System and method for producing merchandise from a virtual environment

• US 20050182693A1
• Filed: 02/11/2005
• Published: 08/18/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Integral Reality Labs Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Besjon Alivandi
• Inventors: Alivandi, Besjon
• Granted Patent: US 7,761,339 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/27
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/12 involving interaction between a plurality of game devices, e.g. transmisison or distribution systems protocols for networked virtual reality, networked games H04L29/06034
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/30 Interconnection arrangements between game servers and game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game devices; Interconnection arrangements between game servers
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/822 Strategy games; Role-playing games A63F13/825, A63F13/828 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/85 Providing additional services to players
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/206 Game information storage, e.g. cartridges, CD ROM's, DVD's, smart cards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/407 Data transfer via internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/807 Role playing or strategy games
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 50/00 Data acquisition or data processing for additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 Products made by additive manufacturing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/06 Buying, selling or leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0621 Item configuration or customization

Abstract

A system and method are provided for producing customized merchandise for a user based upon a character within a virtual environment, by retrieving character data representing a player character within a game and converting the character data into merchandise attributes. The merchandise attributes are then used to create instructions for producing an item of customized merchandise.

Claims

6. A method for producing merchandise for a user, based upon a character within a virtual environment controlled by at least one user, comprising:

receiving character data representing a character within a virtual environment; and

converting the character data into merchandise attributes.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

generating at least one instruction for producing the at least one article of merchandise, based upon the merchandise attributes, based upon the instructions.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein producing includes manufacturing the at least one article of merchandise as a tangible item, based upon the instructions.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein producing includes making available the at least one article of merchandise as an intangible item based upon the instructions.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the tangible item includes at least one of:

a trading card, a poster, a miniature, an action figure, a book, a patch, a t-shirt, a sticker, a sticker, a stickpin, a badge, a hat, stationery, a pen, a plaque, a doll, a bust, a sculpture, a model, a mask, a postcard, an image, a movie file, a Web site, a translated character record, a trophy, a calendar, a cup, a flag, a banner, a video game, a computer program and a jacket.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the intangible item includes at least one of:

an image, a movie file, a Web site, a video game, a computer program and a translated character record.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein character data relates to at least one of:

a character race, a character class, a character gender, a character facial appearance, a character body type, a character hair color, a character hairstyle, a character skin tone, a character clothing, a character ability score, a character accessory, a character name, a character action, a character accomplishment and an environment setting.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the character data defines at least one action of the character made within the virtual environment.

14. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

determining whether the character is a member of an organization within the virtual environment; and

making at least one item of customized merchandise available to the user if he character is a member of the organization.

15. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether the character is a member of an organization within the virtual environment; and

wherein, if the character is a member of the organization, be at least one item of merchandise is offered for production to each user controlling a character that is a member of the organization.

16. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

determining whether the character data includes at least one predefined data element indicating eligibility for receiving the article of merchandise; and

wherein the at least one item of merchandise is made available to the user if the user'"'"'s character data contains the at least one predefined data element.

17. The method of claim 6, wherein the customized merchandise is purchased from a virtual store within the virtual environment.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the customized merchandise purchased from the virtual store is used by the character within the virtual environment.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the customized merchandise is purchased using virtual currency.

20. A method of generating customized merchandise, based upon a character within a virtual environment, comprising:

receiving character data representing a character within a virtual environment; and

generating at least one high resolution image of the character within the virtual environment, wherein the character data defines at least one characteristic of the character.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one of:

a position of the character and an attribute of the character.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the character data further defines the characteristics of the virtual environment accessed by the character.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein the at least one high resolution image is derived from at least one high resolution model and the character data defines positioning of the high resolution model.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the customized merchandise includes at least one of:

a trading card, a poster, a miniature, an action figure, a book, a patch, a t-shirt, a sticker, a sticker, a stickpin, a badge, a hat, stationery, a pen, a plaque, a doll, a bust, a sculpture, a model, a mask, a postcard, an image, a movie file, a Web site, a translated character record, a trophy, a calendar, a cup, a flag, a banner, a video game, a computer program and a jacket.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the attribute of a character relates to at least one of:

a character race, a character class, a character gender, a character facial appearance, a character body type, a character hair color, a character hairstyle, a character skin tone, a character clothing, a character ability score, character accessory, a character name, a character action and a character accomplishment.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein the position of a character relates to at least one of:

a pose of the character and a relationship between the character and the virtual environment.

