System and method to visualize activities through the use of avatars

• US 10,244,012 B2
• Filed: 07/02/2015
• Issued: 03/26/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyndryl Incorporated
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dawson, Christopher J., Osias, Michael J., Sledge, Brian W.
• Primary Examiner(s): Ng, Amy
• Assistant Examiner(s): Wong, William
• Application Number:
  US14/790,258
• Publication Number:
  US 20150312290A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,363 Days
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 11/323 Visualisation of programs or trace data
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0484 for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object, an image or a displayed text element, setting a parameter value or selecting a range
• 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 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A system and method to visualize activities through the use of avatars. The system includes a display engine configured to display at least one automated activity as an avatar. The system also includes a management system configured to monitor the progress of the at least one automated activity and alter at least one of an appearance and a movement of the avatar in relation to the progress of the at least one automated activity.

Claims

1. A system implemented in hardware comprising:

a processor;

a computer readable hardware storage device;

program instructions stored on the computer readable hardware storage device which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to;

display a virtual representation of at least one automated activity involving a system occurring in a first environment that is a real-world environment;

display a representation of the at least one automated activity in a second environment that is a virtual universe (VU) using a computer-controlled avatar that interacts with a representation of the system in the second environment, wherein the virtual universe (VU) is an interactive simulated environment accessed by users via an online interface, and wherein user avatars representative of the users are used by the users to interact in the VU;

receive by the computer-controlled avatar the at least one automated activity from a user via a user avatar that represents the user;

monitor information generated in the first environment in association with progress of the at least one automated activity occurring in the first environment;

alter at least one of an appearance and a movement of the computer-controlled avatar in the VU to represent the progress of the at least one automated activity based on the information generated in the first environment, wherein the at least one automated activity is a biological activity; and

render the representation of the at least one automated activity in a second environment,

wherein;

the rendering comprises displaying a name of the at least one automated activity given to the computer-controlled avatar by the user avatar; and

the altering the appearance of the computer-controlled avatar comprises;

displaying a percentage completed for the at least one automated activity; and

changing a color of the computer-controlled avatar based on the percentage completed of the at least one automated activity.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the altering the at least one of the appearance and the movement of the computer-controlled avatar comprises updating at least one of the appearance and the movement of the computer-controlled avatar on a synchronous basis or on an event driven basis.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the receiving the at least one automated activity comprises displaying the user avatar and the computer-controlled avatar interacting by:

shaking hands, hugging, handing the computer-controlled avatar a virtual representation of the at least one automated activity, or issuing a command to the computer-controlled avatar.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to display one or more interactions between the computer-controlled avatar and another avatar associated with another automated activity occurring in the first environment, the one or more interactions comprising a gesture to visually represent an end of the at least one automated activity and a beginning of the another automated activity, and

wherein the at least one automated activity involves a plurality of components in the second environment affected by the at least one automated activity.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to:

change a color of the computer-controlled avatar and a speed at which the computer-controlled avatar is moving to indicate a speed at which the at least one automated activity is being executed; and

change the color of the computer-controlled avatar based on an importance and a criticality of the at least one automated activity.

6. A computer implemented method for visualizing one or more automated activities, comprising:

receiving, from a user-controlled avatar that represents a user by at least one computer-controlled avatar in a virtual environment, one or more automated activities involving a system in a real-world environment, wherein;

the at least one computer-controlled avatar receives the one or more automated activities from the user via an interaction in the virtual environment;

installing a monitoring agent in the one or more automated activities occurring in the real world environment;

rendering the at least one computer-controlled avatar using an avatar representing an importance of the one or more automated activities received from the user;

representing the one or more automated activities occurring in the real-world environment via the at least one computer-controlled avatar in the virtual environment, wherein the at least one computer-controlled avatar implements the one or more automated activities by interacting with a representation of the system;

monitoring the at least one computer-controlled avatar; and

altering the at least one computer-controlled avatar to reflect a change in the one or more automated activities occurring in the real-world environment, the altering including changing at least one of a size, a color, and movement of the at least one computer-controlled avatar and a speed at which the at least one computer-controlled avatar is moving to indicate a speed at which the one or more automated activities are being executed in the real-world environment, wherein;

