US 7,849,420 B1Granted

Interactive content representations enabling content sharing

AssigneeQurio Holdings, Inc.

InventorsChristopher M. Amidon, Richard J. Walsh, Alfredo C. Issa, Kunal Kandekar

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Abstract

A system and method providing interactive content representations enabling content sharing are disclosed. In general, a content representation that is descriptive of content made accessible by a hosting user is presented in association with a content representation host representing the hosting user. The content representation host may be, for example, an avatar in a virtual environment, a custom webpage of the hosting user, an identifier of the hosting user in a peer-to-peer (P2P) network, an identifier of the hosting user in a mobile network, or the like. Based on the content representation, a viewing user can determine whether content of interest is accessible from the hosting user. The viewing user may interact with the content representation to further explore the content made accessible by the hosting user and, if desired, initiate transfer of at least some of the content to a client device associated with the viewing user.

Claims24

Dependent claims

A method comprising:

displaying to a viewing user represented with an avatar in a three-dimensional environment a content representation in association with an avatar representing a hosting user at a client device of the viewing user, the content representation descriptive of content made accessible by the hosting user;
generating a navigation tree in the three-dimensional environment when the viewing user interacts with the content representation, the navigation tree comprising a plurality of content representation layers having content representations descriptive of the content made accessible by the hosting user, wherein each of the plurality of content representation layers has a different content representation displayed to the viewing user based on a distance between the avatar representing the viewing user and the avatar representing the hosting user in the three-dimensional environment;
enabling the viewing user to navigate through the navigation tree in the three-dimensional environment by interacting with the plurality of content representations;
displaying in the three-dimensional environment a content representation from the plurality of content representations in association with the avatar representing the hosting user to the viewing user when the viewing user navigates through the navigation tree;
receiving a content transfer initiation event from the client device of the viewing user for initiating transfer of at least a portion of the content made accessible by the hosting user related to the content representation to the client device of the viewing user when the viewing user selects the content representation;
and
in response to the content transfer initiation event, effecting transfer of the at least a portion of the content made accessible by the hosting user related to the content representation from the avatar representing the hosting to user to the avatar representing the viewing user within the three-dimensional environment.

4 more elements

A hardware server comprising:

a communication interface communicatively coupling the server to a first client device associated with a viewing user and a second client device associated with a hosting user;
and
a control system associated with the communication interface and adapted to:
display to a viewing user represented with an avatar in a three-dimensional environment a content representation in association with an avatar representing a hosting user at a client device of the viewing user, the content representation descriptive of content made accessible by the hosting user;
generate a navigation tree in the three-dimensional environment when the viewing user interacts with the content representation, the navigation tree comprising a plurality of content representation layers having content representations descriptive of the content made accessible by the hosting user, wherein each of the plurality of content representation layers has a different content representation displayed to the viewing user based on a distance between the avatar representing the viewing user and the avatar representing the hosting user in the three-dimensional environment;
enable the viewing user to navigate through the navigation tree in the three-dimensional environment by interacting with the plurality of content representations;
display in the three-dimensional environment of a content representation from the plurality of content representations in association with host the avatar representing the hosting user to the viewing user when the user navigates through the navigation tree;
receive a content transfer initiation event from the client device of the viewing user for initiating transfer of at least a portion of the content made accessible by the hosting user related to the content representation to the client device of the viewing user when the user selects the content representation;
and
in response to the content transfer initiation event, effect transfer of the at least a portion of the content made accessible by the hosting user related to the content representation from the avatar representing the hosting to user to the avatar representing the viewing user within the three-dimensional environment.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.