27. A method of qualifying a user to receive an item, based upon activity of at least one character controlled by a user within a virtual environment, comprising:

receiving a request to allow a user to receive an item;

receiving character data representing at least one of the character within a virtual environment; and

qualifying the user to receive the item, based upon at least one element of the character data.

28. The method of 27, wherein the qualifying a user to receive an item is based upon the character'"'"'s membership within an organization.

29. The method of 28, wherein the user receives the item within the virtual environment.

30. The method of 27, wherein the qualifying a user to receive an item is based upon at least one of:

a character name, a character species, a character color, a character class, a character rank, a character strength, a number of character kills, a character profession, a point total achieved by the character and a level achieved by the character.

31. A method for converting a character from a first game system to a second game system, comprising:

receiving a character record from a first game system;

converting the character record from a first data format to a second data format, wherein the second data format is compatible with a second game system; and

saving the character record in the second data format, in a manner compatible with the second game system.

32. A method for providing a Web site, based upon a character within a virtual environment that is controlled by a user, comprising:

receiving data representing at least one characteristic of a character within a virtual environment; and

using the data for generating a Web site.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the data relates to at least one action of the character.

34. The method of claim 32, wherein the data relates to appearance of the character.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the data relates to at least one statistic relating to the character.

36. The method of claim 32, wherein the data relates to at least one possession of the character.

37. A system for generating customized merchandise, based upon an entity within a virtual environment, comprising:

an interface to receive at least one data element from a data set, wherein the data set contains a plurality of data elements defining a character within a virtual environment; and

a processor to translate the at least one data element into at least one merchandise characteristic and to use the at least one merchandise characteristic for manufacturing at least one article of customized merchandise.

38. The system of claim 37, wherein the entity relates to a character within the virtual environment.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein the entity relates to an accessory within the virtual environment.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein the customized merchandise includes at least one of:

a trading card, a poster, a miniature, an action figure, a book, a patch, a t-shirt, a sticker, a sticker, a stickpin, a badge, a hat, stationery, a pen, a plaque, a doll, a bust, a sculpture, a model, a mask, a postcard, an image, a movie file, a Web site, a translated character record, a trophy, a calendar, a cup, a flag, a banner, a video game, a computer program and a jacket.

41. The system of claim 37, wherein the data elements relates to at least one of:

character race, character class, character gender, character facial appearance, character body type, character hair color, character hairstyle, character skin tone, character clothing, character ability score, character accessory, a character name, a character action, a character accomplishment and environment setting.

42. A system for producing customized merchandise for a user, based upon a character within a virtual environment controlled by at least one user, comprising:

an interface to receive character data representing a character within a virtual environment; and

a processor to convert the character data into merchandise attributes.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the processor is further programmed to generate at least one instruction to produce the at least one article of customized merchandise, based upon the merchandise attributes, based upon the instructions.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the at bast one instruction relates to manufacturing the at least one article of customized merchandise as a tangible item.

45. The system of claim 43, wherein the at least one instruction relates to making available the at least one article of customized merchandise as an intangible item.

46. The system of claim 43, wherein the tangible item includes at least one of:

a trading card, a poster, a miniature, an action figure, a book, a patch, a t-shirt, a sticker, a sticker, a stickpin, a badge, a hat, stationed, a pen, a plaque, a doll, a bust, a sculpture, a model, a mask, a postcard, an image, a movie file, a Web site, a translated character record, a trophy, a calendar, a cup, a flag, a banner, a video game, a computer program and a jacket.

47. The system of claim 45, wherein the tangible item includes at least one of:

an image, a movie file, a Web site, a video game, a computer program and a translated character record.

