Personal digital assistance and virtual reality

Abstract

A virtual reality network provides access to a number of virtual reality representations, each virtual reality representation representing a location in a virtual universe and defined by VR data stored on the network. The VR data can be in a simplified data format and include data from an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator (IPAKN). A database stores the network address and the location in the universe of each virtual reality representation. A database server provides access to the database. The database server generates a list of locations in response to a location query from a visitor, and provides the network address of the virtual reality representation of a selected location. A visitor connects to the database server with a client host to visit the locations in the virtual universe.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A system for enabling a visitor to access virtual reality (VR) representations authored by different authors of locations in a virtual universe via a computer network, the system comprising:
 memory for storing a plurality of VR data sets, each VR data set defining a VR representation of a location, each VR data set independently authored by a respective author different from the other authors, wherein the VR data sets comprise data from an intelligent personal assistant and knowledge navigator (IPAKN) or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors;   one or more VR data servers adapted to access and transmit the VR data sets, each VR data set associated with a VR data server for access to the VR data set;   a domain server adapted to access and transmit domain data comprising the location within the universe of each VR representation and the network address of the VR data server associated with the VR representation; and   a client host adapted to communicate with the domain server to receive the domain data representing the network address of the VR data server associated with a selected VR representation, the client host further adapted to communicate with that VR data server to access the VR data set defining the VR representation without leaving the virtual universe.   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the domain server, the one or more data servers, and the client host comprise a plurality of computers and wherein at least one domain server connects to a IPAKN hosted by a cloud server. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more data servers stores a database of the locations of the virtual reality representations accessible through the data server and the network addresses of the VR data sets defining such virtual reality representations, whereby the IPAKN VR data sets can be stored remotely from the data server. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the VR data sets comprise one VR data set in a first file format and a second VR data set in a second file format different from the first file format, wherein at least one dataset is stored from a download of an interaction with a cloud based IPAKN. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the VR data sets comprise first data representing a plurality of photographs taken from a geographical location, each photograph taken in a respective viewing direction, and second data representing the viewing direction of each photograph and where at least one image or dataset (voice, text, etc) is stored from a download of an interaction with an cloud based IPAKN. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the client host generates a virtual reality presentation utilizing the accessed IPAKN VR data set. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the domain server is adapted to communicate with a plurality of client hosts whereby a plurality of client hosts can simultaneously visit the universe, where at least one domain server connects to a cloud IPAKN. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein the domain data in the domain server is updated based on author submission of information regarding the network address of the data server and the location in the virtual reality universe associated with the IPAKN VR data set. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one of the VR data sets comprise data representing a photograph taken from a geographical location, and wherein at least one data source was stored from a download of an interaction with a cloud based IPAKN. 
     
     
         10 . A method for enabling a visitor utilizing a computer to visit a selected location within a virtual reality universe using virtual reality data authored by different authors where the datasets include data from a IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors, the method comprising:
 providing a plurality of data servers and a domain server interconnected with the data servers, the data servers providing access to sets of VR data of virtual representations of locations within the universe, each set of VR data authored by a respective different author independently of the other authors, the VR data comprising data from an IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors, the domain server providing access to domain data for selecting the location to visit and the network address of the data server providing access to the VR data for the selected location;   receiving data from the visitor representing a selected location in the universe;   accessing the domain data in response to the received data and obtaining therefrom the network address of the data server that provides access to the VR data for the selected location; and   transferring the VR data for the selected location from the data server to the visitor's computer for generation of a VR presentation of the selected location without leaving the virtual universe.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of transferring the IPAKN VR data comprises:
 transferring the network address of the data server to the visitor's computer; and   directing a request to transmit the IPAKN VR data from the visitor's computer to the data server associated with the IPAKN VR data whereby the data server communicates with the visitor's computer to transfer the IPAKN VR data.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein receiving IPAKN data from the visitor representing a selected location in the universe comprises:
 transmitting a list of locations to the visitor's computer for display of the list; and   receiving data from the visitor representing the selected location from the list.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the list represents a path in the virtual universe. 
     
     
         14 . A virtual reality viewing system for viewing virtual locations in a virtual universe accessed through a computer network, the viewing system comprising:
 memory for storing:
 a plurality of data sets, each data set representing a location in a virtual universe, each data set independently authored by a respective author different from the other authors, each data set comprising data from a IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors; and 
 data representing a map of the locations in the virtual universe represented by the plurality of data sets; 
   a display for displaying an image of a map from the map data;   an interface for:
 receiving visitor input for selecting a location displayed on the map, the location represented by one of the plurality of data sets; 
 transmitting the one data set representing the selected location through the network; 
 receiving data representing the network address of a network data server providing access to the one data set; and 
 communicating with the network data server to receive the one data set; and 
   a processor for executing instructions stored in memory, wherein execution of the instructions by the processor generates a virtual reality presentation from the one data set without leaving the virtual universe.   
     
     
         15 . The viewing system of  claim 14 , wherein the display further displays the generated virtual reality presentation. 
     
     
         16 . The viewing system of  claim 15 , wherein the display displays both the map and the virtual reality presentation simultaneously. 
     
     
         17 . The viewing system of  claim 15 , wherein the display further displays widgets for navigation to different locations in the universe, and wherein at least one of the widgets allows access to the datasets from an IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors. 
     
     
         18 . The viewing system of  claim 15 , wherein the display further displays widgets for navigation directly to an IPAKN or other web source, and wherein the geo-location of the selected location was automatically added to the automatic query of the IPAKN. 
     
     
         19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having embodied thereon a program executable by a processor to perform a method for enabling a visitor utilizing a computer to visit a selected location within a virtual reality universe using virtual reality data authored by different authors where the datasets include data from a IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors, the method comprising:
 providing a plurality of data servers and a domain server interconnected with the data servers, the data servers providing access to sets of VR data of virtual representations of locations within the universe, each set of VR data authored by a respective different author independently of the other authors, the VR data comprising data from an IPAKN or other web source specifically queried by the independent authors, the domain server providing access to domain data for selecting the location to visit and the network address of the data server providing access to the VR data for the selected location;   receiving data from the visitor representing a selected location in the universe;   accessing the domain data in response to the received data and obtaining therefrom the network address of the data server that provides access to the VR data for the selected location; and   transferring the VR data for the selected location from the data server to the visitor's computer for generation of a VR presentation of the selected location without leaving the virtual universe.