Automated selection of avatar characteristics for groups

• US 20090254859A1
• Filed: 04/03/2008
• Published: 10/08/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 04/03/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Arrasvuori, Juha, Ollila, Elina
• Granted Patent: US 8,832,552 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/810
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management

Abstract

Systems, apparatuses, and methods for automating avatar selection for groups are disclosed. A representative method includes providing a software application accessible to multiple users, and a database of available avatar characteristics that are selectively combinable to create user-specific avatars with which the users can represent themselves to each other in the application. User(s) associated with a group provide an instruction that associates a first set of the available avatar characteristics with the group. For users associated with the group, access is then restricted to the first set of avatar characteristics, and for users not associated with the group, access is restricted to a different second set of available avatar characteristics. Avatar characteristics in the first set may be selected by an automated procedure that analyzes user-specific avatars of some users, and selects which of the available avatar characteristics to include in the first set based on the analysis.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

hosting a multi-participant application in which participants are represented as avatars;

providing a set of available avatar characteristics from which participants can select to create their respective user-specific avatars;

recognizing a plurality of the participants as affiliated with a group;

receiving an instruction from at least one participant affiliated with the group that associates a first subset of the available avatar characteristics with the group; and

after receiving the instruction, providing only the first subset of available avatar characteristics to the participants affiliated with the group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first subset of the available avatar characteristics includes a first avatar characteristic, the method further comprising:

requiring participants affiliated with the group to select at least the first avatar characteristic.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multi-participant application comprises a multi-player game, and wherein the hosting is carried out via one or more networks.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the participants affiliated with the group is a participant who is not a member of the group but who wishes to become a member of the group.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing user-specific avatars of the participants affiliated with the group; and

selecting the first subset based on the analysis;

wherein the analyzing is triggered by the instruction, or the selecting is included in the receiving step, or both.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein analyzing user-specific avatars comprises identifying one or more common avatar characteristics of the user-specific avatars.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein recognizing a plurality of the participants as affiliated with a group comprises receiving notifications from one or more of the plurality of the participants as to which participants are to be affiliated with the group, and recognizing those participants identified by the notifications as affiliated with the group.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising disallowing participants not affiliated with the group from selecting one or more of the first subset of the available avatar characteristics.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the available avatar characteristics include one or more of audio characteristics and visual characteristics.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

storage configured to store a multi-participant application in which participants are represented as avatars, and for storing a set of available avatar characteristics from which the participants can select to create their respective avatars; and

a processor configured to recognize a plurality of the participants as affiliated with a group, to identify from the set of available avatar characteristics a first subset of avatar characteristics associated with the group, and to limit at least some of the avatar characteristics available to the participants affiliated with the group to the first subset of avatar characteristics.

11. The apparatus as in claim 10, further comprising a receiver to receive an indication from at least one participant affiliated with the group that specifies the first subset of avatar characteristics, and wherein the processor is configured to identify the first subset of avatar characteristics based on the received indication specifying the first subset of avatar characteristics.

12. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to identify common characteristics selected by participants affiliated with the group, and wherein the identification of the first subset of avatar characteristics is based at least in part on the identification of the common characteristics selected by the participants affiliated with the group.

13. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to designate one or more of the first subset of available avatar characteristics as mandatory avatar characteristics for each of the participants affiliated with the group.

14. The apparatus as in claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to allow participants affiliated with the group to select any of the available avatar characteristics that are not designated as mandatory avatar characteristics.

15. The apparatus as in claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to designate one or more of the available avatar characteristics, that are not affiliated with the first subset, as prohibited avatar characteristics for each of the participants affiliated with the group.

16. An apparatus, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive application information for a multi-user application in which users are represented as avatars, the application information including at least avatar characteristics;

a user output configured to present a set of avatar characteristics from which a user can select to create a respective avatar;

a user input configured to facilitate user designation of a group of users in which to be affiliated; and

wherein the user output is further configured to present a subset of the set of avatar characteristics that are available for selection by the user in response to becoming affiliated with the group.

17. The apparatus as in claim 16, wherein the user input is further configured to facilitate user specification of which of the avatar characteristics are to be provided in the subset of avatar characteristics available for selection by all users affiliated with the group.

18. The apparatus as in claim 17, further comprising a transmitter configured to transmit the specified avatar characteristics to be provided in the subset of avatar characteristics to an application server for distribution to all users affiliated with the group.

19. The apparatus as in claim 16, further comprising:

a transmitter to transmit the application information to other users of the multi-user application where the apparatus is designated as a host of the multi-user application; and

storage configured to store at least the multi-user application and the set of available avatar characteristics from which the users of the multi-user application can select to create their respective avatars.

20. A computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon capable of causing a processor to:

execute an application accessible to a plurality of users, the application being capable of representing the users to each other via user-specific avatars, the application also being capable of associating some of the plurality of users with a group and not associating others of the plurality of users with the group;

provide a database of available avatar characteristics that are combinable to create the user-specific avatars;

receive an avatar instruction from at least one user associated with the group that associates a first set of the available avatar characteristics with the group;

restrict access for users associated with the group to a first set of the available avatar characteristics; and

restrict access for users not associated with the group to a second set of the available avatar characteristics, the second set differing from the first set.

21. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further capable of causing the processor to:

present only avatar characteristics selected from the first set of available avatar characteristics for users associated with the group to select from to create their user-specific avatars, and present only avatar characteristics selected from the second set of the available avatar characteristics for users not associated with the group to select from to create their user-specific avatars.

22. The storage medium of claim 20, wherein the instructions are further capable of causing the processor to:

analyze the user-specific avatars of at least some of the plurality of users; and

define the first set of available avatar characteristics based on the analysis;

wherein the analysis is in response to the avatar instruction, or the definition of the first set of available avatar characteristics is included in the receipt of the avatar instruction, or both.

23. The storage medium of claim 22, wherein the instructions are capable of causing the processor to analyze the user-specific avatars of at least some of the plurality of users by identifying one or more common avatar characteristics of the user-specific avatars.

24. An apparatus comprising:

means for hosting a multi-participant application in which participants are represented as avatars;

means for providing a set of available avatar characteristics from which participants can select to create their respective user-specific avatars;

means for recognizing a plurality of the participants as affiliated with a group;

means for receiving an instruction from at least one participant affiliated with the group that associates a first subset of the available avatar characteristics with the group; and

means for providing only the first subset of available avatar characteristics to the participants affiliated with the group in response to receiving the instruction.