US A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/ A1 Lee et al. (43) Pub. Date: Feb.

Transcription

1 i i I L US A1 (19) United States (12) Patent Application Publication (10) Pub. No.: US 2008/ A1 Lee et al. (43) Pub. Date: Feb. 7, 2008 (54) ON-LINE INTERACTION SYSTEM Continuation-in-part of application No. 11/619,520, (75) Inventors: Joseph William Lee, Los Angeles, CA?led on Jan. 3, (Us); Peter August Grendlel', San Francisco, CA (US); Michael R. Publication Classi?cation Hedlund, Los Gatos, CA (US) (51) Int CL G06F 1 7/00 ( ) Correspondence Address: StoloWitz Ford CoWger LLP (52) us. Cl / SW Morrison St Suite 600 Portland, OR (US) (57) ABSTRACT (73) Asslgneei soclal Concepts Inc" Los Altos CA An avatar display system monitors the activities or status of (21) App1_ NO; 11/845,664 different members on a network site. Avatars representing the different members are displayed in conjunction With an (22) Flled? Aug on-line application according to the different identi?ed Related US. Application Data member activities or status. Di? erent avatar display tech niques and?ltering schemes are used to both promote and (63) Continuation-impart of application NO_ 11/627,326, improve interactions between different members of the?led on Jan. 25, on-line application or Website. I2 ~>_L"? ' r v '8 * w e ' 7' 7:1. - i t H 5'' out _ I Ting-u ' qy-hu' MVm aors I HA ~ mu NAME mint: *1 i~~0v+ sums - mum l?uhimb mm. was I " Lnuub Mk 1* mm ; times H3430 I 8 ow Mm. 04:. 0F and MM-5 - Menu}, OMAN-3 ' 1 BMW. (M000 * l \'-\b, 5L cm». I ' Eva: $2.):, l TF5 miu'wks {$1 un?t} *3 l l l NC - mémfgmgs) r- _ ;.?r WA W I I I I Brian!» mule, no, I _._l AFN- W, dwrtvf mums Ito/m2. 9:591, ND., cmlrolhk /7 Ywm nu TWA : u v.

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3 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 2 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 CHECK USER PROFIIE FOR AVATAR PREFERENCES 40 CHECK PROFILES AND LOG FILES ACCORDING TO USER AVATAR PREFERENCES DISPLAY MEMBER AVATARS CORRESPONDING WITH USER AVATAR PREFERENCES MONITOR USER LOG FILES 46 IF APPLICABLEl DISPLAY MEMBER AVATARS ACCORDING TO USER LOG FILE 48 FIG. 2

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7 v 7 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 6 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 APPLICATION 30 ON-LINE FIG /- lileele 99 ;EB? 26 \28D + H11 \28A \28F

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10 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 9 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 IDENTIFY ON-LINE MEMBERS 60 IDENTIFY AVATAR IMAGES AND OTHER AVATAR PREFERENCES FROM MEMBER PROFILES 62 I 64 IDENTIFY NEW MEMBERS I 66 ASSIGN NEW MEMBERS AS ASSOCIATED TYPE OF AVATAR FRAME l 68 IDENTIFY MEMBERS WITH DIFFERENT MEMBERSHIP LEVELS II 70 ASSIGN AVATAR FRAMES TO THE MEMBERS ACCORDING TO ASSOCIATED MEMBERSHIP LEVELS V 72 IDENTIFY MEMBERS PURCHASING SPECIAL AVATAR FRAMES ASSIGN SPECIAL AVATAR FRAMES TO THE PURCHASING MEMBERS 74 ASSIGN REMAINING ON-LINE MEMBERS DEFAULT AVATAR FRAMES 76 II 78 DISPLAY AVATAR FOR ON-LINE MEMBERS ACCORDING TO ASSIGNED AVATAR FRAMES AND ASSOCIATED IMAGE AND SEITINGS FIG. 7

11 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 10 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 SCAN MEMBER PROFILES AND/OR LOG FILES 80 II 81 IDENTIFY NUMBER OF PICTURES UPLOADED BY MEMBERS u 32 IDENTTFY NUMBER OF BLOG POSTINGS BY MEMBERS r 83 IDENTIFY RECENT AND FREQUENT USER INTERACTIONS I 84 IDENTIFY USER ACTIVITY PREFERENCES II as IDENTIFY USER CLASSIFICATION OR STATUS I 86 ASSIGN AND DISPLAY DIFFERET AVATARS '.. ACCORDING TO IDENTIFIED MEMBER ACTIVITIES, INTERACTION AND A A PREFERENCES FIG. 8