48. The system of claim 44, wherein character data relates to at least one of:

character race, character class, character gender, character facial appearance, character body type, character hair color, character hairstyle, character skin tone, character clothing, character ability score, character accessory, a character name, a character action, a character accomplishment and environment setting.

49. The system of claim 44, wherein the character data defines at least one action of the character made within the virtual environment.

50. The system of claim 43, wherein the processor is further programmed to determine whether the character is a member of a predetermined organization;

and

wherein the processor is programmed to generate at least one instruction for producing the at least one article of customized merchandise, if the character is a member of the predetermined organization.

51. The system of claim 42, wherein the processor is further programmed to:

determine whether the character is a member of a predetermined organization; and

generate at least one instruction for offering the production of the at least one article of customized merchandise to each user, that is associated with the predetermined organization, if the character is a member of the predetermined organization.

52. The system of claim 42, wherein the processor is further configured to determine whether the character data includes at least one predefined data element indicating eligibility for receiving the article of customized merchandise;

and

wherein the at least one item of customized merchandise is made available to the user, if the user'"'"'s character data contains the at least one predefined data element.

53. The system of claim 43 wherein the processor is programmed to issue at least one instruction for enabling the customized merchandise to be purchased from a virtual store within the virtual environment.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the customized merchandise purchased from the virtual store is used by the character within the virtual environment.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein the customized merchandise is purchased using virtual currency.

56. A system for generating customized merchandise, based upon a character within a virtual environment, comprising:

an interface to receive character data representing a character within a virtual environment; and

a processor to generate at least one high resolution image of the character within the virtual environment, wherein the character data defines at least one characteristic of the character.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein the at least one characteristic includes at least one of:

a position of the character and an attribute of the character.

58. The system of claim 56, wherein the character data further defines the characteristics of the virtual environment accessed by the character.

61. The system of claim 56, wherein the attribute of a character relates to at least one of:

character race, character class, character gender, character facial appearance, character body type, character hair color, character hairstyle, character skin tone, character clothing, character ability score, character accessory, a character name, a character action and a character accomplishment.

62. The system of claim 56, wherein the position of a character relates to at least one of:

a pose of the character and a relationship between the character and the virtual environment.

60-1. The system of claim 60, wherein the customized merchandise includes at least one of:

a trading card, a poster, a miniature, an action figure, a book, a patch, a t-shirt, a sticker, a sticker, a stickpin, a badge, a hat, stationery, a pen, a plaque, a doll, a bust, a sculpture, a model, a mask, a postcard, an image, a movie file, a Web site, a translated character record, a trophy, a calendar, a cup, a flag, a banner, a video game, a computer program and a jacket.

63. A system for qualifying a user to receive an item, based upon activity of at least one character controlled by a user within a virtual environment, comprising:

an interface to receive a request to allow a user to receive an item and to receive character data, representing at least one of the characters within a virtual environment; and

a process programmed to qualify the user to receive the item, based upon at least one element of the character data.

64. The system of 63, wherein the processor qualifies the user to receive an item, based upon the character'"'"'s membership within an organization.

65. The system of 64, wherein the user receives the item within the virtual environment.

66. The system of 63, wherein the processor qualifies the user to receive an item, based upon at least one of:

a character name, a character species, a character color, a character class, a character rank, a character strength, a number of characters kills, a character profession, a point total achieved by the character and a level achieved by the character.

67. A system for converting a character from a first game system to a second game system, comprising:

an interface to receive a character record from a first game system;

a processor programmed to convert the character record from a first data format to a second data format, wherein the second data format is compatible with a second game system; and

storage to save the character record in the second data format in a manner compatible with the second game system.

68. A system for providing a Web site, based upon a character within a virtual environment that is controlled by a user, comprising:

an interface to receive data representing at least one characteristic of a character within a virtual environment; and

a processor programmed to use the data for generating a Web site.

69. The system of claim 68, wherein the data relates to at least one action of the character.

70. The system of claim 68, wherein the data relates to appearance of the character.

71. The system of claim 68, wherein the data relates to at least one statistic relating to the character.

72. The system of claim 68, wherein the data relates to at least one possession of the character.