Granted Patent B2

US 9,032,288 · App. 12/558,180 · Granted May 12, 2015

Abstract

Claims (24)

1. A method of presenting documents in a virtual world comprising:

converting pages of a document into a sequence of individual page images;

uploading the individual page images into the virtual world; and

positioning the individual page images in the virtual world according to a user-specified layout, including at least one predefined track, wherein avatars representing users in the virtual world view the individual page images positioned in the virtual world by the avatars being moved along the predefined track within the virtual world between the individual page images.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the individual page images are uploaded into the virtual world as separate computer files.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising displaying the individual page images concurrently in the virtual world, and selectively permitting the avatars to asynchronously review the pages of the document using the individual page images.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the avatars are automatically transported to the individual page images.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the page images are stored in one of a JPEG, GIF, TIFF, or bitmap image format.

6. A method of forming a document from scenes in a virtual world comprising:

capturing scene images in a virtual world based on a plurality of distinct and user-specified camera positions in the virtual world; and

generating a document using the scene images, wherein pages of the document include the scene images,

wherein capturing scene images comprises capturing scene images in a user-specified ordered sequence.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein generating the document includes incorporating the scene images into the document with additional information.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the additional information comprises a description of the scene images.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising inserting the scene images into the pages of the document in accordance with a user-specified sequence.

10. A system for converting between computer documents and a virtual world

a computing system having one or more computing devices, the computing system configured to implement an export converter, the export converter generating a document using scene images captured in a virtual world based on a plurality of distinct and user-specified camera positions in the virtual world, wherein pages of the document include the scene images, and the scene images are captured in a user-specified ordered sequence.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the computer system is configured to implement an import converter to convert pages of a document into a sequence of individual page images, upload the individual page images into the virtual world, and position the individual page images in the virtual world according to a user-specified layout.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the import converter positions the page images on prearranged surfaces distributed along at least one predefined track in response to the user-specified layout.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the individual page images are uploaded into the virtual world by the import converter as separate computer files.

14. The system of claim 11 , further comprising displaying the individual page images concurrently in the virtual world to accommodate asynchronous review of the pages of the document using the individual page images.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein system implements the export converter and the import converter as a bidirectional converter.

16. The system of claim 10 , wherein the converter incorporates the scene images into the document with additional information.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the additional information comprises a description of the scene images.

Assignments (10)