one or more users in the list of users; and

if a request is received from the first user to fix a position of one of the users in the list of users, reordering a position of the one of the users in the list based on the request to fix.

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

weighting one or more of the interactions based on frequency of occurrence.

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

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and the one or more users in the list, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on the identified shared interests.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining the ordering of the list of users is performed in response to determining that a count of users in the list of users exceeds a specified minimum.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on a grouping of one or more users in the list who are currently jointly participating in an activity.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation further depicts at least one of current real-world activities and real-world locations of one or more users in the list.

5. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing a program, which, when executed by a processor performs an operation for providing a list of users, the operation comprising:

receiving, from a first user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the first user;

weighting one or more interactions that have occurred within the virtual environment between the first user and one or more users in the list of users using predefined weight values, each weight value being associated with an interaction type;

further weighting one or more of the interactions based on timestamps identifying when each interaction occurred;

determining an ordering of the list of users based on at least a sum of the one or more weighted interactions;

generating, by operation of the processor, a graphical representation of the list of users according to the determined ordering, wherein the graphical representation depicts current activities of one or more avatars within the virtual environment corresponding to one or more users in the list of users, and wherein the graphical representation further depicts current locations within the virtual environment of one or more users in the list of users; and

if a request is received from the first user to fix a position of one of the users in the list of users, reordering a position of the one of the users in the list based on the request to fix.

6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the operation further comprises:

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and the one or more users in the list, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on the identified shared interests.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the determining the ordering of the list of users is performed in response to determining that a count of users in the list of users exceeds a specified minimum.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on a grouping of one or more users in the list who are currently jointly participating in an activity.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 5, wherein the graphical representation further depicts at least one of current real-world activities and real-world locations of one or more users in the list.

8. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes an application program configured to perform an operation for providing a list of users, the operation comprising;

receiving, from a first user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the first user,

weighting one or more interactions that have occurred within the virtual environment between the first user and one or more users in the list of users using predefined weight values, each weight value being associated with an interaction type,

further weighting one or more of the interactions based on timestamps identifying when each interaction occurred,

determining an ordering of the list of users based on at least a sum of the one or more weighted interactions,

generating a graphical representation of the list of users according to the determined ordering, wherein the graphical representation depicts current activities of one or more avatars within the virtual environment corresponding to one or more users in the list of users, and wherein the graphical representation further depicts current locations within the virtual environment of one or more users in the list, and

if a request is received from the first user to fix a position of one of the users in the list of users, reordering a position of the one of the users in the list based on the request to fix.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises:

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and the one or more users in the list, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on the identified shared interests.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein the determining the ordering of the list of users is performed in response to determining that a count of users in the list of users associated with the first user exceeds a specified minimum.

13. The system of claim 8, wherein the ordering of the list is determined further based on a grouping of one or more users in the list who are currently jointly participating in an activity.

16. The system of claim 8, wherein the graphical representation further depicts at least one of current real-world activities and real-world locations of one or more users in the list.