12 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 11 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 SCAN USER PROFILE, CONTACT LIST, AND LOG FILES 90 II 92 scan MEMBER PROFILES, contact LISTS, AND LOG FILES compare USER contact LIST WITH ON-LINE MEMBERS 94 I 96 ONLY DISPLAY AVATARS FOR MEMBERS IN USER contact LIST 0R - HIGHLIGHT AVATARS FOR MEMBERS IN USER CONTACT LIST I 98 compare CURRENT USER BROWSING SITE WITH sites CURRENTLY BEING BROWSED BY OTHER MEMBERS I 100 FILTER DISPLAYED AVATARS BASED ON COMMON BROWSING SITES COMPARE USER GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION WITH MEMBER GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION II 104 FILTER DISPLAYED AVATARS BASED ON SIMILAR GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION I 106 COMPARE SEX. AGE, AND OTHER INTERESTS I 108 FILTER DISPLAYED AVATARS BASED ON SIMILAR DEMOGRAPHICS OR INTERESTS FIG. 9A

13 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 12 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 SCAN USER PROFILE, CONTACT LIST, DIRECTORY, AND LOG FILES FOR AVATAR OUT GOI NG FILTER PARAMETERS 91 V 93 CALCULATE OUTGOING AVATAR FILTERS ACCORDING TO IDENTIFIED OUTGOING FILTER PARAMETERS l 95 FILTER OUTGOING USER AVATARS ACCORDING TO CALCULATED OUTGOING AVATAR FILTERS 91 SCAN USER PROFILE, CONTACT LIST, DIRECTORY, AND LOG FILES FOR AVATAR INCOMING FILTER PARAMETERS v 99 CALCULATE INCOMING AVATAR FILTERS ACCORDING TO IDENTIFIED INCOMMONG FILTER PARAMETERS FILTER INCOMING USER AVATARS ACCORDING TO CALCULATED INCOMING AVATAR FILTERS 101 FIG. 9B

14 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 13 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 lnbox Default \?ew lnbox I154 I15! ComBose New Message 'Qvmu. MAM$ I186 I12 " A e,. SOUTH e 7 '87- southwest. mxyz. s? b? resenfations PM ) J 3 g y 5 "BA "8B 8c M DZOnBE )1 F I Sender Subject Date 3 Size :33 gd ediinmmfe?'meem 5 me?'?i igi, I 1: I180 - sue Qf m PM 4k ( Favomes sou?mst Yourlripltinemy Dec :01AM 6k sue vacation mquestdmied mazousmsm 1k ') abc@go.com(joea MW.. mm aveme I..., I x" ' $2 wnmmgpsmvygrumnneczgooasmm 11k "188 l2ga 12%8 mic lmp'wwg my Forwardw 19 velelewnasx? Wmmmm I I 126A I 268 I 260 "Ma Team, them will be a schedule miew mae?ng this evening. Pl come '1 F :28 #24

15 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 14 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 ACCESS SYSTEM IDENTIFY ON-LINE MEMBERS DISPIAY AVATARS IN ln-box FOR ON-LINE MEMBERS 142 v 144 IDENTIFY OFFICE STATUS IDENTIFIED IN MEMBER PROFILE (IN OFFICE, OUT OF OFFICE, ON VACATION, ETC.) 146 DISPLAY OR HIGHLIGHT AVATARS ACCORDING TO OFFICE STATUS SEARCH USER DIRECTORY, 148 I 150 DISPLAY 0R HIGHLIGHT MEMBER AVATARS ACCORDING TO STATUS OF ASSOCIATED MESSAGES {NUMBER OF UNREAD S, AGE OF UNREAD S, SENT S, ETC.) FIG. 11A

16 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 15 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 m:.oe 08 8N <m~ k \ mug an % movie no So movie 2. \ x

17 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 16 0f 18 US 2008/ A1

18 Patent Application Publication Feb. 7, 2008 Sheet 17 0f 18 US 2008/ A1 SCAN USER CONTACT INFORMATION 160 SCAN MEMBER CONTACT INFORMATION DISPLAY AVATARS FOR MEMBERS IN USER CONTACTS IDENTIFY COMMON MEMBERS IN BOTH USER CONTACTS AND MEMBER CONTACTS 166 I 168 DISPLAY AVATARS FOR IDENTIFIED COMMON MEMBERS 170 DISPLAY TREE SHOWING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMON MEMBERS 172 DISPLAY AVATARS FOR RANDOM MEMBERS I 174 USER SELECTS ONE OF DISPLAYED AVATARS r 176 SEARCH CONTACTS FOR BOTH USER AND SELECTED MEMBER v 178 DISPLAY AVATARS AND/0R TREE SHOWING CONTACT LINKS BETWEEN USER AND SELECTED MEMBER AVATAR FIG. 13

