Interfacing with a spatial virtual communication environment
First Claim
1. A method in a network communication environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between a user and one or more other communicants who are operating respective network nodes and are present in a virtual area comprising a zone, the method comprising:
- in a graphical user interface, displaying graphical representations of the virtual area, a first viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, a second viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, and avatars representing the user and one or more other communicants who are co-present with the user in the virtual area;
based on first input in connection with the first viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a first data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the first input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area; and
concurrently with the sharing of the renderings of the contents of the first data file, based on second input in connection with the second viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone of the virtual area, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a second data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the second input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A spatial layout of zones of a virtual area in a network communication environment is displayed. A user can have a respective presence in each of one or more of the zones. Navigation controls and interaction controls are presented. The navigation controls enable the user to specify where to establish a presence in the virtual area. The interaction controls enable the user to manage interactions with one or more other communicants in the network communication environment. A respective presence of the user is established in each of one or more of the zones on response to input received via the navigation controls. Respective graphical representations of the communicants are depicted in each of the zones where the communicants respectively have presence.
-
Citations
20 Claims
-
1. A method in a network communication environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between a user and one or more other communicants who are operating respective network nodes and are present in a virtual area comprising a zone, the method comprising:
-
in a graphical user interface, displaying graphical representations of the virtual area, a first viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, a second viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, and avatars representing the user and one or more other communicants who are co-present with the user in the virtual area; based on first input in connection with the first viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a first data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the first input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area; and concurrently with the sharing of the renderings of the contents of the first data file, based on second input in connection with the second viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone of the virtual area, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a second data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the second input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A method in a network communication environment in which a user and one or more other communicants operating respective network nodes establish respective presences in virtual locations in which the communicants are represented by respective avatars, the method comprising:
-
displaying graphical representations of a virtual area, a first viewscreen object in the virtual area, a second viewscreen object in the virtual area, and the avatars of the user and one or more of the other communicants who are co-present with the user in the virtual area; based on communicant input in connection with the first viewscreen object, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a first data file among ones of the communicants who are co-present in the virtual area; based on communicant input in connection with the second viewscreen object, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a second data file among ones of the communicants who are co-present in the virtual area; and based on the communicant input in connection with the first viewscreen object, depicting a visual indication that the respective communicant is sharing renderings of contents of the first data file, wherein the depicting comprises moving an avatar of the respective communicant to a position adjacent the graphical representation of the first viewscreen object in the graphical representation of the virtual area.
-
-
20. At least one non-transitory computer-readable medium having computer-readable program code embodied therein, the computer-readable program code adapted to be executed by a computer to perform operations in a network communication environment comprising a network service implemented by at least one server network node and supporting realtime communications between a user and one or more other communicants who are operating respective network nodes and are present in a virtual area comprising a zone, the operations comprising:
-
in a graphical user interface, displaying graphical representations of the virtual area, a first viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, a second viewscreen object in the zone of the virtual area, and avatars representing the user and one or more other communicants who are co-present with the user in the virtual area; based on first input in connection with the first viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone of the virtual area, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a first data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the first input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area; and concurrently with the sharing of the renderings of the contents of the first data file, based on second input in connection with the second viewscreen object provided by a communicant who is present in the zone of the virtual area, simultaneously sharing renderings of contents of a second data file from the network node of the communicant who provided the second input with one or more other ones of the communicants who are present in the zone of the virtual area.
-
Specification