Systems and methods for communicating

• US 9,055,126 B2
• Filed: 06/26/2013
• Issued: 06/09/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/27/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christine Satchell
• Original Assignee: SWARM SYSTEMS PTY LTD
• Inventors: Satchell, Christine
• Primary Examiner(s): TITCOMB, WILLIAM D
• Application Number:
  US13/928,062
• Publication Number:
  US 20130290429A1
• Time in Patent Office: 713 Days
• Field of Search: 715/234, 715/753
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0481 based on specific properties of the displayed interaction object or a metaphor-based environment, e.g. interaction with desktop elements like windows or icons, or assisted by a cursor's changing behaviour or appearance
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/04817 using icons graphical or visual programming using iconic symbols G06F8/34
• 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 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/535 Tracking the activity of the user network monitoring arrangements H04L43/00; recording of computer activity G06F11/34
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/54 Presence management, e.g. monitoring or registration for receipt of user log-on information, or the connection status of the users
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72427 for supporting games or graphical animations
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/563 User guidance or feature selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services

Abstract

A communication system (1) comprising: determining means operable to determine an attribute of a communication device; identifying means operable to identify an avatar by using the attribute, wherein the avatar is such that it conveys to a viewer thereof information about a person; and communicating means operable to communicate the avatar to the communication device.

Claims

1. An apparatus for providing communication between communication devices, the apparatus comprising:

a receiver configured to;

receive, from a first communication device of a first user, a plurality of user statuses of the first user, each user status identifying at least one of a plurality of recipients, wherein a first user status of the plurality of user statuses is different than a second user status of the plurality of user statuses, and wherein the first user status identifies a first recipient of the plurality of recipients and the second user status identifies a second recipient of the plurality of recipients, the first recipient being different than the second recipient, and

receive a request for a status of the first user from a second communication device of one recipient of the plurality of recipients; and

a processor in data communication with the receiver, the processor configured to selectively one of the first status or the second status in response to the request for the status of the first user based on a comparison of an attribute of the one recipient with corresponding attributes of the recipients of respective user statuses.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the attribute of a recipient comprises at least one of:

a telephone number,

a personal information number (PIN),

an interne protocol (IP) address,

a username,

a list of recipients, or

a network of recipients.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the comparison of the attribute of the one recipient with corresponding attributes of the recipients of respective user statuses comprises matching the telephone number of the one recipient with telephone numbers for the recipients identified in the respective user statuses.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to selectively provide the first status or the second status based on a comparison of a username of the one recipient with usernames of the recipients identified in the respective user statuses.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the request for the status of the first user is received from a communication device of the second recipient, and wherein the processor is configured to provide the second status in response to the request.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the receiver is configured to receive another request subsequent to the request from another communication device of the first recipient, and wherein the processor is configured to provide the first status in response to the request.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a memory circuit configured to store at least one of:

the plurality of recipient identifiers or the plurality of user statuses.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each user status of the plurality of user statuses includes at least one of:

video data, audio data, image data, text data, an avatar, an activity, a location, an IP address, or a phone number.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to provide a first virtual environment and a second virtual environment.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the first status of the first user is provided within the first virtual environment and the second status of the first user is provided within the second virtual environment, and

wherein the first virtual environment is actively maintained with the second virtual environment.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein providing first virtual environment and the second virtual environment includes assigning access rights to each virtual environment, wherein an access right identifies recipients of the plurality of recipients to whom the identified environment may be provided, and wherein the assigned access rights provide the first recipient access to the first virtual environment and provide the second recipient username access to the second virtual environment.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive a plurality of statuses for the second recipient,

wherein the processor is configured to provide one of the plurality of statuses for the second recipient within the second virtual environment,

wherein the processor is configured to provide another of the plurality of statuses of the second recipient within the second virtual environment, and

wherein the one of the plurality of statuses and the another of the plurality of statuses are different.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein providing the first virtual environment comprises limiting multi-media information exchanged between the first user and recipients granted access to the first virtual environment can exchange within the first virtual environment.

14. A communication device comprising:

a receiver configured to;

receive from a server a plurality of user identifiers, each user identifier indicating at least one of a plurality of recipients, and

receive from the server a plurality of user statuses, each user status including a user identifier for at least one of the plurality of recipients; and

a processor configured to generate a first user status and a second user status of a user of the communication device, the first status identifying a first recipient included in the plurality of recipients, and the second status identifying a second recipient included in the plurality of recipients, the first status and the second status being active statuses for the user.

15. The communication device of claim 14, wherein a user identifier indicating a recipient comprises at least one of:

a telephone number of the recipient,

a personal information number (PIN) of the recipient,

an interne protocol (IP) address of the recipient,

a username of the recipient,

a list of recipients, or

a network of recipients.

16. The communication device of claim 14, wherein a user status includes at least one of:

video data, audio data, image data, text data, an avatar, an activity, a location, an IP address, or a phone number.

17. The communication device of claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to generate, for transmission to the server, a first virtual environment configuration and a second virtual environment configuration.

18. The communication device of claim 17, wherein the first virtual environment configuration includes information including the first user status within the first virtual environment and including the second user status within the second virtual environment.

19. The communication device of claim 18, wherein the first virtual environment configuration includes access rights to the first virtual environments, wherein an access right identifies recipients of the plurality of recipients to whom the first virtual environment may be provided.

20. The communication device of claim 19, wherein the first virtual environment configuration includes multi-media information that the recipients given access rights to the first virtual environment can exchange within the first virtual environment.