The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 09, 1999
Filed:
Nov. 14, 1996
Abbott Purdy Brush, II, Woodbridge, CT (US);
Gennaro A Cuomo, Apex, NC (US);
Sarah D Redpath, Cary, NC (US);
David Bruce Lection, Raleigh, NC (US);
Donald Robert Wood, Raleigh, NC (US);
International Business Machines Corp., Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A technique for providing enhanced intuitive navigation in a virtual world. User selectable hot spots are provided within a virtual world that users may select to automatically be moved to predetermined move-to coordinates within the virtual world. The user may be transported directly to the move-to coordinates or the user may have its motion controlled by the virtual world to in essence walk the user to the move-to coordinates within the virtual world. The selectable hot spot may become inactive following selection of the hot spot by a user until the user moves off of the move-to coordinates, or a plurality of move-to coordinates may be provided such that the hot spot remains active until all of the move-to coordinates are occupied by users. Additionally, the hot spot may be visually enhanced to make it easier to be seen and selected when the user is more than a predetermined distance from the hot spot within the virtual world.