Creating virtual areas for realtime communications
First Claim
1. A method, comprisingby apparatus of a virtual area creation service that provides services enabling realtime synchronous conferencing communications between client network nodes:
- receiving information for creating a virtual area, wherein the information comprises communicant information designating a set of users of the network service as members of the virtual area, and network service information comprising a property value for accessing a network service that administers data associated with the designated members of the virtual area;
after the receiving, creating the virtual area and associating the communicant information and the network service information with the virtual area;
responsive to requests from client network nodes of respective ones of the designated members,establishing a respective presence in the virtual area for each of the respective designated members, andsending a specification that enables the respective client network nodes to create a visualization of the virtual area; and
in a context of the visualization of the virtual area, providing realtime synchronous conferencing communications between the respective client network nodes and, based on the property value, providing the respective designated members with shared access to the data administered by the network service.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Examples that are described herein provide systems and methods for creating virtual areas for realtime communications. Some examples provide a quick and easy process for creating a virtual area for a set of communicants and provisioning those communicants for realtime communications in the virtual area. Some examples provide a quick and easy way for a user to wrap a realtime communications framework around a network service. Through seamless integration of realtime communications (e.g., realtime audio, video, chat, screen sharing, and file transfer) in persistent virtual areas, these examples are able to enhance and improve communicants'"'"' experiences with a network service relative to traditional browser based methods of collaborating on network service based projects.
-
Citations
19 Claims
-
1. A method, comprising
by apparatus of a virtual area creation service that provides services enabling realtime synchronous conferencing communications between client network nodes: -
receiving information for creating a virtual area, wherein the information comprises communicant information designating a set of users of the network service as members of the virtual area, and network service information comprising a property value for accessing a network service that administers data associated with the designated members of the virtual area; after the receiving, creating the virtual area and associating the communicant information and the network service information with the virtual area; responsive to requests from client network nodes of respective ones of the designated members, establishing a respective presence in the virtual area for each of the respective designated members, and sending a specification that enables the respective client network nodes to create a visualization of the virtual area; and in a context of the visualization of the virtual area, providing realtime synchronous conferencing communications between the respective client network nodes and, based on the property value, providing the respective designated members with shared access to the data administered by the network service. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. Apparatus of a virtual area creation service that provides services enabling realtime synchronous conferencing communications between client network nodes, comprising:
-
a memory storing processor-readable instructions; and a processor coupled to the memory, operable to execute the instructions, and based at least in part on the execution of the instructions operable to perform operations comprising receiving information for creating a virtual area, wherein the information comprises communicant information designating a set of users of the network service as members of the virtual area, and network service information comprising a property value for accessing a network service that administers data associated with the designated members of the virtual area; after the receiving, creating the virtual area and associating the communicant information and the network service information with the virtual area; responsive to requests from client network nodes of respective ones of the designated members, establishing a respective presence in the virtual area for each of the respective designated members, and sending a specification that enables the respective client network nodes to create a visualization of the virtual area; and in a context of the visualization of the virtual area, providing realtime synchronous conferencing communications between the respective client network nodes and, based on the property value, providing the respective designated members with shared access to the data administered by the network service.
-
-
14. At least one computer-readable medium having processor-readable program code embodied therein, the processor-readable program code adapted to be executed by a processor to implement a method comprising:
-
receiving information for creating a virtual area, wherein the information comprises communicant information designating a set of users of the network service as members of the virtual area, and network service information comprising a property value for accessing a network service that administers data associated with the designated members of the virtual area; after the receiving information, creatin the virtual area and associating the communicant information and the network service information with the virtual area; responsive to requests from client network nodes of respective ones of the designated members, establishing a respective presence in the virtual area for each of the respective designated members, and sending a specification that enables the respective client network nodes to create a visualization of the virtual area; and in a context of the visualization of the virtual area, providing realtime synchronous conferencing communications between the respective client network nodes and, based on the property value, providing the respective designated members with shared access to the data administered by the network service.
-
-
15. A method, comprising by a computer system:
-
from a client network node, receiving a request to create a virtual area in connection with communicant information associated with one or more communicants who are to be designated as members of the virtual area; creating the virtual area based on the received communicant information, wherein the creating comprises determining a virtual area template defining geometric and communication properties of the virtual area, generating a unique virtual area identifier for the virtual area, and associating the communicant information and the virtual area template with the unique virtual area identifier; and providing a virtual area based realtime communications application that is installable on a client network node and is operable to generate a graphical user interface for displaying a visualization of the virtual area in accordance with the virtual area template and providing interaction controls enabling a user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area and interaction controls enabling a user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the virtual area. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19)
-
Specification