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20 US 2008/ A1 Feb. 7, 2008 ON-LINE INTERACTION SYSTEM BACKGROUND [0001] People use and chat rooms to interact With each other over electronic networks such as the Internet. Although the advance of the Internet and networking tech nology in general has improved interaction and communi cation between people, the tools available for promoting or enabling these interactions are relatively primitive. For example, to interact With a particular person online, a user typically has to manually identify and enter an Internet address or on-line user name associated With another person. Identifying these cryptic addresses or user names is at best cumbersome and hinders the interactions between people over electronic networks. The disclosure that follows solves this and other problems. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION [0002] An avatar display system monitors the activities or status of different members on a network site. Avatars representing the different members are displayed in con junction With an on-line application according to the differ ent identi?ed member activities or status. In one embodi ment the avatars are scrolled across a display page as a human ticker. The avatars can also be used to identify different message conditions and different contact relationships. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0003] FIG. 1 illustrates an example avatar display system. [0004] FIG. 2 is a How diagram showing some of the operations performed by the avatar display system in FIG. 1. [0005] FIGS. 3A-3C examples of how avatars are dis played by the display system. [0006] FIG. 4 shows another example of how avatars are displayed by the display system. [0007] FIG. 5 shows how avatars are faded in and out. [0008] FIG. 6 shows how the avatars are varied according to different on-line member status. [0009] FIG. 7 is a How diagram showing in more detail how the avatars are varied according to different on-line member status. [0010] FIG. 8 is a How diagram showing how avatars are varied according to different on-line member activities. [0011] FIG. 9Ais a How diagram showing how avatars are displayed or varied according to different related member information. [0012] FIG. 9B is a How diagram showing how avatars are?ltered. [0013] FIGS. 10, 11A, and 11B show how the avatar display system is used in conjunction With an system. [0014] FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing how the avatar display system can be used to identify common contacts for different members. [0015] FIG. 13 is a How diagram explaining FIG. 12 in more detail. [0016] FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing how the avatar display system can be used in conjunction With a social on-line Website. DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS [0017] Several preferred examples of the present applica tion Will now be described With reference to the accompa nying drawings. Various other examples of the invention are also possible and practical. This application may be exem pli?ed in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the examples set forth herein. [0018] FIG. 1 illustrates an example avatar display system 12. An avatar display controller 24 displays different avatars 28 in a computer page 26 displayed on the screen of a computer 32. The avatar display controller 24 may be software that is executed by a computer 13 or computer logic. [0019] In one example, computer 13 is a server or other type of network processing device that either stores or accesses information from another computer, that includes a user pro?le 14, log?les 16, contact list 18, and an directory 20. The computer 13 may also store or access the pro?les, log?les, contacts, and directories 22 for other members of a same Web-site, Local Area NetWork (LAN), or other on-line application. [0020] In one embodiment, the computer 13 communi cates With multiple different computers 32 for a particular Website. For example, a user of computer 32 may access Website applications 25 that are operated on computer 13 via the Internet. In another embodiment, the computer 13 may be a server in an enterprise or in a residential location that operates different on-line applications 25 that are accessed by computer 32 via a LAN connection. [0021] The computer 32 may be a Personal Computer (PC), lap-top computer, cellular telephone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), Internet Protocol (IP) phone, IPTV, or any other type of Wired or Wireless device that accesses the different Website or on-line applications 25. [0022] Any combination of Web or on-line applications 25 may be located on the same or different computers 13. Similarly, the pro?les 14, log?les 16, contact lists 18, directories 20, and other similar user or member information 22 may be located on a same computer 13 or may be distributed on multiple different computers. HoWever, for simplicity of illustration, all of the on-line applications 25 and associated information is shown contained on computer 13. Avatar Display Controller [0023] Avatars 28 are Internet Website or on-line repre sentations or identi?ers of a particular user, member, orga nization, event, content, noti?cation, or any other piece of information that may need to be communicated to others. The avatars 28 can take the form of two or three-dimensional images, icons, sounds, video clips, text, or any other iden ti?er of a particular human-being, content, or event associ ated With a user name, address, or other on-line identi?er. [0024] Avatars 28 can also take the form of icons that are associated With different types of events or different types of information. For example, a user may not necessarily Want

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