Virtual area based telephony communications

• US 9,357,025 B2
• Filed: 06/21/2011
• Issued: 05/31/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sococo, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Social Communications Company
• Inventors: Van Wie, David, Brody, Paul J., Leacock, Matthew, Cozzi, Eric
• Primary Examiner(s): Augustine, Nicholas
• Application Number:
  US13/165,729
• Publication Number:
  US 20110274104A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,806 Days
• Field of Search: 715/752, 715/757
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/65 Network streaming protocols, e.g. real-time transport protocol [RTP] or real-time control protocol [RTCP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• 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: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A persistent virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective network nodes connected to the virtual area even after all network nodes have disconnected from the virtual area is maintained. A presence in the virtual area is established for a user of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device. Transmission of data associated with the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising by computer apparatus:

maintaining a persistent virtual area that supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective client network nodes connected to the virtual area and persists even after all network nodes have disconnected from the virtual area, wherein the virtual area comprises multiple zones each of which supports establishment of respective presences for communicants and is associated with a respective dial-in telephone number for calling into the respective zone;

establishing a respective presence in a particular one of the zones of the virtual area for a first user operating a client network node;

responsive to a request received from the client network node while the communicant is present in the particular zone and comprising a telephone number of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device being operated by a second user who is not present in the virtual area,

managing establishment of a realtime audio connection between the client network node and the PSTN terminal device in association with the virtual area, wherein the managing comprises transmitting the telephone number of the PSTN terminal device to a PSTN service provider, and

establishing a presence in the particular zone of the virtual area for the second user of the PSTN terminal device; and

administering transmission of data associated with the particular zone of the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the virtual area is associated with a spatial visualization, and the request is received from the client network node in connection with the spatial visualization.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the spatial visualization of the particular zone of the virtual area comprises a graphic representation of a room and a graphic representation of audio call connection object in the room, and the request is received in connection with the audio call connection object.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising managing a current realtime communication session between the client network node and the PSTN terminal device in the virtual area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the managing comprises specifying locations of graphical representations of the user and the communicant in spatial relation to a graphical representation of the virtual area.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein, based on entry of another communicant operating a second client network node into the virtual area, the managing comprises automatically administering establishment of a respective audio connection between the second client network node and each of the first client network node and the PSTN terminal device.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the administering comprises administering transmission of audio data associated with the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device, and deriving the audio data by mixing realtime audio data streams respectively received from client network nodes being operated by respective communicants who are present in the virtual area.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising producing a recording from the mixed realtime audio streams, storing the recording in association with the virtual area, and transmitting audio data derived from the recording to the PSTN terminal device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the request received from the client network node comprises the dial-in telephone number that is associated with the particular zone of the virtual area.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising transmitting a respective request for each of one or more communicants to join the user in the virtual area based on one or more commands received from the PSTN terminal device.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing persistent records describing interactions between the user and the communicant in the virtual area.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising storing the data in association with the virtual area, wherein the stored data remains associated with the virtual area independent of the user'"'"'s presence in the virtual area, and the administering comprises transmitting the stored data to the PSTN terminal device.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

associating each of the PSTN terminal device and the client network node with a respective object in the virtual area; and

transmitting to the client network node a specification of a spatial visualization of the virtual area and respective positions of the objects in relation to the spatial visualization;

wherein the administering comprises administering synchronous audio communication between the PSTN terminal device and the client network node.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein each of the zones is associated with respective switching rules for establishing communications between devices based on the respective locations of the objects in the zones;

and

further comprising transmitting to the client network node position data for displaying the object associated with the PSTN terminal device navigating from one of the zones to another one of the zones in response to virtual area navigation data received from the PSTN device.

4. A method, comprising by computer apparatus:

maintaining a persistent virtual area that is associated with a dial-in telephone number designated for calling into the virtual area, supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective client network nodes connected to the virtual area, and persists even after all network nodes have disconnected from the virtual area;

in response to receipt of the telephone call from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device directed to the dial-in telephone number, instantiating the virtual area and establishing a presence in the instantiated virtual area for a user of the PSTN terminal device, wherein the PSTN terminal device is associated with a second telephone number;

after the instantiating, establishing a presence in the virtual area for a communicant operating a client network node; and

after the presence for the communicant has been established, managing establishment of a realtime audio connection between the client network node and the PSTN terminal device in association with the virtual area.

29. The method of claim 4, wherein the managing comprises transmitting the dial-in telephone number associated with the virtual area and the second telephone number to the PSTN service provider to establish a connection between the PSTN terminal device and the client network node through the virtual area.

12. A method, comprising by computer apparatus:

administering a persistent virtual area that is associated with a dial-in telephone number designated for calling into the virtual area, supports establishment of respective presences of communicants operating respective client network nodes connected to the virtual area, and persists even after all network nodes have disconnected from the virtual area;

in response to receipt of a telephone call directed to the dial-in telephone number from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device associated with a second telephone number,

instantiating the virtual area, and

establishing a presence in the instantiated virtual area for a user of the PSTN terminal device.

