USOO6229533B1 (12) United States Patent (10) Patent No.: US 6,229,533 B1 Farmer et al. (45) Date of Patent: *May 8, 2001 (54) GHOST OBJECT FOR A VIRTUAL WORLD OTHER PUBLICATIONS (75) Inventors: Randy Farmer, Cupertino; John E. “Valentine's Day Wedding In A Virtual World”, Newsbytes, Onusko, San Francisco, both of CA p. 1, Feb. 14, 1996.* (US) (List continued on next page.) (73) Assignee: Fujitsu Limited, Kawasaki (JP) Primary Examiner Raymond J. Bayerl (*) Notice: This patent issued on a continued pros- ASSistant Examiner X. L. Bautista ecution application filed under 37 CFR (74) Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Skjerven Morrill 1.53(d), and is subject to the twenty year MacPherson LLP; Edward C. Kwok patent term provisions of 35 U.S.C. (57) ABSTRACT 154(a)(2). A virtual world computer process includes portable virtual Subject to any disclaimer, the term of this token objects that can be used by on-line users of the Virtual patent is extended or adjusted under 35 World to facilitate exchange of goods and Services within the U.S.C. 154(b) by 0 days. Virtual world. In particular, client-Server computer processes are provided for the virtual world that allow on-line users to (21) Appl. No.: 08/691,793 conduct activities within the Virtual world including getting, putting, giving, and receiving portable virtual token objects (22) Filed: Aug. 2, 1996 as well as other portable virtual objects. Each on-line user is (Under 37 CFR 1.47) represented in the graphic user interface by a virtual avatar object. Token objects are put into circulation by virtual ATM (51) Int. Cl." .................................................... G06F 3/00 objects. A virtual ATM object allows a user to obtain a (52) U.S. Cl. .......................... 345/331; 345/330; 345/332; balance, deposit tokens, and withdraw tokens. A vendroid 345/335; 345/349 object is an object that Sells portable virtual items in (58) Field of Search ..................................... 345/326,330, eXchange for tokens deposited by avatars. Different Virtual 345/331, 332, 334, 335, 348, 349, 355, items have different values, and vendroids do not all have 976, 977 the same virtual items for sale. In the virtual world, a lurker is represented in a locale by a ghost object. An icon is (56) References Cited present, i.e., an eye-in-the-sky, in a locale, whenever a ghost object, or ghost objects are present. Ghost objects have U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS anonymity, i.e. their names are not known to avatars of the 5,347,306 * 9/1994 Nitta ........... ... 345/330 X locale, and have limited interaction choices. A ghost object 5,491,743 * 2/1996 Shiio et al. ... 345/322 X cannot talk or think to other avatars. A ghost object retains 5,544,320 8/1996 Konrad ....... ... 395/200.33 the ability to transmit private “ESP” messages to other 5,606,652 * 2/1997 Silverbrook ... ... 345/435 avatars. 5,684,943 11/1997 Abraham et al. .................... 345/473 5,717,869 2/1998 Moran et al. ........................ 345/339 5,717.879 * 2/1998 Moran et al. .. ... 345/339 19 Claims, 44 Drawing Sheets 5,736,982 * 4/1998 Suzuki et al. .. ... 345/330 5,880,731 * 3/1999 Liles et al. ..... ... 345/349 Microfiche Appendix Included 5,886,697 * 3/1999 Naughton et al. ................... 345/348 (14 Microfiche, 1285 Pages) WorldsAway DX File Edit Communicator Help Entering Locale: Secret Room 1 'Welcomeback to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost. You are a ghost; the alternate state of your awatar. You can observe and use ESP.) y yahooooo Gesture > Turn Get from pocket d Remove Status > Become a Ghost Tell me about. RIs), US 6,229,533 B1 Page 2 OTHER PUBLICATIONS Fukuda, K., et al., “Hypermedia Personal Computer Com munication System: Fujitsu Habitat, Fujitsu Sci. Tech. J., “Picture Perfect Shopping Solution For The Web”, BRP 26, 3, pp. 197-205 (Oct. 1990). Publications, pp. 1-3, Mar. 19, 1996.* Morabito, M., “Enter the On-Line World of Lucasfilm,” Harley Guttman Ungar, “Online service chat: it wont’t go RUN, pp. 24–28 (Aug. 1986). away”, Interactive Content, V2, N24, p8(3), Apr. 1996.