FRIENDS LISTS WITH DYNAMIC ORDERING AND DYNAMIC AVATAR APPEARANCE

• US 20130111366A1
• Filed: 10/27/2011
• Published: 05/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Original Assignee: Disney Enterprises Incorporated (The Walt Disney Company)
• Inventors: SILBEY, MARC, YOCKEY, KEVIN
• Granted Patent: US 8,887,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/757
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/795 for finding other players; for building a team; for providing a buddy list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 13/807 Gliding or sliding on surfaces, e.g. using skis, skates or boards
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5553 user representation in the game field, e.g. avatar
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/556 Player lists, e.g. online players, buddy list, black list
• CPC Class Codes: A63F 2300/5566 by matching opponents or finding partners to build a team, e.g. by skill level, geographical area, background, play style
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 3/0482 Interaction with lists of selectable items, e.g. menus
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/00 Administration; Management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/04 Real-time or near real-time messaging, e.g. instant messaging [IM]

Abstract

Techniques are disclosed for presenting information related to a user'"'"'s friends within a virtual environment. For example, when a user requests to view a friends list, the virtual environment may respond by identifying interactions between that user and their friends. From this, the virtual environment may determine an order to present the users in the list. For example, individual with whom the user interacts with frequently may be more prominently displayed. However, the user may fix or “pin” the position of certain users (e.g., a close friend with whom contact is infrequent). Further, in addition to displaying friends'"'"' names, the list may display an animation of a user'"'"'s friend generated based on the then current activity, location, or appearance of that friend within a virtual environment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for generating a list of users, the method comprising:

receiving, from a first user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the first user;

identifying one or more interactions that have occurred between the first user and one or more users in the list within the virtual environment;

determining, from the identified interactions, an order to present the users in the list to the first user; and

presenting, by operation of one or more computer processors, the ordered list to the first user in response to the request.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

reordering the determined order for at least one user in the list of users based on a request from the first user to fix a position of the at least one user in the list.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list, comprises:

weighting the identified interactions by predefined weight values, the weight values being associated with one or more types of interactions;

further weighting the identified interactions based at least on timestamps identifying when the interactions occurred;

determining a sum of weighted interactions for each of the users in the list; and

ordering the list of users based on the determined sums.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list, comprises:

weighting the identified interactions by type, frequency, or time of occurrence.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and one or more users in the list, wherein the determined order is further based on the identified interests.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein presenting the ordered list in response to the request, comprises:

displaying a graphical representation of one or more users in the list, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current activity of an avatar within the virtual environment corresponding to the one or more users.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current location within the virtual environment of one or more of the users in the list.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list to the first user is performed in response to determining that a count of the list of users associated with the first user exceeds a specified minimum.

9. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program, which, when executed by a processor performs an operation for generating a list of users, the operation comprising:

receiving, from a user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the user;

identifying one or more interactions in one or more virtual environments that have occurred between the user and one or more users in the list;

determining, from the identified interactions, an order to present the users in the list; and

presenting, by operation of the processor, the ordered list in response to the request.

10. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

reordering the determined order for at least one user in the list of users based on a request from the first user to fix a position of the at least one user in the list.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 9, wherein the determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list, comprises:

weighting the identified interactions by predefined weight values, the weight values being associated with one or more types of interactions;

further weighting the identified interactions based at least on timestamps identifying when the interactions occurred;

determining a sum of weighted interactions for each of the users in the list; and

ordering the list of users based on the determined sums.

12. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises:

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and one or more users in the list, wherein the determined order is further based on the identified interests.

13. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein presenting the ordered list in response to the request, comprises:

displaying a graphical representation of one or more users in the list, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current activity of an avatar within the virtual environment corresponding to the one or more users.

14. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current location within the virtual environment of one or more of the users in the list.

15. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 9, wherein the step of determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list to the first user is performed in response to determining that a count of the list of users associated with the first user exceeds a specified minimum.

16. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory, wherein the memory includes an application program configured to perform an operation for generating a list of users, the operation comprising;

receiving, from a user interacting with a virtual environment, a request to view a list of users associated with the user,

identifying one or more interactions in one or more virtual environments that have occurred between the user and one or more users in the list,

determining, from the identified interactions, an order to present the users in the list, and

presenting the ordered list in response to the request.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the operation further comprises:

reordering the determined order for at least one user in the list of users based on a request from the first user to fix a position of the at least one user in the list.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list, comprises:

weighting the identified interactions by predefined weight values, the weight values being associated with one or more types of interactions;

further weighting the identified interactions based at least on timestamps identifying when the interactions occurred;

determining a sum of weighted interactions for each of the users in the list; and

ordering the list of users based on the determined sums.

19. The system of claim 16, wherein the operation further comprises:

identifying, for one or more users in the list, interests shared by the first user and one or more users in the list, wherein the determined order is further based on the identified interests.

20. The system of claim 16, wherein presenting the ordered list in response to the request, comprises:

displaying a graphical representation of one or more users in the list, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current activity of an avatar within the virtual environment corresponding to the one or more users.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current location within the virtual environment of one or more of the users in the list.

22. The system of claim 16, wherein the step of determining, from the identified interactions, the order to present the users in the list to the first user is performed in response to determining that a count of the list of users associated with the first user exceeds a specified minimum.

23. A computer-implemented method for generating a list of users, the method comprising:

retrieving, for a first user interacting with a virtual environment, a list of users associated with the first user;

determining a set of then current information regarding at least one user in the list of users; and

displaying a graphical representation of the users in the list of users, wherein the graphical representation of the at least one user is determined, at least in part, on the determined information.

24. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the set of then current information corresponds to a then current location of an avatar within the virtual environment corresponding to the at least one user, and wherein the graphical representation depicts a then current location of the avatar.

25. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the set of then current information corresponds to a then current activity of the at least one user within the virtual environment, and wherein the graphical representation depicts the then current activity of the at least one user within the virtual environment.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 23, wherein the graphical representation of the avatar corresponding to the at least one user depicts a real world location or activity of the at least one user.