SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR FORWARDING EXTERNAL NOTIFICATIONS OF EVENTS IN A VIRTUAL SPACE FROM A PRESENTATION CONTROL DEVICE TO A USER DEVICE

1 . A presentation control device configured to transmit external notifications of events that take place in a virtual space from the presentation control device to a user device, the presentation control device comprising:

one or more processors configured to execute one or more computer program modules, the one or more computer program modules comprising:

a user interface module configured to facilitate presentation of views of the virtual space via a display unit coupled to the presentation control device, wherein one or more users interact with one or more entities within the virtual space through the views of the virtual space;

a user device detection module configured to detect user devices within the vicinity of the presentation control device;

a notification forwarding module configured to:

obtain a notification corresponding to a trigger event that takes place in the virtual space, the notification intended for a user of the presentation control device; and

determine whether the notification should be transmitted to any user device detected by the user device detection module as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device; and

a notification transmission module configured to:

transmit, via a communication medium that is external to the virtual space, the notification to a first user device based on a detection of the first user device as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device, and further based on a determination that the notification should be transmitted to the first user device.

2 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , wherein the presentation control device comprises a set-top box, a smart TV, and/or a gaming console.

3 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , wherein the communication medium is a push notification, a text message, an instant message, and/or an email.

4 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , wherein the presentation control device is configured to communicate with the user devices via one or more communication networks including a near-field communication (NFC) network, a wireless fidelity (WiFi) network, a Bluetooth network, and an Ethernet network.

5 . The presentation control device of claim 4 , wherein detecting the user devices within the vicinity of the presentation control device comprises:

detecting the user devices that are located within a predefined range of the presentation control device, wherein the range is defined by a type of the one or more communication networks that is used for communication between the presentation control device and the user devices.

6 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , wherein detecting the user devices within the vicinity of the presentation control device comprises:

identifying a local area network (LAN) to which the presentation control device is connected; and

determining the user devices that are connected to the identified LAN.

7 . The presentation control device of claim 6 , wherein the LAN includes a wireless local area network (WLAN).

8 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , the notification forwarding module further configured to determine whether the notification should be transmitted to any user device detected by the user device detection module as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device based on one or more parameters, the one or more parameters comprising a parameter determined based on whether the first user device has a predefined association with the user for whom the notification is intended.

9 . The presentation control device of claim 8 , the presentation control device further comprising a first database, the first database storing predefined associations between user devices and users, and

the notification forwarding module further configured to determine whether the first user device has the predefined association with the user by accessing the first database.

10 . The presentation control device of claim 9 , the one or more computer program modules further comprising:

a user device registration module configured to:

receive a request to register a user device with the presentation control device, wherein the request comprising an identification of the user device;

obtain an identification of at least one user to be associated with the user device;

establish an association between the user device and the at least one user; and

store the association between the user device and the at least one user in the first database.

11 . The presentation control device of claim 10 , the user device registration module further configured to:

identify user information that is associated with users having access to the virtual space;

verify that the user information comprises the identification of the at least one user; and

establish the association between the user device and the at least one user in response to the verification.

12 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , the notification forwarding module further configured to determine whether the notification should be transmitted to any user device detected by the user device detection module as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device based on one or more parameters, the one or more parameters comprising a presence parameter related to a presence of the user at the user devices.

13 . The presentation control device of claim 12 , the notification forwarding module further configured to determine the presence based on whether the first user device is powered on, whether the first user device is in an active mode, whether the user is logged in at the first user device, whether the user is logged in to an instant messaging service via the first user device, and/or whether the user is logged into an email account via the first user device.

14 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , wherein the occurrence of the trigger event impacts at least one of the one or more entities that a first user interacts with and wherein, in response to the occurrence of the trigger event, the first user is identified as a user associated with the trigger event.

15 . The presentation control device of claim 14 , wherein a determination of whether the notification of the trigger event should be transmitted to the first user is at least in part based on user parameters related to the first user, the user parameters comprising an activity metric that indicates an activity of the first user in the virtual space, a parameter determined from information related to one or more previous notifications transmitted to the first user, and/or a parameter determined from a response of the first user to a previous notification, and wherein, in response to the determination that the notification should be transmitted to the first user, the first user is identified as a user for whom the notification is intended.

16 . The presentation control device of claim 14 , wherein the first user controls the one or more entities in the virtual space

17 . The presentation control device of claim 1 , the notification forwarding module further configured to receive the notification or information related to the notification from a server which hosts an instance of the virtual space that is accessible by the users via the presentation control device.

18 . A method for transmitting external notifications of events that take place in a virtual space from a presentation control device to a user device, the method being implemented in a computer that includes one or more processors programmed by one or more computer program modules, the method comprising:

facilitating, by a user interface module, presentation of views of the virtual space via a display unit coupled to the presentation control device, wherein users interact with one or more entities within the virtual space through the views of the virtual space;

detecting, by a user device detection module, user devices within the vicinity of the presentation control device;

obtaining, by a notification forwarding module, a notification corresponding to a trigger event that takes place in the virtual space, the notification intended for a user of the presentation control device;

determining, by the notification forwarding module, whether the notification should be transmitted to any user device detected by the user device detection module as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device; and

transmitting, by a notification transmission module, via a communication medium that is external to the virtual space, the notification to a first user device based on a detection of the first user device as being within the vicinity of the presentation control device, and further based on a determination that the notification should be transmitted to the first user device.