17. A method, comprising by computer apparatus:

in a persistent virtual area that is associated with a dial-in telephone number designated for calling into the virtual area, establishing a respective presence for a communicant operating a respective client network node connected to the virtual area;

managing establishment of a realtime audio connection between the client network node and a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device in association with the virtual area, wherein the managing is based on a request from the client network node comprising a second telephone number of the PSTN terminal device and the managing comprises transmitting the dial-in telephone number and the second telephone number to a PSTN service provider; and

administering transmission of audio data associated with the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the virtual area is associated with a spatial visualization, and the request is received from the client network node in connection with the spatial visualization.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

associating each of the PSTN terminal device and the client network node with a respective object in the virtual area; and

transmitting to the client network node a specification of a spatial visualization of the virtual area and respective positions of the objects in relation to the spatial visualization.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising establishing a first network connection over which the audio data is transmitted to the PSTN terminal device, and a second network connection over which data describing the virtual area and positions of object in the virtual area is transmitted to the PSTN terminal device.

21. A method, comprising:

in response to receipt of a telephone number associated with a particular location in a virtual area from a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device, instantiating the virtual area and establishing a presence for a user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular location in the instantiated virtual area; and

administering transmission of data associated with the particular location in the virtual area to the PSTN terminal device.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the virtual area comprises multiple zones each of which supports establishment of a respective presence for one or more communicants, at least one of the zones is associated with a respective telephone number, and the establishing comprises receiving a respective one of the telephone numbers in connection with the PSTN terminal device and establishing the presence for the user in the zone associated with the received telephone number.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising transmitting a request for one or more communicants to join the user of the PSTN terminal device in the virtual area based on one or more commands received from the PSTN terminal device.

24. A method, comprising by an electronic device of a user:

connecting to a network infrastructure service environment supporting communicant interactions in a virtual area comprising zones each of which supports establishment of respective presences for the user of the electronic device and other communicants and is associated with a respective telephone number;

displaying a graphical interface comprising a graphical representation of the virtual area and a graphical representation of the user in a particular zone of the virtual area;

from the user, receiving a command to communicate with a user of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device who is not present in the virtual area;

based on the command, transmitting to the network infrastructure service environment a request to establish a presence for the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area and to communicate with the PSTN terminal device over a connection assigned to the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area;

responsive to information received from the network infrastructure service environment, exchanging audio data with the PSTN terminal device in connection with the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area and receiving data describing the virtual area and positions of objects in the virtual area; and

during the exchanging and based on the received data, concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the user of the electronic device and a graphical representation of the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the receiving comprises receiving a selection of a communicant from a graphical user interface, and a single-click selection of a graphical user interface button.

26. The method of claim 25, further comprising, based on the single-click selection of the communicant, determining a second telephone number of the PSTN terminal device.

30. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

responsive to information received from the network infrastructure service environment, concurrently establishing a first network connection associated with the dial-in telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual and over which the audio data is exchanged with the PSTN terminal device, and a second network connection over which data describing the virtual area and positions of objects in the virtual area is transmitted to the electronic device;

over the first network connection, exchanging audio data with the PSTN terminal device; and

over the second network connection, receiving from the network infrastructure service environment a graphical representation of a user of the PSTN terminal device and a realtime data stream associated with the user of the PSTN terminal device.

27. Apparatus, 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

connecting to a network infrastructure service environment supporting communicant interactions in a virtual area comprising zones each of which supports establishment of respective presences for a user of the apparatus and other communicants and is associated with a respective telephone number;

displaying a graphical interface comprising a graphical representation of the virtual area and a graphical representation of the user in a particular one of the zones;

from the user, receiving a command to communicate with a user of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device who is not present in the virtual area;

based on the command, transmitting to the network infrastructure service environment a request to establish a presence for the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area and to communicate with the PSTN terminal device over a connection assigned to the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area;

responsive to information received from the network infrastructure service environment, exchanging audio data with the PSTN terminal device in connection with the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area and receiving data describing the virtual area and positions of objects in the virtual area; and

during the exchanging and based on the received data, concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the user of the electronic device and a graphical representation of the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area.

28. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having processor-readable program code embodied therein, the processor-readable program code adapted to be executed by an electronic device to implement a method comprising:

connecting to a network infrastructure service environment supporting communicant interactions in a virtual area comprising zones each of which supports establishment of respective presences for a user of the apparatus and other communicants and is associated with a respective telephone number;

displaying a graphical interface comprising a graphical representation of the virtual area and a graphical representation of the user in a particular one of the zones;

from the user, receiving a command to communicate with a user of a Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) terminal device who is not present in the virtual area;

based on the command, transmitting to the network infrastructure service environment a request to establish a presence for the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area and to communicate with the PSTN terminal device over a connection assigned to the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area;

responsive to information received from the network infrastructure service environment, exchanging audio data with the PSTN terminal device in connection with the telephone number associated with the particular zone of the virtual area and receiving data describing the virtual area and positions of objects in the virtual area; and

during the exchanging and based on the received data, concurrently displaying a graphical representation of the user of the electronic device and a graphical representation of the user of the PSTN terminal device in the particular zone of the virtual area.