the rendering comprises displaying a name of the one or more automated activities given to the at least one computer-controlled avatar by a user avatar; and

the altering the at least one computer-controlled avatar comprises;

displaying a percentage completed for the one or more automated activities; and

changing the color of the at least one computer-controlled avatar based on the percentage completed of the one or more automated activities; and

wherein;

the changing the color and an appearance of the at least one computer-controlled avatar occurs periodically;

the real-world environment is a datacenter;

components of the real-world environment rendered in the virtual environment are a software package and a system object;

a virtual representation of the one or more automated activities occurring in the real-world environment represents installing the software package on the system object by the at least one computer-controlled avatar; and

the user-controlled avatar represents an administrator of the datacenter.

7. The computer implemented method of claim 6, wherein the altering includes changing a size of the at least one computer-controlled avatar.

8. The computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprising identifying a number of errors incurred by the one or more automated activities.

9. The computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprising displaying to the user a view of the at least one computer-controlled avatar while performing the one or more automated activities.

10. The computer implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

monitoring a progress of the one or more automated activities; and

changing at least one of the color, a speed, and the size of the at least one computer-controlled avatar to represent the progress of the one or more automated activities,

wherein;

the receiving one or more automated activities comprises receiving by a first one of a plurality of inactive avatars the one or more automated activities from the user-controlled avatar; and

the importance of the one or more automated activities received from the user-controlled avatar is represented by a species of the at least one computer-controlled avatar.

11. A computer program product comprising a tangible computer readable hardware storage device and program instructions stored on the computer readable hardware storage device which cause a processor to:

receive, by at least one computer-controlled avatar in a first environment, one or more automated activities involving a real-world system occurring in a second environment, wherein the one or more automated activities is received by the at least one computer-controlled avatar from a user;

render the at least one computer-controlled avatar using an avatar representing an importance of the one or more automated activities received from the user;

depict the one or more automated activities via the at least one computer-controlled avatar in the first environment, wherein;

the depicting the one or more automated activities includes displaying the at least one computer-controlled avatar implementing the one or more automated activities by interacting with a representation of the real-world system, and

the first environment is a virtual universe (VU) which is an interactive simulated environment accessed by users through an online interface, the users inhabiting and interacting in the VU via user avatars which are representations of the users;

monitor a progress of the one or more automated activities occurring in the second environment through the at least one computer-controlled avatar;

change one or more features of the at least one computer-controlled avatar to reflect the progress of the one or more automated activities occurring in the second environment,

wherein;

the one or more features include at least one of a size, a color, and a movement, and

the rendering comprises displaying a name of the one or more automated activities given to the at least one computer-controlled avatar by a user avatar; and

alter the at least one computer-controlled avatar, the altering comprising;

displaying a percentage completed for the one or more automated activities; and

changing the color and an appearance of the at least one computer-controlled avatar based on the percentage completed of the one or more automated activities,

wherein;

the changing the color and the appearance of the at least one computer-controlled avatar occurs periodically;

the real-world system is a datacenter;

components of the real-world system rendered in the VU are a software package and a system object;

a virtual representation of the one or more automated activities occurring in a first environment represents installing the software package on the system object by the at least one computer-controlled avatar; and

the user avatar represents an administrator of the datacenter.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or more automated activities is a biological activity.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein a plurality of the one or more features are depicted by a single avatar.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer program product is at least one of supported, deployed, maintained, and created by a service provider.

15. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the computer program product is offered by a service provider based on one of a fee and subscription basis.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to install a monitoring agent in the one or more automated activities that monitors progress of the one or more automated activities, and change the at least one of a color, a speed, and a size of the at least one avatar to represent the progress of the one or more automated activities, wherein:

the receiving one or more automated activities comprises receiving by a first one of a plurality of inactive avatars the one or more automated activities from the user; and

the importance of the one or more automated activities received from the user is represented by a species of the at least one computer-controlled avatar.

17. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein:

the VU includes a plurality of inactive avatars;

the receiving one or more automated activities comprises one of the plurality of inactive avatars receiving the one or more automated activities from the user; and

the one of the plurality of inactive avatars become active based upon the receiving one or more automated activities and becomes inactive again when the one or more automated activities is complete.