Collaborative virtual reality online meeting platform

A method for providing a collaborative virtual reality (VR) online meeting platform, the method comprising:

• providing a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud data defining a virtual space, the virtual space representing a physical environment that was measured by metrology device;
• providing identifiers of a plurality of meeting participants;
• transmitting the 3D point cloud data to each of the meeting participants;
• providing meeting data including positions in the virtual space of a plurality of avatars, each of the plurality of avatars corresponding to one of the meeting participants;
• initiating, by a processor, an online meeting of the plurality of meeting participants in the virtual space, the initiating including transmitting a copy of the meeting data to each of the meeting participants;
• and
• coordinating the online meeting, the coordinating including communicating a current location of each of the avatars in the virtual space to all of the meeting participants, the communicating including:
• receiving a position of an avatar in the virtual space from a meeting participant, the avatar corresponding to the meeting participant, the meeting participant one of the plurality of meeting participants;
• updating the meeting data based at least in part on the received position;
• providing the updated meeting data to the meeting participants;
• and
• repeating the receiving, updating, and providing the updated meeting data while the meeting is in process.

A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions:

• providing a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud data defining a virtual space, the virtual space representing a physical environment that was measured by a metrology device
• providing identifiers of a plurality of meeting participants;
• providing meeting data including positions in the virtual space of a plurality of avatars, each of the plurality of avatars corresponding to one of the meeting participants;
• transmitting the 3D point cloud data to each of the meeting participants;
• initiating, by a processor, an online meeting of the plurality of meeting participants in the virtual space, the initiating including transmitting a copy of the meeting data to each of the meeting participants;
• and
• coordinating the online meeting, the coordinating including communicating a current location of each of the avatars in the virtual space to all of the meeting participants, the communicating including:
• receiving a position of an avatar in the virtual space from a meeting participant, the avatar corresponding to the meeting participant, the meeting participant one of the plurality of meeting participants;
• updating the meeting data based at least in part on the received position;
• providing the updated meeting data to the meeting participants;
• and
• repeating the receiving, updating, and providing the updated meeting data while the meeting is in process.

A system for participating in a collaborative virtual reality (VR) online meeting platform, the system comprising:

• a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud defining a virtual space, the virtual space representing a physical environment that was measured by a metrology device;
• meeting data including a first position in the virtual space of a first avatar representing a first meeting participant and a second position in the virtual space of a second avatar representing a second meeting participant;
• a VR viewer utilized by the first meeting participant to view the virtual space and to display the first avatar at the first position in the virtual space and to display the second avatar at the second position in the virtual space;
• and
• a processor responsive to executable computer instructions that when executed by the processor perform a method comprising:
• joining a meeting, the joining by the first meeting participant and the meeting having a duration;
• performing repeatedly during the duration of the meeting:
• transmitting the updated position of the first avatar to a meeting coordinator based at least in part on receiving an updated position of the first avatar from the VR viewer;
• and
• displaying, via the VR viewer, the second avatar at an updated position of the second avatar in the virtual space based at least in part on receiving the updated position of the second avatar from the meeting coordinator.