* Club Caribe Guidebook, Club Caribe Technology by Lucas Pioch, N., “A Short IRC Primer,” Nicolas. Pioch(agrasp. insa-lyon.fr (Ed.1.1b, Feb. 28, 1993), 41 film Ltd., 1989 Quantum Computer Services, Inc., 1989 pageS. Lucasfilm Ltd., 10 pages (1989). Rose, H. “What is IRC2, Hrose(Okei.com, undated, 6 Fujitsu Habitat V2.1, Fujitsu Limited, 6 pp. (1989–1992). pageS. * cited by examiner U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 1 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldSAway Dx File Edit Communicator Help - 140 Entering Locale: V-Mart) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost. V7 - 151 150-> 106 V O - a 11 O 130 ----- 105. s ?t U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 2 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 HESTENIT-NO U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 3 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help A 1-40 (Entering Locale: West Fountain Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost. w 350-> -ea es ress FIG. 3A U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 4 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help 4a 1- 140 Entering Locale: West Fountain) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost.) V7 350-> 380 - Q32 -1 -1 -ea - 6 as to it Rijs) FIG. 3B U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet S of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help A. 1- 140 Entering Locale: V-Mart Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost.) w 151 W . 11 g -- 120 150-> 100 : . A \? 9 A. (CGC).m yahooooo Gesture 105 Get from pocket ) Remove Status ) Become a Ghost O 401 Tell me about ... s s FIG. 4A U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 6 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help a -140 Entering Locale: V-Mart) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost. W7 2/ 150-> ... Normal F2 100 's 'slus F3 4 * Sad F4 O s-- (S9& Mad F5 aaS fSE i Wave F6 BOW F7 Shrug F8 Present F9 Jump F10 ya h O React F11 Turn ) 401 Get from pocket ) 402 Remove Status ) FIG. 4B U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 7 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help A. -140 (Entering Locale: V-Mart) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost.) w 2/ 150-> / 100 A a v W O 2a || - C 403 yahooooo A^ Gesture Left Right Get from pocket Around Remove Status ) Become a Ghost T 401 - Tell me about. FIG. 4C U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 8 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help a. -140 Entering Locale: V-Mart Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost.) V7 W 100 y 150-> O 401 2 s y A it Y yahooooo (S9&9) C Gesture ) 404 O Turn ) M Tokens Remove Black/Pale/Burgundy Status }| Green/Tan/Gray Become a Ghost Box Tell me about ... Purple/Light Purple - 2/7 Grey/Dark/Turquoise FIG. 4D U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 9 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway DX File Edit Communicator Help a. -140 Entering Locale: V-Mart) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost. w W/ 150-> 100 401y :Sz / Siyahooooo A Gesture d Turn ) D( - DC 405 Get from pocket ) Remove Who's in here? Become a Ghost Where is everyone? Tell me about. Where am I? How healthy am I? What time is it? 2 / . Tokens in hand and pocket? Turn ESP off Disallow new followers FIG. 4E U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 10 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help MN 1- 140 Entering Locale: West Fountain) Welcome back to the Dreamscape. You are returning as a ghost.) w Q 350-> Gesture Turn Get from pocket ) Remove Status Become a Ghost Tell me about ... FIG. 4F U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 11 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help This is a container.) 4a This is a container.) 1- 140 This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) w U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 12 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway OX File Edit Communicator Help This is a container. a. This is a container. 1- 140 This is a container. This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) w 450 1 s Y-100 430 Walk to Get Y-406 Open Lock Tell me about... sis FIG. 4H U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 13 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway DX File Edit Communicator Help This is a container. A This is a container. 1- 140 This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) V FIG. 4 U.S. Patent May 8, 2001 Sheet 14 of 44 US 6,229,533 B1 WorldsAway -DX File Edit Communicator Help This is a container.) a. This is a container. 1- 140 This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) This is a container.) W 450 1 -100 s 430 \ 408 Trunk CO Head Fiddle Get Tokens Open 407 --> Lock Tell me about ..