METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ASSOCIATING GRAPHIC ICON IN INTERNET VIRTUAL WORLD WITH USER'S EXPERIENCE IN REAL WORLD

• US 20090210486A1
• Filed: 10/10/2008
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: LIM, Yong-jun
• Granted Patent: US 8,180,827 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• 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 13/335 using Internet
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/65 automatically by game devices or servers from real world data, e.g. measurement in live racing competition
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/69 by enabling or updating specific game elements, e.g. unlocking hidden features, items, levels or versions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/792 for payment purposes, e.g. monthly subscriptions
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/535 for monitoring, e.g. of user parameters, terminal parameters, application parameters, network parameters
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5546 using player registration data, e.g. identification, account, preferences, game history
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/69 Involving elements of the real world in the game world, e.g. measurement in live races, real video
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/011 Arrangements for interaction with the human body, e.g. for user immersion in virtual reality blind teaching G09B21/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/131 Protocols for games, networked simulations or virtual reality

Abstract

A method and apparatus to associate a graphic icon representing a user in an Internet virtual world with the user'"'"'s experience in the real world, the method including: logging data of an event occurring to the user in the real world; transmitting the logged data to a server; and updating the graphic icon in the virtual world according to the transmitted data. Accordingly, by associating the contents of the user'"'"'s experience with a database (DB) and expressing the contents in the graphic icon, the user'"'"'s experiences in the real world can be more realistically expressed in a virtual world.

Claims

1. A method of associating a graphic icon in a virtual world with a user'"'"'s experience in a real world, the method comprising:

logging data of an event occurring to the user in the real world;

transmitting the logged data to a server; and

updating the graphic icon in the virtual world based on the transmitted data.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logging of the data of the event comprises detecting the event according to an external signal or in real-time.

3. The method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the logging of the data of the event further comprises:

storing at least one piece of data corresponding to the detected event; and

determining a predetermined number of pieces of data representing the event from among the stored at least one piece of data.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises transmitting the data to the server according to an external signal or in real-time.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises transmitting the data via an interactive service using an application program interface (API) operation.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises:

receiving information included in the graphic icon;

comparing the received information to the logged data of the event of the user to determine data added to or changed from the graphic icon; and

transmitting the data added to or changed from the graphic icon according to a result of the comparing.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the updating of the graphic icon comprises:

classifying a category of the transmitted data; and

searching for a value matching the classified data from a database (DB) included in the server.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, wherein the updating of the graphic icon further comprises, if there is no value matching the classified data in the DB according to a result of the searching, generating an object of the classified data for the DB.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the updating of the graphic icon further comprises billing the user according to the result of the searching.

10. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the graphic icon is an avatar.

11. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logging of the data of the event comprises automatically detecting the event by a sensor and/or an automatic device.

12. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the virtual world is an Internet virtual world.

13. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the logging of the data of the event comprises logging the data of the event while the user is in an off-line mode.

38. A computer readable recording medium encoded with the method of claim 1 and implemented by a computer.

14. An apparatus to associate a graphic icon in a virtual world with a user'"'"'s experience in a real world, the apparatus comprising:

an event logging unit to log data of an event occurring to the user in the real world;

a transmitter to transmit the logged data to a server; and

an updating unit to update the graphic icon in the virtual world based on the transmitted data.

15. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the event logging unit comprises an event detector to detect the event according to an external signal or in real-time.

16. The apparatus as claimed in claim 15, wherein the event logging unit further comprises:

a storage unit to store at least one piece of data corresponding to the detected event; and

an event determiner to determine a predetermined number of pieces of data representing the event from among the stored at least one piece of data.

17. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the transmitter transmits the data to the server according to an external signal or in real-time.

18. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the transmitter comprises an interface unit to transmit the data via an interactive service using an application program interface (API) operation.

19. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein:

the interface unit comprises;

a receiver to receive information included in the graphic icon, and

a comparator to compare the received information to the logged data of the event of the user to determine data added to or changed from the graphic icon; and

the interface unit transmits the data added to or changed from the graphic icon according to the comparison result.

20. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the updating unit comprises:

a classifier to classify a category of the transmitted data; and

a search unit to search for a value matching the classified data from a database (DB) included in the server.

21. The apparatus as claimed in claim 20, wherein the updating unit further comprises an object generator to generate an object of the classified data if there is no value matching the classified data in the DB according to the search result.

22. The apparatus as claimed in claim 21, wherein the updating unit further comprises a billing unit to bill the user according to the search result.

23. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the graphic icon is an avatar.

24. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the event logging unit comprises an event detector to automatically detect the event.

25. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the virtual world is an Internet virtual world.

26. The apparatus as claimed in claim 14, wherein the event logging unit logs the data of the event occurring to the user while the apparatus is in an off-line mode.

27. A method of associating a graphic icon in a virtual world with a user'"'"'s experience in a real world, the method comprising:

logging data of an event occurring to the user in the real world; and

transmitting the logged data to a server in order to update the graphic icon in the virtual world.

28. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the logging of the data of the event comprises:

detecting the event;

storing at least one piece of data corresponding to the detected event; and

determining a predetermined number of pieces of data representing the event from among the stored at least one piece of data.

29. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises transmitting the data to the server according to an external signal or in real-time.

30. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises transmitting the data via an interactive service using an application program interface (API) operation.

31. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the transmitting of the logged data comprises:

receiving information included in the graphic icon;

comparing the received information to the logged data of the event of the user to determine data added to or changed from the graphic icon; and

transmitting the data added to or changed from the graphic icon according to a result of the comparing.

32. The method as claimed in claim 27, wherein the logging of the data of the event comprises logging the data of the event while the user is in an off-line mode.

39. A computer readable recording medium encoded with the method of claim 27 and implemented by a computer.

33. A method of associating a graphic icon in a virtual world with a user'"'"'s experience in a real world, the method comprising:

receiving logged data of an event occurring to the user in the real world; and

updating the graphic icon in the virtual world based on the received data.

34. The method as claimed in claim 33, wherein the logged data is logged while the user is in an off-line mode.

40. A computer readable recording medium encoded with the method of claim 33 and implemented by a computer.

35. An apparatus to associate a graphic icon in a virtual world with a user'"'"'s experience in a real world, the apparatus comprising:

an event logging unit to log data of an event occurring to the user in the real world; and

a transmitter to transmit the logged data to a server in order to update the graphic icon in the virtual world.

36. The apparatus as claimed in claim 35, wherein the transmitter comprises an interface unit:

the interface unit comprises;

a receiver to receive information included in the graphic icon, and

a comparator to compare the received information to the logged data of the event of the user to determine data added to or changed from the graphic icon; and

the interface unit transmits the data added to or changed from the graphic icon according to the comparison result.

37. The apparatus as claimed in claim 35, wherein the event logging unit logs the data of the event occurring to the user while the apparatus is in an off-line mode.